The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Farmers

  • Farmers to get more fertiliser, security support

    Farmers to get more fertiliser, security support

    The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday said more fertilizer will be made available to farmers.

    They will also get more security support.

    The government plans to release 42,000 metric tonnes of food commodities from the National Strategic Reserve to address rising costs.

    These were made known during the 139th meeting of the Council held virtually and chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

    His spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, said in a statement that the Vice President called for a meeting with major fertilizer producers, including Indorama, Dangote and Notore.

    NEC urged governors to embrace modern agricultural practices to increase productivity.

    The council also considered the establishment of agro-rangers in the short term and the possible creation of state police in the long term to address security threats.

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    Also at the meeting, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, gave Council updates on various national accounts.

    According to him, the Excess Crude Account currently stands at $473,754.57; the Natural Resources Account at N114, 343, 535, 696.46; and the Stabilisation Account at N34, 315,780, 894. 45.

    On health, the council noted that states need to enhance their governance systems, structures and accountability frameworks.

    Council resolved to appoint the Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo, to replace his predecessor as the chairman of the Committee on Flood Mitigation, Adaptation, Preparedness and Response.

  • FG trains, distributes inputs to 243 farmers in Plateau

    FG trains, distributes inputs to 243 farmers in Plateau

    The Federal Government has trained and distributed farm inputs to no fewer than 243 farmers in Plateau in order to boost agricultural production and ensure food security.

    The inputs distributed to the trained farmers included liquid fertilisers, Knapsack sprayers, seeds, agrochemicals, fish and poultry feeds, among others.

    Mr  Temitope Fadashemi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS),  while unveiling the distribution in Jos, said that it  was part of government’s conscious efforts at reducing the spate of poverty across the country

    Fadashemi, who was represented by State Coordinator, FMAFS, Dr Steve Dowoh, said that the intention was to uplift the lives of smallholder farmers and foster sustainable agricultural practices.

    The permanent secretary said that the initiative was executed under the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS).

    He said that the NPRGS reflected the government’s dedication to addressing poverty at its roots; emphasising the pivotal role agriculture plays in economic growth and development.

    “I am delighted to remind you that the NPRGS, in collaboration with the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension Service (FDAE), has diligently enumerated and validated approximately 243 farmers for participation in this transformative programme.

    “This programme is not merely an investment in agriculture; it is an investment in the future of our nation.

    “We are equipping these farmers with the tools to enhance productivity, improve resilience, and embrace sustainable practices.

    “We are laying the foundation for a more resilient and prosperous agricultural sector because farmers are not just the backbone of the sector; they are the heartbeat that forms the heartbeat of our nation’s prosperity,” he said.

    Mr Samson Bugama, Plateau Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, urged beneficiaries to utilise federal and state governments’ interventions in the agricultural sector to boost production and guarantee food security in the state.

    Bugama, who declared who launched the training and distribution, said that gesture was an opportunity for farmers to contribute to national poverty reduction.

    “And in our quest to see that there is food security in our land, we are grateful to the Federal Government for coming in with this arrangement that is helping us.

    “It may still be small, but one step at a time. It’s helping us to be able to at least breach the wide gap.

    “We are close to a junction where, if we cannot feed ourselves, we will eat ourselves; it is my prayer that we will never get to that kind of level in Nigeria.

    “We must utilise whatever is within us or has been provided for us for us to be able to feed, or at least take a step in food security,” he said.

    Mr Ishaku Jelamsem, Programme Manager, Plateau Agricultural Development Programme (PADP) promised to provide technical assistance to the beneficiaries in addition to strict monitoring of their farms to ensure judicious utilisation of the inputs.

    “I think you should count yourself among a privileged group of people.

    “Now, on our part and on behalf of the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, the PADP will be monitoring your farms.

    “I have everybody’s contact information on my phone; so, if you are thinking about not farming, just tell us.

    “We will expect you to keep records, for instance, of the maze, the day you tilled the ground, the day you planted, and the size of the farm.

    Read Also: What next for APC on the Plateau?

    “Because instead of going to look for a new set of people, we would want to push these people to a particular level in your agribusiness so they will come back and get the next,” he said.

    Mr Michael Brooks, FDAE Director, represented by Dorathy Botar, explained that the beneficiaries were diligently enumerated and validated for participation in the transformative programme.

    Brooks encouraged the beneficiaries not to give up in spite of the numerous challenges, which included insecurity and others.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for the intervention.

    (NAN)

  • We’ll flush out portfolio farmers, agric minister vows

    We’ll flush out portfolio farmers, agric minister vows

    The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has said the current administration with support from state governments will flush out unverifiable farmers posing as portfolio farmers.

    This, he said, would give room to real farmers to benefit from government interventions to boost food production.

