Boxes

According to Dr. Gozie Nwodo, Head, Media and Public Relations, “the agency has directed that all importation of SWPM must be accompanied with import permit from NAQS or must have been treated, and treatment is given the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) markings/logo in line with International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 15 guidelines.”

Scientists and Agricultural experts in Nigeria are currently partnering on developing a sustainable cassava seed system to solve the problem of low productivity of the crop in the country.

An agric expert, Dr Hemant Nitturkar, said this on Friday, at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, during the annual meeting of the project tagged: “Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS).

Nitturkar, who is the Project Coordinator, noted that the initiative was to set up a sustainable cassava seed system where improved seeds, would be provided for farmers.

The system, he said, would benefit the full cassava seed value chain and farmers as well as communities while enhancing productivity and income.

According to him, the 2018 annual meeting with the theme is to develop shared understanding of the cross-cutting dependencies among breeders, foundation and commercial seed producers, as well as to agree on quantities of seed flows over the next three years.

The coordinator further said it was to socialize and strengthen the key building blocks of seed system being developed in the project and plan for sustainability of all the key project interventions.

“Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava, but productivity is very low.

“ Nigeria loses about N1trillllion due to low productivity.

“We hope that this project that will last between 2016 and 2019 will address low cassava productivity issue,” he said.

The Director-General of National Agriculture Seeds Council, Dr Olusegun Ojo, who also addressed the annual meeting, said the council would do its best to ensure that farmers get improved cassava seed varieties.

He said;“The project is going on well since its inception in 2016 and farmers are already excited with the contribution and provision of the seed council.

“All stakeholders in this project are working perfectly to ensure that the goal is achieved,”.

Cassava

This was revealed at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, by the Tanzania-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Director, Dr. Victor Manyong, on behalf of two other members of the Study team-Dr. Tahirou Abdoulaye  (a senior Economist at IITA), and Dr. Godwin Asumugha (Agricultural Economist and Director, Farming Systems Research and Extension, at NRCRI).

According to Asumugha, the three Scientists (Manyong, Abdoulaye and Asumugha) will be organising the sharing session on the findings to the NRCRI community, comprising Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Abia State University, Abia State ADP and Agriculture Ministry.

Funding of the CMS, with the target of documenting the extent of adoption of improved cassava varieties with rigorous sampling and DNA based identification of improved varieties, came from the CGIAR Research Programme on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), through the CMS project at IITA Ibadan

“It was designed to assess the adoption of improved cassava cultivars and reveal the drivers of adoption and misadoption in Nigeria, the largest producer of cassava in the world.”

Speaking after the presentation, Manyong said that CMS found that the adoption of improved cassava varieties at a poverty line of $1.25 per capita had moved 1.8 million Nigerians above the poverty line, adding however, that a lot still ought to be done to assist cassava farmers, hence about 70 per cent of them relied on social networks for planting materials.

According to Manyong, the CMS was a cross-sectional survey and recommended that the survey be done every five years to monitor changes including the need for a well functioning seed system that would encourage the multiplication and distribution of certified seeds  

Rice (farm produce)

Each farmer would be loaned N256, 526.60 with farm inputs to cultivate a minimum of a hectare of rice field.

The Managing Director of Wal Wanne, Alhaji Abiso Kabir, who disclosed this while unveiling two rice pyramids at the Ramat Square, Maiduguri, said the rice pyramids was built with 33,000 bags of paddy rice produced by 18,000 farmers.

His words: “The CBN anchor borrowers’ farmers are drawn from 12 councils to cultivate 700 hectares of rice fields. Wal Wanne also registered 13,000 local farmers, with each producing seven to eight tons of paddy rice per hectare.

“With the successful implementation of the anchor borrowers’ programme, the imports of rice reduced by 80 per cent with the creation of more jobs for youths and women in the state.”

He urged the unemployed youths to embrace the scheme that could guarantee national food security and savings from foreign exchange, noting that the challenges of accessing Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) among rural farmers and insecurity of liberated communities may affect the expansion of the programme to create more jobs and food security.

