DAILY TRUST
Wednesday, June 15,2011
AgricBusiness
Beneficiaries of WIBank Agric project tasked on efficiency from Ilalimalltu~,XJno FARMERS thaI arc btntfilting from the World Bank supported commercial agriculture project ha\'l~ b«n askw to b«f up effort towards realizing the objeclh'c of the projKt. The a ll was made b)' Ihe stale project (o·ordinator, Alhaj! Muhammad Badal'll
Badawi who spoke at the 41h I:NCfWorld Bank joinl project
Implementation supervi~ion mis· s[on hdd al RO)'il1Tropic.ana t lotd , saId il \1....5 anI)' through effecth'c work that the commercial agricul .
lure programme wou ld move for-
,,·ard. In his spe«h, the Nation ...1 Project Co-ord inator. Dr. Amin 8abandi said they were in Kano to interact with the farmers and take stock of what has been happening since Ihe inception ohhe projK\..
Such Slock taking•• ccord ing to him, ..... ould enable the implemenlers know I¥h~t step 10 take to ensure Ihe success of the project, MWe are here In Kano to interact with you and takeslockoftheprrrormance of the proj«L I encourage rou 10 feel free and spl!'ak out your mind s_ Comml!'rciai Agriculture Devel opment project is a fh'r-year projed de\-dope-d by the N:de:ra l
GO\'emment in collaboration with the World Hank which is aimed al helping participating small and medium scale commercial farm ers to aCCe55 improvl!'d technology, infrastructure. finance and oUlput markets_ The project is being Imple:mented in (h-e slates across th~ country. The beneficiary slales includr K.no, lagos. Kaduna, Enugu and Cross Rivers_
'QUI' challenge as
livestock farmers' "-ere able to delil-ef and al~
ayTIIY A. Hassan POOR people are the larger population that participate
in
Ih~tock
farming across
Nigeria and thq' art i~as
Ingl)' finding it difftrult to gtt ROOd gr.u.ing land and food
ror their animals especially In thcfaccoflhc rising threat of desertification duc 10 climate change and which has orten ]l'3d to clashes between ani malsand crops fanners.
Malam
~lohamll1ed
Umar Aliyu is
;II
livestock
farllX'!" at Akunu Ubangari. una in Nasarawa Slate who
ur
said the major challenge farmers in his area is access
to good pasture for their livestock and how to fatten the animals to attnCl hight'r prices in Iht' market. AJi}'U who has ~ in the profession of animal farming for O\'tt 10 rears. said he was faced wilh numerous challenges In his farm until recentl)' when he obtained ill loan ofm"er N300,OOO from
the National Food ~urity Programme facilitators who vlsitnl50IIl C farmers in the
slate and g;l\'C them some basic knowledge of how 10 make allC'TI1aU\"c fattening and feeding siock for their liveslock. lie explained that prior 10 the coming of the programme, il ...."as nOI e:tS)' to negOUale for gruinS land with other farmeo: but since he coIIecled the loan, he has hem able 10 successfully fat ten many slleep w hich has sold at the 'Kari (animal market) and used part of the profit to~nd threeofhiseldesl children to higher institutionsofltoarnlng. Hehasalso begun paying back the loan. According to him, Mfood securily is one of the programmes of the gm-emmenl that I fed has affected us the poor beause- ..... hen my friends and I applied for the mone)', we did not upect much from il butthl!y really
train us on how 10 use corn, groundnut, soy bean and ot her alternalil'e food items to prepare fattening food for our animals sina we are M finding it hnnt loget pasture. He sald he now fallens his sheep for 4-5 months and they wrigh up to 50-60 kilogrammes (Kg) and this has made him to make more profit no..... bt-cause he se-lls his ;mimals between NJO,OOO-NSO,OOO and al festive seasons such as SaIlah, he make<; a 101 of m:ukt:t from sdling his sheep unlike In thepast when heslruggled to feed and fallm the livestock. - I hal'etocan formyf:unily and this is the occupation that helps me do that. So whenever we local farmers see this kind of progmmme from the 8O'-emmenl, \\'e appreciate thai our In-ders are helping us fight po'o-ert)' and \\'e hope thaI the program me would not be allowed to fizzle out because the Ih-es of the farmers that are participating in the programme in my group has changed for the ~lIt r." Ali)'U is not the only