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Thursday, June 16, 2011
24
DAILY TRUST
Business/Agric Prices of livestock shoot up inKaduna - Survey WITH the onset of the rainy season in most parts of the country. the prier: oflMstock has increasni in Kaduna metropolis due to low supply
to the \'arious livestock mar-
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Auwalu M.:I.i-rago, a livestock dealer at the Zango livestock market, loki journalists in Kaduna 011 yesterday that thtre was scudt)' of animals in the ma;orsuppl)' markds. He attTiruted the scarcity to thecommencemmt of the r.Un}'staSOIl, notinglhal farm-
m who owned the animals
\\ne fully engaged in fanning . clhilies. TIte development had C"duscd a price h~ as the priceofa big row now ranged ben\ftIJ N ISO,ooo and N2:OO,OOO as againSi thepni. ous pnceofberwecn Nl20,OOO and NlSO,OOO whUe a small cow sdb at N6S,OOO. Similarly. Ihe price or • big ram has ~ to bet\\"em N4Q,OOO and N50,ooo 3.S against the pmious price: 0( NJO.OOO whik soots and sheep sell (or l Uou! N20.ooo.
Acamcl.rncKhant, Malam Hassan Saleh, also told NAN that the pria: nmged brtween NI30.ooo to N24Q,OOO. repramting about 30 per (en! in~(NAN)
Kebbi to expand scope of N1bn irrigation dev project AS part of efforu to provide
mtpIo)men! througll agricuII~ the Kcbbi c;o..~mmelll Ius :gjd thai it \\~ the scope of its N I billion lmga' lion ~'dopmetlt projcrt The IJrqruty GO\'. Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu. di!doscd this on feslmby in Bimin Kcbbi wll«lhe ~~add~tioll
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(t:I!'ilfitt>ahti Adm,iil Mt Silnl5tote~ .11 fhl>t>nd_oll'tnlhl'h' SPl'iI~(lts Sl'tlllS at 5Tt hl'.:!dtjuatteu Abu,.:!, TU" sd&~
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Women farmers advocate review of FG's N200bn loan scheme WOMEN farmers in Mubl Norlh Local Government Area of Adamawa ha\'e ildvocated for the rel' iew of the Federal Government's commercial agrku lIure loan scheme to enhance access to the (adlity. A cron secllon of lhe farmen, who spo~ with the N~ws Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wed nesday in Mubi. said that restructuring the programme would enhance their acceu to credit facilities and participation in the scheme. Mrs Mary Adamu. a rice rarmer, said that the programme had failed 10 rea1ise its objecti\'es due to poor implementation and gender disparity.
~ n,e current fa cility. like many o thers in the put. have fail to in tegrate women in the development procw In agricultun";o Adamu said. She noted that \'arious agricultural financing programmes initiated by previous administrations had encouraged the grouping o f women. but fai led toenh ance their access to credit racili ties and other farm inputs. Adamu advocated for the establishment of a sp~cial forum to pro\'ide data and information as well as educate rural women on how to access such (adJitiC5. In her comments. Aishalu Musa. a poultry farmer. also called for the Indusion of small-
holder farmers in th e plilJlning.lmplemenlalion and disbursement o(the facilit y. ~Women are asking of arahle Iilnd. inputs, inromlation and credit at ra\'Ourable rate;ol\ lusa said. MeanwhUe. studies conducted b)' the Adal11awa State Uni venity (ADSU). Mubi. ShOwM thai women COflSUt utcd more than SO ~r cent of the farming popula tion in the slate. The studies illso revealed that women rarm ers lack~ access to land and credit facilities in spite of their contribulion 10 crop.lh'CStock ilnd poultry production as well as and agro -process· ing. (NAN).
from tht Wmld Bank and the
r'«kral Government on FadIiJN
III Supm-islon Mission. The ddq;;Ition was led b)- !"Ir Obadiah Tohomdet. AIl)1l said hisgoo.'ml/1letlt
Agric subsidy not sustainable, says IFAD
would sustain prompt payment of counTerpart fund to promoIe agriculture. provide onpkl)ment and imprO\<e
SUBSIDISING agricultural Inputs may not be sustai'!ab le In the long run. says Mr Abdoul Barry. an o ffi cial o f the Rome-bilSfd international Fund for Agricultural Development (lFAD). Darry, the IFA D Countr), Programme Manager in Nlg~rjil. made the declaration in an in terview journalists in AbuJa o n Wednesday. - I have b~en wond~ring ifin the long run it is sustainable to keep on 5ubsidil:ing Inpu15. - , think th e best thing to do reall y is to organise (armers and ha v~ bulk procure ment thaI will contribute to lowering t.he cost.~ Barry suggested thai it would be bene r for farmers to be grouped and linked 10 com· mercial banks and o ther financial institutions Ih rough which they could access credit to buy inputs..
food production. Respondlng. l bhomdet said the objectIve oC the mission ....'aS to addrt5:5 the chaI1et1fFS hindering the implementation or the programme In the North-West Zone. Meanwhile, Alhaji Aliyu Marafa, the Zonal Coordinator. told newsmen that the supe!";sm mission was a • rootine oerclse where each Slale Wl\$ exp«Itd to ~t itsreport..(NA N).
Acco rdihg 10 hilll. if farm ers are Ilnketlto markets whe re they ca n sell their protlucts, the cost of the input an ~ deducted direct ly rrom their production. He noted thaI Francophone count ries (or instance, had such atr.l.ngemem for co tlon, whereby a company a iled CFDT would buy th e rarme rs' produce and deduct lhe cost of Inputs rrom the ha rvest. Simililrly, he noted that a lam, an Asian company. operaled such system in Nlgerla with farmers who supplied ra\\' mate r ials to the compan y. He canvassed for th e adoption or such system nationwide, stressing that it ensured that real fanners h 3d ilccess to fertiliser and ut hcr inputs. Barry" howeve r. undersco red th e Im por-
Iilnce of reviving ~tension se rvices to enilble farmers to kno w how to use inputs a nd agricultural technology. "All ohhis \\'ilI be good if we ha\·e the exten· sion sySlem to help farmers h,,'e access 10 Ihe righ t package oftechllology. "Othenvise, it doesn't mean a n),til l"g to have Input when the)' (farmers) do n·' know how to use th em.~ On hoI\' sare It Is to use inOf!an ic fertili se r as opposed to the organic one, th e (FAD omcialsald: " Using chemi cal fertili se r is not a bad th ing per se. We shouldn't do one or the olher one; I believe they are complementary. "But one needs to test the soil firsl to sec which nutrient is missing and on that basis, lise the twoof lhem . lthi n k the ycomplemem each ot her." (NAN).