"Agriculture is our V.1sest purSUIt because it wit In !he end contribuTe most to real wealth. good
BUSINESS
• Letlet from ThomasJettason
to George WashingtOn 117871
Wednesday 21 November 2012
BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonline.com
Food import is hurting local farmers - Adesina
"""" N GODFREY OFURUM. Aba
dependence on food Impons IS hurling local farmers, dlsplacmg local production ilnd creallng rising unemployment. This wu staled by Alanwuml AdeSlna,. mlniller of agriruIture.ln hU address al me opening cen:mony of the ongoing fif$lAba lnlftnational Trade Fau. holding al the Aba Recreation Club, saling "no natton can achieve nalional securlly and economic de,·elopmenl Wlthoul being food secure, as peace lind secWlly can only be assured when IheSlomach 1Ssecured.." Represenled by OIiri Ebere. a dlreclor In Ihe miniSD)', the minister scued,
":'IIlgeria, a nalion wllh aboul 165 million people wilh abundanr human and nalUral resources. several hundreds of thousands of arable land cannOI feed her populallon. saying Ihe nallon depended mostly on food !mpons 10 susQin her populalion wnh only four food !mpons gulpmg over:'lll oiillon annuaily. With the US nand-red and while winter wheal alone ac.couoting for N6lS bUlion. Rice, according to him, accounts for N356 billion. while sugar and fish :'1:217 billion and N97 billion. respectively. He reilerated Ihat Nlgerla·s fonner glory In global trade of groundnut ("'2"1.), palm oil (27"\1, cocca (1ft), conon O ...,)waslosl because while the country's
Osun partners German agric experts to improve food security REMI f!Y1~PO sun Sute Is parlnerlng German SUlle of Suony Anh~11 on Impro'ring agricultural activities and food securlry. The collabonllon, aimed al improving agric practices. wiU focus on how to modernise, mechanlse and Improve on the ex:istina agrlcuhural acdvltles of Ihe Sill Ie, wilh a view to guaranteeing Inaeased food securiry for the people of me
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lhis followed a seven·man delepdon of aperts drawn from German agrlc lector meellng with farmers' cooperauves In the state. soli scientists. animal husbandry experts and others.. Some of the aperts were drawn &om me Manin Luther Urnverslry In Magdebug. Ihe mlnlstry of agrlcuJture and the chamben of commerce and industry In the Siale of
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A GRIC
morals. and haPPIness'
compemon maimained their dominance due to Slrong marketing organisalion dun IlnUd the Carmen 10 mar\m and provided suppon in the form of improved planllng matenals. fertililer. credits and rural Infrastruclure, the country stagmued lhis meant thai we h;;lVe been unable 10 benefit from Ihe rapidly .. Ising global prices: he Stated. To averse this trend, he Slaled Ihal Ihe minlSlry had decided In Its Vision to move Nigeria to become an agriculluraUy Industrialised economy by reduclns the level of imporl of wheal from the currenl level of N635 billion per year. by subslhutlng .. 0 percent of wheat Dour used In bread and other confecdoner)' With high qualiry cassavII Dour.
Nigeria, others to benefit from $7.8m agric grant ilIandMelindaGatill!S Foundation hu gJven 51.8 milhon to Ihe Michigan State Umversit)' researchers 10 help "'Jigeria and 5e\o~n olher Afncan countries Improlle susWnable tuming methods. The grant. from Ihe Gales Foundalion Global Development Programme. will be used to help gUide pollcymaklng efforu to Intensify farming methods thai meel agricullural need I while Improving envlronmenral quality In Kenya, Malawi. \iall. Nigeria, Burkina Fuo. Zambia. Elhiopia an d Tanzania Programmes like Ibis are paramounl 10 Afnca, as demonstrated by more Ihan 52.5 billion In annual spending by African governments on agricultural inlensificalion. said Thomas layne. protect co·direclor and MSU agricultural, food
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November 09 - 15 2012 NI ena Cemmod!
and resource economln faculry member "All of rhe partners h~ve made a long · term commitment to help thiS reglon 's programmes reach thelt full potential: he laid "M5U has longslandlng experllse in thn field . and our commllment to Instilullon bUilding wu a major reason as to ",·hy the Gales Foundation put III IrUStln ..tSU for thiS grant.' Durins Ihe ne:1I four yean, Uie learn will work wnh 10 Afncan unh'enllies, insUlules and govemmenl ministries 10 promote effeclive govern men I strategies Ihal help Afrian farmers become more producti~ and food secure. The learn also will budd the capacII:y of natlonal policy Institutes to guide and suppon their own countries' agricuhure minlSlries and eventually accept and manage Intemauon.a! punts..
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Samny AnhaiL Germany The experts. who wen: on a week vislL toured the Catde Ranch at Oloblll Farm, Iwo Farm SetdemenL Toro Farm In fwu and Fq.Agro Farm in 1I0ko·ljma. The visil. which Is being handled by theQuick Impaa Intervenllon Programme (QIIP), featured a technical review session InVOlving the mlnlmies of apicultUR! and food security, mlnislry of commette, co-openllives and empowennenL and the Osun Stale Universiry. nele Ogundipe. a senior special assistant to the Own State governor; leads QllP. GoYemorRaufArqbesola said bill visil to the German lIale earlier In May Ihls yea .. had brought about the a~landlhevisilofthe
German experu. Aa:ordlng 10 the pl'YftllOr. the 5Q~ is wriI endowed and needed 10 be tapped. asking me e.pens Ir assisl In Impl"O\ing on the 11" ~e of agricultural prllCtice fl.. the sate.
American NGO spotlights smallholder 'lfme~ ... C-Wgm~12
also use Ihe pan.Afrlcan agribusiness forum as II mean to showcase panners, supporting the pliinicipalions of six small enterprises to demonstrate bOlh the innovative work being done at thecommunlry level as well as Ihe finandal, technological and service nuds of small enterprises
in Senegal. The forun organised by Beillum.base 'orpnisalloo called E.\IRC wi.' take place in collaboration w, h Food and Agricultural Organisation, the Rabobank Fo·mdalion, Kwara Slate. the lorum for Agtlcultural Research in Africa. UnlBRAlN, Africare, Syngenta Foundation. USAID, and Amir.tn iCen)..
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