2 8 - .V a ngua rd, FRIDAY. JULY 8; 2011
BUSINE~S/ AGRICULTURE
Emir appeals to farmers not toabadon maize for goundnut production
Africa's rice stakeholders root for metha n ization ByJ)rltOUBABATUNDE with agency reporis
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o ting that lac k of m ec hanization is lininJ the pro duc tivity and competitive ness of ri cj! in su b· Saharan Africa (SSA), represe ntatives of rice stakeholders in tbe region mct recen tly to develop a roadmap fo r susta inable mechanization of the rice sector. The s takeho l~ ers n
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Africa Rice Centc r (Africa Rice), which hosted the meeting at its research SlatiO[1 in St. Louis, Senegal. ~ Tb e a lUou nt of ri ce s ave d i! equi va le nt to nearly 17 per cent of rice imports IOto the
hig h I:lbor-intensive aetl\;ties, regio n aoo has a real \w ue of $ suc h as la nd preparation, 410 millio n in 20 11.. Tbis can seeding, weeding, han,esting l he lp lift about 2.8 million and proces!!i ng o f ri ce a nd persons in ri ce farming -su.5 !alna hle aJlproaches for hOU.5C h old.~ out of po\'Crty, ~ Dr: ·their introduc hon, testiog and Wopercis explained. out_scaling were presented a t P rom is ing technologies for the mee ting. The ASI threshe r· cleaner wbich has heen a dapted a nd introduced by AfricaRice in eol1abo ratiolJ with the I nterna tion a l Rice Resea rc h Ins titute (IRRI), nati ona l ex tensio n se rvices and lucal ma n ufacturers in se\'eral countries o f the reJion , was by G bana, $305 millio n, and c ited as a suttessful exa mple. received hig h AS I Ins Benin $54 Dlillion respectively. recog nit ion in tbe region The .5 tatement quoted iucludine the Senega j scientis ts as sayi ng tha t the. Presidential Awan:i and praises control of Ihe pest, throngh tI[e from tbe Chad Government. The partjcipants agreed that a pplication of loxic che micals, was rulcd oul because of tbc ir the key raclors for a p'ossib le adverse e ffec ts on mec hanizatio n s us t'ainablc Illite rate fa rmers and th e progra m include not only e D\·iro nment. appropriate tcchnolo$ies but They said tha t disease aI.so sound business pnnciplcs, local owne rs bip, dealer pathogens and pests te nded to s uppo r t, gO\'c rnme n t backing ~radualh' de\'elop re.si!lance to and loca l tra ini ng in the use c be mical pesticides O\'e r lime. According to the m , mos t and maintena nce of c hem ica l pes tic ides are not equipment. selective and may des troy the na tural e nemies and the pe~ts together.
Nigeria, others benefitted from $1.7bn worth of biological programmes in 18 years ~ITA .
B
iological contro l rograms by tb e fnternational Institute of Tropical Ag riculture ( UTA) and partners on cassava greeo migh t ha ve bro ught benefi ts worth more than $ 1.7 billion to Nigeria, 8 e nin, and Ghana in 18 yea rs. Dr Ousmane Coulibaly, IITA AJ ri cultural Economist, who dISclosed this in a s ta temenl, made available to the press during the week desoibed t he figure a5 'a conservative estima te.· ·The figure represents tbe amount those countries would have spen t over the years on o ther methods such as chemic.al contro l and or yield l osses if they never adopted biological control," Coul.ibaly sajd a l a semioar in Ibadao. He ide ntified the cas sava green mite as a pest that was respons ible for between 30 per cent and 50 percent yield loss o f cassava in Africa, until a natu ral enemy of the pest helped conta io tbe devastation . Coul iba l), recalled t bat in 1993, scientists from UTA and pa rtners identified , TyphlodrOlJlalus aripo, as one of the most e ffici e nt enemies against cassava green mite. He said the int roductio n of T.aripo, anothe r ehemiea l, had reduced pest populatioos by as much as 90 percent in the dry season , whe n pes t populations were usually bigb . He said in the wet seaSOD, pes t attacks were, howeve r, not II seve re, addi ng that T.aripo was first released on c.assava farm s in Be nin a ft e r it bad been transported from Bru il aDd, subseque ntly, in
II countries. The Agric ult ura l Economist pointed out that T .aripo bad been es lablisbed in all o f the countries meo tioocd , except Za mbia . -r. a,r ipe ba.s also s pre.,d inlo To~o a nd Co le d ' ivoire fro m ne Ighbo ring count ries. II s.Jlread a.t a bout 12 km in the firs t year, and as mucb as 200 ' Iun in the .sec:ond ,.,:;ar. "Today, the cassava g ree n mite predato r h a.s bee n es tablished o n mo re than 400,000 s quare kilometers or Africa's cassava growing arcas, ~ be said. The re lease of T . aripo, be a dded, hene fite d Ni&cria by about 5 1.367 hillioo, fo llo wed
oRice f arm
call in an interview in Ahuja during the week said that the call bec.ame necessary due to their complain ts about the lack of attess to fertiliser. He noted tha t the area was best known for maize production , admitting tbat the no n_ava ilability of fertiliser was tbe major ~ason why farmers were being attracted to gro undnut cultivation . ~I am Ilp peali ng to them beca use groundnut is a cas h crop ..... hile maize is both cash and food crop. ~ We . in Blrnin Gwari a re well known for ma ize production. We are amo ng the major producers of the crop Nigeria, ~ he sa id . .. He, bowever, urged the farmers to exercis e patience while the s ta te govern me nt Intensified efforts to source for mo re fe rt ilise r for the m, to e ns ure bumpe r harves t. Alhaji Ladan ,\bbas , a fanner, said that all efforts to get su ffici en t fertiliser fro m fbe s tate government had not been s uccessful . adding that he had resorted to the use manure . ·Ou r major proble m is that maize is. not [ike g round nu!. It needs adequate fertiliser to get good harvest, while g rou ndnut does not need mucb of the commodity,· he ex plained. Malam lsa Na Inna another farmer at Sabon Gida , noted tha t ,1ccess to fe rtilise r had become a hercu lea n task to far me rs. "Even if you go to the market yo u will not find re rtiliser. This is contrary to what used to obtain in the past whcn you would go with you r mon ey and purchase the commodity wltb ease, - he observed .