DAILY TRUST
Business/Agric
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100 farmers get free sesame seeds in Bauchi Fmm nlrahlm Mllsa Glglnyu, llano
OLMI Nigeria Ud has signed a Memorandum of Understanding wilh BauchiSlale Agri cultural Development Programme (BSADP) wilh the 3im ofboosUng Sesame farming and improving the production of the crop in the slale. The compVly's manager Mr. Adamu BeUo said this in D3wanau, Kano Slate.. He said the company hu launched the distribution o f free: sesame seeds to farmers on luly 6. 20 II In Bauchl at the headqUar1ers
Tuesday. July 26. 2011
orthe llSADP. -One thouSllnd farmers have benefited from 4kg bag each of rr~ ses,jme setds in the different sesame growing areas of the slate,'" he said. Farmers were given inputs like feniliur, herbicide Vld pesticides on loan basis. They are expected to pay back at the_end oftlle harvest period. Acco rding to him, the company engages in buy-back arrangement with farmers in paying Ihe loans obtained by sdling thrir produce at uisting market price.. He said the compiUlY is also in collaboration with the USAID to train farmers on dem -
onstration plots. He said tht esse nct of the demonstration plots is for the farmers to see the difft rence belweroll thro traditional system orfanning and modem agronomic S)-strom. Thro agronomic syslrom enlails maximum use of land which translates Into higher yi~ld and higher premium for the farmer. Under thro out g.ro....""c:f progr:unmro, Mira village in Ningi emiratro of Bauchi Statro ..... as .selected for the programme.. One hundred farmers are registered and are 10 bmdit from the prognmme.
Farmers urge govt to rehabilitate dams FARMERS in Kv.-.mi Loal (joo;cmmmt ofGombe Stne on ThIlfSda),appenJed to GO\wnor lbm,im Dwkwarnbo 10 rdubilitate ilIl under-utilised danl5 across tiM:' state. a5 part ofmea5UIeS, toboost drysea-
son farmIng. Some farmers. who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in KwamJ, expresud optimism thai the move would boost agricultural production and provide}ob opperlunitiesrortMlemJinguncmplO')~
youths in the area state. Alhaji Mohammed Hassan also urged the state 8O"'l:mmmt to pr0vide agric"ltu~ loans 10 farmers to mabie them engage in Jarge scale
farming. Hassan .dded that it was nea:::s-
f"armnslhe~menttoassislthe with imprtJ\~ varil!tics of ~;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;~;;;::;:;,;:;;;;;;;~;;;;;:::~::::;;:,::;::~~~~::::::~-':::::::.;:;;:;;;::~;:;;~~~::;:-.:::;::;:;;;-I saryfor S«ds 10 boost rood production and
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""""" _ _ >'dd",h"",,,He commended the state ~' cmmml for ensuring timely and adequ;ue distribution of fr:rtiliscT to farmers and addtd that thcJ1fO\ision
and distribution oft.he commodity this)Ut wasbelter than the previous yran.(NAN)
AfOB project to double staple food in Nigeria B, OlaJ8lll R. lbrahim
SCIl:.-NTISfS al the International InsliMe for Tropical Agricultun" are working with national partnr-n
Kano, Jigawa farmers trained on fertilizer application B, /tbbas Yushau YU$U' THIS yur's Carming season began in differenl northern part! of the country wilh rigorous Carming activities for good harvest. f«)t farmus In Kano and Jig:'IIva to have good yield, International Centre for Soil Fertility and AgrlculturaJ Development (IFeD) set the pace for farme15 in Illese states as the international fanning body c.amro in to help teach them how 10 properly apply fertiliur. TIlis was through a workshop organized for Farmers from the IWO states. Demollstrating to fanners the proper ose of inorganiC fertilizer in millet production in Gabasawa town, a few kilometers Crom Kano town, a lechnology transftr specialist, Malam Yaha)'l\ Kura $;lid mUlct is an imporlant crop in Ihe north where it is being cultivated as a staple food croll. lit nid its contin uou s produc-
