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T H E NATION FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16,2012
AGRO-BUSINESS STATE FOCUS
Lagos agric success story GRiCUlWRE i5 II sector thaI ha!> grown Ir('mendousl)' in ,-agos bl'Cau~ there is a lot of potential 5ul"re!OSlYe p'ernments in the Slate have conbnuoU5ly promoted various agricultural products, which include rice, millZe, ca.ssa''a, vam, plantam. \"cgetnbles, fruits, rocOnut,. paint oil, Ii'ih. go.,I, :sheep, tilbbits ilrid pigs. TIl(' quest of the Slate goverrunent "'ith r~ard. to tI~ enhancemco.1 of agriculture IS extremely HtsplOng. Farmers in the 'ita.te have been provided v..i!h the required as.!ilstanc.'l' from Ule state go'·emmenl. Agricultural inputs 'Such as fertilLo;cr,;, pesticides, heri;lIodcs and lradors are continuouslv purchased and distnbutlod to ianne~ throughout the o;late.. The ~rall perfOtmal"'lO! of the stat.e'~ agnculture ~Ior is impressh'e, To" greilt extent. the huge Iransformalion WdS .. reo sponse to an iocmast.'d demand for agricultural pnxlllCb prompted b)' the industriali!li1hon pr0ct'S6. The industrialjs.,lion ~ a..-'.sociated v.ith a P-OWlng and lncreasinfdr richer and mo re urban populatiOn. lhe increa..,oo opporlurulies for fann· ers haw ]t.>d to ;! fa\'outilble environment fOf" agrkultural modernisation, H u~e investments have been mllde In agncultutill developmenl In iIrllltll.!!npl tobomit UK" ~wtb of Ule f1Shl!TV sub-~Ior, the St.,te Go"emnlent, through its ~ Uni5try of Agriculture proctlred and distnlrofed SI.'\'etal.fuhing Inputs !loch asoutboard engtrK5i1nd n~ts tofOO· enrn.'l1 in l}ede, I:U-Oia ilnd I!>l'luL..ekki riverine commWllti<'S, Similarly, the tin!Stocl< sui>-seo:tor has rontinul'li to enjo)' priority support from !h(' governmenl To enfuince the growth of animal husbandry, the stat(' govenunent in r-cbrual}' ]995 reiterated its readines!= to con' tinuously finance ib u1tr" modem AbaHoir and LAingeComplC.'C Sllu· ated at Agl'gl" U1 LagO!l Establishru to guarnntee h~ slaughtering of animals, thii t:omplex. iICCOrdIng t" guvemment, ",11 effecti,'ely provide modem facili, ties for bul£hets 1Il the stale. Determined 10 forge the slate Ilhl'ad in aU agriculturil activities, Ule &OVernment recentJ)' e\'olved vanous AgricuUutill De\'eiopment Incren· lives (ADI) to boost aU operations associated with the growth or Ule .. ub-sector, These incentilll"$, among other things, guarantee the availability of sofnoans to small and medfum scale farmers; Ihe allocation of famung IE10d 10 interested i1gnculturists and thi> provision of modem WOrki11& Implements for fanners; also, tlie slate govemmenl Is makin~ giant striaes as regards prmidmg a fare lift for its Agncultural Development Programme (ADP). The ~tale Minislry of Agri· culture, for imtance, has eXpanded its Milrine . Agriculture rlASMADEI') IIlitiatlVe ing its aqunti(" potentia toward~ acCelerated rISh production 10 the state.1hel..ASMAD£Pinlliativehas created 400 jobs directly for benefidaries ilnd O\'er 10,000 jobs indill!Clly to cage UlaJlufildurt'TS, fOf feed IriiIIers and sales. roo marketers, processors and storage amongst others with the pos.5lbll· ity of specialisation.The miru.... try Ms.iliO initiated actions 10 replenish the dcchrung threshold of watet bodies in the state to impfO\'e Hsh landing With the sut"Ce!r5ful introduction of the "Eko Meat Van", the Mini,,"" try hilS discoutilged the use of illegal meat yarn. operating in and outside the slate, With the effee· th'ecurtailmentof AV!.1n influenza (Al) and African Swim: PC\'cr(ASp) in the state, the ministry has embarked on the dlslnbuhon of dis-ea.se free livestock under its lnte--
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-Fran! Idl: It. N.tion.1 OHicer, Anil N.h. Owoeye <find GeneT.1 Senetny. Sh.ibll confen!nce In LilSo"
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'Nigeria self-sufficiency in rice realistic'
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GROUP,
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Millers 1m-
porter5 and DbtributoB ~ c:octallOn (RIMIDAN) has expl15Sed faith in the govt'l'lU1\eTlr,
rlan to reduce imporTalion of rice (:Iue to preparedness to finance kl!)' development programmes Spt-alung m Ltgos. its Vjce.Prt!5ident, Mr Tunli Owotye said lhe go\'emmenl is supporting severnl measures 10 boost farm piodudi\'it\.te said increase in lhe nation's main food staple IS eJ(preted dec<>pile dt'vilslating (loods that hnvt' claimed Ih'~ and CilU!!«l millions 01 naira in damage to crops and property. Allhougfi the floods hiwe damaged millions of tannes of rice crop. he Wi15 oplhnis!!c that farml'rscouldr.Lant more 10 make up for the short all, By good fortune, he said serious floOdmg was limiled in the !IOulh· em parfof the countrv 1·le said thiS )'ear was qwte different as the na· li011 has never experiencro such a level of flooding As always, he hoped for a more prosperous one 1Il the year 10 rome. Looli;ing through the season.
