Agriculture with Jimoh

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono, said that mechanized farming would boost agricultural production and create more jobs for Nigerian Youths. Nanono made this disclosure during a town hall meeting with the All Farmers Associations of Nigeria (AFAN) and other relevant stakeholders in Kano weekend. Alhaji Sabo Nanono noted that the introduction of mechanized farming was necessary in order to shift from the traditional system of farming and embrace modern technology, enhance self-reliance and boost food production in the country He appealed that Nigerians should support the Present Administration In its Commitment to Position the Agricultural Sector to attain economic growth and food security. “We need to give the Government the necessary support and cooperation to enable it to achieve success in terms of food security, job creation and increased Internally Generated Revenue “. The Minister challenged the farmers to rise up t...

Agri-tech can turn African Savannah into global food basket – African Development Bank Des Moines, Iowa, 24 October 2018 – The African Development Bank is championing a new regional and global effort to transform the African Savannah from a “Sleeping Giant” to the cradle of the continent’s green revolution. “This sleeping giant needs to wake up,” the Bank’s Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Jennifer Blanke, told an audience at a 2018 World Food Prize side event in Des Moines, Iowa last week. Blanke described Africa’s nearly 400 million hectares of Savannah zones as “the world’s largest agricultural frontier,” and if a small fraction of that cultivatable land – some 16 million hectares - is transformed, it could well set Africa up to decrease dependence on food imports, feed itself and contribute to feeding the world. Africa is host to 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, but currently spends an estimated US$35 billion per year ...

North East: IITA and AfDB to help Taraba transform cassava in the framework of TAAT …Trains 60 extension agents The international Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says it plans to work closely with the Taraba State Government to transform cassava in the framework of the African Development Bank-funded Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT) program. The decision is part of a two-day visit to Taraba state, which ended today and witnessed the inauguration of the Cassava Compact—a component of the TAAT,  training of extension agents, and sites selection and validation for the establishment of cassava demonstration plots. Dr Nteranya Sanginga, IITA Director General, said the inauguration of the Cassava Compact of the TAAT in Taraba would open the door for the scaling of new innovations to cassava growers to the state and north east region of Nigeria. Dr Sanginga, who was represented by Godwin Atser, IITA Communication & Knowledge Exchange ...

AfDB invests $24b in African agriculture The African Development Bank (AfDB) will be investing $24 billion in the African agriculture over the next 10 years to lift one billion people out of hunger globally. Dr Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB President, who disclosed this on Wednesday at an agriculture conference at Purdue University, Indianapolis, challenged global partners to join hands to lift one billion people worldwide out of hunger. The report, which was released to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, described the fund as the largest of such effort ever. The bank’s president stressed that all must come together to fight the war. He noted that the recent five UN agencies’ World Food Security and Nutrition statistics showed a decline in the global population living on less than two dollars per day. Adesina, however, said that the statistics, in reality, showed that the number of hungry people in the world had increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016. ...

“Stunted children today will lead to stunted economies tomorrow” – Adesina African Union endorses African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative By Jimoh Babatunde The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said that stunted children today will lead to stunted economies tomorrow, adding that the impact of stunting is irreversible but preventable. He spoke yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as African leaders made a landmark commitment to remove nutrition-related barriers that prevent children and societies from realising their full potential. The leaders made the commitments at the launch of African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) − an initiative championed by the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission – in Addis Ababa, where they agreed to jointly overcome malnutrition and elevate nutrition as the driver for economic growth and sustainable development. Adesina said poor nutrition is responsible for stunting children’s ...

As part of the efforts of the present administration to boost food production, reduce youth unemployment and empower rural farmers especially women in agriculture, the Kano State Government is to partner with the Federal Government on the newly developed initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development known as the “Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise (LIFE) program. This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources Kano state, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna when the advocacy team of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development headed by Mrs. Karima Ibrahim Babangida paid him a courtesy call in his office recently. Dr. Nasiru said that Kano state government will always be in the front line on programmes and projects initiated by the federal ministry of Agriculture to eradicate poverty, reduce youth unemployment and empower rural farmers. He further urged the ministry to involve Ministry of Agriculture Kano state in ...

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), AfDB and other stakeholders on Monday in Ibadan inaugurated a programme, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), to revitalise agriculture in Africa. Speaking during the inauguration, Dr Jonas Chianu, AFDB Agricultural Economist and TAAT Programme Manager, said that the multi-year multi-partner TAAT programme was funded by the African Development Bank (AFDB). He said it was conceptualised based on ‘Africa Feeding African’ core priority of AFDB and aligned with the bank’s 10-year strategy (2013 to 2022) for inclusive and green growth in the continent. Chianu said that the programme was aimed at revitalising Africa’s agriculture and was conceived at a high-level conference on African agricultural transformation attended by experts in agriculture, the academia, and other stakeholders in Dakar in 2015. “TAAT heralds a new dawn in African agricultural transformation because of its key bene...

