Gov. Ortom charges Benue people to embrace farming


 Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue has advised the people of the state to embrace farming, saying it is the only viable option out of the current economic meltdown in the country.
Ortom gave the advice on Wednesday at the NYSC farm at Tse Ukegber in Guma Local Government Council while launching the 2016 cropping season in the state.
He regretted that the declining oil prices in the international market had impeded on government expenditure, and called for inward thinking.
The governor said it had become necessary to grow the agricultural sector to generate revenue that would augment the shortfall in oil revenue.
He said his administration had purchased 5000 metric tonnes of liquid fertiliser and 10000 tonnes of organic fertiliser to be sold to farmers at 38 per cent subsidy.
According to him, one 50 Kg bag of the organic fertiliser would be sold to farmers at the cost of N4000 while one litre of the inorganic fertiliser would be sold for N2000.
Ortom warned against diversion of the commodity, stressing that offenders would be treated as saboteurs.
He said his administration was liaising with fertiliser vendors to ensure that the product was delivered straight to the beneficiaries.

Also speaking, the commissioner for Agriculture, Mr James Anbua, commended the governor for the early launch of the cropping season, and called on farmers to take advantage of the programme to boost their productivity.
He said farmers in the state were already benefiting from the different agricultural programmes of the administration and assured that better days were ahead.
Anbua said the government had set up a technical committee for the implementation of the CBN's borrowers’ anchor scheme, explaining that over 3,770 farmers would benefit from the scheme.
The state chairman of All Farmers Association (AFAM) and Guma Local Government Councils commended the governor for the early distribution of fertiliser and other farm inputs. 

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

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