a..
DAILY TRUST AGRICULTURE .F_~~run.a"'~Bm. . . ..u. . . .[. .~. . . . . . . .u.""""'''~~....~~mg. .~
26 j -Tue,da Y,AU9 ust7,2012
Poor fert il ization, droug ht _th reaten food secu I'ity in Jfigel'ia From~IJrdy Umma.Owe'"
POOR fmLizlltion, drought, lim! amlbactcrill diseases that affect plants such as cassava roots have been idl'fltifted as the major con· straintS mm.lcrung food security in the countr f. Director Gener.U. National Biot<..'c hno1ogy I>e\-dopmC'nt~mc, t NABDA)and O pen Forum lJ n Agricultural Biolcdmol-
ogy (OFAR), !'ro( BcrnkIeic Ogbo Solomon, hrs-.aid. Speiking I( the July edition oflhc forum h~ In Oweni. the DG said Nlgeriil gro"N!: min cassava Iban anyotht-r ClU1\try In the world yet its productl::m is conCfiltr.l.led in the hands of I mall farmers in Ule south and the central rrgions of OIl' ",..>try.
Pro( Solomon regreued that tbcsc fanntn ha\"e continued to fuz, dweasinl:yiddoftheproduu as a result 01 WeoMs and biotic. constrainrs. poer ~hdf of cassava rootJ which CUI r,!f)der it unmarketable after tim.'C d ly.afharve5lillg. Cas· sal'll. he R id,em be proccssal into different form ; such as (loor, cake, brud, wmlJ I popularlyrefermJ to as Afriall all,) , fu fu, among other \~e5
He desoil eel cusava as an imponant ~)()d security crop and liOUTCeof rau Inaterial for diffe rent industri!!S nJt only in Nigeria but across the c, )ntinents, adding that its growing d"mand is due t(J its lIliLi1..atk'n a: hl'eStock feros. In his ten~ -k, Minister- of Agriculturea nd I lu ra! De"dopme nr Dr. AJdn ....'Umi .\ c.esina regretted that Nigeria IS the ·.... orlds great!!St produC('r of cas loa la bu t her relevance in the ..... urld trade of cusava IS not visible. He attribJt!d the cause to the planting of ll"impto\-m varieties, pooc Inana;:e:nent practices and poor p""o; ir g infrastructure. The mi ni ;1t r. represented at the occasion bYlhe Regional Director South-EMII,f rhe Ftder.al Ministry of Agricull n , Dr. Uche Nwafor. said tha t lht nrinistry is curren lly driving nev ' t-'Conomic acti\'ities for the caSSJ\iI l'J.l ue chain wit h emplw;is on the produclion of high quali!") Cus:l'r.l floor. nath'e and ml)l\ific;J ';tarches, dritd chi p5 amongOlhelli,
House to (reatefood securitylfilnd ByJuTilId A. H.ma n T H E I fa un ofRepresentati\,cs Is ~otUiderin8 • legislation that will ~dress the lingering problem of fQOds«urily nNigeria. Aln:.dy, II I: ill seeking to establish the ~ r'(»ld Security Advancement Fllnd (fOSAFr has scaled first re;lding in the House on ThursJ:IY,
Niger state targets 1m metric tons of rice per annum In this interview, Niger State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mohammad Kwatu Abdullahi, said that local rice is morenutritiousthan polished rice. He spoke extenSively onagricultural potentials of thestate especially in the production of rice, yam and Shea butter as well as theproblemsandsolutions of agriculture in the state. Excerpts: From Aiyu M. Hamagam, MlnRil HOW can the production of rice in Niger State complement the FWenJ GovemmC'nt', campaign on Its mush'e production in the country! The production of riC(' in Niger State is about 600,000 metric lans per annum. \\'c are working toward one million metric tons per annum. The~ aR programmes that are being put in place and hopefully by the end of the progr.ammc the state can product uw;r o lle million m etric Ions per annum. The Slate is in coUaboration ....ith Rice Im'CStmen l Consortium and Central Bank, becaU5e .....e are not only talking about upstream now but also abou t down stream production. Upsucam is the production of rice from the farm wh ile down stream is the processing of the rice lO the cotUumers' point. We are thinking of having some certain machines in place thal \\ilI g"~ us quality rice after harvest. We need to have e\'ery component on groulld as far as the machines are concerned. You know local rice is the most nutri ti ous and the only thing needed is to add value to it by re moving the chaff and the stones and once that bdone it ....ill be polished commodity thai will meet the in ternationill standard We han· realiz,:d that some people from oth~r states come here and take our paddy and process it In other places, hence the decision dlat sinC(' we prodoce a lot ' 'it should be able lO mill it hen:.. 11lOugh, we hal'e 5mall mW ing machines al l O\'er the stal e but our plan is ror abiggermUlln g machine which we are working a! present in collaOOr.l.lion Wi lh printe investors. Thegovcrnment isonlycoming in is as a dri\'ing forC(' for providing risk free environment for large-scale processing o f rice that will meet intemational 5tandard. Nigeria is the largesl producer of ya m, What is th e 1I!'\'e! of ram llroduction in the stale? Productio n of ya m in Nige r State is about 15 metric tons per hectare and the stale produces about two million metric to ns per annum. But the grnt.est challenge faci ng fanum in the state is the method of preservation, as it happened lasl )'ear where the stale experienced a ~ut in yam production, I-I owever. the state go\'e rn menllscoming utt with I solution to ~ddress the problem of excess prOduction o f man of Ihe crops in the stale. The slate gO\'emmmt is comi ng up \lith a plan to establish • conditio ning centre for th e preservation of produce, like cassava, pm, tomatoes etc, " 'e have
