BOKO HARAM STOPS OVER 400 HECTRES OF WHEAT CULTIVATION IN BORNO

BY NDAHI MARAMA, MAIDUGURI

The Executive Director of Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) in Maiduguri, Borno State, Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji has said that more than 400 hectares of wheat Cultivation in Marte Local Government Area and some parts of the north east region suffered a major set back in agricultural production due to activities of Boko Haram terrorists and other security challenges that displaced many families from their communities to seek for safety in the last five years.

Fortunately, with the relative peace now witnessed as a result of liberation of the affected communities by troops and the desire of the Federal Government to diversify the Nigeria economy, with emphasis on agriculture, LCRI is willing and ready to collaborate and partner with all stakeholders through purposeful research in its mandate crops and other popular crops grown in the zone.

Dr. Olabanji stated this on Tuesday at the 2016 Annual In-House Review Meeting and the North East Zonal Research Extension Farmer Input Linkage System (REFILS) 3-Day:-) Workshop which took place at the Conference Hall of the Institute.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director said, despite the security challenges and the paucity of funds experienced, the institute was able to make appreciable progress in her research efforts with the release of two rain fed wheat varieties, LACRIWHIT-7 (Reyna 15) and LACRIWHIT-8 (Crow 'S') that have potential yields of 3.5 to 4.0t/ha which are adaptable to the highlands of Mambila, Jos and Obudu plateaux.

Presently he said, the institute has so far released five improved millet and six wheat varieties that have same potentials to enable the country achieved its 50% 2017 wheat needs of from 100,000 metric tones to about 1.5 million metric tones , thereby saving the nation over N431.0 billion wheat importation, promising that efforts are being made to release two irrigated wheat varieties this year, as wheat flour from LCRI will soon hit the market in order to generate more revenue, employment opportunities and add to federal government's resolve in stopping wheat importation.

Declaring the Workshop open, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMA&RD), who is the Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Shehu Ahmed, represented by the Regional Director, North East, Dr. Arabi Mohammed commended the sacrifice, resilience and toughness of the Management and Staff of LCRI, who have despite the insurgency that bedeviled the zone, have continued to make giant strides in its mandate.

He pointed out that the FMA&RD has noted with deep appreciation the recent breakthroughs by the institute, and assured them of the federal government's assistance through the ministry towards repositioning agriculture and sustainable economic development.

He therefore urged the participants to utilize the benefit derived from the workshop and wish them fruitful deliberations.

Responding on behalf of the Farmers, President of Farmers Village, Mallam Alamin Lawan, thanked FMA&RD and LCRI for organizing such a timely workshop and appealed to the federal government under President Muhammad Buhari to provide them with soft loans, and other farming inputs such as fertilizer, tractor and seedlings as well as organizing periodic workshops to train farmers on modern agricultural practices.