RIFAN to engage 500 youths in Bayelsa on mechanised rice farming – Chairman


The Bayelsa Chapter of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), says it will employ 500 youths to boost commercial rice farming in the state.

Mr Ezeikel Ogbianko, state RIFAN`s Chairman, disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ayamasa community, Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

He said the association had received the ‘Power of Attorney’ to inaugurate rice plantation.

NAN reports that the association had secured 5, 000 hectares of land each from two communities including Ofoni in Sagbama Local Government Area and Ayamasa.

Ogbianko said that the engagement of the youth was necessary as part of its contributions to support the Federal Government`s fight against unemployment through agriculture in the country.

‘’The lands are big enough, because the two lands will give us a total of 10, 000 hectares; yes, this is to boost mechanised rice farming in Bayelsa.

‘’We are going to engage 500 youths into the two lands, that is 250 persons for each of the land.

‘’The association have also agreed that 15 per cent of what comes out of the lands for each harvesting season will be given to each of the two communities and the donors of the lands.

‘’There is need to promote agriculture as the oldest profession, it is a veritable tool for job creation as well as diversification of economy.

‘’There are a lot of benefits from farming, so, I am urging the young farmers in Bayelsa to key into it to effectively achieve food security for the people,’’ he said.

Mr Pakiri Fiyoubode, Chairman, Ayamasa Community Development Committe (CDC), promised that the youth were ready to venture into rice farming in the area.

Also speaking, Mr Orieware Enikenemo, a youth, said that locating the rice farm in the areas was a welcome development.

He urged the association to work hard and ensure that the project was actualised. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Re
Read more

NEGPRO project can create more jobs with inclusion of meat production— Badmus

•Tuns Farm leads food safety, quality system audit The Chairman , Tuns Farms Nigeria, Asiwaju Olatunde Badmus, has disclosed that the proposed one million jobs expected to be created through the National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) can be doubled if extended to meat production. He made this known when a team from the office of the Vice President, Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education at the company’s headquarters in Osogbo, the Osun state capital recently. Olatunde Badmus, while sharing the company’s experience on chicken inclusion in the Osun state’s school meal program which the company has been handling since the introduction of the school feeding program four years ago, said they can achieve so much more in terms of job creation through meat production “As we speak, six state governors among who are Kebbi and Borno, have signalled their government’s preparedness to look into this and have invited TUNS farm to their states to discuss modalities for
Read more