"'think our governments will remain
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virtuous (or many centuries; as long as dley are chiefly agricuhura!: · 1homas Jeffel'iOo
mOLA AJAKAIYE 0 his detenninalion 10 ruengthenlhecapachy or farmers and boost food produc tion In Kino s tale. Ihe Iiale governor, Rab"u Musa KWln kwaso , hll mlde Iva illble 74 ri ce threshing machines wonh millions of naira. The machines were pan of those brought in 10 yellrs I go during his firsl lenure b UI were dis carded by the SUo;essQr Idminisualion. Speaking during the event which took pllce at the Government House lawn II Ihe weekend. Governor KWlnkwlSo slid the machines, valued al abOIll N120, 000 each , would be sold It SO percent below their COlI price to the beneficiaries. adding that proceeds (rom the sale would be used to purchase falm inputs. According 10 him. barring unforeseen developments, el c h thruher hiS the c apacity to proceu II mulmum of 10 lonnes of rice dally and Is capable of provldingjob opponunlty for at least sill: people. IUllifying Ihe government 'l decision Ie) provide the Implement, he disclosed Ihll II was pan of deliberate sirategiu to alleVlllle poverty through Ihe cre-ation of more job. In line
I
Kano gives out 74 rice milling machines to farmers at subsidised rates
with the Idmlnlstrallon's human developmenl agenda. ·Our locally produced rice Is of qUlliry; in facl, better than lome of the Imported varieties. What we don 't have Is the appropriate proceulng lechnology: Ihe governor maintained. He u:preued his
lAPO to train 275 farme rs in Edo State lORIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin pari of effortl to bool! agricultural activities In do lIale , the management of Uft Above POYertY Organisation (lAPO) inmnjunctionwithilsGerman parmer has concluded plllIl to min 275 imall sca.Je farmm in theRaIe. The training which is pan of capacity building arm of the organlsa llon Is geared lowardi Ira n sformlng the farmen from lubs.islence. 10 commercial level. AndIew Udah., prognmme manag~ LAPO Agrlcuhure Extension Services disclosed Ihls al Iguadakpa CommuniI}' in Ovia Soulh - West local ~mmmt area ofEdo Rate in a brm emerpdse U"Blning workshop organl5ed for 5maUscale farmen weekend. Udah said OUI of Ihe 275 farm en largeled by the organisation aero.. the Wit. 125 perJoru have 50 far benefilled in EdoSouth mne. addin, Ihll very loon the traJn!ng would be enended to Edo Nonb and Central
.Ai
tetlaIOrial district respectively.
He added that the capacity trainlnB lo r fa rmer. wu initialed .bout 2009 noting Ihll.t it only Clme effective February20l2.
-The Initiative has been on for about truee years now but effectively, we Jlaned this capachy building training. february' 2012 . So, since early February, we have been going from communlry 10 community. \'lhal we do is 10 gel a duster .sample from various communities around the local governmenL Then we bringlhem together and orpnlse mmung for them. lie pOll ted Ihat the beneficiaries would be giftn educational mau~rialJ 10 learn more about fanning activities asweUumooitorbyenmsion oftk:e:n 10 ucertain their ieve.I of undemanding. Facilillton at the InlIning Include, Eddy Onemnlease of Ambros.e Am Universiry, Ekpoma. Sunny Oriafo, chief e:nensioo officer; &10 ADP and .... ho Godfrey who represen ted the ,ule governmenL SunnyOriafo, In hLs lecture educated the fannen on me value chain of commerdal farmilll and the agriculrunl po!lciu of tbe federal governmen t which he said IU1! oQW based on the planting of aopc that have comparatM advan~ges In diffennl geo· poUIia.! wnes of Nigeria.. He urged the farmers, to by InIO the polides which he nO led would cootribute a 101 10 thler farming activities II well n thai of the lmmedhllesodety.
government ' l resolve 10 provide necessary Impiemenllio flnneR in Ihe 5Ille in order 10 ennance tileir producllvilY gelred toward I llaining se.lf-sufficlency In food production. HelHed theoppommitytO announce that the revllallud Kano Agricultural Supply
Complny (KASCO) would lilan production any lime soon, uplain!ng Ihat the company now has the ca~ry 10 produce enough lenili%er to be. distrlbUled directiy 10 farmers In the. Sllle In the fonhcoming nUny season. In hili remarb. Mohammed T. Bel.io, chalrman. All Farmen'
March 23 - 30 2012
Assodadon ofN'gerla (MAN).
Kino Sllle branch, said the usodadonwuddlgliledwith the commitment of the stale government in aClUall'Llng a ITBctorisalion programme, provision of lOft loans 10 farmen, timdy provision of fertilizer to farmen. among others.
US~lm project to boost yam ~rodu(tivity in
Nigerla, Ghana new inuiallve 10 booM y;un produetMry and double the Incomes r 3 million ylm £anneq In West Afnca has been alllll;tLloeti by tile.llllemationai h\Sll U1 f of Tropical AgricuIrure (lIT... JIhd a lto5lolpanners. 1 b ~1I Inltlal lve is und.the Vhm ImpfOvemelll for 11Ioom ~ Ind Food Securiry if' WtII Alrica (V1IFSWA) pmjed. which III suppDlted by I USSl 2 mlllJm l gram from the Bill" Mel ,n,la Giles Foundallon l.ed ~ IITA In collaboration will he gove rnments of Gha-u and Nigeria, Ihe UK', Naill n I RewurcH Inslitule {NRJ~ the .o\II1aIv:.e b a G~ JW,,:,lulion in Africa (AGRA ). and C lthollc Relief Services (CR5). The VIIFSWA proj«l ....ilIloc us till inaeuing yields thm.", ,benerstoed tubersupp/y and LfII PrDYing ~ ix this und"'l-;rotlnd. edible rubef.xnc of which Itt IS 5tni1II 81 a fist. uthtr1 as II1l IS a man. -1Ut;hl now. most farmen cult v,lte yams mainly for hou~hold consumption, bul If_ a.n Increa5e yidds, while '1110 Implovlng markellng oOQlilihns. then many or Ihese l'armer.. sbooId be. able 10 earn IltUdf Income from growing yams: &aid IITA's DireClor Genetsl NIErail)'B Sangjnga.
A
Nigeria Commodity Index