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FOOD SECURITY:
Expert urges FG to use integ'rated approach rof. Paul Marley, Managing Director, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority, has urged the Federal _Government to adopt integrated approach in ensuring food security in the country. He gave this charge recently in Abuja that achieving food security involved the integration of
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various processes. Marley said that food security could be achieved by the provision of basic infrastructure to farmers. He said the provision of improved seedlings and fertilisers were essential to increasing farmers output, and urged government to provide farmers with modem equipment to encourage them to engage in mechanised farming. "You cannot expect people to go to school and come back and' hold hoes
One of the Silos built at the Ximbabweanfarm in Shonga, Kwara State
Nigeria gets improved cassava varieties BY JIMOH BABATUNDE with agency reports
farmers in general,1/ says
he Nigerian governnlent has released four
expect to s~e more cassava
T
improved
cassava
varieties that will boost production and keep the country in the lead as the world's largest producer of the root crop. The varieties, which are a product of about a decade-old conventional breeding research include; NR 01/0004, CR 41-10, TMS 00/0203, and TMS 01/0040. TMS 00/0203 and TMS 01/0040 were bred by scientists working at the Ibadan-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)i while NR 01/0004 and CR 41-10 were bred by Umudike-based National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) and the Colombian-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture (ClAT) respectively. On-farm prerelease trials involving local farmers in eight states of the country show that the improved variefies out-performed local checks with an average yield of about 31 tons per hectare as opposed to 26 t/ha recorded by the local varieties. Farmers love the varieties for their excellent culinary qualities, high yield, and resistance to pest and diseases. "The release of the varieties is good news for
Nigerian
farmers
particular
and
in
African
Dr. Peter Kulakow, UTA Cassava Breeder. "We produced in Nigeria':" he
a'b~~r
tlie last decade, cassava has evolved in Nigeria from a mere food security crop to a cash and industrial crop. Annual production has increased from 32 million metric tons in 1998 to 45 million metric tons in 2008, thanks to crop improvement programs by
lITA and partners. The newvarieties seek to strengthen Nigeria's leadership in cassava production, increase farmers' incomes and guarantee food security. Although cassava is hardy and can survive where most other crops cannot, it responds to good environments when it finds one. Researchers say the key to mitigating changes in environmental conditions and pest and diseases
among many others depends on the deployment of suitable varieties that will notsulfer from sudden changes in the environment. "Host plant resistance still remains the most sustainable approach to mitigate the impact of pests and diseases on agricultural productivity," says Drs C.N. Egesi and E. Okogbenin, NRCRl Cassava Breeders. "These factors call for the need to cultivate a
r~ge of cassava varieties that may be a buffer to cassava_" production in an integrative" maD:ner since no single variety can achieve all the end-users' requirements," they add.. The researchers argue that the present and future demands on cassava for food and industrial needs make it necessary to always provide the farmers suitable improved cassava varieties to路 meet their challenges.
and cutlass to farm; they will shy away from that kind of rudimentary agriculture. "If we are able to mechanise our agricultural system, it will serve as impetus for the young ones to be interested in farming," he said. Marley also stressed the importance of research into post production techniques and Improvement in post production technologies. He noted with regret that even the small quantity of food produced by local farmers were not properly preserved and stored for local consumption and export. "We need harvest and post harvest technologies that will make us store food for a period of time," he added. Marley identified the lack of finance as another important factor militatin g against the achievement of food security in Nigeria. He stressed the need for government to provide finance, in form of lodUs or grants to local farmers to enable them to increase food production. _ "If government can integrate all these processes, Nigeria will not only achieve food security, but export farm products," he said. In a related development, Marley has promised to use his wealth of experience to boost food production in the catchment areas of Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority (UNRBDA). _ He is one of the newly appointed -Managing Directors of the 12 River Basin Authorities in the country.
Food Crisis: FG Will Not Panic Over FAO Report -Minister
A
BUJA The Minister of Agriculture, Prof Sheikh Abdullah, has said in Abuja that the Federal Government would not panic over a report indicating that Nigeria was vulnerable to food
crisis. The report by the FAa, the UN food agency, stated that Nigeria, Morocco and Bangladesh, among others, were vulnerable to food crisis. Reacting to the report- in an interview with newsmen, Abdullah criticised the authors of the report for not seeking his opinion as Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture. "Nobody sought my opinion; neither did anybody speak with me or the Minister of State for Agriculture or any of the stakeholders in the
aiJriculturai sector before cpmin~ out with the report, 'he said. According to him, such; reports are often based on assumption and insufficient analysis. However, he said the current administration was aware of the global food crisis and that efforts were ongoing to reposition the nation's agricultural value chain for sustainable development. He noted post harvest losses was one of the factors militating against the attainment of food security and food sufficiency in Nigeria. To this end, he said the government was already implementing several programmes aimed at promoting best practices in agricultural development. The programmes, he
said, were entrenched in the National Programme for Agriculture and FDod Security, which serves as a road . map for implementing all agricultural programmes. He identified them as including the Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (CADP), FADAMA III, NERlCA Rice Project and IFADassisted Rural Finance Institutions _ building Programme (RUFIN) and two Community-based programmes. The minister expressed the hope that the nation's food storage capacity would be increased from its present 300,000 tonnes to three million tonnes when the ongoing silos projects were completed. Apart from the silos projects, the minister said that the Federal
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RiceFann Government had also established 17 integrated' large-scale rice processing mills in 12 states. Furthermore, he said that more than 174,000 tonnes of assorted grains had been purchased from
2009 to date under the "Guaranteed Minimum Price Scheme (GMPS) even as N8.76 billion was expended on the mopping up of some food commodities such as millet, paddy rice, maize, garri and sorghum.
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