The state Governor, Kashim Shettima applauded Wal Wanne’s farming initiatives for creating jobs for 18, 000 farmers.

He warned farmers against the diversion of CBN loans for any other purpose than the production of more rice, maize, wheat and sorghum.

Photo: pixabay.com

The pressing challenges include; climate change, infrastructure, lack of finance and constraints of smallholder farmers. But the good news is that stakeholders across the continent are rising to the competitiveness challenge.

Speakers at a session on agribusiness, at the just concluded Africa CEO Forum, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, said the continent needs innovation in addressing the challenges, especially the climate change issue, as it is detrimental to the growth of the sector.

The Vice President, Middle East and Africa, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Sergio Pimenta said if the continent intends to increase its export to the rest of the world to increase its revenue base, there is need to adopt Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) to address the perennial challenges.

CSA is an approach that helps to guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate.

CSA aims to tackle three main objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Africa and Middle East, Olam International Limited, Venkataramani Shrivathsan, who described the CSA, as an extreme economical method, lamented that infrastructure challenge is one of the major impediments affecting agric investment in Africa.

He cited the company’s rice farm in Nasarrawa State, as example, where he noted that it was after situating the farm in the area that they realised the nearest market to them is about 60km away, which prompted the company to construct road.

“In Africa, we need collaborative approach to address issues affecting agriculture. Policy makers and government need to make infrastructure available for investors. We really need infrastructure-good roads and other basic amenities to make things happen.

“Innovation is critical. We have adopted the use of critical technology to map our Cotton farm in Cote d’Ivoire and also data capturing, which immensely helped farmers.

The use of technology can address issues in agric, if you can predict there is going to be shortfall in the supply of a particular seed, through technology you can mitigate it. Technology can also be used to improve the yield of smallholder farmers.”

British American Tobacco

The deal will allow some graduates of the institution to access funds to start their own farms. 

Speaking about importance of food security, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, said any country that cannot feed its population is not fit to be called a country.

He observed that “although farming is not attractive to many Nigerian graduates, but as our population is increasing daily, we must strategically plan for food security in this circumstance.” 

Speaking earlier, the General Manager of BATN, Mrs. Ololade Johnson-Agiri said the company is interested in encouraging Nigerian universities’ graduates to be Agropreneurs by advancing some funds to them to set up their own farms.

She disclosed that BATN places much priority on the institution for the programme. “The key element of the project is to fund these youths immediately they graduate from school. We will finance their proposals. We have the monitoring team, we will not give them so much money in the first instance.”

Both the Dean, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Professor Bamidele Omitoyin and the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor Ademola Ladele said the two faculties already have a programme in place within the context of the model being proposed by BATN, which led to the establishment of the Institute of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources at Ile-Ogbo, Osun State.

Ladele said: “We are excited about your programme, which has to do with mentoring and capacity building. We have reviewed our curriculum, taking into consideration entrepreneurial and commercial skills of our students. With the current professional direction of their disciplines, they should be able to make money before leaving the university.”

Dairy products. cheese, milk, sour cream Credit: holisticwellness.ca

He made this submission at the just concluded Global Food Security Symposium held in Washington DC, United States where he made a research presentation.

Abioye was the only student from a Nigerian university on the 2018 Next Generation delegation. He is a postgraduate student of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Ibadan.

Abioye spoke keenly about his interaction with dairy pastoralists during his research evaluation of the Dairy Development Programme (DDP) run by FrieslandCampina WAMCO in Oyo State.

“Dairy farmers need to identify the value in the value chain and only then can they ascertain where exactly the government and private sectors can assist in bridging those gaps”, said Abioye

In a panel discussion moderated by Trent McKnight, founder of AgriCorps, Abioye introduced “Project mDairy”, a novel mobile service platform he designed alongside 3 other youth innovators, for dairy pastoralists and smallholder farmers to access information and best-practice tips on the dairy value chain.

