Farmers plead with FG to provide dry season farming equipment


Some Ibadan-based farmers have urged the Federal Government to provide them with dry season farming equipment to boost food production in the area.

The farmers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan that lack of equipment, including pumping machines and sprayers had prevented them from practicing dry season.

Dry farming refers to crop production during a dry season, and it utilizes the residual moisture in the soil from the rainy season instead of depending on irrigation.

Warm season vegetables such as tomato, pepper, cucumber, okra, eggplant, garden egg, melon, pumpkin, sweet potato, green amaranth can survive the dry season and can thrive very well.

“We have paid for the equipment since October 2016 and were told that they would be supplied to us; but till now, we have not seen anything,’’ Mr Ademola Aderemi, a vegetable farmer, told NAN.

“The best time to plant vegetables like okro,` ewedu’ is between October and now. We have nothing to use and it is a big loss for us as we speak.’’

A fish and livestock farmer, Mrs Oluyemi Akerele, said that this brand of farming was capital intensive, noting that land was a major challenge faced by this category of farmers.

“About five years ago, we were told to join Agriculture Banking in Oyo State; we joined, opened accounts and deposited N10, 000 each. But till today, we didn’t hear from them.

“Now, I am looking for my own landed property. If I use the little money I have to buy land, how do I then continue farming,’’ she said.

Mr Joseph Dominic, a cassava farmer, urged the government and commercial banks to provide a relaxed agriculture loan condition for farmers.

“Farmers need an environment that is conducive to earn optimally for their labour; how can we be bringing collateral before collecting loans.

“The strict loan conditions make it very difficult for us to access funds. We need to move to mechanised farming to produce more food.

“But we need assistance to achieve this,’’ Dominic said.


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