The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Experts caution food manufacturers on use of preservatives

    Food exporters should seek enlightenment on proper use of preservatives to prevent their products from being rejected abroad because of the use of tainted ingredients, a don, Prof Tola Atinmo has said.

    Atinmo, the President Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS), said food producers should use only the best quality of raw materials.

    Atinmo,a professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, University of Ibadan, said more enlightenment was needed on management of compounds causing taints and off-flavours in food.

    Many food products have failed to make foreign markets for not complying with higher standards of food safety.

    Immediate President of the Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria, Dr. Olusegun Atanda said ensuring food safety is crucial, if the agriculture sector wished to expand export trade.

    A lecturer in the Department of Bio-Sciences and Bio-Technology, Babcock University, Prof Dele Fapohunda, said since the major difficulties facing food export businesses relate to the quality of products, adding that the government should ensure businesses strictly implement international standards, to avoid having their products seized.

    He urged the government to strengthen the agric commodities and food exports inspection system to ensure that what is taken out meet international standards. He said consistent rules for the industry will make food export safe.

  • Agro business opportunities in Kaduna

    Agriculture accounts for an estimated 56 per cent of Kaduna’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) and employs approximately four million people. Kaduna produces 22 per cent of the country’s maize, 69 per cent of soya bean, 36 per cent of cotton and 10 per cent of ground nuts (peanuts) and the state trades’ agricultural produce to neighbouring states. The sector is dominated by wet season planting and an irrigated dry season planting. Most farmers currently produce cereal crops such as maize, sorghum, millet and rice during the rainy season. Cereal crops are exported to surrounding states and are an important source of cash. Kaduna is one of the largest producers of rice in Nigeria and it exports substantial quantities to other Nigerian states and other neighbouring African countries. The state is also an important producer of fruits and vegetables. The government of Kaduna State has laudable polices geared towards intense agricultural activities ostensibly as a means for reducing the level of youth unemployment, giving impetus to the factors that bring rapid socio-economic transformation and the provision of strong base for the take-off of industrial revolution.

    Governor Patrick Yakowa is committed to addressing the relative lack of investment in agriculture by reactivating the extension services to open more opportunities to the teeming unemployed youth and the farmers locked in medieval agricultural practice. This is aimed at stimulating growth. Since the inception of the administration, both the peasant and the medium scale farmers have been the major focus of the Kaduna State Agricultural Development Project(KADP). Some of the yearly activities being pursued vigorously by the KADP, include sales and supply of agricultural inputs such as seeds, irrigation pumps, knapsack sprayers and agricultural chemicals at government approved subsidy of between 40 and 60 per cent to support the farmers. To ensure good quality seeds, the state government in collaboration with the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) and Agricultural Seeds Council, sells improved varieties of seeds during the planting season. Fadama III Project, a World Bank Assisted Project is being implemented in Kaduna in collaboration with the Federal Government in all the 23 local government areas. The development objective of the Fadama III Project is to increase the incomes of users of rural land and water resources on a sustainable basis. The state government is committing N45 million yearly while the 23 LGAs pays N2 million each to ensure effective implementation of the project in the state. Significant achievements have been made in the area of improvement of rural infrastructure, which includes construction of eight Fadama roads of over 30 kilometres and 100 market stalls as demanded by the project beneficiaries. The government is prosecuting its mandate of achieving incremental food and cash crop production through rain-fed and dry season agriculture, as well as livestock, fisheries and honey production, which has undoubtedly increased the farmers lot and improved the their overall standard of living. To this end, the state government has called on investors and entrepreneurs to take advantage of the agro business opportunities that abound and the business climate to come and invest. Concerted efforts have also been made to boost infrastructural facilities.

  • Govts urged to improve agriculture

    Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has called on all tiers of government to make serious commitment to improving agriculture in order to save the country from hunger.

    He made the call in Lafia while opening a one-day meeting organised by UNICEF D-Field office, Bauchi for top makers from 10 states of the federation.

    Al-Makura said the only panacea to eliminate hunger that was threatening more than one million children in the Sahel region was the need for Nigerians to utilise the nation’s vast agricultural potentials.

    He noted that the most vulnerable groups to the threats of disease, illiteracy, ignorance and poverty were women and children.”It is, therefore, a clarion call on all and sundry to come together to explore the possibilities of saving our people from imminent hunger.

    “The only panacea to the threat of hunger is our will to utilise the huge agricultural potentials which nature has endowed us with.

