Malabo Declaration: AU agric stakeholders assure FG of economic growth


The African Union Commission agricultural stakeholders has assured the Federal Government of economic growth if Malabo declaration initiative is implemented in Nigeria.

The stakeholders gave the assurance in Abuja at the workshop on the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) for Nigeria.

Prof. Adeolu Ayanwale, a facilitator called for adoption of an inclusive process involving all relevant stakeholders to develop strategies and technologies to achieve NAIP objectives.

According to him, provision of incentives for constructive engagement of private sectors, civil society groups and establishment of needed capacities will go a long way to achieve it.

Ayanwale said that one of the cardinal objectives of the workshop was to establish a roadmap toward the domestication of the Malabo commitments.

He said the workshop would also deliberate on ways of implementation of the AUC NAIP plan in Nigeria.

According to him, there will be a definite working document plan for NAIP which other partners can relate with and Nigerian government can work with to have timeframe of the plan.

“The programme emphasises the inclusiveness of the private sectors, if any country is to meet the objectives of the Malabo declaration,” he said.

On the economic benefits of the programme, Ayanwale explained that the Malabo initiative emphasised at least 10 per cent of the members-state budget to be committed into agriculture.

He said that such commitment would drive the economy and increase the country’s GDP by six per cent annually.

Also speaking, Mr Mohammed Tukur, representative of Traditional Livestock Organisation of West Africa, said Nigeria would be able to operate in line with global document after the workshop.

“We will now have a global document that is aligned with Nigeria’s agricultural policy,” he said.

Ms. Temitope Oluwo, representative of Nigeria Agro-Business Groups, expressed happiness on the programme.

“I am delighted because the workshop is agric-based and is going to promote investment in the sector particularly, under the Malabo declaration.” he said.


The theme for the workshop is: “Domesticating Malabo Commitments into the Green Alternative/Agriculture Promotion Policy and its Investment Plan.  

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