Convened yearly by the Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative, the symposium on global agriculture and food security provides a platform for discussion about international community’s progress on addressing the problem of food insecurity

Abioye said he was inspired to do Project mDairy when FrieslandCampina WAMCO partnered with Delft University of Technology on the Dutch-Nigerian Students Business Challenge.

According to Abioye, Vaccines, food choices, milk hygiene and access to veterinary care are the fundamental concerns of Oyo dairy farmers whose livelihoods and businesses have improved significantly since FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s intervention through its Dairy Development Programme.

Dr. Rufus Ebegba

Ebegba, who said this at a media conference in Abuja, noted that there is a current influx of illegal GM products in the country and urged dealers to obtain the necessary Biosafety permit from the agency before making such importation. This permit allows the agency to carry out risk assessments on GM Seeds.

He said the agency would not hesitate to prosecute those trading in GMOs and their by-products illegally. He noted that the agency was established to ensure that GM products are safe for Nigerians, as no product will be allowed into the country without the necessary safety analyses and risk assessments.

The DG recalled that there had been a meeting where potential importers were familiarised with the procedure to trade GMOs and their by-products.He also stated that GM products in confined field trials would not be released to the market till they are confirmed safe to both human health and the environment.

rice

Project Manager of the centre, Patrick Obiren, in a release from the governor’s office, disclosed that already, contractors from Taiwan are on their way to Calabar for full installations of the automated machines.

Obiren said during the installation, there is going to be a huge training process for the local engineers and skilled labours, adding that there is also going to be opportunities for everyone seeking to work in the industrial city.

He said: “Very soon, Cross River State government will be supplying the whole country the new automated and vitaminised rice seedlings. “Citizens need not to go outside the state to buy rice for their local consumption as the Rice Mills in Ogoja will produce more than what they need.”

Edo State government has disclosed that its fertiliser company-Edo State Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited (ESFCCL), Auchi, has produced enough fertilizer to serve its farmers and neighbouring states for the 2018-planting season.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture,Forestry and Food Security Programme, Prince Joe Okogie, the state said the plant, in partnership with WACOT Limited, is currently selling NPK fertilizer to farmers, calling on more farmers to patronise its products.

According to Okogie; “We are delighted to announce to farmers that the Edo Fertilizer Plant in Auchi is not just up and running, but that its storehouse is filled with fertilizer ready for sale. So, we are calling on farmers, who are in need of fertilizer to head down to the plant in Auchi to make purchases.”

Okojie said aside selling to farmers; the plant will also supply fertilizer to the various agricultural initiatives in the state.“We have maintained a steady narrative on our quest to drive socio-economic growth through agricultural development. This is to ensure that we tap from the inherent job creating opportunities in agriculture to engage youths and attain food security. So, for the fertilizer plant in Auchi, some farmers are already visiting the facility to make purchases and we are glad that the revamp of that plant has been a success story till date,” he said.

Rural farmers

Osun State government has commenced allocation of farmland in the new Ago-Owu Farm Settlement to 500 smallholder farmers in the state.Head, Corporate and Commercial Services, Osun Agricultural Land Holding and Development Authority, Mr. Wole Ajewole, in a statement, explained that the list of the successful beneficiaries had been released. 
 Ajewole maintained that the provision of farmland to the farmers and agric entrepreneurs was in fulfillment of government efforts at promoting food security and wealth creation.

He added that the project is in tandem with the determination of the government to use agriculture as catalyst to grow the economy of the state.

According to the statement: “The Osun Agricultural Land Holding and Development Authority has released the list of the successful beneficiaries of farmland allocation of 500 small holdings located within the precinct of the IITA Research and Training Farm at New Ago-Owu Farm Settlement.”

Ajewole said the allocation would be done on first come first serve basis, urging the farmers that applied to check their names at the agency’s office at government secretariat, Abere, Osogbo. 
This is coming against the insinuation by members of the opposition party that the state had mortgaged farm settlements in the state for loans.

