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Tag: Ministry of Agriculture

  • Ministry leads efforts toward ethical, efficient service

    Ministry leads efforts toward ethical, efficient service

    Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has partnered Azleems Global Investment on a workshop on “Managing Workplace Emotions, Attitude, Values, and Ethics to Drive Sustainable Agriculture”.

    The capacity-building session in Abuja, brought together officers on Grade Levels 07 to 12 from various departments as part of the ministry’s Culture Change Management Initiative, to strengthen emotional intelligence, professionalism, and ethical conduct of staff in alignment with Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025.

    Alhaji Hamza Musa, assistant director (Training), on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, urged participants to use the workshop to enhance their capacity and embrace the culture of service excellence.

    The training was coordinated by Dr. Oluwabamidele Kogbe, recipient of the Head of Civil Service EPIC Award. He led officers through sessions on EPIC values — Efficiency, Productivity, Incorruptibility, and Citizen-Centred Service. Other trainers included Mrs. Nancy Usman, Uche Kene-Okoye, Mrs. Funmi Salawu and Mr. Saidu Ibrahim.

    Dr. Kogbe, workshop lead, said he was pleased to have been engaged to inspire officers to embrace the EPIC culture. He said he is working on Inspire EPIC Service Awareness Tours to engage, inspire and help fellow civil/public servants to aspire as EPIC Ambassadors in the service.

    Participants went through presentations like Understanding Workplace Emotions and Attitudes, Developing Right Attitude for Performance-Based Management in Agriculture, Making a Difference as EPIC Civil Servant, and a practical session on Artificial Intelligence and Use of ServiceWise GPT for writing and policy research.

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    During the workshop, officers were exposed to innovative ways to enhance productivity, ethical responsiveness, and professionalism in the agricultural sector with cases of best practices cited to stimulate learning. The sessions also highlighted the integration of digital tools, artificial intelligence, and data-driven decision-making to improve efficiency and service delivery.

    In their communiqué, participants commended the Honourable Ministers Senator Abubakar Kyari, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, and the Department of Human Resources for prioritizing staff development and sustaining a forward-looking training culture. They lauded the Ministry’s inclusive participation framework, befitting renovation of the Ministry’s building, and commitment to aligning with reform initiatives from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF).

    Participants also recommended the institutionalization of such training across all cadres to build a cohesive and high-performing workforce. Additionally, they proposed the establishment of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to address staff well-being and mental health challenges in line with global best HR practices.

    At the close of the event, participants reaffirmed their renewed commitment to upholding the EPIC values and contributing to the realization of the Ministry’s mandate for food security and sustainable agricultural transformation.

  • Ministry of Agriculture, NIMC launch digital cards with multiple wallets for farmers, others 

    Ministry of Agriculture, NIMC launch digital cards with multiple wallets for farmers, others 

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFR) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have introduced digital identity cards with multiple wallets for farmers and other Nigerians to boost food security and increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. 

    According to government authorities, the development was in tandem with the National Identity Number (NIN) enabled farmer registry and the Government to People (G2P) card initiative.

    “This project is designed to address the Federal Ministry’s immediate challenges of identity and authentication, required to deliver government services efficiently and accurately,” the government said on Thursday in a statement. 

    The statement was jointly signed by the Director of Information at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Joel Oruche, and the Head of Corporate Communications for NIMC, Dr Kayode Adegoke. 

    They said the initiatives aligned “with the government’s commitment to improving transparency, efficiency and ensuring inclusivity under the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, of which food security is a primary objective”. 

    “It aims to eradicate the challenges faced by FMAFS in efficiently delivering well-intended government programmes to the targeted citizens,” they added. 

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    Speaking on the benefits, the government said: “By adopting this card, FMAFS can uniquely identify all farmers, provide multiple agricultural services through the card in a manner that eliminates risks and fraud, and also provide end-to-end visibility within the agricultural value chain, thus enabling scalability.

