Connect with us

Agriculture

FG to Inaugurate 200,000 Capacity Yam Storage Facility in Benue on June 9

Published

on

Share

The Federal Government will, on June 9, inaugurate the 200, 000 capacity yam storage facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Benue, the Presidency has said.

The Presidency in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said the inauguration was part of the federal government’s determination to support the growth of small businesses across the country, through the provision of critical infrastructure.

The facility located at the Zaki Biam International Yam Market, is part of the National MSMEs Shared Facility Scheme, being implemented by the federal government under the National MSMEs Clinics.

The shared facility project, an initiative of the National MSMEs Clinics, is aimed at providing for the needs of businesses under a production cluster arrangement.

The pilot scheme was inaugurated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Oyo (the production of Shea-butter, and the Fashion Industry) and Bauchi (Production of Groundnut Oil, and the production of Liquid/Hard Soaps).

Mr Tola Johnson,  Special Assistant to the President on MSMEs, Office of the Vice President, said the facility would cater for small holder farmers and MSMEs which had lost huge revenues due to lack of access to adequate storage facilities.

Johnson, who also heads the National MSMEs Clinics Secretariat, said that the 2020 edition (virtual) of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) awards would be held in July.

According to him, the decision to hold a virtual edition of the awards is in line with federal government’s directives on strict adherence to established protocols aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said award recipients and other participants would join the event via video-conference (zoom) from locations across the country.

Johnson added that the 2020 virtual edition of the awards would feature top innovative and outstanding MSMEs across the country that would be presented with top prizes in line with the objectives of the awards.

President Muhammadu Buhari will deliver a special message to MSMEs in the country while Osinbajo will deliver the keynote address.

State governors will join the event virtually from their respective states while other stakeholders will also participate via video-conference.

Several MSMEs across the country have won different prizes, including vehicles since 2018 when the inaugural event was held. (NAN)

Agriculture

Mrs Soludo Launches Organic Garden Competition in Anambra Secondary Schools

Published

on

Share

Wife of the Anambra State Governor, Dr Nonye Soludo, on Saturday launched the organic garden competition in secondary schools in Anambra to encourage children to learn more about food and farming.

Soludo, while addressing Healthy Living Teacher Ambassadors in Awka, said the organic garden competition would help teach children the importance of food and farming and its impact on their lives.

She described organic farming as a process that involved the use of natural food sources and nutrients for farming practices without fertiliser or other chemicals.

“This competition is part of the Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Campaign to achieve a culture of health consciousness, drive organic agriculture with emphasis on food safety and sustainable living.

“It will help our students learn valuable lessons about where their food comes from, the benefits of eating fresh and healthy foods, and how to care for the environment.

“Vegetable seeds will be distributed to schools and at the end of every term, schools with the three best gardens will be rewarded.

“Our children at a tender age will start to appreciate agriculture as an essential way of life and the need to be part of building solutions that foster healthy foods in the society,” she said.

Also speaking, Dr Afam Obidike, the state’s Commissioner for Health, said the schools garden competition would increase student’s knowledge about the nutritional value of foods.

In her remarks, Prof. Nkechi Ikediugwu, Chairperson, Post Primary Schools Service Commission, said schools in the state would offer Health Living lecture every Wednesday after break to help students learn how to be healthy and grow into healthy adults.

Reports says that the programme featured distribution of okro, carrot, pepper, tomatoes, watermelon and cucumber seeds to the school teachers to begin the process of their school gardens.(NAN)

Continue Reading

Agriculture

Food Inflation: Agric Ministry Receives 2.15m Bags of Fertilisers from CBN

Published

on

Share

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has received 2.15 million bags of assorted fertilisers from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Reports says that the assorted fertilisers would be distributed to farmers to curb food inflation in the country as well as boost food production and food security.

Sen. Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, who spoke at the event on Wednesday in Abuja, expressed gratitude to the President Bola Tinubu and CBN for the gesture.

Kyari assured the CBN Governor,  Mr Olayemi Cardoso, that the inputs would be judiciously used and delivered to the intended farmers.

“Thank you very much; this is more than goodies; 2.

15 million bags of assorted fertilisers; we want to express our profound appreciation on behalf of the Nigerian farmers and President Tinubu.

“Also, we appreciate you, our dear brother, the CBN governor and your team for giving us this wonderful gift.

“I want to assure you that it will be judiciously used and it will be delivered to the last man and intended farmers where they can reap the benefits of this huge gesture.

“They (farmers) can in turn cultivate and produce more that would stem the galloping food inflation that is affecting our country.’’

He said that challenges such as food prices, food cultivation, flooding and climate change among others had impacted on agricultural production in the country, adding that insecurity was on decline.

“l am happy to say that those things I mentioned are on the decline; insecurity is on the decline and we are mitigating against climate change.

“We are sensitising farmers to go into dry season agriculture.’’

Kyari said that there was need to need to boost and repair irrigation infrastructure so as to have all year round farming.

“Which (irrigation) is even more secured than that of the wet season farming,” he said.

Earlier, Cardoso expressed enthusiasm for the visit and presentation which was to address the issue of escalating cost of food in the country.

According to him, food prices are crucial components of inflation.

He said that the CBN aimed to enhance its partnership with the ministry to improve food production.

“This is precisely why we convene today to strengthen our collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to mitigate the surge in food prices.

“The gesture is in alignment with our strategic shift towards focusing on our fundamental mandate.

