122
DAlLY TRUST
fuesday, May 1,2012
Agriculture
NIWA acquires 2weed harvesters to clean up River Niger _ -r
8rShehu Abubat-r, who wasln l.otaj<;
Managing Dir«tor ofNIWA, Arch Ahm~d Aminu Yar'adua
THE Natiunil Inland Water-
said whll~ conducting Dclily Tnu' mund thf' equipment at the river sitt thai weWs would
ways Authori ty (NIWA ) hilS acquired two weed harvestcn to enable iI undertake regula.. cltaring ofwetds from the River Niger.
no more be allowed to grow in the riVCf. He said that the massive growth of wa:ds In the dredged
river Niger WIS affecting smooth navigalionalacl!vities. Yar'adua said the two swamps DevU i\VC· l01 harvestcn wert specifically meant for clearing water hyacinth and other aquatic weeds ilnd would b~ dcpJoym in all the mland watcrwa),s in the
country to ensure thai navigational ilctivities in ,II tJu~ dredged channels were safe and smooth. He 51..id rather than allow weeds in lIle dredged channels of the inland W3terwayslo grow and hamp« smooth navigation in the river. the equipment would
be used for the periodIc clearing and cleansing of the river for optimal ulillution. He said the weeds han-est ers were one of the mechanical cqulpmenu best suited fo r Intervention towards opening up of blocked waterwa)'5 that is very' rampanl In the dredged river Niger and olher Inland wllerways in the country. He said in addition to the dredged River Niger that the weC'Ch harvesters would be required to for periodic dearing of the grassC'S. as soon as the ongoing dredging orthe Orashi River was completed. the wttds harVC'Sten would also be required for simil;u during of grasses: within Ihe dredged Onshl River. Contnct for the dredging of th e Orashl River from Oguil iake in Imostate to Dt'gema in Rivers state has been awarded to Simidia S and I Internatjonal Compan y al the sum ofN2.028.600.000.00 and u; e.xpt'Cted to be compleled within o ne yra r. The 205 icilo mele)'5 river is expected to be dredged with a bed Width of 40 meten. lOp width of 70 meters and depth below dredging chart datum of 1.5 melen. The Orashi River is the second after river Niger 10 be dredged among the Inland walerways in the countr)".
farmers, Nasarawa govt disagree over fertilizer from HI, J!Mph. I aliC1
NA5ARAWA :>llIte govern~1 has set asi~ Nr·on million for lhe purclwc and sule of assorted fer tiliur to &nne--s in Ihe 5tate. the 20 12 budgel br!akdown re:!C'a$C'd t..5t week has sh )Wl1. [Jut farmers n lIle Slate were of the view tNit lh ! allocation woUld notimpruveOll lx:chaJlengathry fuce in ;!CCJuiriflJ:. fertilizers. The f'rme!"· Iloted that gD\ emment U5Ua.l11l p3}'5 Up ~ fO ISSUC':!I of fcrtl.izu while l'anner$ groaned Wlder the realltr aboullhe non -av;dlabillty of the commodity
OUt in lIle market t r _'" lIle hands of business people ~ho hawked the chemicab at outf1l&eouli prices.. Daily Trust check m-eals lIlal wllh the commencemenl of the planting season farmen! were b«oming wary of govemmmL Our conespondent also found that in lIle past poliLicians and tntdiLionaJ ruten. had fertiliu:r allocations.. The de\-dopment SIIW Ibe commodity In the hands of personsotherthilfl farmers, who then opened &bops where it wa.s sold at prices twia: higher than what was officially supposed to go to fann -
on.
