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DAILY TRUST
Friday, August 12, 2011
Business/Agric
===
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IAfrica does not support agric research' e,rlJlolA. HHHn
Agriculture
and
Rural
Devdopment, Dr. Adesina CHAJIU.M N ofNcwPart-
Akinwumi on Monday in
ncrship (or Africa Devel-
AbuJa. Tukur said Nigeria
opment (NEPAD) businC$s group, Dr. Bamanga Tukur has said agriculture
canno t continue to depe nd on international donors to grow a nd strengthen Its resutch Institutions
r~arch
in Nigeria and
Arritu is laf&dy (und«J
by non-AfTion donors, a trend that
i~ unh e~dlhy
fot
the development of agriculture in lhe ~ion. Spaklng at a meeting with the Minister of
and mus t llll~~n:rore rise to the challtngeol elevating research in order 10 b«omc food sufficienL Tubr who was put of the Consultative Group o n International Agriculture
Research (CG lAR) tum that visited tJ1C minister. said poor research fund iug by the government has lead to Increasing food Importatio n and Increase in poverty. ~Nigerla cannot conlInue to Import what it n«ds, ..... e mwt be able to tat what ..... e produce and all othe r things would foUow_ Nigeria missed the green revolu tion thill took place in a num bcrofpoorcoun·
tries, we must not m iss the knowledge revolutio n In tenus of improved tech nologies," he said. Also speaking, th e Minister o r agriculture said Nigeria must be able to we modem technologlcs effmlvely in order to attai n food sufficiency and improve the ....·dfan of local rarmers. He Aid agriculture should not be viewed as a development programme
but as a business enlu· prise that can ~ise income [e"els thereby encouraging the youth to participate in thevenl.ure. "'Only 0.8 percent of our budget goes into Rgri culture rC$Cuch a nd this is no t enough. Improved varieLic.t of rice would bringaboutsclfsurridency ill rice produCllo n because as it Is no ....., Nigeria is importing and consuming rice that has been stored
for 10-15 years in other count ri es a nd is finally d umped here because of o ur depe ndence on import ing rood.~ he said. Accord ing to him, the Federal Gove rnm en t hIlS begun a number of revolutions in the agriculture sector with the first being a revolution in rice an d cassava, while othen would includ e cocoa. sorghum and the Ih-es tock sector.
Resea rch ers, min ister Ekiti farmers yetta access Nl bn agric laan-AFAM _ . . . _Adoto discuss value chain .... development THE Minister of Agricul· ture. Dr Akin Adcslna, will mut with leading researchers.. policy makers and do non in Ibadan to discuss opportuni ties on V1Ilue ch ~.in d eyclop· menl ill .-assava process· ins '''' (,. e\·c1op markrts. generate jobs and incomes for fu mers. a nd enhance (ood 5ccurity. ~It pro\' idcs part· ners a n o prortunity to devc.1op a clear. de tailed, time-bo und execution in\'est men l r lan for dri ving the Green Revolu tion and cassava value ch ains de\'elop ment ror Nigeria:' the Di rector General o f the Intenu.ti unallnstitute for Tropical Ag riculture (!ITA), Dr. Pe ter Hart·
mann said. Beller and improved cassava varieties belped Nigerian fannen to boost production by 10 mUlion Ions betwt"Cn 2002 and 2009. malting the country owrtake Thailand as the world's bigges t producer of cassava. Consu med by millions of Nigerians. assava is also an Important indUlll I.r l al crop that provides starch alld other producu for confectio nery, sw«:t· eners, glues, plywood, tex· ti les, paper. biodcgndable p roducts, monosodium glutamate. and drugs. Cauava chips and pellets are used in animal feed and alcoho l production. Investing in value d,ain de"cl opmen t would ensu re food security and
Jobs. The researchers. donors, and policymak. en will m«:t in Ibadan to develop a high-impact uccution plan for achiev· ing a cassava G~ Revolution ill Nigeria through cassava market and value chains dndopmcnL Other topia: that would bediscusscd include wues III value chain development, constraints in produ ction and community lecd d evelopment systems. working with the private sector, marketJng problems.. busi ness models, value addition in cassava c.hains, finalldng plan for cassava chains. an v:ccutlon plan for the Cassav;;J G reen Revolution. and policy development ror canilva cha ins.
Niger govt plans to expand irrigation schemes From AliyuM.f'amagilln. Minnl
NIGER Statt governme nt plans to V:)la nd IWO o f its Irrigation centres to 4. 000 hectare< In a bid to complement the nalion', crusade on food securlt)'. th e Man aging Director of Niger SI;!Ite Agricu ltural Developm ent Project, Alhaji Abul>akar Zakari has lllid. Zakari said th e two irrigalion schemes at 8adeggi and Edozllogi would be exl'andeol from their present 900 hectares to 2.000 heclan'S C'ach. )-Ie said th e expansion
of the two irri ga tio n cen · t res is part o f the Slate gOy· ernm ent's prognmme 10 increase the capacity from 5.000 hec tares to to.ooo h ec tares tn the nellt 10 years. Nl8erStal~ government has sct up a committee to carry ou t a comprehensive study of all the 19 Irriga· tion schemes in the state on their viabilily and o n whether to be revived or expanded_ Zakari said the Irrlga+ tion schemes wou ld afford the farmers Ihe opportu· nlty to farm all the year round thereby improving tbel r socio-econom lc well
being. He said unde r the sche me. farmers would form co-operat ive groups so Ihat th e), could have a beller leverage with Ihe marketing outlit and commercial banks durin g sourc ing ror facilities The MD added that the state g()\'-ernm~n t was rol· laboratlng with the Fedenl Governm ent o n fo ur ofits irrigation schemes at Wusllishi. Nasko. Kagan. and Lapai with the view of ensuring syn~fJD' in the drive to boost yield on the rarms and Impro\'e the socio-economic well beings of the farming ramllies.
THE Nallonal Vice PresIdent o f All Farmers Auociation of Nigeria (AFAM), C hief Tola Adepomota bas called on farmen In Ekill State to access the Federal Gove rnm ent's N I billion agricu hu f111 loan lying (allow In the bank to impro ..e the ir p roductiv ity in the sta t ~.
~
Adepomo la said at a pressconrerence in Ado· Ekitl thai the stll~'S Ministrlts of Agricultu re and Finance have not been able to Iceen the fund lodged with Ihe Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Na tural Resources because of the crisis In the union a nd nobody to stand as guarantors to would· be beneficiaries. He urged members of the un io n to sto p black·
maJlinggove rnme11l om+ da is, saying the mo ney h ad no t bee n released and embcuJed I I being spec· ulaled In some qU IT ters. He counselled Ihe farmeu agains t being used as age nts of d es ta bilization by any group. saying the self· inOicted crisis wiOiin the body prevented the state government from guarantee. Ing t he loans to f'a rmen in the stale.
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