The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Eat

  • Cattle eat up our crops

    For the President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda in agriculture to succeed, the menace posed by cattle must be solved, Kwara State chairman, Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) Gabriel Fasanu has said.

    Fasanu, an engineer, said this in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at the distribution of fertilisers and herbicides, under the federal government agricultural programme, to cassava growers in the state.

    He said the famers in the state have been battling with the menace of cattle rustlers in the state for ages.

    His words: “Many of our people here are taking loans from the banks. After putting in all your efforts and you have a good yield; that all things will be well with you to repay your loan, then suddenly you wake up one day to find out the whole farm has been destroyed by cows.

    “We have been battling with this menace for a very long time. The state government has not been able to address the issue and it is a very serious concern to the farmers and it is making most of us incur debts. That is also why the banks are a little bit unwilling to give loan to farmers.

    “If you will agree with me no nation can develop or get to its economic heights without agriculture. By the destroying the farms the cattle rearers are making the farmers to incur huge debt as well as bringing down the economy of the whole nation. So it is a food for thought actually for our cattle rearers.”

    NCGA chair said the association is to “ensure the implementation policy whereby cassava flour is included in bread made in Nigeria. It may interest you to know that two tonnes of raw cassava tubers produced only one tonne of high quality cassava flour. This is why we should endeavour to plant high yielding cassava varieties recommended by the federal government.

    “You will agree with me that the major stakeholders in the cassava value-chain (flour mills, bakers etc) have a very big challenge. The millions of tonnes that are needed annually call for major cassava planting and for many harvests all hands must be on deck.”

    He urged the Nigerian youths to take to farming “instead of the youth roaming the streets in search of job I urge them and the cassava farmers in Nigeria to come and register with us. Packages have made available to various stakeholders in the high quality cassava flour programme, it is only left for them to come forward and join us.

    For NCGA the high quality cassava flour programme (HQCFP) is N81,000 per hectare.

    “It comprises of cash, fertilizer and herbicide. Actually, a farmer under this programme is entitled to two hectares. The farmer is to pay back only about half of the loan value while the balance is a grant for the farmer.

    “On this note I sincerely express our gratitude to the federal government for this magnanimity. The handing over of the fertilizer and herbicides to the beneficiaries is what we are here to do today.”

  • Eat, drink and make merry in Badagry

    Fun-filled weekend awaits travel lovers this weekend at Badagry as the TravelNextdoor has announce its excursion to the historic town this Saturday.

    TravelNextDoor, which has on its team former winner of the CNN African Journalist Award (Travel Category), Pelu Awofeso, has been taking tourists from within and abroad on excursions to the town famous for its history of slave trading, since 2010. It

    has built a reputation for that over the last few years.

    “We thought to share some highlights of what it means to be part of that 12 hours (8am-8pm) spent outdoors, enjoying the very best of nature, culture and history that Nigeria has to offer. To book a seat on the tour bus, interested tourists can get more details on the excursion by sending an email to travelnextdoor@yahoo.com or calling 0807 0999 670,” the organisers said.

  • Eat according to your type

    In general or simplistic terms, if you are a protein type it means one of two things — either your cells tend to burn carbohydrates too quickly (meaning you are a fast oxidizer), or the parasympathetic branch of your autonomic nervous system is stronger and more dominant than the sympathetic branch. This means you need a high-protein intake in order to strengthen your sympathetic system, and in turn acidify your too-alkaline metabolism. Or you need protein to slow down your overly rapid cellular oxidation rate, thereby alkalinizing your too-acid metabolism.

    Protein types do very well on a diet that includes plenty of high-density, high-fat proteins known as “high-purine” proteins.

    These include foods like red meat, dark meat chicken and turkey, and various kinds of seafood such as salmon, tuna, herring, sardines, mussels, caviar and anchovies. Most protein types can also eat freely of whole fat foods in the form of cheese, eggs, cream and milk. It’s especially important for protein types to include a significant amount of protein at every meal, and to moderate their intake of carbohydrates (grains, vegetables and fruits), especially the carbohydrates that are high in sugar and starch.

     

    The Carbo Type Diet

    Generally speaking, if you’re a carbo type you need a higher percentage of carbohydrates in your diet in order to strengthen the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, which is weaker than your sympathetic system, and thereby alkalinize your too-acid metabolism. Or you need more carbohydrates to speed up your naturally slow cellular oxidation rate, thereby bringing it into balance by acidifying your too-alkaline metabolism.

    Carbo types typically do well on a low-fat, relatively low-protein diet — one that includes liberal amounts of carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. However, carbo types need to remember that a “low-protein” diet does not mean a “no-protein” diet. In fact, most carbo types will find that they need to include protein at most meals, but they need to focus on leaner, lighter meats, seafood and poultry than protein types. They should restrict their consumption of red meat in favor of light meat chicken and turkey and lighter seafood such as haddock, cod, perch, sole, catfish and flounder.

    If you’re a carbo type you should stick to low-fat dairy products, but you can eat a very wide selection of vegetables, fruits, and grains. However, many carbo types, like protein types, do best by focusing on vegetables that contain low or moderate levels of sugar and starch.

    The Mixed Type Diet

     

    If you’re a mixed type, it means you’re somewhere in the middle of the other two types, which have more pronounced or clear-cut metabolic imbalances. You actually need to eat a mixture of protein type foods and carbo type foods. This will accomplish two things: 1) it will support both sides of your autonomic nervous system — both the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch; and 2) it will keep your cellular oxidation rate, which is neither too fast or too slow, in balance.

    Mixed types need to consume relatively equal ratios of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. They also need to eat a mixture of high-fat, high-purine proteins and low-fat, low-purine proteins. The same applies to all of the other foods contained on the protein type and carbo type diets — including grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.