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 ...

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...

ABUJA- THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, at the weekend disclosed that Nigerian Agricultural trade has hit N261. 92 billion in second quarter of 2017, which represents 4.60 per cent. Ogbeh made the disclosure at the launch of Nigeria Agribusiness Resource Centre, NARC, in Abuja, for agricultural investment and sponsored by Africa Lead. The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Buka Hassan, said agricultural export from the country was 0.9 per cent out of the total exports in second quarter of 2017. According to him destinations of exports in the second quarter include Asia- 66.38 per cent, Europe -24.98 per cent, Americas- 4.37 per cent, Africa -3.88 per cent and the Oceania- 0.39 per cent. Agricultural commodities exported were cashew nuts, which worth N13.5 billion representing 45.4 per cent of the total agriculture exports and 1.37 per cent of total exports. "Cashew nut export to Vietnam wa...

Scientists are now using Semi-Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH) technology to speed up the propagation of clean cassava planting materials. Mr Godwin Atser, the Communication Expert of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), made this known via a news statement on Tuesday in Abuja. He said that the use of SAH technology for cassava multiplication was the brainchild of the “Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Seed System for Cassava (BASICS)’’ project. He said that the SAH technology involved the use of modified soil, holding plant roots in planting pots with little water. “Usually the trays are filled with a little amount of water and the soil transports the moisture up to the plant roots; yet the top of the soil remains relatively dry. “The roots are encouraged to grow down, and the dry soil on top discourages damp-off and other diseases caused by excess moisture,’’ he said. Dr Peter Kulakow, a cassava breeder with IITA, s...

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had recorded tremendous achievements in agriculture. He disclosed in Abuja that the feats of the party in agriculture were, however, not adequately reported. He berated some media houses for always making headlines with negative stories while ignoring such success stories. The President of the Senate noted that in the area of rice farming and processing, Nigeria under the APC government, had risen to a point where it would soon be completely self sufficient. “You can see what the APC government is doing in agriculture but this is something we don’t talk about, the success that the APC government has made is tremendous. “Am sure in a few years time we will be self sufficient in rice and that is a major achievement for a country that is always importing rice to now get to the stage where we no longer have to import rice. “But how often do y...

Jigawa Government on Tuesday announced plans to distribute ultra-modern mini rice mills, harvesters and other implements to boost rice production in the state. Alhaji Jamilu Usaman-Danmalam, Special Adviser to the state governor on Rice Production and Value Chain said the implements would be distributed to youths under the government cluster farming scheme. The special adviser said in an interview on Tuesday in Dutse, that the items would be issued to the young farmers on loan. He listed the farming implements to include 100 mini rice milling machines, 100 single row planters, 100 double row planters, 100 mini thrashers, 300 handheld harvesters and 574 manual sprayers. “The government has concluded all arrangements for this exercise and all the items are on ground. “We are done with compiling the names of the beneficiaries and we will soon call them for distribution. “This is part of our plans to empower and encourage youths to go into farming. ...

Rice millers in Kano State have attributed the high cost of locally-produced rice to the increasing cost of production of the commodity in the country. Mr Liman Muhammed, spokesperson, Medium and Small Scale Rice Millers Association in the state, said this during a visit to some rice mills in Kano on Wednesday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the price of 50kg locally-produced rice ranges between N20,000 and N22,000 while that of imported rice is between N12,000 and N15,000. “For locally-produced rice, the cost of production is high. Our people are used to the imported rice but with government’s intervention, we are seeing good quality rice. “Most imported rice have spent more than 10 years in the storage and are not good enough but the local rice has more nutritional value. “The number of people consuming local rice is increasing and if everybody along the rice value chain is empowered, the cost of production will reduce,’’ he said. He ...

The Federal Government and state governments have called on China-Africa Machinery Corporation (CAMACO) to slash its interest rate on its proposed 4.5-billion-dollar farm mechanisation loan to one per cent. The governments made the request on Thursday during a meeting of the Technical Implementation Committee of CAMACO with state Commissioners of Agriculture in Abuja. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was sequel to the 2016 meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and Chinese President Jinping in China, where Jinping promised to grant Nigeria a loan for infrastructural development. The loan is to enable China to supply farm machinery, ranging from tractors and bulldozers, to facilitate mechanised farming in the country. Dr Bukar Hassan, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the reduction of the interest rate would encourage state governments to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), prior to the supp...

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say they are targeting provision of food and livelihood for 1.8 million persons in two Northern states. Mr Douglas Mercado, the Deputy Country Director of WFP, said this at the National Consolidation Workshop on Cadre Harmonise of Food and Nutrition Insecurity Analysis in 16 states of Northern Nigeria. Mercado said in Abuja on Friday that the move was to assist vulnerable households to recover their livelihoods and achieve food security following the crisis in the area. He said the assistance would come through the distribution of food items and cash transfers of N23, 000 each to the affected persons. “By December last year, we reached one million people in Yobe state through food distribution, cash transfer and supplementary nutrition. “ We plan to scale up to reach 1.8 million people between April and May. We will continue to use the Cadre Harmonise’ to reach th...

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...

 Mr. Damisa Enahoro, Commercial Manager Tractor & Implements; Mr. Antti Ritvonen, Country Manager/CEO; Mrs. Mirian Deinde, Company Secretary, Head Legal & Compliance/HR and Mr. Humphrey Otalor, Marketing Communications Manager, all of Dizengoff Nigeria, during a press conference to announce Dizengoff as the exclusive distributor of CASE tractors in Nigeria. Dizengoff  Nigeria, Number one agricultural solution provider, has announced an international partnership with CASE IH, a global leader in agricultural equipment manufacturer during a press conference in Lagos. The announcement was made by the CEO/Country Manager of  Dizengoff  Nigeria, Mr. Antti Ritvonen.  Speaking at the announcement ceremony, Antti Ritvonen said “We are very excited to be partnering with Case IH in the area of providing quality tractors to the Nigerian farmers, as we intend to improve farming substantially as well as revolutionize the Nigerian agricultural sector thr...

An agriculturist, Prof. Godfrey Nzamujo, on Thursday urged the three tiers of government in the country to adopt the Songhai model of agriculture to boost food security and fight poverty. Nzamujo, speaking in Abuja, said that the Songhai model, which involved integrated farming, should be adopted because of its capacity to boost agricultural productivity considerably. He said that the government should change its approach in its efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding that it should adopt the Songhai model, which relied on the use of God-given resources, to accomplish this target. He said that the Songhai model had demonstrated that with deliberate investment in agriculture, Nigeria would be able to increase its revenue and reduce its dependence on petroleum as its sole foreign exchange earner. Nzamujo said that the Songhai model was an innovative approach that could be used to tackle challenges, such as food insecurity and poverty, enviro...

Mr Kayode Afolabi, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFN), Osun state, said the three tractors donated to farmers in the state by a federal lawmaker would go a long way to boost agriculture. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Hon. Lasun Yussuf, the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, on Saturday donated three tractors to farmers in his constituency. Afolabi told NAN in Osogbo that though the tractors were donated to farmers under Osogbo/Olorunda/Orolu/Irepodun Federal Constituency, they would still be made available to assist members of AFAN in the state. “ The tractors donated are under the supervision of AFAN in the state, and it would go a long way to assist farmers in their operations. “ The tractors would be made available to farmers at a price, because money is needed to maintain and fuel them. “ Though the lawmaker specifically donated the tractors to farmers in four local government areas under his constituency, but as a unified body, it wo...