le DAllY TRUST Wednesday. November 14.201 2
WACOT to establish cotto nery in Bauchi From Ahmed MohammMt, 8auchl
West African Collon Company (WACOn will establish ~ Cotton Ginnery in Bauchl Slate, Chief Executive Officer
of the company. Mr.
Tcm~
Ravi, said at a mc:cllng with the
slale committee on the revival
of couon production that it is regrettable thai of the oYer 30 (;Otton ginncries in the country only about six are operating and tven these, at rar below thar installed production cipacities. Ravi said the decision by his company to establish a ginnery in the slate was due to the ability oflhc cotlon farmers in the area
to embark on and sustain the production of Callan at ;a very apprtti .. blc rate. adding. Mbtforc any private investment in the sector. w.e first nttd to enhance
cotton production. and make sure that allcasl majority of the existing ginncridi in the country arc opt:ralional through the cvolvemenl of vuiow: measures to sustain tht: production. Ht: nott:({ that Bauchl and Katsina stata havt: for long bet:n in tht: foufront In cotton production in tht: country. but ugrt:llt:d thai cotton production in the two stata has been on tht decline in the" last 20 yurs. He assured that his company
.Cotton fa rm is ready to establish a cotlon company in Bauchi state and assist in the provision of all its inputs like" quality set:ds for seeds multiplication 10 IlLSlain massive production, adding thai the company has well-equipped quality seed control facilities., sp«iaJiud insecticida and che"micals.
Spt:alting t:ulit:r. Ih t: Stale Deputy Governor. Alhaji Sagir Arninu Saleh, said the stale: is targeting to ugisle:r 10, 000 collon farmers following the aggrt:SSivt: seruitiution drive by tht: .colton production revival committee sct up by the: government in May this year. Alha],1 Saleh Aid about 1,020
canon farmers we:R' idmtificd and registered this ~r, and that government is also targeting 5,000 olhe:r farme:fS to register in 2013. He said each o hhe Identified and rcgiste:red cotton farmers got a package consisting of 20 kilogrammes of 5«ds. fh'e bags of fertilizer. 12 litres of
in.sccticidC5 and N 10,000 cash to cover operational costs with a R'qucsl for a farme:rtocultivale il least one: hectaR' of Gotton. -I am happy to announce 10 )"lU Ihal the: farme:u did not disappoint us, as according 10 our monitoring re:ports, aboul 85 perunt of tMm actually produced collon; he.Rid.
Agric engineers want FG to utHize dams for all year farm ing From Ahme d Mohammed. Baudli Agricultural engineers across the COUDUY have advised the ):ederal Govt::mment 10 use the large number ofdams spread across lhe COWltry by ~Ioping the downstream tnfrastructw-es for all year £arming. The: mgineen Slated this in a communiqui distributed to. nCW5lllCD at the end of tht: NaUonal Conft:rena' for Agricultunl Engineen held at the Federa..I PoIytCchnic, Bauchl The:y advised government to embark on nationwide: rehabilitation of all imgation schC'tnes in order to ha~ qualltum leap in agricultwal production.
Thecommunique which was signed by the National o.ainnan and Secretary of the Agricukuhum Enginm Institute:, Professor Babatunde Adewumi and Dr. Mike Emboifo, respectively. want govcrnll\t:nt to promote agricultural products processing for oriented market value addition: reduct: ~t-haf"1/"eSt loses; and cmue C'Dlploymmt opportunities to rt'ducc~. It also advi.st:d that all aisting rum fecdt:r roach In dilapidated condition be n:habilitakd and more opened 10 link f.lrrru: 10 the markds. 111e: communique noted that in order to increase IOod production and reduce importation. government should givr more
attention toagncultural production than oil It should also fully implement the Agricultural TC'Chnology Agenda (ATA) for sustained national food security and promote the fonnation of cooperati~ societies in agricultural mechanization by producing financial windows. it said. According 10. the communiqut. ATA would btmriched if grn'C1l1menl apcditcs action to msure that the: draft agricultural mC'Chanlzatton policy is le:gislated and passed into law to enhance large scale commercial agriculture. It alsostRSSC'd the need forgove:mment to revamp the ri~r basif15 for the optimum utilization of the abundant land and water
re5OUrCC5, while: technical penonnd in the agricultural establishment, apccially agricultural e:ngineers, be maximally and appropriatdyutillzed for efftcient savices.. The: communique: frowned al indiscriminatt: agricultural machlllfi'{ importation. and urgni thai the agricultural machine:ry testing and certification prog.ramme: at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM) be stmlgthen«l It strcssod on the need for NCAM and tht: Standard Orgamz.ation of Nigml (SON) to coUaborale to ef15urc that only certified agrirultural equipment tllat can adapt loour e:nvironment are promoted for Importation.
From Doyin Adebus uyi. AdoEkit i
Farmers laud govts, World Bank on Fadama success
Farmers unde:r the Fadama III projects have comme:nded the: Ekili, ~eraJ Government and the: World Bank for slLStaining the project whkh ha.s transfonnc:d agriculture: inlO a viabl~ souru of revenue and sustainable livelihood in th~ state.. They made Ihe commenda:Uon during a routine: visit by the: Fadama projC'd. offtdals in the slate to {;lnns ofbene:fKi;lria of
the programme: across the: state:_ The farmers called for the: apanston of the programm~ through further assistance that would help boost production at thdr various (anns. While noting tha t the programme has improved production capacities of farmers. ge:nerated e:mployment for agreal number of retirees and un~ploycd youths. the: farme:rs called on Ih~ state:
and local govemmenlS to include: rehabilitation of accc:ss roads to the:i r various farms In the nat budget. They said the introduction of Fadama III programme in the state: has Improved the: economy of benefitting farme:c groups and e:nsured food SC'Curity_ The leader of Fadama Poultry Auociation in lkerc EJdti, Mr. Isaac Awe: said, the: programme
has enal»ed his group to raise 52 hybrid pigle:1S to maturity. In Ado Ekiti, Mr. Ayo Ajayi who is the: lead~r of Agbedayo Fadama Associatio n said the programme: has e:nabled the:m cstal»ish and stock 35 large: fllih ponds with cat flsh_ At Us! Eluti, Mr Reuben Dada, the: leade:r of Unique Fadama Community Association e:xprcs.sed happiness at the
programme which, he .Rid, has assisted them In cstal»ishing a palm kernel mlU Cilp;1ble: of producing two tons of palm kernel cake and 450 lilrt$ of palm ke:rnel oil pe:r day. In their remarks. the kaden of the Ifedayo Fadama Poultry Association In Jfakl and lkok Fadama Palm Oil Association solicited governmttll's assistanu in marketing th~ir products.