FG inaugurates fertilizer committee

The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that the government is poised to ensure availability of good quality fertilizer products that conform to the provisions of existing legal and regulatory framework.
He noted that some unscrupulous people in the fertilizer sub-sector have been ripping off farmers the benefits accruable to them for their investments.
The minister disclosed this while inaugurating the National Fertilizer Technical Committee (NFTC) in Abuja yesterday.
He tasked members of the committee to work assiduously in ensuring that the draft Fertilizer bill at the National Assembly is passed into law.
Ogbeh disclosed that  the committee members  include scientists drawn from some Agricultural Research Institutes, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Fertilizer Industries and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development.
Chief Ogbeh explained that the  resuscitation of the National Fertilizer Technical Committee (NFTC) which  was set up in 1985 with the mandate to advise the government on technical and related matters had been afloat with irregular meetings which was last held in 2007.
The Minister stressed that the ministry is committed to implementing a regulatory system that would regularly capture and report the activities of quality control in fertilizer subsector, with an assurance to cub all negative activities such as outright adulteration, underweight of bags, misbranding and packaging of non-fertilizer products as fertilizer among others ,that are not in the interest of Nigerian farmers.
Chief Ogbeh  urged them to allow their wealth of experience to bear in serving the country and the ministry in particular.
In his response on behalf of other members of the committee, the Chairman, Prof. Victor Okechukwu Chude of the National Programme for Food Security, thanked the Minister for the confidence and trust reposed in them and described the composition of the committee as well selected.

He promised that his committee would commit all resources at their disposal to deliver on the mandates given to them. 

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 Agricultura...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more