' D
rSTRIJRBED by the i . ilnd unethical practices in many aba ttoirs' diff'!renl pa rts of the countr)" in w hich meat for human consu mption are handled in filthy environment and without the supervision of experts, veterinary med1cine practitioner.! have reacted to the practice. saying it was not good (or a country regarded as iI giant of Af路 rica. One of them is Dr Yinka O luleye, who told the TribWle AgricuJ(ure that there lVas the need for every state gov~ nlmenl ill the federation to make sme that enough \-ctcrinl"ry dot.1ors were employed to maintain hygiene and obscn路e m(ldern practices in the handling of animals lI1eal1 t fo r slaughteril1g in aba lloirs. Other veterinarians w ho spoke wit h the Tribune Agriculture said apart from Lagos State that was now operating a stand,ud i'JI1d mode rn abattoir, a visi t to most abattoirs 111 other states of the federation would make one to be sick. [11 the words of Dr the abattoir al Oodija fore you can appreciate my ::~:;,.:'-~~'!:.~~~ a ltoir is nothing but it chamber of diseases. considering the high level of u nethical. un hYjienic practices
Dr I Presid ent, Nigerian VeterimlfJ Medic., 1Associat ion (NVfl.1A). .. Iso agreed wit h the fa ct thai meal processors in man y abaltoirs across Ihe country were doing what Ihey liked with-
out regards fo r the principles and laws guidin~ the operation of an abattoir. "
He said many o f abattoi rs were no thing 10 write home about a nd the authorities of the concerned states were not doing much to correct the anomaly. He, howe\'er, appealed to the government of the affected st;, tes to instutionalisc a sound meat hygiene protocols both in policies, legislative inslrul1lents and fadlities. Futhermort', Dr lbe said he would nol relent nn impressin~ it (In the Federi11Government to consider the
~.
If
....r---,,,,,,-!~~~~~~~~~~~~,--____
~~i~'; d;n~::: t~I;;ll/ I:~~~ ~~:;
r
consumers in the stale" Speakmg fu rther. he said, "we have rllised the alann on Ihese bad practices on many occasions, but it seems succes:;:ive governments in Dye> State are nol ready to do anything to make "u rt' thatlhedirty and stinking abanelr wear a new look. I wilnt to, Ollce a gain, say that I' ve nC\'er sccn a n il battoir thiltis as dirty as Oodija abattoir in the Sou th-Western a:ds of the country," he Slated. Dr Adebowale Elemide also lamenled about the u nhygienic prac- l-------路路"'"~-ih;i;y;;.;;;;: tict'S in Bodija /lbattoir, saying the practice a t Bodija story was the same ill some other sl.,tes of the federi'!- spoke with the Tribune AgricuJtu.re wcre of Ihe opintion. He Solid if we were to strictly observe the rules 1lr1d ion that indeed, something urgent needed to be done :-egulations gu~rdi n g the est:.blishment of ,m ab.,ttoi r in order to put an end to unhygienic practices going as stipulated under the law of public health, then Oyo on in many abaUOI rs in many states of the federation, St:. te government had no choice than 10 quickly do stressing that there were looming dangers that might something to improve the c(lndil ion of Oodiji't .. baltoir. i1ffect the health of members of the publiC if nothing Other \'eted!lari,ms and :mim<'ll health scientists who was d one by~~~pp h . I ropna te aut lOri ties.
