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Tag: food production

  • Floods, droughts threatening food production in Nigeria, others, says report

    Floods, droughts threatening food production in Nigeria, others, says report

    Intense floods, frequent droughts, and less rainfall have endangered agricultural productivity in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, resulting in food insecurity, a report has shown.

    In an Impact Report, released by AFEX, a leading Pan-African commodities player, the study noted that occurrence of floods, increased droughts, and fewer rainfalls have had severe implications for farmer productivity and food security, particularly in rural areas where agriculture is a primary source of livelihood.

    According to the report, “Rural poverty in Nigeria is more widespread in 2023 compared to baseline measurement in 2020.

    “Over 80 per cent of Nigerian farmers still existed around and below the poverty line compared to 43 per cent of Kenyan farmers existing around and below the poverty line.”

    To address these challenges, the report urged for holistic approaches that encompass disaster preparedness and response, climate-resilient agricultural practices, water management strategies, and support for rural communities.

    AFEX, which has operations across Nigeria and Kenya highlighted its efforts to secure livelihoods including providing farmers with certified seeds, quality fertilizer as well as extension and storage services through strategically distributed warehouses

    Read Also: Lagos to improve food production with manure

    According to Group Chief Executive, AFEX, Ayodeji Balogun, “Our impact goals are essential as we grow our business and expand, as it ensures that we are able to build a commodities market that is as inclusive as it is efficient. We look to create a positive difference in the places that we operate, empowering farming communities, fostering economic opportunity and helping Africa sustainably provide for itself.”

    President, AFEX Nigeria, Akinyinka Akintunde also indicated that “This report marks a significant milestone for AFEX. It serves as a roadmap that guides us towards a more sustainable and responsible future building an efficient marketplace for commodities in Africa.

    We will continue to build a food system for the future and create shared prosperity, ensuring that no one is left behind in the journey to transform the agricultural ecosystem.”

    He also called for comprehensive efforts to create sustainable value in the commodities market particularly as challenges are being compounded by climate change effects.

  • ‘Old ways of food production no longer sustainable’

    ‘Old ways of food production no longer sustainable’

    Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) has said the old ways of food production are no longer sustainable, as there is need to embrace modern technology.

    The organisation, through its programme, Food Avail, noted the country cannot make progress in food production without adoption of biotechnology.

    Convener and Executive Director of CASER, Frank Tietie, spoke during a chat with reporters in Abuja.

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu hailed on food initiative

    He urged the Federal Government  to continue its deployment of biotechnology to achieve food security.

     Tietie said release of genetically modified beans and maize is a bold step to boost food production.

    The convener urged critics of modern technology to refrain from kicking against policies that are mass-oriented and support government’s drive to end hunger using biotechnology.

     “We dispel false and unfounded narratives about genetically modified (GM) foods, which are products of biotechnology products… 

  • CBN donates fertilizer to boost food production, mitigate inflation

    CBN donates fertilizer to boost food production, mitigate inflation

    In a move aimed at curbing rising food prices, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the allocation of 2.15 million bags of fertilizer, valued at over N100 billion, to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

    This contribution signifies a shift in the CBN‘s strategy.

    Governor of the CBN Yemi Cardoso, explained the bank’s transition away from direct interventions towards leveraging monetary policy tools.

    He emphasized the apex bank’s commitment to supporting government agencies with the expertise to handle such initiatives.

    Cardoso said: “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.”

    Read Also: Ningi’s suspension: What I would have done if I was presiding officer – Abaribe

    The CBN governor expressed confidence in overcoming current economic challenges, including inflation and currency depreciation.

    He said: “While transient inflationary pressures may persist, we anticipate substantial alleviation by the third quarter of 2024, coupled with diminished exchange rate strains.”

    The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, welcomed the CBN’s donation, acknowledging the crucial role fertilizer plays in agricultural production costs.

    He highlighted the recent challenges faced by the agricultural sector, including the COVID-19 pandemic, flooding, climate change, and the Naira redesign policy.

    Kyari said: “The gesture is highly appreciated as the agriculture sector had recently been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, flooding, climate change as well as the Naira redesign policy, which according to had adversely affected farmers at the grassroots.”

    He assured Nigerians of fair distribution of the fertilizer among genuine farmers.

    Kyari also mentioned an existing government programme that provides a 50 percent subsidy on agricultural inputs to farmers, with additional support promised by the President.

