Kebbi govt to procure 300,000 metric tonnes of fertlizer to boost food production

The Kebbi State Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Garba Dan-Diga says that the state government plans to procure 300,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer for the next farming season to boost agricultural production.
Dan-Diga, who did not disclose cost of the commodity in a news conference in Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday, stated that 100,000 metric tonnes would be procured from private firms.
According to him, the other 200,000 metric tonnes will be provided through an agreement between the Federal Government and Morocco.
He added that additional efforts would be enhanced to boost production.

Dan-Diga said assurances had been obtained from the Federal Government based on an agreement between Morocco and Nigeria that the commodity would be provided to be issued to farmers at subsidised rate.

He said provision had also been made to procure 100 tractors,100 thrashers, land tillers and 1,000 ox-plough to be given to farmers to enhance improved agricultural production.

According to him, farmers will be encouraged to revert to mechanised farming to boost production that will improve their economic status.
“Farmers have improved rice production from 2.5 tonnes per hectre to five tonnes per hecter.’’

Dan-Diga said the state had trained 10,000 farmers in Dandko-Wasagu Local Government Area to engage in commercial production of Soya beans, while FADAMA 111 programme would also train 10,000 farmers in southern parts of the state.

“The engagement of 70,000 farmers by the state government and 8,000 farmers by private firms and the success recorded in rice and wheat production in the last wet and dry farming seasons would be improved upon.

“Improvement of agricultural production would enable food security, ,job creation and creation of foreign exchange enhance the economy.’’

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