    Kyari stated this in Abuja when Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umar Radda, paid him a courtesy visit.

    He said the federal government will collaborate with the states and local governments to come up with a genuine and verifiable farmer list.

     “This is very important because we have to know who the real farmers are.

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     “We are committed and we are assuring our citizens that we are also going to exceed Mr President’s target.

     “First thing first, we have to collaborate with the states and local governments to come up with a genuine and verifiable farmer list.

     “In addition, we are going to set up from our side and the side of the states a task force team to make sure that this programme is successful like the land tripping issue, veritable data and the inability of farmers to come up with their own portion because of the precarious economic situation that we have found ourselves in.

    In his remarks, Governor Radda, said he would separate politicians parading as farmers from the real farmers and empower them.

     “In Katsina State, we have been able to separate the two. Politics be on the other side, real farmers be on the other side. “We want to have a way of helping the politicians without necessarily taking what he does not deserve and without necessarily taking what he will not utilise adequately and will end up selling it in the market without much impact on the economy.”

  • Oyo disburses N1b loan to farmers

    Oyo disburses N1b loan to farmers

    Oyo State government yesterday kicked off the disbursement of N1 billion Agric Support Loan to farmers across the seven geopolitical zones of the state, under the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER) plan.

    The government, through the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS), held the symbolic presentation of cheques to beneficiaries and participating Microfinance Banks, at the conference room of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Secretariat, Agodi-Ibadan.

    Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who also doubles as Chairman of SAfER Food Security Sub-Committee, Olasunkanmi Olaleye, noted that the loan will reduce the cost of food and also sustain the state’s economic recovery.

    He added that the loan is strictly for farmers and is being issued strictly based on merit.

    According to Olaleye, qualified farmers will be able to access between N250,000 and N1 million based on the size of their farms. He added that the government had earlier distributed farm inputs and maize grains to poultry farmers under the food security component of SAfER.

    He said: “We are all aware that the governor launched SAfER sometimes ago. Food security is one of the different components of the programme, which is aimed at ameliorating the hardship of the people following the removal of fuel subsidy. We have other components such as transport support, where the state government has provided buses at reduced costs for our people.

    “In the area of food security, Governor Seyi Makinde approved N1 billion as loan facility for farmers, N500 million for small-holder farmers and another N500 million for youths and young agripreneurs, as well as another N500 million for micro and small-scale enterprises.

    “As part of food security measures, the governor has approved that inputs be given to 10,000 farmers. As I speak, more than 1,450 poultry farmers have benefited from free maize grains to sustain their businesses. The government has given eight bags of 50kg each to about 1,400 farmers and we have not stopped.

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    “When we finish that, we will move to the fish farmers as well. In the next few days, more than 1,000 fish farmers will benefit and after that, we will move to the cattle breeders, piggery owners and all that.

    “Today, we are commencing the distribution of agric loans through the Agric Credit Corporations to farmers who have applied for the loans. A number of participating financial institutions are here and it is through them that the loans will be distributed to the farmers across the state.”

    Chairman of Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS), Taofeek Akeugbagold, said the distribution, which would be in phases and cover all areas of agriculture such as crop, fishery, livestock and piggery, among others, has been captured and well-integrated under the food security component of the SAfER programme.

    He enjoined the beneficiaries to see the loan support as a revolving fund and ensure that farmers are in production to their capacity with a view to sustaining and maintaining food security in the state.

  • Monarch cries out over abduction of eight farmers

    Monarch cries out over abduction of eight farmers

    The Oloba of Uso, Ondo State, Oba Ademola Adebiyi Oyinbade, Olanipekun III, has raised the alarm over incessant kidnapping of his subjects.

    Oba Oyinbade, who cried out after eight farmers were abducted at the weekend, said it was ridiculous and worrisome that kidnappers have taken over his town. He lamented that his subjects now live in fear.

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    According to the monarch, the kidnappers collect ransom in cash and other items such as packets of tramadol tablets, milk, carbonated drinks, beverages and other edibles. He added that one of the victims told him that the kidnappers said they were sourcing money to replace their guns that were collected during a raid on their hideouts.

    Oba Oyinbade appealed for more security agents to be deployed in Uso and environs.

  • Sour tale of farmers

    Sour tale of farmers

    • By Joshua Shekwobagu

    Sir: I have been trying to wrap my head around the brazen barbarity going on in my community and elsewhere, perpetuated by boys who wander about with cattle, seeking for sweat of others to devour. I am in shock at the way these people can without emotion take away the money and blood of others for their animals to survive, and in broad daylight.

    Hard earned crops of people are wiped out by cows so that humans are reduced to animals, scraping the leftovers of cattle rearers. And so while common people are striving to provide sustenance for their families,  some miscreants have made it a habit to let their animals torture Nigerians for committing the singular offense of making ends meet.

