Youth farmers want govt support to boost food production


The Concerned Youth Empowerment Association of Nigeria (CYEAN) has called on the Federal Government to support youth farmers to help the country achieve self sufficiency in food production.

The National President of the association, Mr Noble Adaelu, made the call in Abuja on Monday while speaking on the achievements and challenges of the Federal Government in the past two years.

Adaelu said the youths were yet to receive the needed support from the Federal Government in the areas of subsidised farm input supplies and access to low interest finance.

“Democracy day, what are we celebrating, Democracy that is well dependent on foreign donors or foreign food items. No, we have to move away from that.

“The Federal Government has not involved the youths in agriculture.

“In fact, all the programmes outlined by previous governments for agriculture advancement have not been replicated.

“We have the one we call Nigeria Agriculture Payment Initiative, that programme was done for farmers’ inclusion but up till now, that data has not been implemented.

“We need to be serious. If we really want to advance our industrial growth, the Federal Government has to take a lead; the Federal Government has to call all the actors in the field.

“You cannot have a very harmonious approach to it without involving the youths. We should end the lips service. It is time for us to move forward.

“What I want them to do is to bring implementable programmes that will really restore our pride of place in agriculture.

“Youths are not being represented. What belongs to us is not given to us. The farm inputs are no longer subsidised, we don’t receive any farm inputs,’’ the national president said.

He faulted the approach to the CBN-BOA ‘Anchor Borrowers Scheme’ in some states, adding that only few portfolio farmers benefitted from it.

The national president, however, appealed to the government to involve genuine farmers in agricultural programmes to encourage them to boost production.

Adaelu, who regretted that cassava production was being neglected in the country, said it could supplement wheat in bread production if adequately tapped.


The Concerned Youth Empowerment Association of Nigeria is a co-operative society that promotes and clamours for the rights of youths to enable them attain agreeable democratic atmosphere.  

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