    Looking ahead, the minister emphasised the importance of improving irrigation infrastructure to facilitate a year-round farming system in Nigeria.

  • First Lady inaugurates women agricultural programme to boost food production

    First Lady inaugurates women agricultural programme to boost food production

    • Senator Tinubu lifts five Eastern states with N10m each
    • 100 persons with disabilities in Imo get empowerment

    The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has inaugurated the maiden Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) Women Agricultural Support Group programme for the Southeast to boost food production.

    Senator Tinubu, who performed the take-off of the programme in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said the gesture was in fulfillment of the Bola Tinubu administration’s commitment to promote women farmers across the country.

    The First Lady said the RHI was committed to supporting women farmers with the broader national agenda to strengthen the agricultural sector.

    She said: “President Bola Tinubu’s administration recognises the pivotal role that agriculture plays in achieving sustainable development and ensuring food sufficiency. To this end, this is a two-in-one programme designed to support our women farmers nationwide.

    “On one hand, the Renewed Hope Initiative is supporting 20 women farmers per state with N500,000 each.”

    The First Lady announced that N10 million would be given to beneficiaries in each of the five states in the Southeast through the RHI state coordinators.

    On the other hand, she said the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), in partnership with RHI, would support extra 80 women farmers together with 20 women farmers per state, making a total of 100 women per state, to get financial support.

    Senator Tinubu said the beneficiaries in Imo State would start their training programme this week while other beneficiaries within the region would begin their capacity training as scheduled by NALDA.

    The First Lady assured the women that they would get agricultural inputs, such as fisheries (50 fingerlings and feeds for each farmer) and poultry (25 three-week old birds) and feeds for every poultry farmer.

    She said those engaged in arable farming would get improved cassava and a bag of fertiliser for every agrarian farmer.

    “All farm produce will be bought over by NALDA after the harvest of produce.

    Read Also: Nigeria’s economic transformation requires govt, citizens’ collaboration – First Lady

    “The financial support to the 20 women farmers in each state from the RHI is to enhance and encourage productivity while the training by NALDA for all the 100 women farmers per state is to reduce crop waste and promote more efficient production and farming techniques.

    “This dual approach of the RHI and NALDA demonstrates a comprehensive strategy to address the various challenges faced by women farmers,” the First Lady said.

    Senator Tinubu also announced that the RHI Social Investment programme would empower 100 persons with disabilities in Imo State to become small business owners.

    She said they would get N100,000 each to recapitalise their existing businesses.

    Governor Hope Uzodimma, who noted that the struggle for food security must be a collective effort, expressed confidence that the empowerment of the rural farmers would contribute to food sufficiency in the state.

    Also, NALDA’s Executive Secretary Paul Ikonne said the agency was “committed to partnering with the wife of the President to making sure that we lure our mothers and young women into farming”.

  • Nigeria’s food production to hit €62bn in 2024

    Nigeria’s food production to hit €62bn in 2024

    The nation’s food production is projected to rise to €62.6bn this year, Ms. Freyja Detjen, organisers of the Agrofood and Plastprintpack Nigeria, Fairtrade and Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) has said.

    Citing the Euromonitor International report, Detjeh, Senior Project Manager at Fairtrade, gave these insights at the pre-event stakeholders and media meet ahead of its 9th Agro Food and Plastprintpack expo scheduled to hold from March 26 to 28 in Lagos.

    According to her, Nigeria’s food production had witnessed a remarkable surge of 39.6 per cent in recent years, from €26 billion in 2016 to €36.3 billion in 2020, saying this was projected to rise by 48 per cent between 2021 and 2024, from €42.3 billion to €62.6 billion.

    She said in spite of the significant investments in local food production, Nigeria’s food imports stood at $6.9 billion in 2022, positioning the nation as one of Africa’s foremost food importers.

    She, however, stated that with investments in food and packaging technology amounting to €363 million in 2022, Nigeria stands as Africa’s second-largest investor, trailing behind South Africa with €381 million and leading Egypt with €319 million.

    Read Also: Support local farmers to boost food production, Tinubu tells Govs

    Detjen said with packaging technology amounting to €363 million in 2022, Nigeria stood as Africa’s second-largest investor, trailing South Africa with €381 million and Egypt with €319 million.

    Detjen said the ninth agrofood and plastprintpack Nigeria 2024 would be the largest ever, saying that global technology leaders from 17 countries would attend the three-day conference.