President of Harvestfield Industries Limited, Martins Aderemi Awofisayo, an indigenous agro and healthcare company recently signed-in by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, for the manufacture and distribution of Aflasafe, has assured to return Nigeria to lost days of groundnut pyramids, as well as multiply yield in other major agricultural crops.

Awofisayo said its vision is to be the leading solution-provider for agricultural farming systems in Nigeria and the West Africa sub region, noting that it is working in tandem with the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to achieve zero reject of products for exports, and boost foreign earning.

“At Harvestfield and ever before our selection for the assignment, we had been on the field, preparatory to our emergence, to ensure we are on ground and ready to perform the assignment. We already have 18 warehouses within the country, which cover all the geopolitical zones and in the next few weeks, an additional eight warehouses would be ready for use. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture is also about being magnanimous by its intention to make Aflasafe available in all greenhouses in Nigeria.

“So the issue of scarcity of the product or its unavailability in any part of the country is out of question. This year alone, Harvestfield will produce and sell 1,500 metric tonnes of Aflasafe, enough to cover 150,000 hectares of maize and groundnuts. While we are constructing our own Aflasafe factory at our manufacturing complex on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, we will also sign a toll manufacturing contract with IITA’s Business Incubation Platform for Aflasafe production,” he said.

The president said it has given itself the assignment to undertake a nationwide aflatoxin-awareness campaign, targeting all the six geopolitical zones, adding that it has reached 54 communities across 28 states.

“The campaign helped us a great deal to refine our awareness-creation and marketing approach. Our latest target now is to further reach not less than 170 communities, we have reached 70 at present and would surely in the following week, embark on the second phase, which we would have rounded off before the next planting season. We shall also embark alongside on sensitisation of farmers, millers, farm-produce aggregators, exporters and food processors on the dangers posed by aflatoxins, the solution Aflasafe offers and how it works.

“In the area of price regulation to prevent overzealous middlemen from making the product unaffordable to end-users who are the resource-poor farmers, there is an agreement already drawn between us to take care of regulation of prices. The agreement has a fixed price acceptable by all stakeholders and which is generally perceived to be very fair on the rural farmers who are the end users. No unscrupulous or overzealous middlemen can have an opportunity of perforating the process.”

He assured IITA that within the five years agreed time; they would be so overwhelmed by their performance and delivery that they would be chasing them around to turn around their other intervention products.

• Lagos Consumes Over 8,000 Cows Daily
• Cost Of Animal In Nigeria, Highest In Africa -Kuku

The rising cost of beef, with over 25 per cent price increase in the last one-year, has forced many to seek alternatives.Despite the fact that a good number of Nigerians have cut down on beef intake, it is still beyond the reach of those who still have it as part of their menu.

Currently, an average size cow that sold for N45, 000 to N50, 000 in cattle markets this time last year, is now in the range of N75, 000 to N80, 000. Those in the region of N80, 000 are now between N110, 000 and N120, 000. The Guardian visits to a cattle market in Abule-Oko, Papalanto area of Ogun State, showed that cattle buyers now merge to buy, slaughter and share cows, due to high cost.

Just last year, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh raised alarm that the country might, in the near future, suffer scarcity of cow meat, which he attributed to the quantum of cows consumed daily without commensurate calving.

According to reports, about 1.3 million cows are slaughtered annually to provide for Nigeria’s population of about 170 million people. The cattle provide about 30 per cent of the country’s meat consumption and are therefore a critical and important part of assuring Nigeria’s food security.

The problem in the meat value-chain has been attributed to many factors, which include intensification of the Boko Haram crisis in the Northeast, forcing nomadic Fulani herdsmen to abandon their foraging grounds; climate change, causing desertification in the far north; and high cost of transportation, among other factors.

Although it cannot be ruled out that Nigeria’s cattle are a key part of its food security, events that have occurred over the last five years have strained the relationship between nomadic herdsmen and the communities along old grazing routes followed by herdsmen, another factor responsible for the development.