    “Agricultural services to be provided through the card include farmer financing, input distribution, farmland mapping linked to identity, extension services monitoring & evaluation, and agency banking, as well as multiple types of third party services.”

    The statement reads: “To this end, FMAFS, guided by Mr President’s circular on the use of the National Identification Number (NIN) by all MDAs in the provision of government services to beneficiaries, has partnered with NIMC to leverage the National Identity Management System to power the Ministry’s farmer registry by linking the NIN and attendant biometric identity data of each farmer to their farmland, as well as all necessary supporting data relating to that farmer, including the size of the holding and type of crops or livestock. 

    “Connecting this NIN-backed registry to the G2P card will thereby allow for the provision of targeted and ring-fenced aid to the farmers and other recipients of government benefits under the FMAFS programmes. 

    “The G2P card ecosystem is an initiative that allows for the issuance of NIN-enabled cards by Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and enables the use of the card’s frontend by these MDAs for their respective programmes.

    “The key feature of the ecosystem is a biometrics card with multiple wallets that can provide verifiable identification and also process transactions without internet connectivity, allowing the Ministry to support beneficiaries in the most remote locations. 

    “The card is unique to each citizen, and every Nigerian and legal resident is eligible to obtain it, whether banked or unbanked. The G2P card will be owned by and personalised by each MDA that adopts its usage.

    “Within this framework, NIMC will provide the foundational identity ecosystem to FMAFS, who, as the owner of both the farmer registry and G2P card scheme, will provide government services via the issued G2P cards, tailored to the needs of the farmers supported by the Ministry at the national and sub-national levels.

    “The G2P card has a large capacity in-card chip that stores beneficiary identity, know your customer (KYC), picture, and fingerprints. In addition, it has two applets and several wallets dedicated to multiple types of programmes, which provide needed flexibility and channels for multiple interventions to be implemented against the same unique identity. 

    “This flexibility is required to address infrastructure challenges limiting identity verification and digital evidence of beneficiary access when implementing government programmes. 

    “The G2P biometric cards are processed through a bespoke but interoperable biometrics Point of Sale (POS) acceptance device, which requires biometrics to access and operate. 

    “This technological approach allows the Ministry to better deliver services and programmes in any location, regardless of infrastructure challenges. The card will operate as a digital wallet/prepaid card, and it is tailored for government transactions such as subsidies, loans, welfare disbursement, pensions, and other activities carried out by FMAFS. 

    “NIMC’s role is to provide the ecosystem with foundational biometric identity in the NIN to ensure that the card and its attendant benefits are securely and accurately linked to the beneficiary and the beneficiary only. FMAFS retains its statutory rights and ownership of the data generated. 

    “With the G2P ecosystem, any programme implemented by the Ministry can now be administered independently and showcased through digitally enabled dashboards displaying key data on how each programme has been efficiently implemented or otherwise.”

  • Benue farmers to get fertiliser early in 2018

    Benue farmers to get fertiliser early in 2018

    Mr Thomas Unongo, the Director of Agricultural Services, Benue Ministry of Agriculture, has assured farmers in the state of early supply of fertiliser during the 2018 cropping season.

    He gave the assurance in Makurdi on Tuesday when he spoke at the meeting of Agricultural Vision Group and Agricultural Innovative Group, organised by Synergos Nigeria.

    Unongo said that the state government was making concerted efforts to provide fertiliser to farmers before April 2018.

    He said that the fertiliser blending plant in the state had commenced operations, adding that the government had also partnered with other fertiliser companies to supply the input to farmers.

    Unongo, however, encouraged farmers to make use of organic manure, which abounded in the state, to boost agricultural production.

    He stressed that the organic manure also had the capacity of making crops to thrive and yield bountiful harvests.

    Also speaking, Mr Saa-Aondo Anom of Paradiso Farms advised farmers to insure their farms in order to enable them obtain compensation in the event of natural disasters.

