Agriculture with Jimoh

ABUJA- THE Federal Government, yesterday, disclosed that it will annually produce 7 million tonnes of rice from 2017 with new technological approach to actualise it. This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, during a visit by the Japan International Corporation Agency, JICA, in his office. The Minister also said the government has expressed determination to buy some rice milling machines from Japan which would be proposed in the 2017 budget, and added that possibly rice chaffs would be converted to briquettes for household use. While lauding the Rice Post- Harvest Processing and Marketing Pilot Project, RIPMAPP, developed by JICA, especially the new technology for small scale rice processors, he said rice production which was three tonnes per hectare has increased to seven tonnes per hectare in some states following the new technology in producing the commodity based on the new formula of fertiliser production, soil mapping and textur

MAKURDI...........At least 5,000 cassava farmers in Benue state have been offered over 10,000 bags of free fertilizers, herbicides and other inputs valued at over N100million by International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, to boost food production in the state. Flagging off the presentations at Ogbadibo, Okpokwu and Guma local government areas of the state, Benue IFAD-VCDP State Project Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Igbaukum said each of the benefitting farmer was to receive two liters of herbicides from the organization at no cost. He said aside the contribution of his organization to boost cassava cultivation in the state, each of the 2,500 benefiting farmers through their cluster groups would also receive same quantity of counterpart support from the state government. Igbaukum said, "with the arrangement, each farmer is expected to cultivate a hectare of farmland with four bags of fertilizer and four lit

 Alhaji Ahmed Muhammed, President of Kaduna State Fadama Farmers' Co-operatives Federation, said on Wednesday that non release of counterpart funds for Fadama III, has slowed down the project. Muhammed said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that participating states and local governments must release their contributions to allow the project run successfully. He noted that the successful implementation of the FADAMA III+ programme would boost food production and agriculture value chain in the country. Muhammed also appealed to the Federal and Kaduna State Governments to provide more fertilizer and other inputs to farmers participating in the Fadama programme, to optimise production. ``More than 600 cooperative societies in the state are in the programme and each farmer gets two to four bags of assorted fertilizers, which is far below their need.`` Muhammed advised that the programme be extended to cover all the 23 local government ar

 Harvestplus Nigeria, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), said it had trained more than 1.2 million farmers in parts of the country in vitamin A cassava production. The Country Manager of the organisation, Dr Paul Ilona, said this in an interview in Ibadan,  said farmers reached cut across 24 states, including Benue, Abia, Ondo, CrossRiver, Imo and Oyo. He said the organisation had also trained commercial farmers on how to make profit through agriculture, especially in vitamin A cassava production. ``We started by distributing free vitamin A cassava stem packs; most farmers who received the packs are making it now; youths too are engaging in it. ``The farmers, who received the stems also distributed same to others, thereby assisting us to reach more farmers. Through our delivery strategies, we have made impacts in the lives of the rural people. ``Our target is to ensure that every farmer who deserves to plant more nutritious varieties such as vitamin A cassava ha

 The Dangote Tomato Processing Factory in Kadawa village in Kura Local Government Area of Kano State which closed shop seven months ago would resume production in December, the Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kaita, said. Kaita, who  made the disclosure in an interview in Kano,  said that the company, which commenced production in February 2016, had to stop activities due to the lack of fresh tomatoes. He, however, added that the company had already started preparations for the recommencement of commercial activities. He noted that ``our target is to resume production in December 2016 because by then we expect tomato farmers to have produced enough for the company to process.'' The managing director said that the company, which could process 120 tonnes of fresh tomatoes per day, would soon begin recruitment of additional staff. He said ``we have plan to recruit additional staff who will be deployed to different sections of the company t

The Federal Government says it will create jobs for over 758,500 youths across the country under the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) to boost agricultural productivity. Mrs Karima Babangida, the National Programme Coordinator said this on Tuesday in Katsina during the inauguration of Katsina State YEAP Steering Committee. Represented by Mr Suleiman Aliyu, Babangida said that the three-year programme was supported by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Babangida said that 740,000 jobs would be `market-oriented’ for young agricultural producers, while the remaining 18,500 jobs were reserved for university graduates, ‘nagropreneurs’ across the nation. ‘’Under the market-oriented, 20,000 youths will be selected from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). ‘’500 graduates will also benefit from the programme in each state of the federation,’’ she said. The coordinator revealed that 12 states were sele

 The Anambra assembly has called on people of the state to return to the culture of subsistence farming to ensure food security and possible sales of excess produce. The legislators made the call in Awka on Tuesday while deliberating on a motion by Mr Nnamdi Okafor (APGA-Awka South 1). Moving the motion, Okafor said that there was a need for everyone, irrespective of the job they were involved in, to embark on subsistence farming to fight the impending danger of famine associated with the economic hardship in the country. He said that before the Nigerian civil war, people in the area were able to sustain themselves through farming but the discovery of oil made them to abandon farming. Supporting the motion, Mr Chuks Ezenwune (APGA-Idemili South) said that subsistence farming was very good in sustaining families, thereby chasing hunger away from the state. ``If every family in the state would embark on subsistence farming as a back up to the source of their means of

