DAILY TRUST
Tuesday, July 5, 20 11
19
Business Ecobank shareho ld ers get 33 % rise in dividend
11Tmml •
From Ka)'Olte Ekundayo, ~gltl
Nigeria gets $1.36bn from cassava bio control-IITA By Sunday Wimams NIGERIA has benditted aboutSI.36 billion oul of the S 1.7 biUion cas§;I\'i1.
green mile biological control program of the lllternalionai Institute for Tropical Agriculture. the institute has said. It 5a.id tliat SenUl and Ghana howe also bmdium about $305 million and 554 million. respectivdy in the last 18)Tan. A statement from lITi\. said Dr.
Ousmanc CoulibaJ),. IITA Agricultural Economist describes the figure R
as '3 cons.er.'31h-e atima le.
"The
figure
repr~ts
the
OUTlounllhose counlrid would have
s~n t O\~r the ynrs on other me-tho ods such as chemical control and 0.yield lossa ifthey n~'ef adopled biological control;- says Coullbal)' duringa srminar in Ibadan. The C3."53va green mite 15 a pest lh31 lva5 responsible for ~Iween 30 and.50 percent yield loss or cassava in Africa, unLiI a narural enemyohhe pet helped contLin thrde\"llSIalion. In 1993,sdrntisu rrom IITAand partners identified T)l'hlodromalus aripo. as oneorlhe m051 efficient memies against cassava grren mite, an d the introduction orT.aripo reduced pest populations by as much as 90 pttCcnl in th e dry seuon when pest populaLions are usually high; In the:
w~1
sason, pest allacks
........
aTe
not as
pat through 1M application ofloxic ~micals
'\:aripo wu fil5l rdetSc:d on cassava rarms In Benin aftu it had been transported from Bru~ and, subsequ ently, in 11 countries and is now confirmed as established in all ofthem, euepl Zambia. T. aripo has also spread inlo Togo and elite d'ivoire from nc'ighboring countries. It spread al about 12 km in the firsl rear. and a.~ much as 200 km in the second )""Car. Today, the cassava green mite p~tor has betn established on more Ulan 400,000 sqUatT kilonl~ers or Africa$ cassava growing arta5. Sdentists say Ihe conlrol or the
was rukd out because of
possible ad\nse efreds of chnnicals on illiterate farmcnand the environmenL
Also, di~ pathogms and pcst5 troo to gradually devdop resistance to chemical pesticide! O\"rf lime. Moreo'o"rf, most chnnkal pt'Slicidl'S sclecth'c and might dtstroy the natural mtmies and the pests
a~ no!
together.
Consumed by mOTC than 200 million people in ~ub Saharan Africa. ca<;SaV3 is a stople food that is rich In calories. highly drought toleran t, thriving In poor soil5 a.nd rasy to store In Ih~ ground.
SHAREHOLDERS or Ecobank Transna tional Inc, the parent company o r the Ewbank Group .....ill receil·e iI 33 per cen t Incr~ase: in dividend paym~nts this rear rollo ..... ing a resolution approl'ed at the sroups Annual General Mreting held in Lomi, Togo, last l'iea. Addressing shareholdeTS at the AGM, the group chairm;m,Mr. Kolapo ....w_ son said haling established a slfong geographical plat· rOfm ror groll1.h. the bank can now focus on the inte· gration and optimizatlon or business to muimilt" shue holder v;l\ue. . In 20 10. Ewbank gen· erated revenues o( 5900 million and profit after tax doubled to S 132 million. The Group·s total assets surpassed the SSIO billion mark ror the first tIme. d riven largely by a 22 pe r cent groWlh in deposits. Ecobank no ..... operntrs in)5 countries and has 755 brancht!$ and oUictS. Thedl;!.irman, on behalr or the Board, Slated tliat . the be5t years ror Ecobank lie ahead as the benefits of expansion, growth and its unique operating modd arc fully rralitrd. -"'e will co ntinue our slratc-gy ofincreuing mn· ket share and rel·cnuts whilst plugging any gaps In ou r pan· African rootprlnt;he said.
Forex:CBN intervenes with Sl.7bn From Kayode Eltunda~o,
Ltgos THE Ccntral bank or N igcria (CBN) pumped 51.7 billion into th~ Foreign Exchange Market in the mo nth o(June. Yesterday, 5500 mil· lion was auctioned by the CBN. the highcst since the beginning or Ih~ yea r. In the month or June, the apex regulatory body auctioned 5400 million ,wice. The luwesl in the mo nth was $200 million. In a mcmo to all authoril:rd deal~rs Signed b)' D.F Owotabi, director, Finandall\·larkel Department o( CRN, the apeI bank said all aUlhorized dealers are invited to submit their bid reques ts for WOAS·SI'T through Reuters dealing 3000 Xlra 10 theCBN
-A l~o at th e WOASFWD, the CBN inviles bids ro r J monlh te nor maturing 04/07/11, 2 month tenor mat uring
02/08/1 1 and 3-monlh
accounts with the C RN a re adequately funded at th e lime or d isbursement , ra iling which · the bids would bedisqualified.
I <) ~ioal[ing <> Steaming <) Drying RICE MILLING PLANTS Cleaning 9Husking 9 Separation Polishing 9Grading 9Packaging
A,.iI.ble from 6tons per day to 200tons per day ~SYNiERtJY
,Ie
Honest Eled
Sardauna Venture
eXPORTS PVT, LTD.
B/Slop. Pf~ 121·131, Os_·ApI!pa