tion occasioned by population prcssurc has severely depleted thro ferti lity of the soil in the arroa making thro usro offrortili"l:er inrovitable if the food production Is to bro sustained forthe rapidl ygtowing population. The specialisl al,so said the IFeD through its 'Markffl Inputs RegionaUy (MIR), is .selto build !ht capacity of farmrors to appre date thro benefits as: weU u Sllfe handling iUld usc of agro Inputs lhrough series of steps to improve productivity. Kura also told !hI:' farmers, who convagc:d for the workshop on proper application offertiliur that thro purposro of the workshop was 10 uncover one of the problrolllShinderingthesmoothgrnW1h of m illrol by farmers in the north. Hro said farmers should always know thro importancro of ferti ilur to Ihro growth of milltt and ils application. Hro droscribed the lack of nutrients in the soil as a great impediment to the growth
of crops tnlhe area. Dc:J1Ionslr.!.ti og the proper way frorliUurcm bro properly applied. the specialist said fertili"l:CT should nOI be: spread on lOp of the soil close to the crops bUI asmall hole should be dog out to bury the fenUi7.er so that II will melt with the roots for smooth growth. In his remark at the demonstration sile. chairmiUl of Interim Management Commiltee: for Geuwa local govrornmc:ot, Alhaji HamisuAbdullahi Giwaran expressed hissalisfaction with the conlribulion being made by IFCD to Imp~ farming activities in the area. Ht h~er suggc:sted thatan awareness cam~gn should ha\~ long been madro before the take-o(f of the raining season. Also speaking, Malam llya$u Mu'a~u, who representrod the dlnriCl head of Gaba$aIVa at the ~\'t nt s.,id the 'Fe D ought not to h~"e limitrod its activitin 10 only mining season rarmers but Ihe progrom shol1ld r'tjually be
alronded to irrig;lIlon farmers. In Gagarawa local go,·tmment area ofJigawa Stalro, thro IFCD took the campaign to Zarada Tsohuwa town, where hundreds of r:urn er$ wilnessed the demonstmt ion. Malam Muhammad Adamu or Green Sahel basc:tl in figawa said thro sensitization was to ensure good harvest. He said farmers should nol only nerd large farms but also good harvt'SL Hro said agriculture is everything and that farmers are the Olles thai mab or mar the profession, 53)ing gO\~rnmenl and other donor agencies are supportingfarmers.. '"Our ambition 15 to help you have sufficient farm impltmtnts (or usc in your respecth-e famlS aud \\~ learnt that there is a wide gap between tIlro fannen and the farm implemronl5': ht saId. He said the program aimtd at settingastandard forlhro improve. ment ofthesroedlings and making farmers aware of breeding croP!.
to double )'ielJs or Nigeria's major" staples, Dr. Sam Ajala of the IITA Maize Breeder has said. This Is undtr the Africa l)c:o,'eIopmmt Bank (AIDS) funtkd -commUnity-Based Agriculture and Rural De\-elopment Projecl" J\jab saki the project inlu h-a acth-e participation of farmers across Ih-e stales iUld will deploy best agronomic practices and improved varieties 10 thro Ilelds.. - II will focus on showcasing prodllction I~hnologies that an double )~eld in-situ ,,~th the hopt' that famlers \.,rill pick lip from there,"hesalel In spite or sc\-erallnnovations de\"C1oped 10 spur yield, resourcepoor farmers who dominatro the agricuJlu.r1lIlnndscape h~ limited access to Ultse lechnologies. Conse<juronUy, this has nrosatil-el raffmed the productivity and fortunes of the countrys agriculture - a sector thaI employs more th;tn 70 per ttnl or people in the rural areas. A project to double maiu in Nigeria that w.as implernmted by ITfA, whose: first phase ronded in 2009, had maize yield 0 11 participating mrmers' field rising from 1.5 tons per hectare to 4.2 tlha.. -rile project demoll$trnted that with the right to:hnologies deployed to farmers backaI by good agronomic Pr.lctices. farmr-ncould increase: yielel" Scientists will be le\~r.lging on lessons leunt from the Doubling Maize project 10 increase productivity.