    I was going about my business one fine Wednesday morning when I was called by a brother to rush to my beans farm in Toko, a village in New Karu, Abuja as cattle rearers had entered the farm and razed it all.

    Out of the two plots of land which was 200×100 ft, less than a quarter was left as consolation. I felt numb as I bent down to start picking the fallen crumbs from the ground. I was wisely advised by a commiserating neighbour to uproot the remnant crops because the raiders may return to finish what they started. True to his advice, they returned.

    While the cows resumed their merriment on the parts they had eaten rather hastily in the first round, the delinquents stood by with an air of entitlement; one of them working on a stick with his machet!

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     When I told my mother who is a retired police officer what had happened, and that I did a video which I intended to take to the police station to report the matter, she asked helplessly, “what would the police do?”

    Many of us common people who are noble citizens, assisting the government to improve food security have been failed. We have been neglected by a government whose first and foremost responsibility to its people is to protect their lives and property.

     Why are the biggest worries of the common man usually made to look impossible to solve in this part of the world? Even if the police have failed to live up to its objective, what is stopping community leaders from standing against the terror perpetuated by their neighbours who live amongst them? It seems stakeholders are turning a blind eye now that farmers are made to look like fools. But what did they say about a cat that is pushed to the wall? Definitely, things can not continue this way.

    •Joshua Shekwobagu,

    New Karu, Abuja.

  • Minister urges farmers to access mechanisation through clusters

    Minister urges farmers to access mechanisation through clusters

    • Walk your talk on food security, farmers urge Fed Govt
    • ‘Nigeria needs over 3m tonnes of palm oil annually’

    The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has reiterated the need for farmers to form clusters or cooperatives to enable them go into modern mechanised farming to boost food production.

     Kyari spoke when he hosted a delegation from John Deere, led by its Vice President Jason Braintley at his office in Abuja.

     A statement at the weekend in Abuja by the Assistant Director of Information in the ministry, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, quoted the minister as saying the Federal Government was targeting 2,000 tractors yearly to boost food production and move towards self-sufficient.

     Kyari said the production of 2,000 tractors in-country yearly would enhance food production, create jobs for Nigerian farmers, especially women and youths, as well as achieve food and nutrition security in the country. 

    The minister said the visit was a follow-up to the meeting between Vice President Kashim Shettima and top officials of John Deere during the recent World Food Prize Foundation in Iowa, the United States of America (U.S.A).

     He said when produced, the government would not off-take the tractors but provide the enabling environment to make them affordable at low-interest rate to farmers and boost all-year round farming.

     Braintley said the capacity of the tractors would range between 75 and 90 horsepower for use in different terrains in the country.

    Read Also: EU, group, varsity to equip Kwara farmers with digital tech on climate change

     Also, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has urged the Bola Tinubu administration to “walk its talk” in the efforts to attain sustainable food security amidst the challenges of climate change, insecurity, crashing inflation, among others.

     President of the association, Kabir Ibrahim, said this while addressing reporters on the National Agricultural Show slated for November 20 to 24.

     Kabir, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors (BoT) of the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), stressed the need for the government to address insecurity so that farmers can produce optimally. 

    He noted that incessant attacks on farmers across the country had led to increased cases of market disruptions and loss of livelihoods.

     Also, stakeholders in the agriculture value chain have said Nigeria needs over three million tonnes of palm oil annually to meet the demand of the country’s population.

     They said the country currently produces only 1.4 million tonnes.

     The stakeholders spoke during a policy dialogue on the National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Oil Palm Smallholder (NI-SCOPS) with the theme: Achieving an Economic and Social Ecological Resilient Palm Oil Sector: Context and Policy Direction.

    The NI-SCOPS is a programme being implemented by Solidaridad and IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative funded by the Dutch Government.

     Speaking during the dialogue, Solidaridad Programme Manager for oil palm in Nigeria, Kene Onukwube, expressed concern that the oil palm economy had been relegated to the background.

     “We would advise the government to be able to understand the investment direction for the country in regional oil palm markets and global oil palm markets.

     “Secondly, the anticipated European Union (EU) deforestation regulation coming up in 2025 potentially tends to currently de-market oil palm that comes from this part of the world. It is on record that the old Eastern Region grew its economy historically from the oil palm economy,” he said.

  • EU, group, varsity to equip Kwara farmers with digital tech on climate change

    EU, group, varsity to equip Kwara farmers with digital tech on climate change

    Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara state along with group known as Digisol Project is set to equip Kwara farmers with digital technology to mitigate climate change effects on their produce.

    European Union (EU) is sponsoring the project for rural/remote farmers in three local government areas of Kwara state.

