IFAD targets 791, 000-tonne dry season rice production in Anambra


The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) assisted-Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) in Anambra says it is targeting 791,000 tonnes of rice production during the current dry season farming.

The state Programme Coordinator, Mr Nnamdi Aguncha, said this on Wednesday when the National Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation team of the programme inspected some rice and cassava farms in the state.

The team inspected rice farms at Owusi, Omasi, Omor, Ifite-Ogwari, Enugu-Abo, Ufuma and Umuekete-Aguleri, among other communities.

Aguncha said that rice farmers were mobilised to farm lands covering over 120 hectares across Orumba North, Ayamelum, Awka North, Anambra East and Anambra West Local Government Areas.

“VCDP decided to encourage rice farmers for dry season farming for the first time in line with Gov. Willie Obiano’s vision to double rice production in the state.

“We assisted the farmers with land preparation and development and trained them on best agronomic practices, especially on bonding and proper water management during dry season farming.

“Our expectations are that yields will increase from four tonnes to a minimum of six tonnes per hectare and the programme will continue to assist farmers with inputs,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Mohammed Lawal, the Leader of the National Monitoring Team, said that the visit was to encourage rice farmers toward cultivating rice at least twice a year.

“We have designed activities targeted toward assisting farmers to carry on agriculture as a business while they do it all-year-round through various interventions of the programme.

“We are leveraging on the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme to reach out to more local governments in the area of capacity building,” he said.

Lawal advised rice farmers to commit themselves and be determined to achieve the Federal Government’s objective of more food on the table and money in their pockets.

Mr Peter Emeka, Chairman of Owusi Rice Cluster, commended VCDP for its assistance and for making farming more attractive, especially to youths.

However, Emeka urged the state Ministry of Agriculture to monitor the rice seeds given to farmers to ensure their authenticity.

“We discovered after the growth of the nursery beds that we had uneven growth which shows that it was a mixed variety.”

The chairman expressed the hope that Nigeria could attain self-sufficiency in rice production by 2018, if government sustained its support to farmers through improved seeds and inputs.

The group also visited rice mills Udoka Rice Mills, Omor and Josan Mills and Farms Industries, Ufuma, where they expressed satisfaction with the facilities on ground.


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