IFAD to empower 3,000 farmers in Ogun on cassava, rice production


The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and Ogun Government are collaborating to assist no fewer than 3,000 farmers on Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) for rice and cassava production.

Mr Samuel Adeogun, the state Coordinator of VCDP/IFAD Programme, made this known when he inspected 30 hectares of land at Otete in Yewa North Local Government Area of the state.

Adeogun said that rice and cassava production would cut across 4,000 hectares of land in the state.

He noted that in 2016 only 1,800 hectares of land was cultivated by 1, 200 farmers.

“The VCDP is a programme that adds value to the process of food production, and we are determined to train and empower more farmers in the state.

“This will in turn improve food production and farmers’ living standard,” Adeogun said.

He added that the programme had presence in five local government areas of the state and would train farmers on best agricultural practices.

Adeogun called on farmers in the state to make themselves available for the IFAD value chain development programme.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs Peju Adebajo, said that the government was focused on agricultural development.

He added that the government would ensure that the VCDP was replicated in other local government areas of the state.

Adebajo said that the state ministry of agriculture would collaborate with farmers to take advantage of the programme.

Mr James Arigbajo, Chairman, Ifesowapo Group of Farmers in Otete, said that the programme trained the farmers on how to improve production and add value to it.

Arigbajo appealed to the state government to make more farm implements available to farmers.


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