An expert, Mr. Kola Kuku, the Chief Executive Officer of Cattleman Feedlot Service, who confirmed the development, said since 2010, the price of cattle has been rising between 15 to 20 per cent, a situation that has led to importation of live animals from neighboring West African countries.

He linked the rising cost to population growth, correspondingly growing middle class; vacuum in the production system, which is not matching up with the rising demand; devaluation of the naira; high cost of transportation; and ravaging insurgency in the Northeast.

Kuku affirmed that the cost of animal in Nigeria is the highest in the West African sub region, highest in Africa, and one of the highest in the world. “An animal of $400 kilos, which costs perhaps, $300 to $400 in Australia or US, will be costing over a $1,000 in Nigeria, yet the quality is very low and poor.

“The crisis in the Northeast is a contributing factor to the high cost of meat. In the last three to four years, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe States and areas bordering Lake Chad that are livestock producing communities, contributing 20 to 25 per cent of Nigeria’s meat were ravaged by insurgent attacks. They are down and out. So, most of the herders have migrated to Cameroon, Chad or Central Africa Republic, which again affects price of cattle and inadvertently, price of beef.

“Since last year, when we witnessed the unfortunate incident of naira devaluation, as the prices of other commodities were going up, the price of cattle went up by 25 per cent. Transportation is another factor-in 2014 and 2015, transporting a truckload of cattle from Kano to Lagos costs N150, 000 to N170, 000, but currently, the least to transport cattle to Lagos will be about N350, 000. So, general inflation has affected the transporters and has affected herds of cattle.”

Kuku stressed that despite the high number of cattle consumed daily in the country, production is not matching up with the demand, a situation that has created a vacuum, noting that in Lagos alone, over 8,000 cattle are slaughtered daily to cater to needs of over 22 million people residing in the state.

This was corroborated by Ogbeh, who said Lagos alone consumes 6,000 cows a day, “that’s the figure at abattoirs, not figure from birthday parties and burial ceremonies and so on.

“Imagine what Port Harcourt consumes; or Umuahia, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri. If you add it up, we may be eating up to 80,000 to 90,000 cows a day and we are not calving as many. Which means a day will come, if the West Africans don’t come into Nigeria with their cows, we may find out we have no cattle. So, that’s an economic danger that faces us.”

While tracing the origin of the problem, Kuku said the hitch was majorly caused by government’s lack of intervention in the livestock industry in the last 20 to 25 years. “There is no breeding programme, no herd improvement programme and no adequate budgetary allocation, and no strategic policies, the programmes are on papers. The breeding and multiplication centres, about 17 of them done in the 1950s have become derelict, due to lack of attention, whereas, we spend a lot of money on crops, fishery and others, at the expense of the livestock industry.

“When you look at the budgetary provision for the agric sector, only two per cent is voted for the livestock value chain. So, what do you expect from that? You can’t expect anything, it is a hard knock.”

The General Secretary, Commercial Dairy Ranchers Association of Nigeria (CODARAN), Engr. Abimbola Daniyan, attributed the development to herders’ inability to get “free food” any longer, as a result of the ban placed on grazing in some parts of the country.

“The herders are capitalising on inability to get free food, which is resulting into the killing of people. If you keep cattle on the farm, you need to provide them food, infrastructure, borehole and others, which will add to the production cost, in anticipation, this results into high cost of the product. Inability to get free food through grazing is cause of high price charge for kilogramme of meat now.”

OCP Africa, a global fertilizer company, has launched Agribooster programme in Kebbi State to boost the cultivation of rice and to support 4,000 smallholder farmers.

In a release sent to The Guardian, OCP Africa, Country Manager, Mr. Caleb Usoh, said Agribooster is part of his company’s ongoing efforts to facilitate the provision of all necessary resources, training, extension service and market access for smallholder farmers across Nigeria.