By Danlet Esslat, Agrtc Correspondent Owoey~ said !he rondilions ~ good lor replanting, He Silid the gOl'emment islakUlg steps 10 introduce high }'Ield· mg varieties, mimml!it' post-har. '-est los.ses, focus on value-additiorl as v..-ell as removing hurdles in !he way of farmers.. Acrording to him, local produc· tion of rice is about 1.8 metric tonnes and RfMIDAN contnoutt'S about 79 to 84 per cent. He Silid inveslment in plants, machinery and equipmenl by Ihe a55ooation are in the region of NISO billion, Owoeye said import of rice would badly hit hx.,1 production, causing huge losses 10 el(porters/trader.s ilnd farmers because cheilper import will ruin agricul. turaf production potential of the counlry. He said the association is working. with research io5lituti0n5 to achieve self--5uf~ in rice production usinS high-fielding ~ Owoeye Scud ihe:re is coopt"ra-
bon betWMl farmers and .scientists and thiS was one way to improve rice production He said the assnciiltion 15 developing long.term sttiltegie fOf" the local m and also help 6udd a btilnd across the mar-
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Meanwhil('. despite widespread floods in Southeast Asia, (')(pecta· hOM are for global fiao production to rise three per «'Ot this year, ac· cordin~ to the Food and Agriculture Orstamsation (FAD) Clobal production of paddy', or unmllled rice, will reach nl mlilion loru ill 2011. 2.4 million tons higher thlln II predicted in July, lind thret' per cent up from 2010 production, forecasts tfie FAD. "The revision renects e)epected Impro,red ri~ harver::ts in BangladeSh, China, Egypt. India and Vietn"m, which more than outweighed a worsening of prospects in indonesia. the Republic of Korea, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ule rhiUppines and Thailand,· the FAD said. Acrordin~ to him, the market for rice is stili R.ood, and there Ii pm;ped b- smill farmer.r; grol\"mg rXe for the local coMumption.
How to improve farmers' income, by expert 1000Cl-INDL()(;) CiUl plil)' It si Iflamt role in helping sm!li-scale farmers 1m· prove then incomes and quality of life, an e)(~rt, Dr Lanre Talabl has said Food blotechnolog)' employs the tools of modem genebCli 10 the ageold process of Improving food pmductlon Biotechnology helps to produce an nbundant supply ofbet· ter-tasting and more nulritious foods, Speaking with Till' Nal1oll, Talabi, who IS thr Chief Execul\ve Officer (CEO), Talon Nigeria Limited, said biotechnology is crucial to the pur· suit of food S«llrity Since COfwen· tional crop Improvement alone cannot guarantee human nutrilIonal needs
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By Josephine Owed. He said biotechnology has the ability to boost the amount of food production per acre while better mana.sing water resources. particu· larly In the face of drollght or WII' ter shortages. One of the products of biotechnology is biotech crops, Talabi, said biotech crop5 orrer the oppor' tUnity 10 produce more food and Improve incomes while being gOOd stewards of their land, According to him, small fanners with ilccess to plant bioteclulology would enjoy reducro input costs, Increased crop produclivlty and hlgher incomes, which will lead to Improvements in the home, ilnd for families and communities.'"