LOKOJA - Kogi state said its proposed Agricultural summit is aimed at showcasing the state as the hub of agricultural investment in the country. The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Kehinde Oloruntoba who revealed this yesterday said that the summit will take place in Lokoja, Abuja and Abidjan, the Côte d'Ivoire capital. Oloruntoba sad the summit will be headlined by some of the most experienced consultants in agricultural investment and will be attended by investors and companies with interests in agriculture and agro-allied businesses. He said the Lokoja event will takes place on January 26th, 2018, while the Abuja leg takes place on February 9th "Chairman of the Summit is Chief Kolawole Babalola Jamodu, who was the first Nigerian Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PZ for 10 years and has been the Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Plc since January 1, 2008. "Billed to speak at the events are Professor of Fishries and Aquaculture, Ali...

Fish farmers in Delta have received N1.2 billion loans under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). Mr Ambrose Nwabuzor, Loan Officer, Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Asaba, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency if Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Sunday. Nwabuzor said that the BOA secured the release of N1.2 billion to the fish farmers under the private window of the ABP. He said that the beneficiaries provided enough securities to guarantee the drawdown of the loan from the CBN. “Under the private window, we have secured the release of N1.2 billion to eight anchors that came together to form a fish farm. “Each of the anchors gave us an irrevocable post-dated cheque (security) and they profiled their farmers,” he said. He also said that the BOA was working to secure the release of another tranche of loan for the anchor off-taker in fisheries. The BOA loan officer said that the off-taker had also provided securi...

CALABAR- COSS Riv3er Basin Development Authority is cultivating rice with organic fertilizer on parcels of land acquired in both in both Cross River and Akwa Ibom States to boost food production and healthy feeding habit in the country The Managing Director of the Authority, Engineer Bassey Nkposong who stated this in Calabar at the weekend while addressing staff and stakeholders of the authority stated that the Akim Akim, Etomkpe Yellow Duke, Ijegwu communities in Cross River have donated land to the authority while one hundred hectres of land has been acquired in Essien Udim, Onna Local Government Area for integrated agricultural expansion programme for rice and other crops with the use of organic fertilizer. He said research has been conducted and found that organic fertilizer is free of chemicals and friendly to the environment which makes it suitable for healthy crop growth and soil preservation and long term usage. Engineer Okposong said four dams spread across Cross...

To sustain the on-going youth-focused agricultural programme in Edo State, the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration says it will in the first quarter of 2018, fully roll out its agriprenuer programme after a successful pilot scheme. Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Budget, Mr. Joseph Eboigbe, who disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Benin City, Edo State capital, said that the programme is part of the state government’s plan for Micro, Small-scale and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and youth-focused agricultural initiatives. Eboigbe   said that though the government in 2017 provided cheap credit to MSMEs, in 2018, it will significantly enhance the package of incentives to the enterprises, as there is anticipated growth in the sector, which will naturally translate to jobs.   “In 2017, the state government piloted the agriprenuer scheme. By the first quota of 2018, we will roll out the programme fully. The agriprenuer programme will target about 55...

MANAGING Director of Presco Plc, Mr. Felix Nwabuko, has said, despite being a major player in the Nigeria oil palm industry, the company has not been able to meet up with the demand for palm oil and oil palm produce in the country. The company's MD made the disclosure to Vanguard during the Presco end of year/Dinner and award night for deserving staff of the company held over the weekend. Nwabuko who described 2016 as a “crazy year”, said the company was able to grapple with its challenges in 2017 with a promise to make more sustainable growth in 2018 amidst expectations from the federal and state governments in ensuring that the Nigeria agri-business would grow to the point where it would count in the country’s Gross Domestic Product. He said: “We have not been able to meet up with demands of the palm oil industry and it is based on this that we are driving certain expansion such as the increment of our refining capacity with 500 percent of what it is now as ...

Jos - The idea of supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation and make the Nigerian Prisons Service self sufficient has received a boost as a rice farm (Lakushi Farm Centre) operated by prisoners in Plateau State has yielded 400 bags of rice in the year. Lakushi which is one of the 17 Farms owned by the Nigerian Prisons Service is operated to enhance modern skills/training in farming techniques so as to enable the inmates learn while in detention and put the knowledge gained when they regain their freedom. According to a statement issued yesterday in Jos and signed by the State Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Luka Ayedoo, the success came because the farm was re-positioned with funding to ensure the procurement and distribution of modern farm tools and inputs. The statement reads,”The Lakushi Farm Centre of the Nigerian Prisons Service has harvested over 400 bags of rice in 2017. The farm is one of the 17 Prisons farms in Nigeria and major in rice production be...