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    Mrs Maureen Kajo, an official of Federal Ministry of Agriculture, urged Synergos to sensitise rural farmers to the ideals of nutrition-sensitive agriculture to enable them to eat balanced diets.

    Mrs Ngizan Chahul, the President of Women in Agriculture, called on the Federal Government to establish agro-based industries in all the six-geo-political zones of the country to encourage people to venture into agriculture.

    Chahul said that the proposed industries should be established in line with the specific crops in which each geo-political zone had a comparative advantage.

    Mr Lucky Izobo, the Director of Research, Statistics and Planning, Benue Ministry of Agriculture, urged farmers to be more innovative in their efforts to boost agricultural production.

    Mr Zaki Igyo-Ali of Igyo-Ali Farms said that some modalities had been introduced to make mango one of the major export crops of the state.

    NAN

  • Brazil wants Nigeria to protect small farmers

    Brazil wants Nigeria to protect small farmers

    The Consul-General of Brazil in Lagos, Amb. Maria Figueiredo, on Monday announced her government’s plan to share its philosophy of protecting small farmers with Nigeria.

    Figueiredo made the announcement in Lagos at a Business Forum between a Brazilian Delegation, members of the Nigerian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other Nigerian businessmen and women.

    The consul-general said that it was imperative for Nigeria to protect her small farmers to be sustainable and self-sufficient in the production of food for home consumption.

    According to her, about 70 per cent of food produced and consumed in Brazil is from the small farmers.

    “We are really ready to share our philosophy for protecting small farmers with Nigeria.

    “An official from my country’s Ministry of Agriculture will be visiting Abuja soon to share our philosophy for protecting small farmers with Nigerians.

    “In Brazil, there are laws that are made to protect small farmers. So, I feel that Nigeria should also protect such farmers,’’ she said.

    Figueiredo said that Nigeria should not only continue to promote big farmers, whose agricultural products were always exported to the international market.

    She said that the delegation was visiting to explore the possibility to explore the Nigerian market for the importation of agricultural equipment from Brazil.

    The President of the Nigerian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Emmanuel Ibru, said that there would continue to be synergy between Nigeria and Brazil.

    Ibru, who said that there was a lot for Nigeria to learn from Brazil, also announced his organisation’s plan to soon organise another visit to Brazil.

    He said that the chamber would continue to encourage and promote trade and knowledge transfer between Nigerians and Brazilians.

    Trade relationship between Nigeria and Brazil dates back to 18th century. Nigeria and Brazil enjoy warm cultural and trade relationship. Many Afro-Brazilians trace their roots to Nigeria.

    Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. Both countries are key players in the economies of their regions. Brazil is a leading political and economic power in Latin America. Nigeria is equally the leading political and economic power in West Africa.

    Nigeria is the second largest trade partner of Brazil in Sub-Saharan Africa and 11th in the world. Brazil is the third largest importer of Nigerian crude oil after USA and India. Nigeria balance of trade with Brazil is very favourable.

    Brazil’s key industries are textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, agriculture, motor vehicles and parts, other machineries and equipment. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, vehicles, soybean, sugar, rice, orange juice, iron ore, steel, textiles, footwear, electrical equipment, etc.

    Brazil’s current account surpluses had continued to hit record levels, indicating that exports were growing strongly. Its income per head is now twelve times that of India and China.

    Nigeria has a great deal to learn and tap from Brazilian experience. So come on board, let’s take advantage.

    NAN

  • Lagos begins rehabilitation of Oko Oba abattoir

    Lagos begins rehabilitation of Oko Oba abattoir

    The Lagos State Government has commenced rehabilitation of the Oko Oba Abattoir and Lairage Complex, Agege in fulfillment of its promise to develop the red meat value chain and restructure the complex for improved operations.

    The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oluwatoyin Suarau who led a team of the Ministry of Agriculture officials on a tour of the complex to inspect the level of work done said the rehabilitation work include perimeter fencing of the complex; removal of slums, shanties and market in and around the complex and removal of heap of solid waste.