He stated that the initiative works across the supply chain to connect African farmers with quality inputs, financing and insurance, aside providing comprehensive training on proper input use that would increase crop yields and farmers’ income.

Usoh disclosed that 5,000 smallholder maize farmers participated in the trial phase of the programme in Kaduna State and their productivity increased by 41 per cent, adding that this success made his company to extend the project to rice farmers in Kebbi State, where it is supporting 4,000 smallholder farmers in Suru, Argungu and Birnin Kebbi regions of the state.

He revealed that the project is a collaborative effort of OCP Africa, AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited, Syngenta, OXFAM and LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited (LAPO).

Speaking at the launch, Kebbi State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, represented by Muhammed Umar Illo, noted that the state has attained self-sufficiency in rice production, and now supplies it in large quantities to other states. He added that, from December 2015 till date, the output of the average rice farmer in the state has risen from 2.5 metric tons per hectare to 11 metric tons per hectare.

According to President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, Nigerians consumed 7.9 million tons of rice in 2017, with the country’s local farmers producing 5.8 million tons, of which Kebbi State produced one million metric tons.

He noted that with greater investment, especially from the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), and better access to farm inputs, the state plans to raise its production to 2.5 million metric tons in 2018.

Wheat production

Olabanji, who is the Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute, stated this on Sunday after inspection of wheat seed production farms in Ringim and Hadejia Local Government Areas of Jigawa.

He explained that the Flour Mills had initiated and supported the production of improved and high yielding wheat seed in Jigawa and Kano states.

The team leader said the firm has supported farmers with seed and fertilizer to cultivate 45 hectares of the improved seed, with 30 hectares in Kano and 15 in Jigawa.

According to him, seed is critical to crop production, hence the need to support and encourage its production.

Olabanji identified lack of adequate seed as a major challenge in the value change agenda in Nigeria.

“We are here today for a farm work on wheat seed production. This project is the initiative of Flour Mills of Nigeria, they empowered our farmers with inputs to produce wheat seed.

“Seed is very critical in crop production and in the value change, our major challenge is seed, we don’t have adequate seed in this country, not only for wheat, even for most crops.

“But the Flour Mills of Nigeria has in no small measure helped us to bridge the gap in our seed production. They have intervened in two states; Kano and Jigawa.

“Here in Jigawa, they empowered three farmers to cultivate 15 hectares of wheat seed, likewise in Kano, about 30 hectares have been put into wheat seed production with support of the company.

“We are so grateful to them and we are also grateful to our farmers in the wheat value change,” Olabanji said.

He added that the farmers engaged to produce the seed were competent enough and were trained on community based seed production.

The team leader also assured the farmers that the company would uptake the seed after cultivation.

“And another thing that the Flour Mills is going to do now is when the farmers harvest is to buy from them. So farmers already have market.

“And I want to thank the state’s Director of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), Malam Isa Awwalu, for his support in the programme,” the team leader added.

According to him, the wheat value change team will soon come up with another project in which wheat seed production is a component.

Olabanji added the team will collaborate with Jigawa Government to make sure that by 2025, Nigeria reduces importation of wheat seed by sixty per cent.

“The Governor of Jigawa is very supportive to our wheat production and another project is coming up in the next two months and wheat production is one of the components of that project.

“So we are coming to sensitise Jigawa government on the project so that we will have a very strong collaboration to make sure that come 2025, Nigeria must reduce importation of wheat by 60 per cent,’’ Olabanji said.

A Rice farm.

Mr Ernest Aubee, Principal Programme Officer and ECOWAS Head of Agriculture Division, made the disclosure in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Aubee said that the programme had been designed to enhance rice production in all member states.‘‘The programme will basically look at how the region can increase its production so as to meet consumption needs and reduce import.

‘‘It will also create job opportunities for our own farmers especially youths and women.

‘‘It will also improve the value chain so that it could be of high quality and nutritionally suitable for us as ECOWAS citizens to consume.’’

He said that rice has become a highly strategic commodity in West Africa and is the largest source of food calories on the African continent.

