RIFAN acquires 5,000 hectares of land for rice farming in Bayelsa



The Bayelsa chapter of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) says it has acquired 5,000 hectares of land in the state for rice cultivation.

Mr Ezeikel Ogbianko, the state Chairman of RIFAN, said this while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Wednesday.

He said that the association had been discussing with the families that owned the land in Sampou community, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

He said that RIFAN would bring development to the families and the community at large; assuring them no one would be marginalised in the process.

Ogbianko said that the association would start clearing the land before the middle of this month and called on all stakeholders to support the move to make Bayelsa one of the major rice producing states in the country.

“We can no longer depend on oil. The era of oil and gas has come and gone, I want you to partner with us and support the Federal Government in the current efforts to move the agricultural sector forward.

“There is more money in agriculture than oil. Our youths should shun militancy or kidnapping and key into the project, which was initiated to spur the state’s development,’’ he said.

Mr Famous Ebiowei, spokesman for the families which owned the land, said that his people would provide all the required support for the project.

Ebiowei said that as a farmer, he would also take part in rice farming.

“We have given out our land for the project, we will work with RIFAN to make sure that all the objectives of the project are realised.


“Our family will forever remain grateful to RIFAN and the Federal Government for choosing our land as a site for the production of rice,’’ he added.

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