    According to him, the rehabilitation work will also involve reconditioning and management of mechanized slaughter line at the complex; installation of facilities for waste conversion known as bio gas plant; construction of transit camp; provision of general cleaning services; construction of stripe processing facility and rehabilitation  and maintenance of waste recycling plant.

    Suarau stated that reconditioning and management of mechanized slaughter line at complex will rehabilitate the two 1,800 animals per day mechanized slaughter lines in order to ensure that products from the line meet the global quality, safety and compliance requirements.

    He added that installation of facilities for waste conversion  known as bio gas plant will help convert  large volume of waste  generated at the Abattoir into biogas  to reduce the adverse effects of waste.

    “The rehabilitation work will also involve construction of transit camp; a housing facilities comprising of 100 units of self-contained rooms to accommodate cattle merchants on transit and construction of head, hide and stripe processing facility to curb unhygienic processing of meat products”, the Commissioner said.

    Suarau noted that there will also be rehabilitation and maintenance of waste recycling plant to provide the best and sustainable solution for the removal of the blood and gut content of the wastewater generated from the open slaughter slab and the mechanized slaughtering house.

    He added that after the rehabilitation works, a general cleaning service unit will be established which will be responsible for general and day to day removal of all kinds of waste generated in the whole Abattoir complex, this according to him will help solve the problem of accumulated wastes resulting into heaps.

    The Commissioner added also that the State Government will continue to train butchers, dislodge illegal abattoirs, seize stray animals and monitor how meat are transported to and from the complex and other abattoirs and slaughter slabs in the State.

    “Currently, the State government and stakeholders in the abattoir are putting heads together to fully harness the Eko Large Ruminant Animal Project to enhance the integration of cognate sub project such as feed milling operation to ensure timely availability of quality compound animal feeds in the desired quantity, animal slaughtering and processing, and distribution and marketing of processed beef”, Suarau said.

    Re-affirming the commitment of the State government to bring development into the red meat value chain, the Commissioner said that there is a growing recognition that the planned reforms is desirable to meet the State’s mega city status where the best practices of meat handling, environmental and facility hygiene is adopted to meet the international acceptable standard.

    “This will not only ensure that will move from the traditional way of animal slaughtering to a mechanized system but  will ensure full utilization of the abattoir in an efficient, effective and healthy way. This reform is focusing on food security, facility and environmental hygiene and processing protection”, he said.

  • Lagos to use waste from abattoirs to create electricity

    Lagos to use waste from abattoirs to create electricity

    The Lagos State government is planning an innovative project to convert waste from the abattoirs.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Shakirudeen Olayiwole Onasanya announced this at a one day workshop on food safety in the Nigerian meat industry in Lagos. The workshop was organised by the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) in collaboration with the Animal Science Association of Nigeria.

    He spoke through the Director, Veterinary Service, Dr Shamisudeen Olalekan.

    Consequently, new abattoirs may have biogas producing facilities to disseminate cheap and relatively clean energy throughout the facilities.

    This is expected to improve waste management at the abattoir.

    He highlighted the challenge of managing waste, stressed that the government is taking steps to improve sanitary control in slaughtering, processing and commercialisation of meat at Oko-Oba Abattoir in Agege to prevent food safety risks.

    He said Lagos has one approved abattoir, eight approved slaughter slabs and more than 15 illegal slaughtering slabs including slaughtering facilities located within the military barracks.

    He said over 6000 cattle, 10,000 sheep and goat are slaughtered daily.

    The chaotic situation has caused serious problems related to food hygiene and safety.

    Despite having investing modern slaughterhouses, he said the state is still struggling to compete with illegal abattoirs.

    Onasanya said the government will suspend the operation of slaughterhouses that do not meet food safety and hygiene requirements, tighten control over veterinary and environmental hygiene and food safety in small slaughterhouses, and to strictly deal with violations as per the law.