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int erview
DAllY 'IRUSI'
Wednesday. November 21 . 2012
AGBLCULTURE
Bauchi to replace lost rice farms with wheat Bauchi State Commissioner for Agriculture Tasiu Mohammed said in this interview that the state government will assist farmers whose farmlands were affected by flood to plant wheat asan intervention crop. Excepts: By Abdulwasiu Hassan How i5 rice fanning in Baucbi Slate? Wdl. you know rice fanning in &uchi was.excdlenL It is very un fortunate that this year we had II serious flood which affected
most of the rice farnu. V'U1uaUy 13 out ohhe 20 local government
areas were a1kcted. We are going to havuonH' yidds. but not what we)wl expected. n.c Fedcr.t.l Government is ta.lking about food recovery
plan. What ptao doeli your govanment ban: to support affected fanners, c:speciaUy ria fannCl'5~
You see, if we ~ to givr seeds to fanners to go and plant ria now, it .....iII not lK- good becauS('
it doesn't Ukr cold weather_
And now we art: heading to Hannattan. So. we eocoungcthem to plant wheat instead of ri ce because if you ue planting ria now, you an going to incur
lot of cost. Ifyou plant wheat the result will be excellent becausr the weather we arc approaching is t..vou.rmk to it. So we arc going tochangeour pattern from rice: to wheat and the state government will give wheat II
seeds to the fanners that kKt crops to thei100d. What is Bauchi State government doing to encou.nge youths to de\-d.op more intcrut in farming? You sec, about two months ago, lht: Bauchi State govcnrnenl under my own ministry through co-Qpt:r.lt:M: sockties d istributed N l billion to OUI youths (or
(arming. This loan wi U go a lo ng way in h elping our youths in terms of agriculture.. Apart from th at. " 'C have sent h igher. respected... officers to SchoTt' Farms in Yola fOJ" extension training. A"nd ~ have selected 40 yoUtHs; no,'o..each from the 20 loci1 ~erlt areas who will gO for 'fr.l1ning on con on (or whi~ govern'or hIlS given out NSO m:m~'lo cotton producing p!-m.§ So. you sec m ost o f the. programmes the g~r "is imJflcmen ting a« (or the )'iluth.!bough some youth do n'tlikrfamiing h«:ause they assume it is foc poor people. It is not like that. Farming is for rich people. h is meant for thOSe that a« healthy enough. What is your uscssment of thc Growth Support Schem~
Fc:rt.ilizerand Seeds distribution programme in the state! May be I will allo w you 10 go and ask the director o f fertilizer. The state is doing well in the G E5 programme. I am not b r.lggi ng. Bauchi is n umb« I . We have
~
out 14,800 metric tons of
fcrtilizC'r. We have accessed almost 98 percent o( our comm odity. Even in data. Bauchi is num bcr J. In distribution Bauchi is n umber I. I am saying Ihis. Go md ver ify it.
... Kebbi opts for sweet potatoes,cassava
'Flood in Kogi a blessing in disguise'
Elder Muhammad Sani Kanya is the Commissioner of Agricult ure, Kebbi State. He said in this interview that the state lost over 120 hecta res of farm lands to flood recently but inte nds to assist affected farmers to plant sweet potatoes and cassava as an interim measure.
Kogi State Commissioner for Agriculture Dr Olufemi Bolarin said the state Is strategizing for better outing
go\~ent
How is rioe fanning in Ktbbi Slate? RXz fanrung is ~g m KcbOi Stateforthe fact that m3jority of thr b:aI govmnncrus in the swe arr ~ WIth Fadama area. and ria is ~ o f the main oops that they arr cultivating ~ 1bt nation recently experienced Oooding.. Howdid it affect Kcbbi Stale? ~. ltaffec1('ditad~.