AMREC, C:A VA empower cassava farmers i processors
T
HE Agricu lt ural Media Reso u~ and Exte ns ion Cent re (Ah-1REC), Univers ity of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun ~ t ate, . in co ll aborat l o~ With Cassa ~a : Addll1g Value forAinca(C:AVA) have empowered ove,r 20 cas.~va pr~ucers ~d
p~rs grou1: \~,th ca paCl.t). slrengt emng materlil ls . . At the handmg over ceremony of 20 Knap s ack s pra:re rs an d 40
~=ee~ ';:.!~o;r~:
the Director of AtvlR EC: (M rs.) Professor Carolyn Afolam i sa id the equipment were mea nt to alleviate th e s u fferings or farme rs ilnd help their work to grow. _ _p!o~~~o l am i ,
who disclosed th at A""tREC had been teami ng and ttain i n~ . cassi'!va p roducers and-"rocessors on the cu lti va ti on a nd processing of im p rove d varieties of cas~va, sa id that sh e had enjoyed ~h e suppo rt and cooperation o f CAVA. Cor r ob 0 r a li n g Professo r Afo lami 's asse rt ion, the Co u ntry Ma n ager of C :A V A, Professor La tee! Sanni, pOinted out that th e p rospects derivable from Ihe cu ltivation and ~~:,=i~~ of cassa va a re Accord ing to h im , processing of cassava p roducts like ga ri , fu fu, biscuit, lafun among others - could be achieved and the standard of living enha nced, P rofessor Sa nn i, however, inted out that
i55ueo( establishingstateoftheartgo\-emment backe,-! veterina ry hospita ls in all slates of the federation. In his words.. "I've been saying it at different fo ra that iI's high time the government commenced on the establishment of Primary Veterinary Health Ca re Intervenlion in all the 774 local go\'ernmenls across the ~,o~"~n~t~'l'~.~'~I'~n~Y,-",'b~attoirs 11ft' in sorry slate and this is dangerous for the health of membcrs of Ihe public. "Not only thai, to put <In l;!nd
C:AVA hadbeen ableto make iln app reciable impact on the li ves of (i'! rmers thro u gh the support of the Natu ral Resou rces Institute (NRI) and the Bill and Me lind a Ga tes Foundation. Earlier, the ViceCh anccllor of UNAAU, Professor Ol u wa (emi Balogun, described the occas io n ilS "ano ther milestone in theeffornof the university towa rds add ressing some of the problems of agricultural develo p men t and food se lf s u fficiency in Nigeria ". P rofessor Ualog u n , who was rep resented by the Deputy ViceC h a 11 c e I l o r ( De" e lo p m en t ), Professor Scgun Lagoke said g iven the
increas ing popu lation growth ra te a nd pressure o n avail.,b le la n d , the re was ,Ill urgent need fo r famlers to ado pt improv ed techno logy in the prod uc tion a nd processing of thei r products. He explained that the handi ng ove r o f the equ ip me nt to cassava produ cers and p rocessors grou ps u n der th e C:A V AI AMREC Projec t wi ll improve food securi ly, r ura l liveli hood and agricu lt ural production, He, thcref,?r~, ~a lled on the ~eneh cla Ci es o f t h~yroJed to. properly uh\ise the equ1pment as a.me~nsofboostingtheir
II vehhood a nd for the de velopment o f their commu nities.
10 this problem, we h,we to (ft'ale the Directorate of Veterinary and Livestock Inputs as di rected bv fo rmer President , Chief O lu segun Obasa l1/o, in April, 2002. But it sad that nothing has been done by successive governments to implemen t this policy since then. "So we a re using this o ppor(unity Olgain to appea l to President Goodluck Junathall and the new ~'li n i 5te r o f Agricul ture to
implemenlitsoastu~.",eourlive-
stock indus try from imminent
collapse and to prevent outbreak of d iseases which may affect the health of nlt;!l1\bers of the public," he stated.
(JR~;tJ~fi fallM!S :"'.!:;l':' ...L;~.
~__
....!y Roti m i O m isote ARMERS in Iscyi n a n d Okeh o, two popu lar town s 1n Oke Ogun arca o f Ovo s tate ha ve called upon the s ta te government to ex tend its be nevolence to thcm i n orde r to improve their s tanda rd of living. They also want un h inde red access to agri cultural in p u ts which would encourage them to in creas e Ih eir pro d u ction. Tilis appea l was made by the chai rmen of diffe ren t association of farmers in the area. In th e wo r d s of Messrs Ku nle Aderoju and Joshu a Gbadegesin, they wan ted the government to ass ist them w ith necessa r y inputs to aid their {Mming activities. They lamented th a t govern men t {lfficia ls in ch a rge of dis tributions of agricu ltural in p u ts and fi1ci li ties ofte n hi -
F
lal\\enf exploHaH6fi _ _ __ _ _ _ jacking and di ver t fer t ili sers and othe r ch emica ls to u n known destinations, thus making them 10 suffer. Acco rding to l\'lr Gbadegesin, " they usually dh'e rl Ihese farm inputs to their sImps and the pain ful thing is that we ofte n buy the inputs at top-tOuf prices from," he lamented . Th e two ch airmen also complained .,bou t lack o f social amenit ies like good roads, eledriclIy, health care centre and potable water. " If Ihese t h ings ilre pro\'ided, it wi ll encourage and sen 'e as impetus to farmers to work hard so as to increi'l5e their produ ct ion, " Aderoju s ta tcd . They a ls('l cil iled the atlen il o n of the Co mmi ss ioner of Po li ce in the state to the probl... m o f securily in Ih ... area , s treSSi n g tha t Fulan is a lways in vade thei r far ms wit h cows and also steal their goods.