 The Federal Government has expressed its determination to replicate the Rural Institution Building Programme across the country. Mr Appeh Auta, Senior Adviser on International Donor Partners to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. Auta, however, said he was highly impressed with the successes of the seven-year pilot programme introduced in 2010 to reduce poverty in rural areas. NAN reports that RUFIN is a programme sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in collaboration with the Federal Government. The programme gives special attention to women, the physically challenged and rural youths through group formation methodology. However, the programme was being implemented in the 12 states of Katsina, Zamfara, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa, Lagos, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Anambra and Imo. Auta said that though the pilot programme was expected to end in 2017, government was puttin

Harvestplus Nigeria, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), on Tuesday said it had trained more than 1.2 million farmers in parts of the country in vitamin A cassava production. The Country Manager of the organisation, Dr Paul Ilona, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan. Ilona said farmers reached cut across 24 states, including Benue, Abia, Ondo, CrossRiver, Imo and Oyo. He said the organisation had also trained commercial farmers on how to make profit through agriculture, especially in vitamin A cassava production. ``We started by distributing free vitamin A cassava stem packs; most farmers who received the packs are making it now; youths too are engaging in it. ``The farmers, who received the stems also distributed same to others, thereby assisting us to reach more farmers. Through our delivery strategies, we have made impacts in the lives of the rural people. ``Our target is to ensure that every farmer who deserves to plant

 A Development Social Enterprise Organisation, Real People Concept, Ibadan, on Tuesday said it had developed livestock reproduction technologies to boost animal production in the country. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Real People Concept, a registered trademark, is committed to developing livestock production in the country. The Managing Director of the organization, Mr Olawole Olagbaju, told NAN in Ibadan that the technologies were developed to increase animal protein. Olagbaju, therefore, called for investment in the sector to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the government. ``The project will generate more income for households, create employment and reduce crime rates. ``It will also improve socio-economic lifestyle of the people, boost government activities and enhance foreign exchange earnings,” he said. The managing director said the organisation had offered more than 50 training slots to veterinarians and animal producers in part

 The Benue State Ministry of Agriculture says it is partnering Synergos to establish cassava peel processing factories across the state. Mr Lucky Izobo, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics of Ministry of Agriculture, Benue, said this on Friday in Makurdi in a meeting he held with stakeholders in the agricultural sector. According to him, the state government engaged in discussion with the Agricultural Vision Group (AVG) and the Agricultural Innovative Group (AIG) organised by Synergos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the Mega processing factory would be situated in Oracle Farms at the Industrial Layout Makurdi. He said that the cassava peels would be processed into animal feeds, stressing that cassava peel feeds had a lot of nutritional value to animals and relatively cheaper compared to other feeds. ``There are enough cassava roots and peels in the state to drive the needed innovation’’, he said. The State Coordinator of Synergos, Mr Michae

 An indigenous company, Atafi Agro-Merchandize, has trained 3, 700 youths in Jigawa on the application of modern farming technologies. The Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Idris Mai-Unguwa, made the disclosure on Friday in Hadejia in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said that the youths were exposed to the application of modern technologies for farming, preservation and processing. He said that some women were also trained on rice processing. Mai-Unguwa said that the beneficiaries were drawn from the 27 local government areas of the state. He said that the company conducted the training in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and a German based NGO, CARI Agriculture Development Programme. ``The training is designed to expose the youths to modern farming techniques and enhance their enterprising skills to encourage commercial agriculture,” he said. The MD added that the company also planned to train additional 90 yo

President Muhammadu Buhari says the Federal Government will sustain concrete measures to diversify the economy by devoting more resources to agriculture in the 2017 budget. The president made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu. According to the statement, Buhari, who was speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, on the margins of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), said that African countries had a lot to learn from Japan on developing agriculture. He said already, Nigeria had started an aggressive farming programme that entailed organising farmers into cooperatives in the second and third tier of government. ``We intend to put more resources in our 2017 budget, especially in the procurement of machinery for land clearing, fertilizers, pesticides and training of less-educated farmers as farm extension instructors. ``We have already registered some

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has outlined a roadmap towards the transformation of agriculture in Africa. The President laid emphasis on combating malnutrition in children, turning African farmlands into major suppliers of food for export and putting funds at the disposal of local banks to create a stable source of funding for farm investments. Addressing prominent players in the world of agriculture at the Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD) VI underway in Nairobi on Friday, President Adesina emphasised that the Bank’s US $24-billion capital investment in promoting Africa’s agriculture was one such initiatives. “It will take more than one person to transform agriculture. It is time to get agriculture right as a business. We need to make Africa part of this development,” Adesina said during a panel discussion on the “Future of Food in Sub-Saharan Africa: Reviewing Progress, Charting Next Steps,” convened by the