    “Over 100 world-class exhibitors from Austria, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Türkiye, and Ukraine, showcasing tailored products and solutions for the Nigerian market.

    President, Organization for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa, Alexander Isong said the event would offer opportunities for companies to purchase agricultural equipment at affordable prices.

    Meanwhile, following the fruitful collaboration since the 2021 event, Fairtrade and OTACCWA, said they would  co-organise the 6th West African Cold Chain Summit and Exhibition by OTACCWA alongside Agrofood and Plastprintpack Nigeria 2024.

  • Boosting capacity for sustainable food production

    The Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure, Ondo State is working with farmers and students to boost productivity and improve livelihoods and nutrition, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    A team of researchers, led by  the Provost,  Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure, Ondo State, Dr  Samson Odedina, is  empowering  farmers  and students to produce bio-fortified food through good agricultural practices.

    He said the college was working with some farmers to train them in the production of fortified crops for processing into nutritious products. The partnership, according to him, is designed to increase profits for local smallholders as well as help to combat high levels of malnutrition. He  said the college has trained farmers on how to process High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) and other cassava products.

    Odedina said through various programmes, the college is training farmers in the rural areas on how to address low yields, which has contributed to chronic food and nutrition insecurity.

    To overcome this, he said FECA is promoting sustainable intensification technologies, practices and policies that foster production of nutritious and marketable food.

    Odedina said farmers need up-to-date knowledge about growing methods, innovative business models, and best practices to thrive and remain sustainable.

    As farming continues to grow, he said agric colleges, such as FECA needs to step up to support urban farmers’needs.

    Through its vocational courses, Odedina said FECAprovides technical expertise, networking, and business development programmes for people wanting to venture into farming.

    He said prospective agriculture entrepreneurs participated in farm business courses.

    At the rural areas, the Provost said rural farmers are exposed to field schools, were they are taught basic farming, including land preparation, seedsplanting irrigationand harvesting.

    Also, the college facilitated distribution of initial seed stock of improved varieties to smallholder farmers for multiplication.

    This year, the college, in collaboration with the Ondo State government, started a training programme for about 18,000 unemployed graduates across the 18 local government areas of the state.

    The training programme, tagged: ‘Youths on the Ridges’, covered some aspects of agriculture, including poultry, snail rearing, piggery, fishery and cassava processing. The participants comprised 1000 youths from each of the 18 local government areas of the state.

    Odedina said the institution offered the free training to the beneficiaries as its contribution to the government’s effort to reduce the unemployment rate in Ondo.

    According to him, each participant will be expected to choose any area of agriculture.

    The FECA boss also said the college had been training youths, especially unemployed graduates, in many aspects of agriculture.

    He said: “We will teach the participants in any area of their choice and they will become agro-millionaires after the training because the demands are there for their products. Some of our graduates are doing fine in their businesses. We hope to train more so as to bring our youths out of unemployment through agriculture.”

  • Fed Govt to boost food production

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development  Audu Ogbeh has said the government is taking steps to ensure food security for Nigerians.

    Speaking during the yearly lecture of the Catholic Brothers League in Lagos, Ogbeh explained that guaranteeing food security was a top priority issue for the government.

    He said the government was working to improve quality and competitiveness of the farm produce, and promoting value chain development.

    He said, however, the government had recorded great strides in boosting agricultural development in terms of production value and exports.

    Ogeh said plant varieties and cultivation techniques have been improved to enhance the quality of crops, while   productivity and quality of major products, including rice, have increased.

    Ogbeh lamented that Nigeria spent $6 million  daily on rice import.

    Following this, he said the Customs closed the land borders  to encourage Nigerians to eat local rice.

    The strategy, he observed, is yielding results.

    He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has boosted rice production in Nigeria through its ’s Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), adding that the efforts made in local production of rice has saved the country about $800 million in foreign exchange.

     

     

  • FIIRO chief seeks increased funding for agric

    The Federal Government has been urged to increase budgetary allocation to agriculture to boast food production.

    The Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO) Director-General, Prof Gloria Elemo, who gave the advice at the fifth convocation lecture of the Landmark University, Kwara State, said poor funding was a major impediment to agric revolution.

    She identified other factors impeding the revolution to include increasing population and the un-quenching thirst for white-collar jobs.

