Delta'll soon be major exporter of rice in the world-CBN





ASABA-SATISFIED with the commitment of rice farmers in the State, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has expressed optimism that Delta State would soon major exporter of rice in the world.

CBN Asaba branch Comptroller, Dame Elizabeth Agu stated this during the verification and distribution of rice seedling inputs, herbicide and fertilisers to farmers of Divine Blessing Multipurpose Cooperative, Tony Chuks Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative, Nmuobu Multipurpose Cooperative and Mende-Mende Multipurpose Cooperative, all in Illah, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the State.

Noting that the influx of farmers into rice production in the State was encouraging,
Agu observed that under the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme, other states would be consuming Delta State rice in no distant time.

She however said that beneficiaries of the programme will repay the loans in six months upon harvest, explaining that the inputs were not handouts or empowerment packages.

While soliciting for the cooperation of the State Government so as to surpass other states involved in the programme she said; "Its a great thing to feed the nation. This is the third cluster receiving rice inputs. We hope it will be the best.

The Chairman, Project Monitoring Team, Delta CBN Anchors Programme, Mr Matthew Badaiki in his remark, said the CBN would continue its support for agriculture in the bid to boost food production in Nigeria.

Badaiki told the participants to take the programme serious in order to boost food production as well as to increase their personal income.

Also speaking at the ceremony, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Austin Chikezie said the state government was determined to support any effort that would boost agriculture and entrepreneurship in the State.


Chikezie said; "As a state government, we have our responsibilities part of which is to make sure that the programme succeed. We have made Extension Officers to guild and advice you in order to nip any foreseen problem in the bud".

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