The Ieadttshlpof the All Farmer$ AS5OCiation ofNigeru (AFAN). in the Slale said they ~ yet to see any practical resuh from the current administration which 1CCOfding 10 them, -is talldng change wilhoul practica.lly showing it." State chairman of MAN. Mathew Akwe told Daily Trust 00 phone thai farmen in the state ~ made to fill forms ilial do nol translate tomythingpractical f(M'" them. ~My peopIelin even thtnkin~ I am deceiving them. \Ve do not know what the gm~mmenl i5 doing in temls offerti.llzer_We areonlyget· ling pmmi5eS- Noting pr3tlicallo
Kogi State govtto support (otton armers from Osman A. 8ellG,. Lokoja THE Kogi Stab. Government has promi.sed to Ulisl cotton iarmenln the state to access fad lities that ",'t"lUld assist impl'O'lt their productiVIty. Governor, Wris Wada. made the pledge when he receh ed a ddegation of National Cotlon AssocIation of Nigeri.3 (NACOTAN ). in the St_lte lind South· WC'5 t states o( Nigeria. Capt Wad.. who was represented by his f"I~ty, Arc Y(Yni Awonlyi, sa1d hls traMfor mJI r:'" agenda placa priority on agriculture wil ilihe growth of colton which the state hl$ ~.,r.paratiVC' adnntage'. ' rn- GoVU--IOT promised ' 0 'o:pc:!;lOn agrn.:uh .. re in the sto!.''(' 'uy aealm g an eOI-
bling environment for the growth of COllon since It thriva better In the nate in vtcwofit vasl.rable land and rich soil. He said agriculture, If properly hune55ed. would usul in enhancing Ihe5late'5 revenue to complement the dwtndling monthly statutory allocation from the fcd eration account. Earlier, Ihe Kogi State Secretary of NACOTAN. Victor Akubo, urged the SllIte tosupport the association in the provision of (eniliz.er. traclon IS well ascrcdit b.cUlties to boost production. In her remark, the South-Yo'e51 President ofNACOTAN. Mrs Lola Ad~. commended the Ilate government for Its support 10 the sector. urging thC'm to make the production of cotton a pn.:;Ji. y.
talk about': he said Hesaid -our expectation from government is urn. Nothing is coming. Nothing is happening: only promises: He said gm'C'ITImenl has nOC rnched out to farm ers to begin any process for fertilizer this cropping season.But a Speoal Adviser" on Political Affw-s 10 the governor. Zakari Iddt. said Ihe government has conduded plans for the purchase and saleofrertiliur to farmers. diRCtly. He said the result of lasl year's experiment when AIMakuta took OVC'r, was Impres5ive. and SO"~ment intend!; La
adopt the mcthod of distribution which is to uke fertilizer dirC'CIly to farmers at local governments and waro51eveL -it Is possible that when you Issue forms. the fonru grt into wrong hands. We want tocontinue with last year's experimenl ~ 10 lake fertilizer to fanners directly. nO( to givnccording 10 forms issued out. It can turn OUI that those )'00 issue fonru maybe middle mm,orpolititians who l\illlUrn round and sell to fanners al high costs. The p erllor wants to .void diversion. He WInts farmers 10 grt fertiJIw-, not middlemeu~ he said
Kana farmers get quality, packaging training from HallIN Mus.I, Kano
ity·of their farm produce and packaging that thq can compete favorably with their count~rparu In the world market," said Amin. In his remark. Alhaji Shehu Muham mad Barkum. Commercialization and Business Development Officer of Ihe Project said they had decided to engage e.xpf'.rts (0 conduct n,e research so as to impact on farmers the best way to allain standard quality In the processing and packaging of crops being cultiVllted for both domestic and Internalional mar ket. He added that such knowledge was necC'5$ary as it would make lhe farmers earn more money $0
FARMERS in KanoSt.te bendllting from the commercial agriculture devdopment pmjC'Cl W~ introducC'd to quality control skills to enable them impro\~on IhequalIly and packaging ofthdr farms produce'. Dr Kabir Amin. a consultant on the project uid that the training wu aimed at providing nrmers with the nC'CC5$lry information that would improve Ihequality and packaging of thdr farm produce. -The aim of this ....·orkshop Is 10 trallSmit the finding5 of the research carried out to the rice, maiU' and d:r.iry farmers with a view 10 equipping them with the basic skills on how to tmpro~on the qual -