‘‘ECOWAS countries imported around nine million tonnes of milled rice in 2014, representing a cost of 4 billion Euros.

‘‘To avoid risks of civil unrest and the scenarios of increased global food prices, there is an urgent need to increase rice production, processing, value-addition, and marketing in West Africa to achieve self-sufficiency.

‘‘Currently, the region depends on imports from Asia to fulfil about half of its consumption needs.

“ECOWAS has initiated a regional offensive to reach rice self-sufficiency by 2025.’’

NAN reports that the regional offensive for sustained recovery of rice production in West Africa Programme was approved by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in June 2014.

Aubee said that this offensive was aimed at reducing imports to zero level by 2025.

He said the joint collaborative spirit aimed at supporting the rice offensive would energise rice production in the sub-region.

‘‘It will also bolster a regional public-private partnership which makes self-sufficiency in rice and economic prosperity a reality in West Africa.

‘‘The fact book is a briefing document on key rice parameters in the ECOWAS region, opportunities and business cases aimed at attracting anchor investors.’’

He added that the commission has been in partnership with CARI in four countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania to promote rice production in Africa.

‘‘We are member of steering committee for CARI for the whole of Africa and also a very active member in Nigeria Rice Advocacy Platform, helping to support rice cultivation in all rice production states.’’He said CARI Phase I has been successful in the four countries in the efforts to make Africa self-sufficient in rice.

SunTrust Bank

The agreement was signed at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Abuja in presence of operators in the agric sector has been described as instrumental to the development of agricultural sector in Nigeria.

The Managing Director/CEO of SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited, Muhammad Jibrin and the Chief Executive of Bank of Agriculture Kabiru Adamu signed for their respective banks during the event which they said would aid agric processes as employment generating venture.

The agreement, will among other things, allow SunTrust Bank to deploy its banking services and other complimentary e-banking services to simplify BOA services to its farmer customers across its 140 branches in Nigeria.

The SunTrust Bank boss said the deal will also allow it to deploy its banking platforms technology like ATM and other infrastructure for the over one million farmers in the kitty of BOA.

“We will also provide training support to the BOA staff and at the end of the day, it will be a mutually benefitting agreement to all parties.

In his remark, the Chief Executive Officer of the BOA, Kabiru Adamu expressed optimism that the MoU will revolutionise agriculture in the country.

According to Adamu, both banks have agreed to bring together their mutually unique capabilities and experiences to enable BOA serve its customers to facilitate quicker penetration of the unbanked farmers.

He explained that the bank would provide electronic payment solutions using its existing platform, including USSD, Mobile Money Service, Merchant and Settlement Accounts for e-transaction.

The Minister of Agriculture Audu Ogbeh said he was elated by the MoU, adding that the ‘landmark deal will change the face of farming in the country’.

Ogbeh who regretted that the BOA has been in difficulty over the years, said he expects that the new agreement and partnership with SunTrust Bank ‘will get it out of the woods’.

“We have been trying to set up IT services at the BOA but it has been difficult. We hope that with your backing, the services will eventually come to fruition,” the Minister said.

He said plans are at advance stage for farmers to own 30 percent shares of the Bank of Agriculture.

“Thirty percent of BOA will be owned by farmers which will eventually makes it to be referred to as Farmers Bank like the one in China,” Ogbeh said.

He added that he looks forward to achieving five percent interest rate for farmers, describing the current interest rate as unfriendly and disincentive.

Livestock

The Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Olalekan Alli, representing Governor Abiola Ajimobi, stated this while declaring open the Nigeria Poultry and Livestock Expo held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan recently.

He said the state government had taken some giant steps in promoting agriculture, especially in the livestock and fishery industries, which indigenous farmers in the state have benefitted from immensely.

Alli, who led a government delegation including Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development and his counterpart in Information, Culture and Tourism as well as the Special Adviser on Agriculture to Governor Ajimobi, said that the present administration in the state has created a conducive environment for farmers and investors to operate without hindrance, saying that this has ensured growth in business and economic development of the state.