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been granted a permit to carry out Confined Field Trials (CFT) of genetically modified cassava (AMY3 RNAi Transgenic lines). This is contained in a statement signed by IITA Head of Communication, Mrs Catherine Lopez, and made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan. The statement said that the research, carried out in collaboration with ETHZ Plant Biotechnology Lab in Zurich, was aimed at reducing starch breakdown in storage roots of cassava after pruning the shoots, prior to harvest of the crop. It also said that the objective was to obtain storage roots with lower post-harvest physiological degradation, without any loss of the nutritious starch. It noted that cassava was an important starchy food crop in sub-Saharan Africa as well as other tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The statement said that one of the challenges facing cassava farmers in the country was the high lev...

To provide guarantee for agribusiness investments in the state, the Edo State Government has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to set up a N500 million Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS). Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, revealed this at the inauguration of the committee to oversee the scheme at the Government House in Benin City, Edo State capital. The scheme is intended to de-risk investments in agriculture in Edo State. The governor said the programme, which was set up by the Federal Government through the CBN, is to provide credit for agricultural transactions in the state, stressing that the programme is very critical to his administration’s agricultural initiatives. He added that the state government was not interested in agribusiness to start farms, but only interested in de-risking the process and creating the enabling environment for entrepreneurs to emerge and thrive. The members of the nine-man committee headed ...

Dangote's contribution to the world this year revolves around his dynamic attention to lessen food imports into his own country and Africa's largest nation, Nigeria NEW YORK, United States of America, December 5, 2017/ -- Aliko Dangote was honored last night at the Bloomberg 50 annual gala dinner at New York's iconic Gotham Hall. Bloomberg's list of 50 most influential names who have had an impact on the world in 2017 included Dangote, Africa's richest person, for his outstanding commitment of over $4B USD to increase Nigeria's food production capacity. Represented in New York by the CEO of his Foundation, Dangote was joined by electric car visionary Elon Musk; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon; Beatrice Fihn, anti-nuclear weapons advocate and Nobel Peace Laureate; Amazon's Jeff Bezos; Robert Mueller, special counsel investigating Donald Trump's potential collusion with Russia; and Vitalik Buterin, whose invention of the cryptocurr...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced its plan to support Nigeria to access Crop Insurance to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country. The President of the AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina announced this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja. Adesina said that the bank would implement the support under its Second Climate Action Plan for 2016 to 2020. ``When it  comes to Climate Financing, what we will do is to support Nigeria, especially to have access to Crop insurance. ``A lot of pastoralist actually needs to have insurance as well because lack of access to water can become a big problem because of drought.  ``Also, I have being a big supporter of the need for the global climate financing mechanism to support countries to pay the premium to insure them against catastrophic risk. ``For example, there is a Facility, which is called Africa Risk Capacity and this is the Africa Union Facility that allows co...

Stakeholders in the agriculture sector say Nigeria is yet to feel the impact of the tomato policy six months after it was put in place by the Federal Government. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the stakeholders told participants at Agra Innovate West Africa forum on Tuesday in Lagos that Nigerians were yet to feel the impact of the policy. The federal government in April this year announced a new tomato policy aimed at promoting local production of fresh tomato, increasing local production of tomato concentrate and reducing post-harvest losses. The policy restricts the importation of tomato concentrates to the seaports to address the abuse of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), stops the importation of tomatoes preserved otherwise by vinegar or acetic acid; and increases the tariff on tomato concentrate to 50 per cent with an additional levy of $1,500 per metric ton. Nigeria imports an average of 150,000 metric tons of tomato conce...

The Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) yesterday held a breakfast meeting for financiers working in the agricultural sector to provide funding for smallholder rice farmers. Dr Stefan Kachelriess-Matthess, CARI’s Programme Director, said in Abuja that the meeting presented an avenue to discuss ways of promoting CARI perspectives and objectives on access to finance. “Our mandate at CARI is to facilitate access to finance for our smallholder farmers and that is what informed today’s gathering. “We have been doing this but we decided to take it more strongly now so as to see how actors across the rice value chain could have a better way to finance or promote access to finance. “This is the first meeting we are having this year and it is like a trial meeting. “We want to hold this breakfast meeting quarterly, so as to enable stakeholders to gather, discuss and update themselves on how to access to finance. “This will, however, go a long way to address some of the c...

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated a Cashew Processing factory, FoodPro Nigeria Limited, in Ilorin. Osinbajo also inspected the factory after the inauguration. He was delighted with what he saw on ground. The Vice President, who was conducted round the factory by the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Ayo Olajiga, restated the administration’s resolve to support the private sector with policies that would make business easier. Osinbajo was accompanied by Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara; the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; the Executive director of Bank of Industry, Mr. Waheed Olagunju. Olajiga said that the company had employed more than 400 staff with 90 per cent of them being women since it started operations a few years back. He said the factory was expanded to produce 5,000 tonnes of processed cashew nuts a year. Olajiga explained that most of the company’s output is exported to the United States of Am...