DAILY TRUST
Tuesday, April 24. 2012
21
Agriculture
Oyo rolls out Agric Transfo-rmatio-n-Agenda FfDfII V.... BMnidt!'t', lbJdMI OYO Stale Govemme'nt bas roUe'(! oulllJl Agricultural Transformation Agenda ainled at driving the" economyofthe ~tate. Disclosing tills Ul I~ the stale Cornmissiul"lC'T (or Agricullure, MT. Bimbo Kolade apWnoo tNt the'sche'mr was In line with lhe overall agenda of the Senator Abk:JbAjimobi~administr.ltion
10 trarubm the: state economy. lhe commhsioncr who was bridinsjoumal ,sts on thr aaivities of his stated thai in
haJ already identified Ow: major agricultural produce. WI1efC the stale has comparnM iidvantagc "and we shall be focusing on dcvdopmg lhe compktc value dWn on these produce. from input to the tableThe agncultul'1ll produce. accordinglotheCOtTU1lis'5ionean ca..o;AYa, malu/scrya beans. cocoa. oiJ ~m and horticultwe Thc commissioner loki newsmen thai Oyo Stale Govcmmtn( was abo coUabonting wilh tht ~enal Gm=nme:nl on .
ger frtc Nigerbi through an agrlcullUI'1I1iS«torthai drives income, growth, K«k-n.ltd Kh~cnu of (ood and nulrittonal 5«\1 my. genen.ling empkJyment and translOrming Nigma into II leading playoa in gtoballOod markets to grow wnJth for mffiiolU of fannen.. M panoramtngcmcnls wen.blethestaleKlualli.e iudrnms In tbcsc rrgatds. the mmmissioner said, 1M State Transformation CommilkeS have alrndy been constituted lOr eadt of the com· modilies with members of tht undcr his
chainnanship. "Members of the commiUec; under mycha1rnuJuhip are made
upol all slakebokkrs in each commodity vaI~ chain. rqn-escnalives of the Bank of AgricuhUR, Research Institutes. NAFDAC. processonandrabricators.among othm:hesaid. 1be commISSIOner added lhal Oro Statt' Qovcmment had already resuscitated the moribund' Agricultural Programme in its educatimal iostitution5 with I view to arousing the inlerc:g C'L 5CCOOlb.ry school students in
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cultul'1ll Programme: was to enable studtnu see Agrirultlll'e as. business that an sustain 11~ UYd.i· hood rather IiwI a way oIlik it lad bem rtgardtd foe ages.. He abo disdosed that 1M mi.Jtistry rdeastd a sum ofNIOmiDkIn to some modd KhooIsin2011"f<wcrop.pouluy andflShrryenl~"
Prescndy, twd~ s«ondary schools across the stale are bendining from the rU"Sl phase of the progr.unme. he .wd, 1115t as he upres.5ol.'d ~ tNt a substllJltw number o(.s«ondary schools in the Slite would also benefit bdOfl'
Nasarawato use Doma damfor .,'.' irrigation farming
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From Hi, }oSfph, ul'itl NASARAWA Stlte Governor, Umaru Tlnko A1-Makura hili SlIIid that plans were on to mw;· c ltate the Doma dam ;as part of governmenfs programme' to pro mote commercial scale farming laid Dmly fruSI Slate' ~!!il~!l!i!1!~~~~!i!j~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I!Ii!j!i!!!!!!!!!!!I!i!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Iii!!!!!!!i!!!!!!!!!!i!'!"""~ ~:"~!!!!!!I!I!!!!!!!~ inthattheAI·Makura. his Idmlnistration would
World mustchangethegametoend malnutrition
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By A)ex Abutu
mates. Houis says. -Unlm we are Willing 10chllJlge the way We' play t!tegame, we canna( win the bal· tie against millnutnllon: Last year,lhe Nigerian Varietal Rdease Commlttu released three provitamin A CUSilYa vuieues that areyellowilh in COIOTta hdp fight vitamin A deficiency. Thedevelopmentofthevarielies was led by the' International Institute of Tropical Agricultu~ Wiing con~ tional breeding me'thods with funding support from HarvestPius. The' National Root Crops Resea.rch Institute in
{arming in the Siale. "Government is trying to encourage individual {annen in the Slate go into irrigation farm ing~ he said. ·We are looking al coUaboration wilh Lower Senti(: River 8a5in Aulhoritl (LBRBA), to achieve this VISion. A presidential mOnitoring tearn, earlier in February, visited the abandoned Doma dam In Doma Local Government Ara. and lhe Tede dam at Akwanga. in NasaraW2 State. promising the rederal govunment's plans 10 resuscitale'them. The' learn which was led by Dr.
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dams. aflcr which visited it vulted Rosdlne'Chenge. theGov· two ernor Umaru Tanka Al·Makura
GLOBAL kad.·n and experts nttd LO wtrgTJ,te blorortiflcalion and other IIvaiiabte options 10 fight the menace of vilImin and mine-ni 4didendes that Is affiicting 1M poor. says the Director-Gene-nl ofHan'e5tPlus, Dr. Howarth 8oo.liJ.. A Issued by the made available that cur-
'It Ion While mcre'uing dietary dh·ersity is an ideal longer-term IIOlulion; thai requires increases In Income. Fortification and supplementation on the other hand are relatively experulve, with supplementation with vitamin IlJId mineral capsules alone receiving an estimated $5 billion peryev. -Siorortification there'fore provides a mort' cost-effective-, cheaper. and easier access to these nutrients. and integrating crop improvnntnt havr: more: Impac1,w wilh the
culture. Dr. Nten.nya SangingL Generally. in the developing counmes, vitamin A deficiency, for inslance, remains a major bottlcnedr. lo improved nutrition Wilh appro:dmatdy 250,000 to 500.000 malnourished children going blind each yeu, and half or whom die within a year ofbecomingblind. In Nigeria. cicncy aInklll
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to rev'lve Avutu pOU
By nna l. Huwn
THE kderal Government has expressed willingne5S to reviVe' the dllapid"'l~ Imo Modern Poultry (ann located at Avutu, Obowo 10011 gnvernment area ofthe$lale Mlnisle'r of Agricultu~ and
Rural Development. Dr. A.ki n Adesina, gave' this during a recent visit to the' state:. He SlIIid effort would be made to resuscitate the estale which 15 believed to have gulped bi!lions of naira already but Is now abandone'd and o'lergrowlJwith bush.
Adesina also promised 10 lmooil palm industry scale pmdudion as a way of growing the state' and nation's economy in line' with the' v-olluechain devr:lopment under the Agricultural Transfonnalion Agenda. He'sald improved palm 5t'Cd. ~vr: the
toeR$U~ fuU
lings for about 3.000 hectare of land would be provided. A sta.tement from the' ministry signed by his Speda.1 Assist· ant on Media, Dr. Oyd~ye O lukayode notes Ihal th~ Egbcme' Oil Palm planlation would be gIVen the require'd auention 10 fully rcvi taliu il.
Inufi • • ln'onninghimth"th, planned revilldi~tlon of))oma Dam. particularly, was part of PnsIdenl GoodIuck Jonathan's traru(onnatton agmda. The govC'Tl1OT, who ru:alled that he m=ently took an anbl vie'w of the' area vound the' dam, said the' reactivation of ))oma Dam would provide Job opporin the area of tunities for