    The three local government areas are Moro, Asa and Ifelodun.

    The project Team Leader, Chris Addy Nayo spoke with our correspondent in Ilorin on the sidelines of a-two day workshop on “promoting digital solutions for farmers in remote communities to adapt to climate change.”

    Nayo hinted that the project was out to alleviate the problems of poor yields of farmers in rural areas.

    The project team leader added that desert encroachment, soil infertility and unexpected rains had been washing away farmers crops.

    “We want to engage Federal Government how to implement all the policies it has signed with EU and other organisations on agriculture. Government needs to collaborate with local governments on how farmers in remote areas use technology to ensure our communities don’t go hungry.

    “The programme is to make our farmers more competitive especially those in remote areas for them to be able to use new digital solutions to enhance their capacity building on climate change the impacts negatively on their farm yields.

    “Whatever solutions we have, we intend to translate them to Nigerian local languages that the farmers will understand and make use of. The farmers with even the basic of education will be able to take advantage of the new technology to enhance their productivity and enable them fight against climate change.”

    Read Also: Adebule distributes fertilisers to farmers in 28 councils

    Earlier, Country Project Coordinator Prof Chris Emenyonu said climate change is not restricted to a region, country or community, adding that “environment, peculiarities may make a country or regions have some predisposed issues to the effects of climate change.”

    Declaring the seminar open, Vice Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University Prof Noah Yusuf said the project was to gain inroad to farmers in the three local government areas.

    “Farmers in those local councils will be equipped with skills to advance farming activities through digital technology,” Prof Yusuf added.

  • Adebule distributes fertilisers to farmers in 28 councils

    Adebule distributes fertilisers to farmers in 28 councils

    Senator Idiat Adebule (Lagos West) has distributed over 200 bags of fertilisers to farmers across the 28 councils in Lagos West. This, she said, is part of support towards attaining food security, especially as it is important to support farmers to enhance their productivity.

    Represented by the Director-General of her campaign organisation, Rasaq Ajala, who is also Chairman of Odi-Olowo LCDA, Adebule said the gesture was borne out of her love for the people, especially their support and to also ensure that people at the grassroots benefit from her representation.

    “What we are doing here today is just a tip of the ice-berg. Our senator has a lot in stock for the entire district. We will soon roll out intervention programmes and packages for the people.

    “Each of the councils is getting six bags of 50kg fertilisers. We are giving out over 200 bags of fertilisers to organised farmers in Lagos West, adjudged the largest senatorial district in Nigeria.

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    “Apart from our engagement with the leadership of ethnic nationalities and other stakeholders that constitute the nucleus of our campaign organisation, this programme is the first engagement with any organised association to demonstrate her commitment to the Food Security Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration,” he said.

    Deputy Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State Chapter, Shakin Agbayewa, who expressed delight for the gesture, pleaded with the senator to initiate a bill to re-open fertilizer blending plants in the country.

    He noted that re-opening of the plants will crash the price of fertiliser which is currently above N20,000.

  • Farmers get additional support with cooperative, cottage industries

    Farmers get additional support with cooperative, cottage industries

    Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Bisola Olusanya, has inaugurated Eko Farmers APPEALS Cooperative Multipurpose Society and three agro-processing centres facilitated by the Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project.

     The  centres are Frozen Catfish Cottage Industry in Agege; Cottage Broiler Processing Centre at Itamaga, and Egg Aggregation Centre at Erikorodo, both in Ikorodu

     Olusanya, who was with her Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Olatokunbo Emokpae, and State Coordinator of APPEALS Project, Mrs. Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, reiterated government’s commitment to food security.

    She sought the collaboration of government and farmers, especially those in poultry, for wholesale processed chicken, to end importation.

     The commissioner stressed the importance of supportinagricultural food chain and the farming community to meet demands of Lagos.

    According to her, the APPEALS Project has impacted thousands of farmers in aquaculture, poultry and rice value chains.

    Read Also: Poultry farmers get training on management skills

     She said: “We import more than we export. We consume more than we produce. We should support agricultural food system. We need to support farmers to produce enough for Nigeria and Lagos, which is why Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu believes in the food actors.”

     Mrs. Sagoe-Oviebo said the Broiler Processing Centre and Egg Aggregation Centre were provided based on a needs assessment to improve productivity.

     She urged farmers to use the facilities, saying the broiler centre will address rising cost of imported chicken and reduce cost of local production.

     According to her, Eko Farmers APPEALS Cooperative Multipurpose Society  will metamorphose into a microfinance bank for them.

    Cooperative Society Chairperson, Nurat Omotayo-Atoba, said the cooperative will be run by credible farmers and professionals.

    She said: “We are transforming this cooperative into a microfinance bank where farmers can save and collect loans. It will be the first in the country once we take off.”