,
MOHAMMAD Kwatu Abdullahl already identifltd partners for the project. one of the m is to assist in ClItT)'ing out a feasibility st udy and we have also identified another partner that is going to provide a c~ rtai l1 percentage of the fund req uired (o r the projecL Ilhink It ",ill not take longbefore lhe project takt-s ofTbecause we have gone far in the prepar.ation. The Federal Gonrnment introduced a new mdltod oHel.tiliu rdistribution in the count." lilis }'ea r, the e-wallet, How successful is e-wa llet In Ni ge r Stale! Not quit e sllctmful, th ough it is a pilot programme, You know we waJl lto cOI'er about 14.000 farmers in the Slate but. according to lIle last report made available to me. there were just about 4,000 fanners !lut got the commodilY. Though, this infomlation is for sometime back. I am su re by now th e fi g. u re must have go ne th ree to four times of those that got the supply, The roll out for th e e-wallet pfO+ gramme is suJlPOSed to be for th ree weeks but il was later d iscol'eTed that alens were nOI coming 10 th e faoners U 5uffidenlly as it should be, so \I was later extended 10 six weeks, Don't forget th is information that I :trn sh>l ring 11'1111 yo u
b1e o utbreak of disaster, These che micals are always lhere ~ar in year out. Wh at we usual ly do is the year before their expiration, lh l!'SC chemical will be disposed of( an d replenished. We can use th ese chemicals against outbreak o f locust or army ants. Ni ger State is blessed with shn buttertrees, C2II you please tell U J th e ecooomic viability of these lues! Fo rtunatdy fo r us these tr«s that grow wild u eabundant in the state, We have not even do mes ti cated them . they grow wUd and produce·l lot offrults. The.re are seve ral women groups th.t are full y engaged in the productio n and processing of shea bUlleT to finished goods. Fadama III programm e is working very closely with the51!' grou ps and lhey are doing wo nd erfully. They produced finished goods li ke soa p, pomadeandcookingoil from the. butter extracted out of th e frullS, We a re now thinking on how to domesticate these lieu, we have also se nsitized ou r farmers aga inst cutting them down. The state government is also contemplating on creating plantation for - shu Qutter trees in the state. What ha,'e you identify as a problem of fam li ng ill Niger Slate Ind wbal is th e gO I'emment doi ng to add ress th e problem! The problem offarming which 15 not only peculiar to Niger State is the )'o uth ha,·e abandoned the now was rrud e availa ble to meon farm and left the business in the the first week of the commence· hands of the aged. That is wh y, ment of the new fertilizer distri we in Niger State want to make button system and I am therefore farmin g not o nl y a lucrath'e \'enlu re. but also less strenuous. We expecting more reports this week. The programme is already in its are lucky in the stale that we hal'e fourth week and I am sure by now ado pted most of th e. technologies more farmers migh t have been th at ease thl' hardsh ip in farming. able to redeem th ei r allocations. That is why you can see a lot of You knOI\.' inlhe past, we used to ag ro-chemical companies in the distribute 25.000 metric lonnes state. You know in the put peoin.collaboration.l'oith.lhe.Ied~ple..wecd.manuallpnd tbal.JIwie.. gO\'Crnmenl and so metimes the expansion virtually impoSSible state makes its locaIl(J"Inge menl but with adopt io n of the U5l!' of to provide additional suppl yofthe agro·chemlcals the problem has commodity for th e. fa nn ers. 'n le become th e issue of the pas l. What legacy do r0ti wish to state has already ke)'ed in to the ncw progr.amme introduced by"the leave behind as Cbommissloner fedcr.a1 gOl'emment for distribuof Agriculiurel tion offertllittr through GSM. In 11 is my wish to see that a 101 the past we did dist ribute the com- o f people. particularl y the youth modilies through Ward Devclopadopt fa rm ing as a business. We menrCommillees. wan t 10 make it a , 'enlure tha t is Recenli ),. there was a repu rl profitab le and capable of encour' from Food and Agricult ura l aging the youth togo back toland, Organization on the possible It Is our dream 10 see each and 111I'Ulon of locusts in Sahel every N lgerlitc has three Jquare countries in which Northcrn meals o n his table and beliel'e Nigeria faUs. What me.j ure has me. we have started reaching thal Niger Slate gO\'enlm ent put i.n lel'e! in the state beause las l )'Car place to co nt ai n an y possible there was yam glUl. That Is lhe u utb~k ! lype of le\'el th at we wish to reach Nige r State has sufficient stock on every o the r crop cullll'aled in o f chemicals against any possilhe state,