    In the lecture titled: Driving agricultural revolution: A spur for industrial breakthrough and sustainable development, she lamented that 46 per cent of Nigerians still live below the poverty line, irrespective of the huge untapped indigenous technologies in the country.

    She said FIIRO would continue to promote agriculture and improve on its value chain through proper processing technologies to enhance economic growth.

    Dr Elemo said cassava initiates in which over 25 by-products have been developed from cassava; the ready to use therapeutic food for the elderly; the development of nutraceutical for sickle cell anemia patients; the high nutrient density biscuits that can meet one third dietary needs for school-age children are some of agro-based research results from FIIRO.

    She said agriculture, now more than ever, was needed to stimulate growth and development in urban and rural areas through all levels of value chain.

    Lending his voice to the topic of the day, Landmark University Chancellor Bishop David Oyedepo said the institution was poised to revolutionise agriculture, urging graduands to take advantage of the numerous opportunities in the sector.

    To this end, the two institutions signed an MoU to kick-start agricultural revolution through staff exchange, human capacity building, joint ventures and students industrial training.

  • ‘UI research farm promoting food production’

    The University of Ibadan(UI)  is using its research farm to  increase food production in the region.

    In a statement, a  faculty member of the varsity, Dr Thomas Adesina said the farm is training Nigerians on adding value to agricultural products to improve food production.

    According to him, one of the varsity’s objectives is to provide a solution to the nation’s lingering problems, among which are food insecurity and wild life preservation.

    He  explained that the  farm since its establishment in 1949 has been an effective centre for the practising classroom instruction and research with the objectives ranging from enhancing research capacity building for a more holistic institutional development, developing strategies for proactive sourcing of research grants, scholarships and fellowship, engaging in and maintain collaboration and strategic partnership with public and private institution with similar goal and vision,  promoting and bringing a desired change within and outside the university community and the society at large.

    The principal activities of the  teaching and research farms, according to him, also covers agricultural research and practical education specifically, and add value to socio-economic development through increasing productivity or agricultural yield per hectare through the dissemination of relevant information about new discoveries in the field of pest control, rainfall optimisation, breed/species upgrades, soil nutrition enhancements.

    The others are driving efficiency in the agricultural value chain, improving the conditions of living of small leasehold farmers who rely on agricultural extension services to achieve effectiveness and efficiency of resources, and in all promote national food security.

    He  added that the farms serve as a training ground for students from other institutions for practical exposure.

    Apart from its year four agric undergraduates, Adesina said the farm host students from the University of  Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)  yearly. These include students from other universities, mono-technics and colleges of agriculture, such as Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH), Osun State University, Osogbo, Federal College of Agriculture (FCA), Ibadan, Federal College of Animal Health & Production Technology (FCAHPT), Ibadan, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology (OYSCATECH), Igbo- Ora, and Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo.

    A very vibrant unit of the farm, he  added,  is the oil palm section,  established in 1955. The oil produced is sold commercially and is of very high quality and is in high demand, due to the standard method of processing and growing innovations of product developments and improvements.

  • FG `ll empower more farmers to boost food production – Lai Mohammed

    FG `ll empower more farmers to boost food production – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the Federal Government will empower more farmers to boost food production in the country.

    Mohammed made the assertion on Sunday at the Government House, Birnin-Kebbi, when he paid courtesy call Gov. Abubakar Bagudu during his two-day visit to the state.

    The minister said that the agricultural revolution in the state had projected Nigeria as a food producing nation.

    “Due to the agricultural revolution, the number of farmers empowered across the country has increased from five million to over 12 million within two years of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    “Our detractors will not believe what this government has achieved; that is why we decided to come to different villages where farming is taking place to tell the whole world our story,” he said.

    In his remarks governor Atiku Bagudu told the minister and his entourage that apart from the success recorded in agriculture, most especially in mass rice production, he said their is need for federal government to invest more in other crops like Maize and Soya beans.

    The governor further said the State success story in rice can also be achieved in other farm produce, which he said will go along way in boosting the economy, and food security of the country.

    Bagudu told the minister and his entourage that apart from the success recorded in agriculture, the state was blessed with different cultural festivals like Argungu Fishing Festival, which he said will be revived  very soon, Rigatta festival of Yauri Emirate, Uhola Festival in Zuru, and Hottungo festival In suru.

    All the festival he said are been celebrated annually to promote  tourism and generate more revenue to the state.