bendiciary of tile food security loan. the loc:al co-operath-e society col15istingof widows - the Rinfa Women Poul try AssociatiOlllllacle up of wid ows - is also a beneficiary of thl!' loan. A representative of the group, Adama Usman is or thl!' opinion !hat she can be able to train.lI hn-children if Ihe programme continues. According to her, - \\'l!' are poor women suuggling with the everyday ch~ lenges o( widowhood and this programme has madl!' • gfeat impact in changIng our lives for the bettl!'r because- the little profit we makt from sdling th~ birds in our small poultry is shared among e-ach of us 10 bu y food and cater for our children _
Nigeria, China strengthen ties on food production ByTIIiIA.Has:san NIGERIA and tht Republic of China h,,~ re-establish commitment to work together 10 boost food production and agriculture in general in the two countries. Leading a SO-man OIinest ddegation on a \isit to the FtderaJ Ministry Agr1cul tUll'and Rural l>eI-rlopment, Ahuja, Qinest Vlee Minister of agricuJture. ]JIang Taolin saki 496 Chinese technicbns are already in Nigeria to offer assistance in \-arious ftdds of fie,-elopmtnt and that 190 wou ld be added to the number_ He said Nigeria can deril~ enormous benefit b)' learning from Otin:ls experience in agro-tradt. agro-ttchllologr, quality and .safet)' management or farm produru. protection ofagrk:uItural ecolog)' and \h('ell\1ronment A statement from the oonunWlication offkeohht ministry signed b)' Ibrnhlm Mohammed saki \h(' two count.ries art mtcting with a view 10 boosting 3gricuh\lral production and food security. Pttmallenl of Secrrlaf}' of the ministf}'.. Mrs.. Fatima Ramidde said the two nations nted to transform their agri culturnl prnctices to tonroml \\ith globnl best pr.Ktico so as to tnable them meet the growing challenges of increasing population and dcmand for food SlJpplics. Thl!' pemlaneJlt S«1"I!lary commended the ChiJles~ t;OI-efl1ment (or the oistIns support to the National Programme for FoOO Security in water cont roI and management; fisheries; agro-procl!'SSing: bamboo prodlKtioo; mushroom productloJl; tissue culture and; biogas amongst othen. l\ lrs. 8amidde :ilia added that the ministry has recorded success In cage fish olhure, bee-keeping. farming tools fabrication , and bamboo processing and crop production. Other famJel"S in \h(' arm are pr.K:ticing fish ranning and poultry farming.
or
Sugarcane farming is profitable business - Farmer By fmil A. Kassan, wflDwMin Nasarawol A local farmer, Ahmadu Aliyu, said sugarcane (aml ing 15 oneoflht JIlostlucnth-e agrkultul'3 l ventures in Nigeria becau~ of !ht high demand ohhe crop for bolh industrial and domes tic consumptiun_ Sptaking 10 a group of journalists on an Ins~ion tour of the si tes of beneficiaries of tile National t=oodSecurilY Programmes (NFSP) (und at his farm in Lafia. Nasarawa
State, he said he makn not less lhan NIS,OOO from the one hectare sugarcane irrigation farm. Aliyu Rid he has been ill the businl!5S of (arming sugarcane for some yran and he has been able to ~xpand his farm this)-eaT after aCCe55ing the loan_ Abdullahi Bako, another benetkiaryorthe (und who is inlo the business of agroforestry through the planting of nurseri~ said most of the seedlings he se-lls are in high demand by the local farmers thereby driving the
profit lel'eI of the business_ He said he sells a seedling of oil palm, mango and orange forN200, Gual-a and paw-paw Nl50 while coconut seedlings are sold for betv.-eefl N2,OOO and 2.500_ Agro-forestry facilitalor of Nasa rawa State, Mrs_ Comfort Jonathan Edom, said local farmers ue encouraged to go into agro fo restry in order to ensure soil consen-ation, make profil and prevent land degradation. She said tr~ crops hdp
to protect the soil. pmv;dt fruits for the farmer and sen-e as a rtady source of income in addition to servIng as wind breakers in th~ home. "The busilless of raising nurseritS is encouraged among farmers as part or our land managemen t progl'3l11me whtreb), inter(orestry (mixed planting) of tree crops. lrablt crops and forest trees are intrrplanted in the same farm . Sometimes.animalsarealsu rtared in Ihe same pol to boost soil (ertility; she said