For small farmers, he said impron.ng yields with less labour not only provIdes better Incomes but a higher quality of life. Talabi said there ilfe tested biotech crops, which ilre vitamin· rich, herbiade-toleranl and insectresistant aim drought-tolerant. As food security and sustainable agriculture have become key con· cern~, he said adopting biotech crops will 0f,tJmise proouctivity and contribu e to fooCl , fiber secu· rilt and ilddreM climate clulnge. Ie noted that with modem biotechnology, intrilctable pests and disease!! of plant~ and animalsrould be controlled, enhance nutrition lIS well il!i help plants cope with dl\'erse soil condiltons, drou/ihl.!;, hIgh salt contents and poor SOil fertiltty,
Akwa Thorn fishermen decry impact of oil spill R
ESIOE1'oITS on the Atlantic coru;tJine In Akwa Ibom State have decried the negallve impact of fre:quent oil ~rtl\$ from Qua Iboe Oil. ftelds operated by Mobil Produang Nlgena (MPN), TIle MPN, iln 1l1fihate of U5D11 /'inn EJu;on/I.lobil,. on Sunday reported a freo;h 011 spill from its OpetiltlOns near the Al.wil lborn coastline. Reacting to the d('ve\opnlent In separate inten'iew~ with New~ Ag.ency of Nigeria (NAN), the tI"Sldenl'J Silld thallh., spills were too t'requent. Two ..pilb had occurred in the Qua lbee oil field operated by the! MPN on~~t:h!i~~ Ekel I..ocal Government. Chief Ibanga EIang.
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decried the impact of spills on the rlShing communities in Southern Akwalborn. -rht.- spill contaminated the! water, causing riSh drou~t and distorting t mariO(' food chain. "Whenever iI spill occurs, fishermen are thrO\\tn Oul of businesses because when the wlIten become to)[ic, fisht'S migtilte from the re;JCh of fishermen. "The recurring spills put to question the claims by Mubil management that it has replaced IIged pipeline network," Etnng said.. A fish selier, Mrs Uduar EyoSunday, told NAN that they were
adversely affected by the oil spill. "'Whenever there is oil spill, the fishermen do nol bring fish back from the waters and when we crumot ~uy ~~h, we have nothlng to
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'iWe find it difficult to feed our children and the situstion will continUC' for a long time.. MThilt is why we need relief matenals and compen5!llion. for tJle damage to our soun:e of hvel.ihood," Mrs eye-Sunday ~id. A community leader in lbeno local Government Area, Chief John Etim described the latest spillll!j the worst m recent limes. He silid frequent spills had Impoveri5hed the fl5hlng population on U\e coastline.
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By Daniel Essiet gratN I..iv.....tock E.\pansion Progrnmme. (lLEP) to fanners The Rice for Job irutialive has sU(O!!i..'ifull\· incre;ISCd rio! cultiva· lion in tN.'-state from less than 50 ht!dares in 2007 to 2..1;() hedare5last year, wiUt 200 youths ilUractetllo the fano. Irrigililod farming thai would ensure double cropping ha.;; also been introduced to ensure yea r round production c}"dtobv the beneficmri("'<. Two modem rice prOC1."S!oing fa· d lilles with II capacitr for four tOIU'es per dOl'" eath were a1so ~od to produce "eko rua.-" 10 disUibution within the slale. The ~O\'ern ment'~ focus IS on boosting the productivity of Ih(' agrl.culture and li~herie!>Sector to 5UStam its robusl t"I:onomic growth The AGRIC_YES IOltiabve was also designed torrodtK."e fir.-t clnss entrepreneurla elite fAnIlenl in the area of poultry, fish fanning. bee-M!eJ':ing and an 5eMQll vegetable fanomg as weU as correct the problems of the old Farm Seulemenl Scheme.. in the stale. The lkorodu FiSh Farm Estate, whidl ha5 been fully subscribed, ~ currently producing at 60 per cenl of its capacity. An averase of 3,000 tannes of fresh fish was produced annually from the estate \\lith o"er 400 jobS created directly and over 100.000 ~ indirectJy, A technological incUbation centr(' has been added with hiltcheri('5 and proce§Sing facilities that will add value to the estate. Appro\'al has a!.so been gh'en for the establishment of a modem (jsh mnrket in the stilte that would ease dltzen's aa:ess to purchase fish at an)' lime and dav irrespective of the buyers' loc.,tlon, Witti th(' success recorded. at lkorodu, the minisl£}'_ has clearLod n 60Ha farmland nt Kctu, Ereyun in Epe LGA for another 400 plots cilpadty Fish Fann Est.tte.lbeland hil! bt.'eO surveyed and hud out with the front fenct', gate and sile omce in place, The eslate, whlch will be iJl(' largest FiYl. Farm Estilte in Africa will rroduce aboul 20,00) Tonnes of fresh fish per annum," the commissioner said. The Rice for Job initiative has successfully mcreased riO!' cultivation 10 the Stale from k!ss than SOH.. in 2007 to 250Ha in 2009 with 200 )'oufus altracted to the Farm. The Tractor Hiring Unit (THU) has SCf'\'lced an a,'erage of2,l05larrner.s with an a\'erage of ISha tnctor time per farmer for farm mechanisation. The regime of GO\'emor Babatunde rashola strongly focused on lechnol~)'-dnv('n productility gail"!!, wtikh became an Impo:rtant additIonal characteristic of ilgriculturaJ production expans.lon. The government is tliVCrsl fylOg agric produce and ments ana haS acqwred great r('levanee.