    ‘’To this end, we must overcome the lip service syndrome to realise our dream of achieving food sufficiency, security and, indeed, other development needs.”

    Al-Makura said his administration placed a high premium on the provision of basic social amenities to the people.

    He said since he assumed office in 2011, he had shown keen interest in synergising with UNICEF and other development partners with a view to meeting the development aspirations of the people.

  • God first, indication of revival

    God first, indication of revival

    When revival comes, God takes His rightful place in our lives. That place is the first place. His presence becomes a home. We honour Him as the first. We see Him as the Alpha. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, begins with “In the beginning, God …” (Genesis 1: 1). Here, we see God, the alpha in manifestation. We see Him as the beginning of all things. The Word and the Spirit share the same attribute with God, the Father. To have God somewhere aside from the first place is idolatry. He does not manage even the second place.  Revival is loving and putting God in the first place. It is also about loving Him with our all. Moses told the children of Israel,
    “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5).
    Whenever God is relegated to the second place, things begin to go wrong in virtually every area of our lives and ministry. We begin to run after men and trust in the arm of flesh – instead of God. The grace, the money and the things we need are held back. We know that God is a jealous God who demands total and unflinching commitment to Him.  Revival therefore is the only process that brings God back to the first place. Your wife or husband or children do not and should not occupy the first place. The first place belongs to Him that gave you the family. The blessing we receive should neither take the first place from the giver of the blessing Himself. We should understand that the blessing would cease the moment the giver is relegated to the second place. The secret of durable blessing is to have the first place permanently conceded to God. Revival rearranges our priorities and corrects every spiritual flaw in our lives. It brings God to the first place and keeps Him permanently there. At that point, God takes the first from everything we have. God told the Israelites,
    “Sanctify unto me all the FIRSTBORN, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine” (Exodus 13: 2 KJV).
    Samson was the first male that opened his mother’s womb. God took and used him to do great exploit against the Philistines. Samuel also came into this picture because as soon as he was weaned, Hannah, his mother, promptly handed the lad over to God. John the Baptist was the male that opened Elizabeth’s womb and he became the repairer of the bridge, the forerunner of the Lord. Christ himself was the first male that opened the womb of Mary. This ordinance of giving the first to the Lord is not limited to man, as God also demanded the first of the fruit of the ground. Moses said,
    “Of the FIRST of your ground meal you shall give to the LORD a heave offering throughout your generations” (Numbers 15: 21).
    This command subsists as long as the earth remains. It is a generational ordinance.
    When we collect our salaries, the tenth, which is God’s, is not only to be paid but has to be paid first. When the businessman or woman makes his or her profit, God is the first thought. In his or her projections, God gets the first place. Before any important decision is made in any area of human endeavour, God is the first to be contacted for counsel. May the Spirit of God bring all of us to this point.
    The widow of zarephath
    The encounter between Elijah the prophet and widow of Zarephath underscores the point I am stressing on honouring God with our first.  Ahab, one of the kings in Israel with his wife Jezebel, led the entire nation into sin. They worshipped Baalim and sacrificed to him. Elijah faced this great challenge and decreed that there would be no rain in the land for three and half years (see 1 Kings 17). This famine affected everyone and even Elijah. God sent him to the Brook Cherith where a ravenous bird brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening. It wasn’t long when the brook dried and God told Elijah to proceed to Zarephath where he would meet a woman He had prepared to sustain him. As soon as he entered the town, Elijah saw the woman who was returning from where she had gone to fetch two sticks to fry the last meal for herself and her son. Elijah told the woman, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” As the woman made her way to bring the water, Elijah quickly added, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” The woman replied Elijah,
    “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die”(1 Kings 17:12).
    This widow was faced with a great challenge with her son. They were left with their last meal that they hoped to eat and die. God had a plan unknown to the woman and her son. At this decisive point, God, using His servant the prophet, demanded to be served first. Hear Elijah, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it FIRST, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.”  Imagine God’s demand! The powder left was so meagre that the woman picked two sticks to fry it and God still demanded, in that situation, to be served first. As his children, God is calling us today to give Him the first place in everything we do and in every situation we find ourselves. The things that God demand from us may be highly challenging and difficult for us to obey. We can be rest assured however that when we do, He would release His own miracle, which is far and far bigger than anything we have given.
    You can reach the Bishop Olaleye for prayer and counseling through adeewumi@yahoo.com OR Call 0806 285 6991