Tuesd ay, August 30. 20 11
DAILY TRUST
Business/ Agric
Farmers in Adamawa decry ~E! ~!m. ~ I!<n!!~!~ I~~~!~p~~~es men! areas (LGAI) under
go\-ernmcnl's distribu tion of the commodities.
Slraltgy miLiated by the govetn+ mmttocheckthedh-cnion oCthe commodity. Ho~r. a crosNieclion of
!.l'll I bag of NPK brand Of fer tiliur cost NS.800 as against fu (onner priaofN4.500. The urn. bl'2J\d of the corn-
6ffKials ind ltaden of farmer ~pso r bdng sdec:tive: in the 5de5. 'i:b1S"t: is poliUaJ sentiment
The Newt Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recall! thallhc AdamaWi govanmml had sold 50,000 to nnes or rertiliun to farmen al a lubsldised price of N2,IOO per bag. The f«tiJlU'rS were so!d to
the farmm who 5pokcwilh NAN yesterday in Mubi, 1l1d they d id not benefit Crom the distribution. Tht:y also laid that they could not buy the conunodity hom the open market due to iu: aorbitanl prices.
modlty pr~ently goes (or N4, SOO as against its former price of N4,OOO al the ~in nlng of the cropping scuon. Muhammad Yumaa, a malu fanna,said hedid not receive the fertillttr distributed by the gov·
In t8!.dislribulion; the commod-
I
new
by NAN at Mub! mukrt, :i~wtd
State have denied the inCTeut:
in prices of ferUllier and other ~Iunl inputs, {n fpi le of
He:accused some go\o-emmflll
ity was dl.tribulcd only to mm!' ben oUte:lllllng party," Yunusa alleged. Another. (armer, John Doka, Ald sc.ardty of the commodity had (orced many (armen: to rely
on co\Vdungand the new ly Introduced water solution re:nUi zet to nourish tbeir farms. - We rely o n cowdungand the green (crtili7.Cr, wbich Is chapcr and accenlblc.. ~Although, It Is a new prod· uct, we ue hoping to gel highe r yields; Dob added and urged the gOl'erlUncnt 10 adopt effective nlCUUCCS to end scan::lty and cnhllDce fannc:n' aecCH to the commodity. (NAN)
338 firms bid for HadejiaJama'are river basin contracts hom AlIWalu Umaf,lI.ano
Nasarawa to have Africa's largest rice farm From Iflt Jowph, lAfia
rice Farm in Mrlc.a, ful ly mechanlud. The In\'eston are going
A SlnK8pore-bued Irwestor In agricul ture Is to put in an Investment o( SSO million in 10,000 hcoctuc:s o f fully irriga ted and prccbioll levelled commerdal rice (arm In Ondorle area of Doma Local Go,·emment Area o(Nasua\'o"l Stale. The investment b beiog discussed on a PubllcIPrlvale Partnership (PPI') basis and is projcctcd to genet'lle over 2.500 jobs ~ the !'arm aI(JOe. with the community benefitting (rom it -It is going to be the largest
10 put up a worl d clus rice mill
thCK. ThIs Is part of our admlnIstntion', efforts towards creating more revenue bases, to boost ICcruals,'" the state governor, Umaru Tanka A1 -Makura lold Doil, Trust, last week.. He said the Inyestmcnt wlUch is part oflW holhtic agricultural developmen t drive has reached IgTccment stage and would be declared public £OOn. He did not name the in\'C$lor, but Daily Trust sathered the Singapore-based comp~y has
completed thduying orthelgrlcult ural business concern (rom another Invcstor who h as been operating In Ondoric.. Ondorie. a (anning com· munily. has a large expanse o( manhy land running beside the Benue River In the southern lOne ohh estatc. AI-Makura.said as part of his admlnlstntlon's efforts to boost th e economic wdlbeing o( the 512te through aylculture. the govemment hIS considered LU holidays for InvcstOfJ, a poUcy which the Igriculture-based company Is already benefiting from..
Institute holds farmers day By nn., A. Hamn NATIONAL Root Crops Research lnstittJle has ors;uliud its flfst 'r-armm Day 10 keep rarmcn
abreast o( new mprond technologies that wol~d boost yidds. Executl\'e [tiredor oflM lnstilute' Dr. Kcnne Jy Nwosu said field d2)'s Me 10 sene as a pbt(onn for showcasing in1j>lU\'ed Icdmologies 10 farmers Ind potential c:nd men.
Speaking at the C\'enl at the institutes Nfanra IlIb·statiou, Ahup, Dr. Nwosu e:xpIaincd that such field days woolcl upgrade and stRngthm the knowledge and skills oHannm for Irnprm'ed Igriculture production as well as othcr post harvest technologies. - me (anners field day would (ullhCl" enhance interaction and exchange. o( Information as ....'CII as 1M IdopHon b)' (armers, slakr-
holdmand Kientists..At theendof lhis progranmlt:, it is apcctcd that (anum would go home equipped with production pacbgcs that would impfO\"e their agricultural cap:lbilitles.~ be said. Dr. rude NJokwu. Ihe Head of Station, Nyanya sub-statJon said die (lrognmUlie was ddlbcratcly organized to educate farmO'S Ind stakcholdm within tile calchmem. uea of the sub-station.
A total of 338 I1rms hne bIded (or drilling contracts in a ten· der opened by Hadejia-Jama'ue River Buin Authoril Yunder this year'li approprialion. The Managing Director of the organization. Albaj! Abdu Dahl ru said only companies Ulat meet the guideli nes wW be engaged for the jobs. He abo dbclosed plans to The firms are competing (or r un access roads and dccuic- . thedrilling and equipping 0(26 1 hand pumps I n d solar-powered it)' to the area to encourage the boreholes. Other p rojects being investment. He said: "They should have compeled (or Include construction or Ima ll lrri~atio n Idlemes, accessible rolds to th eir farrru. We are also going 10 link th e small euth dams and consularC'll wilh electricity. wh ich will tlncy servicel. I.p (rom the nallonalgrld, even The opening of the biddin g \Vas witnessed by the Council though the national grid line runsa far distance (rom thaI arca.. of Nigerian Mining Engineers "We ue doing aU these so tha i an d Geoscientists; Community our parinen "ill have easy take Development Inlliath'e;lecurity operativCJ; contractors; and the .tr" general public in line with Fed lie said the Investmen t will be oneofthe jnckages for his people eral Governmen t's current prowithin his fint 100 day, In ofnce. cure.mel1l guldellocs. Spelking at the occasion Ihll took place al the head orace of Ihe authority in Kano, oahlru Slid all the project$ being bided (or a rc del·clopmental ln na ture He said the station is working and conceived towards wea lt h with farmer groups like the Potato Fanners Association of Nigma creation and povert)' eradica(POFAN), the PotaloGrowersand lion. to hukrters Assodation among othHe said only companies thai meet the criteria will be ~This slraltgy II pall of our engaged for the jobs and urged efforts to gmivaniU' farmen and the successful ones to do Ihe stakeholdcn to contribute 10 the work Iccordlng to speclfica· tion as only those that execute nalionaJ economYlnd ensure food security and pD\~rty alleviation; the projects accordi ngly will be hesakl paid.
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