According to the SSG, “our efforts have attracted many investors to the state which include GLOBUS, a major player in the Poultry and fisheries industry, WAMCO/SAHEL, a dairy product processing plant.

“The state government, in collaboration with the Federal Government and a private company, WAMCO Friesland, established five milk collection centres in various parts of the State. The centres are at Fasola, Maya, Alaga, Iseyin and Saki. This is in order to improve our cattle farmers and empower the women in the State,” he stressed.

Alli further revealed that the state government has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on a programme tagged CBN/OYSG Loan Scheme for farmers at 5 percent interest rate to boost Agriculture in the State, noting that interested farmers can source for the loan at the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Cooperatives.

He explained that the State Government has created Free Trade Zone, Industrial Park, Agriculture Zone, stressing that there is an ongoing rehabilitation of farm settlements across the to ensure that Oyo State remains not just the food basket of the South West but of the Nigerian nation.

He therefore enjoined participants at the International exhibition to explore the latest technology in poultry, dairy, livestock and fishery farming, saying that this will solve the problems facing the livestock industry.

PHOTO: google.com/search

For the next three years, 6,000 pupils, from nine schools in Ikeja Local Council Area of Lagos State, would be engaged on importance of gardening through in-school and after-school activities, proper nutrition and physical activity, courtesy of Helen Keller International (HKI).

The initiative, which runs from January 2018 to December 2020, in partnership with the Lagos State government and funding from Mondelez International Foundation is part of the foundation’s multi-year $50m focused on healthy lifestyle programs, aimed at bringing nutrition education, active play and fresh food to underserved children and their families in Ikeja area.

At the launch held during the week, at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, the organisers disclosed that aside the 6,000 children in the schools, an estimated indirect reach of about 48,000 children and their families across the Community Development Areas (CDAs), would be achieved.

In her presentation, HKI’s Country Director, Philomena Orji said part of the immediate and international objectives of the programme is to integrate more nutritious foods into local production by training teachers, parents and volunteers on best practices for producing nutritious foods.

She added that it is also aimed at integrating agriculture and nutrition into the broader school curriculum by developing lesson plans for core school subjects that include agriculture and nutrition.

In his remarks, Director, Corporate and Government Affairs, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Bala Yesufu, said the Mondelez International Foundation, which owns 74.99 per cent of Cadbury Nigeria, is passionate about creating positive impact on people on the planet.

“The foundation, its partners and programmes have transformed the lives of more than a million children around the globe by increasing their nutrition knowledge, physical activity and access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

“The foundation recently added new programmes as part of its commitment to help communities thrive and improve well-being of School-age children and their families. This is one of such programmes and Cadbury Nigeria joins nine other countries in the Mondelez International family in this initiative, which will promote healthy lifestyles and address obesity,” he said.

Cassava

The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st (GCP21) century will on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 hold a world press conference to announce the fourth International Cassava Conference, billed to take place in Cotonou, Benin Republic from June 11-15, 2018.

Part of the press conference, to be held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Guest House, Ikeja, Lagos, will be exhibition of cassava products including cassava bread, cassava ethanol, cassava snacks, cassava flour, cassava starch, which is used for pharmaceutical products; and traditional products, such as cassava fufu, and yellow gari, among others.

The press conference and exhibition, which form part of activities earmarked to raise awareness on the potential of the root crop, which many term as ‘Africa’s white gold’, will have in attendance Dr. Claude Fauquet, Director of the GCP 21; Malachy Akoroda, Director designate; Peter Kulakow, Cassava Breeder with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; and Godwin Atser, Conference Communication Coordinator.

Founded in 2003, GCP21 is a not-for-profit international alliance of 45 organisations and coordinated by Claude Fauquet and Joe Tohme of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). It aims to fill gaps in cassava research and development to unlock the potential of cassava for food security and wealth creation for poor farmers.