Agriculture with Jimoh

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)-assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) in Niger has called for collaboration between its beneficiary farmers and Tractor Owners and Hiring Facilities Association of Nigeria (TOHFAN). Dr Mathew Ahmed, the State Programme Coordinator, made the call on Wednesday in Minna during a stakeholders meeting on agricultural mechanisation service delivery. He said that the collaboration between farmers and the Niger chapter of TOHFAN would create jobs and wealth among the youth in the state. “ If the farmers and TOHFAN can work together, it will bring about agricultural mechanisation which will, in turn, attract more youth to take to farming. “ It will also enable farmers, tractor owners, operators, hiring agents, booking agents and technicians to get better service delivery for their investment,’’ he said. Ahmed urged the 13, 000 farmers, who were benefitting from VCDP rice and cassava initiatives in the state, to em...

Cross River Government lost over N130 million revenue in 2016 due to allocation of cocoa farms to ghost farmers, Mr Oscar Ofuka, Special Adviser to Gov. Ben Ayade on Cocoa Development, has said. Ofuka made the disclosure on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar. He said the governor had consequently directed a total review of allocations done by the Cocoa Allocation Committee to ensure that genuine farmers were given allocation. “The governor has directed me to review the allocations with a view to ensuring that the right farmers are given Cocoa farmlands. “But, the implication of this shoddy exercise is that the state has lost over N130 million from the projected revenue from cocoa allocation in 2016. “The projected revenue was N200 million, supposed to be generated from payments for allocation fees by farmers. “But, only N68 million was realised. This is a huge set back to the government’s revenue drive. “Al...

The Kaduna State Government says it has commenced the cultivation of 10,000 hectares of land for wheat production in the state. Alhaji Sabi’u Sani-Isma’ila, Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Industrialisation and Micro-Credit Management Board, told journalists at the farm that the project would create 10,000 jobs for youths. The Executive Secretary spoke on Thursday shortly after inspecting the project at Gagara Kutare in Kubau Local Government Area of the state. Sani-Isma’ila told NAN that the project would strengthen national food security, facilitate import substitution, enhance job creation and wealth creation for self-reliance in rural communities. “The thinking of the new administration is to reduce rural poverty, curb unemployment by creating job opportunities for the youths and at the same time support national food security. “This can be achieved through the use of our God-given resources of fertile land, water resources and youthful population. “That is why w...

A lawmaker, Sen. Abubakar Yusuf, representing Taraba Central Senatorial District, said Nigeria had the capacity to meet the tea and coffee demands of the country if it had the right policies. The lawmaker said this at a news conference in Jalingo on Wednesday to mark his one year at the Senate. Yusuf said a bill to ensure tea and coffee policy for the country was in the pipeline. According to him, tea and coffee potential of the Mambilla plateau of Taraba will comfortably meet the national demand for the products and even earn the nation foreign exchange. He explained that the country’s current demand for tea was about 10 million tonnes per annum and it currently produced 1.2 million tonnes, which was a far cry from the requirement and huge potential. “The Mambilla plateau in Taraba has the best tea and coffee potential in the world, but as I speak, the country has not yet taken advantage of the opportunity to turn around its economy,” he said. Yusu...