Over 120 hCClMeS of farmJands ~ lost 10 the Hood. Farmers art saddmcd about it. but !..boT is ootJung we can do. h 1li a natural d~,
Sin« )'00 saki they "-ere saddned by ii, "bt. is the governmenl doing to rclie\-e
thun. The """"'""'" "" 1x<n doing its best. You know, it is gYVing some crops that can be cultivated after the r.Uns. We arr giving them other mputs to encourage thml. What kinds of crops ~ "~ talkingabout ~ SWCCl potalOCS mamly and =~
Do ),ou sec the fannen m:on :ring fast &om the effect of lhe Oood~ .. Yes, one has 10 fald fortiimsdf. It Is necessity. It has ~ and th~ 1li nothing one can do~ than 10 look. for other "-')'5 10
=
Apart from the inccnthu
put togrtha by the FflIcnI GO\'Cmmenl, is there 3.O}1hing dial t'OlU" stale' mar need. from the Federal ~'l:mmene Yes... Receruly". a team from the Federal Gow:rnmcnt c:a.me heR and went for inspection 10 sec for themst'hu. v-JCko 0ISSCtkS ~ gMtIto them. lhq saw fannm 1O~ 10 it. They said they would help. and we are w.uting 10 5etwhalthcycando forthc&rmm.. What i.s the cost of the ulten'ention by the state ~menl?
RighI IXM',
honestly.
....'C att
assessing the damage. We ha\'C 001 )~ come 10 the condusKin on how
mucnit ....iJlirMlkoe ' . What is Kcbbi
Sta te
doing to gec the }'OUth in\'Oh'Cd in agricullure? Kt:bbi. Statt p'c-TUucnl 15 trying to give incentives in the form of agro inputs 10 attr.ld. youths to the busmcss of farming. That much we arr doi ng. It is Iikr youths an coming up to take up farmmg. How effective is tJle GES progRmme on the sale of fertifu.o- and distribution of seedlings in your state? I thmk theR is ~ impnM:l1lenL Ycste:rda),. J calkd the coorrlina.tor and I was \W}' much impressed With what he lold me. And I hope it is going to intprtJve particularly in mystJtc. Following tJle Iascs 10 the: flood, ",,-hat other plru! does Kcbbi State gO\Ul1JDCllt howe tm.-ards assisting fannen in the stlIle beside what the FeduaJ Go''CTllJI1cnt is doing in )'our state? Well. just last W(:\'k my Permanenl SecmaIy retu rned from Morocco and he was Idling me of how ~ is gh-m to fanners there. And we .said let us do it that way 100. For instllIlOe. any farmer rulti...ating less than Ih'e hectarcs IS given 100 pctU:nl land grant and aboYt that it is 80 percent. We'ha~ started 10 work out modalilieson ilm.' 16 assist. the ~ deaf die T..uxl" for tllcrn: . gi\<e them other inttnt]Vf$,
on improved agricultural production. How did the flood affect fanning in fOur state? You know my state I.S the mcrting place of River Niger and River Bc.nue. So, thC' situation is rnl1y terrible.. And you probably heard wben the honourable minister said he had sympathy for my stale. Do )·ou havC' any hopC' of meeting up all the plans the minister hu made known? Yes., the recover)' plans are 10 place. We've said thaI thiS flood Itself mayC'veJItuallybe a bless:IOS in disguise because CIp«IedJy. Kogi State has now gone back to the drawing boatd bcctusc we have p utin place an acceJerated food production plan In addition
to the Federal Government's flood rt'CO\'l!ry plan. Can you h ighlighl the food production prognmmC' that you han put in place? For example.. on soya. beam Kogi Stale government, with assistance from the lTNDP. is putting about 60 hectarcsofland in every local government under cultivation this year as part of agricultural transfonnation agenda. We have 21 local govcnuncnlS. .o\ho. we have embarked on aggressive rash prodUCtIon ~tcm whereby we ha,'c about 100 ponds on a road "'here we wanl 10 cstablish an eco-Iounim CenlTt' which ~CaU fISh village in Kosi Slate.
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Dr Olufe m i Solarin