“The CBN has veered away from direct quasi-fiscal interventions and transitioned towards leveraging conventional monetary policy tools for executing monetary policies effectively.

“In this light, we aim to extend our support and foster closer ties with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) with the mandate and expertise to undertake these critical initiatives.

“Consequently, we aim to enhance our partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, bolstering your endeavours to enhance food productivity and security, ultimately curbing food inflation and fortifying our pursuit of price stability.

“In pursuit of these shared goals, we are delighted to announce the allocation of 2.15 million bags of fertilisers valued at over N100 billion which we humbly hand over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

“This contribution from CBN aims to amplify food production capabilities and foster price stabilisation within the agricultural sector,” he said.(NAN)

Continue Reading

Agriculture

Nigeria will Soon Witness Food Sufficiency, Price Reduction – NACGRAB

Published

on

Share

The National Centre For Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), says Nigeria will soon witness sufficiency and price reduction in food commodities.

The NACGRAB Acting Director, Dr Anthony Okere, stated this at the end of a 2023 Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on Seed For Resilience (SFR) organised by NACGRAB in collaboration with Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust) in Ibadan.

He said SFR came into existence in 2021 to improve the efficiency of NACGRAB genebank and enhance the use of conserved genepool by farmers and other users of genetic resources in Nigeria.

Okere said the project had exposed the diversity of sorghum, cowpea and other crops to farmers and other users in Nigeria in order to mitigate the effects of climate change and boost farmers’ productivity and ensure food and nutrition security in Nigeria.

He said that the project was successful, based on feedbacks from farmers and other users that the good quality seeds planted this season yielded well in multiples, compared to year 2022.

“Farmers now feeling free to come to NACGRAB genebank to demand more diversity of materials that could help them to get higher production which in turn would lead to food sufficiency and price reduction in Nigeria soon.

“There are availability of quality seeds in NACGRAB genebank that farmers can plant and generate good yield due to success of this project.

” Various farmers can now dwell in more crops instead of one or two crops; this project has made it possible for farmers to plant diversity of quality seeds and generate good yields which in turn will lead to food and nutrition security in Nigeria,” Okere said.

Dr Olabisi Alamu, the Activity Team Leader, User engagement of the project, said that NACGRAB and other stakeholders had been engaging with farmers about the project in the past three years.

Alamu said that farmers in Oyo, Niger and Kano states had been exposed to diversity of seeds of cowpea, sorghum accessions and other seeds conserved in the genebank.

He said that most farmers now had access to the seeds and were now using them to enhance production, increase their yields and income generation.

” In all the three states, we have 49 cluster groups; the Seed for Resilience (SFR) project has impacted over 1,000 farmers over the past three years.

“Some of them have been adopting it as a result of good quality, traits, early maturity varieties, high yields among others,” Alamu said.

The team leader said that some of the farmers had also multiplied the seeds they selected in year 2023 and as well disseminated it to other farmers, to enhance the use of the materials in the genebank.

The Oyo State Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Abass Adewumi, said the project had exposed them to a lot of things they needed to know and apply on their farms for crops to germinate well.

Adewumi said that the research project had also exposed them to know suitable seeds for planting in certain environment which could give better yields, to maximise profit and shun the old ways of planting seeds. (NAN)

Continue Reading

Read Our ePaper

Top Stories

NEWS4 hours ago

Tinubu Appoints new Team for Almajiri Education Commission 

SharePresident Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of a new leadership for the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children...

NEWS4 hours ago

Military Debunks Claim of Reprisal Attacks on Okuama Community

Share The Nigerian Military has debunked claims that it has embarked on reprisal attacks on Okuama Community in Delta. Some...

NEWS4 hours ago

FG Appeals to SSANU, NASU to Call Off Warning Strike

ShareThe Federal Government has appealed to the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational...

NEWS4 hours ago

2 Siblings Die in Bauchi Inferno, another Burnt to Death by Mob      

ShareTwo children have been burnt to death in Bauchi following a fire incident in their residence, the Police said in...

POLITICS5 hours ago

2024 FCT Budget: Wike presents N1.15trn to NASS

ShareBy Laide Akinboade, Abuja  The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike,  on Monday,  defended the details of the...

NEWS5 hours ago

NDLEA Urges Imo Govt to Construct Rehabilitation Centre for Psycho-depressed Youths

ShareFrom Marcel Duru & Charity Wins, Owerri The Public Relation Officer (PRO) of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Alhaji...

NEWS5 hours ago

Okuama: Defence Ministers Condemn Attack, Vow to Nab Perpetrators

ShareBy Tony Obiechina, Abuja The Minister of Defence, Muhammed Badaru and the Minister of State for Defence Dr Muhammed Matawalle...

BUSINESS5 hours ago

Nigeria, Benin Republic Collaborate to Boost Trade, Economic Relations

ShareBy Tony Obiechina, Abuja Nigeria has strengthened its diplomatic and economic relations with the Republic of Benin. This was disclosed...

Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson
NEWS5 hours ago

Dickson Fulfils N100m Scholarship Pledge to 228 Beneficiaries

ShareFrom Mike Tayese, Yenagoa Former Governor of Bayelsa and Senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator...

NEWS5 hours ago

Ijaw Women Commend Tinubu on Otuaro’s Appointment as Administrator of PAP

ShareFrom Mike Tayese, Yenagoa Ijaw women under the auspices of Ijaw Women Connect (IWC), Worldwide has commended President Tinubu for...

Copyright © 2021 Daily Asset Limited | Powered by ObajeSoft Inc