No peace without freedom from want At Kenya conference, FAO leader highlights role of agriculture in preventing conflict, enabling recovery 27 August 2016, Rome/Nairobi --  Food security and agriculture have an essential role to play in preventing conflicts and crises on the African continent, blunting their impacts and acting as engines for post-crisis recovery. This was the central message of FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva to African leaders and international development actors gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, today for one of the foremost summits on African development. "Ending hunger and malnutrition, addressing humanitarian and protracted crises, preventing and resolving conflicts, and building peace are not separate tasks, but simply different facets of the same challenge," Graziano da Silva said at a side-event on ‘Peace and Food Security', hosted by FAO, at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development ( TICAD VI , 26-28 A

 Veterinarians tell fish farmers, livestock owners to relocate  By Gabriel Ewepu ABUJA- THE Veterinary Council of Nigeria, VCN, has told fish farmers and livestock owners to immediately relocate to safer areas. This charge was made by the Registrar, VCN, Dr. Markus Avong, at the weekend, while speaking on the alerts on flooding given by relevant government agencies. Avong who also commended the early warning from the government to people living on floodplains and measures to take to contain the natural disaster said people should heed the warning and do the needful. He said: “As you know relevant authorities have alerted Nigerians and asked them to move out of flood plains, and Veterinary Council of Nigeria stands by that. “Livestock farmers should comply with government directive and what generally Nigerians will do to move away from areas that are prone to flooding to avoid any calamity. “I think we should be happy that government is proactive giving warning Nigerians

The Plateau Government has concluded plans to recruit 400 agric extension officers,.Mr Philip Gonap, Programmes Manager, Plateau Agricultural and Development Programme (PADP) said on Thursday in Jos. Gonap told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the recruitment became necessary and would cushion the long existed inadequacy of extension workers in the state. ``The Governor has given approval that 400 extension workers be employed on ad hoc bases in the state. ``This is seriously a commendable development, because with this huge number coming on board, agricultural activities in the state will soon achieve a massive milestone. ``Farmers will get the needed education on modern farming skills. ``Before now, farmers in the rural areas don't get to have the required education on modern farming techniques because there were not enough extension workers on ground. ``So, this will boost the capacity of the field officer to enhance the dissemination of recommended ag

 Prof. Ibrahim Umar-Abubakar, the Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, on Thursday said Nigeria’s wheat import bill stood at $6 billion annually. Umar-Abubakar said this when he received members of Correspondents' Forum of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Zaria Chapter, who paid a courtesy call on him in Zaria, Kaduna State. He said that Nigeria produced only three per cent of wheat it consumed, while the remaining 97 per cent was being imported. Umar-Abubakar said the country had the capacity to produce enough quantity of wheat needed for local processing and consumption. "We have the capacity to produce enough wheat not only for our consumption, but also for export. Remember, we eat many products made from wheat every day. "You can imagine what will happen if Nigerian farmers today decided to go on strike, can the oil money buy all the food we need in this country? "Agriculture contributes 24 per cent of GDP, while o

The Advocacy for Economic Integrity, an NGO, has urged the Federal and State Governments to create markets for agricultural produce. The Director-General of the organisation, Mr Abdullahi Aremu, made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday. According to him, creating markets for produce will go a long way to serve as an incentive to farmers in the country. Aremu said if governments could invest heavily in the market of agricultural produce, it would expand agricultural businesses in the country. He said that government could achieve this by feeding pupils in the primary schools with some of the agricultural products. ``Some medical experts say egg helps in sharpening pupil’s brain. ``If governments give these pupils eggs, meat, fish, chickens and fruits at least once per week, it will assist farmers to expand their businesses and encourage young graduates to go into agriculture,’’ he said. The director-general said th

Farmers in Anambra have called on the state government to construct storage facilities for them following their optimism of a bumper harvest. Speaking separately with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Onitsha on Thursday, the farmers said that the weather conditions this year had been apt for a bumper harvest. Mr Albert Ibe, a rice farmer at Ugbene community in Awka North Local Government Area, said farmers in Anambra would experience bumper harvest due to good weather and absence of flood. “Our major challenges are storage facilities and feeder roads for easy evacuation of produce to major towns,” Ibe said. Similarly, Mrs Uzor Iloghalu, a rice farmer and leader of Udoamaka Rice Farmers Association in Anaku, Ayamelum Local Government Area, expressed optimism about a bumper harvest later in the year. Iloghalu, however, urged the state government to review the memorandum of understanding it signed on behalf of farmers and ``off-takers of rice’’ in the state. She sai