Vanguard, THURSDAY, A tJRIL 5 , 2012 -
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T..t '1Jen al l people al iJ1J t't' Urnes have access 10 sufiidenl, safe. nutritious food 10 maintain if heallhyand ilCUn~ Ufe. "then fOU can.say Iller are (ood·'Oecure. This "'15 the dei/nillon or iood l>eCIIrlty b y the 1radd Food Summit in 1996. /I Is lroe thaI ani, it bealth) people can credle a ueallJ,)" nation and ior there 10 be if h ealU,} people, there mUSI be food security. Nigeria, II'fIlJ if land area 01 abou198.3 million hit, 74 million IliI proven 10 be good for farmhlg, is sUi} grappling with (ood-i n security a n d yo uth
unemploym e nt because less than haJl of th e aJ'CIbJe la nd is being expl ored. To stem this Ude and bring the nation back to tb epa lh 01 progress, Dr. OIUSiJDjo-Josbu ilSvllle O Ju g bemJga Ade-
Agriculture can overtake oil in revenue generation - Olusanjo Adegoke
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goke. the Executive Chairman. Alaspon Farms Nigeria
Ud., lAgos S tate University (LA5U), Epe Ca m p us h ilS
carried au' research projeds I mprovi n g uop yi e l d. [arming m ethods. and creatIng emp loyment in the p rocess. fIe spoke with \ Mguard 00
In lagos. Excerpts: Dr Adegokestrongly belIeVes that Nlgena can adneve food suffiCiency If the federal and state governments act on tus adVice based on results of years of research . He said "Nigena Food SufhClency Achlevemenl studies With practical demonstra\lon on a 400-heclare farmland at LASU, Epe campus for five year.; and It IS now ready for government's unplementallOn...
Improvement of cassava Spealnng on the crops they have worked on, Adegoke said Utey have been involved in the hybndlzallon and Improvement of cassava, wheat, cocoa, palm fruits , cotton, nce, fruits , vegetables, GUInea gTaSS, etc. "We developed the hybnd c~va, Maspon-3072C, [rom theTMS. 30572, 30337. 30553 + AT 50357 cassava varieties. ThIS cassava IS orgarucally cultivated and It IS resIStant to Bactenal Blight (PBC). It takes SIX months to grow with blgh )'leld and Wllhut a period of four to five years, we can have the capaaty to produce five billion tons of cassava. "SlDlilarly, we have developed our cocoa lor revttahsation; we want \0 ensure that OW"CDCJJa and gTOundnut pyramids are restored. Most of our crops are pests and weevi1-ll!SlSlanl The cassava is restslant to CBB, all our tomatoes are nematode-re"Sistani . We have developed 0f9iUUC prtxiuctswith which we treat the seeds and the sod so that 10 this way, our crops are not IIlfected by any fungal, bacterial orvualagents. ''\o'k have improved upon the 011 palm varieties - Dum and Thnero and that will enable the country to have sufficient palm ail - both the red oil and palm kernel od and also palm Icemel cake lor mdustnal use.. This will SllJeIy lead ID youth empowerment and
By EBELE ORAKPO
gOl11g to be growmg II to the country so there will not be any
storage, the aim of the nallon becoming food -secure WIll be defeated. According to Adegoke, they have put in place a robust preservation system and they generate their own elecLnc:ity. In Uleir hid to involve eve!)' nook and cranny of the nallon, Adegoke said they haveUed to all the 36 states, coUected. soil and water samples to know what crops are best for what regions. He believes thai with bme, wheal unportabOn will be ill thmg of the paslllS "we are
• Dr. OIusanjo Adegoke_. Wi th
tbis project. WJemploym en, wiD be reduced 10 nl-e per ceaL mass employment thereby reducing our poverty level by about 67.7 percent "We have also unproved on our vegetables and fruits such as mangoes, pineapples, pears,
pear ap ples, strawberries, ltiwis, grapes and lemons, to be able to meet our food need in
the country: he said. The resea.rcbers did not stop at unproviog seeds, sod and crop yield, they went further to improve on storage techruques because without proper
need lounportwheat." Asked if the crops are genellcally modified, Adegoke replied m the negabve, Si!ymg that they are not 1010 geneb(: engmeenng of food crops and ammals. ')\11 our crops are orgamcally grown. We are not tnlO genetically mod.1fied foods. YkdoawaYWlth
an cbermcaIs also because ~ are aware of the chemical residues left in fcxxis." He affirmed thai bxi sufficen.. cy 10 N 19ena IS possible as we have enough land and maDpDW'E!I: "TIus ptOfE!ctwilliead
ourcountJ\ to be food-suffident In evel) 'yay. And Wlth the employm"nt opportunities cealed, .1f employment will be reduced 10 ' lYe percent," he saxi. He app.'alcd to President GoodluckJooathan, memtesof the National As!iembIy and alJlhe 36 state g(NernOrs ID beed his 'advice for the betterment of the natIOn, adding that "the pTO)8Ct started lD L992 and we have used pnval e fundmg to thlsday. We wdn! the Nigerian govemmellJ.lO step m and W(!an! ready to reiease all the resean:b documents "
Kingston High School cleans Lagos streets BY DONALD AIUl
TN line With the state govJ.emment 's policy on enVironmental sanitation , staff and students of Kingston High School, Ajegunle, Lagos has carried out a deaning eJ.el"ClSE! within their locality to create a cleaner and g reener Lagos. The exerCISe led by the prinopal of the school, Mr. Albert Okere saw the students and their teacher.; talcing brooms, shovels, rakes and cutlasses
into the streets of Lagos to contribute therr own quota m makmg Lagos a clean aty. Residents who were happy with the mittabves by tile students and tbelr teachers hailed the developmenl malDtainmg that they (students and teache rs) were laymg good ezample for others to emulate. Both teachers and sludents of the school were armed WIth cleanmg Implements and marched into Ihce street, A) ba, Oro Road, Ugali St· and Aleboh Streel swee
as well ilb cleanng blocked drainage m the streets, while chorusing ''keep Lagos clean, secure your health." This exetase attracted re51dents of the slreets cleaned by theschooi Nkechi. oneof the residents who hves at ltire Street while speaking Wlt11 \ohnguard saJ.d, " it was lite a movie when I saw the students and their teachers at about 8:45amoon '~"'e t picking up dirt, ~d also cleaning "e dirt obstruct'ter_"