Tag: NALDA

…urges continuity of projects

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) is set to commence its Institute of Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

The Institute targets catching the youngsters early from the primary to the tertiary level by introducing them to Agribusiness early while also serving as a platform for professional research.

Executive Secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, who stated this while briefing journalists in Abuja, noted that the institute is aimed at supporting the growth and development of agribusiness in Nigeria by transforming it into a modern and appealing career path for the youth through a combination of Practical training, specialized curriculum, cutting-edge technology, and entrepreneurial education in the field of agribusiness and agronomic practices.

This, he said, will in turn translate to the country being better positioned to attain food security and ensuring a stable and sufficient food supply for the nation in line with President Bola Tinubu’s food security agenda.

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Ikonne said the Institute which will commence in September in Aba, Abia State, is fully equipped with facilities needed to build a formidable school of agribusiness.

According to him, the institute in Aba boasts of a completed 600 capacity student sport complex, two administrative blocks, libraries and laboratories, a clinic, nine solar powered boreholes, 30 rooms hostel and four classroom blocks with a total of 24 classrooms.

”The Aba Campus also holds a 50,000 capacity fish pond, poultry pens, 5000 capacity Snail house, fish hatchery, 50 cage Grass cutter pens, crop fields, 3 tractors, hand held harvesters and 9 boreholes to cater for the needs of both the farm and that of the institute.

“We also came up with NALDA Institute of agribusiness and entrepreneurship that has the approval of Mr. President. And today, that school is taking off in September. We have students that are going to start in September; the one in Abia is fully ready and commencing the 2024/2025 academic session this September.

“The one in Ogun is 99 percent complete and they will commence the academic session by next year. The Institute in Katsina is 89 percent complete. So, these are projects that we initiated with the idea and knowledge that if we don’t catch them young into agriculture, agricultural production and agribusiness, Nigeria we will lose farmers as the current generation of farmers are aging and retiring. This is why we came up with the NALDA Institute of agribusiness and entrepreneurship from primary to secondary to Ordinary National Diploma (OND) level”.

Additionally, in a bid to engage Nigerians in agribusiness, he said the NALDA Institute is currently running government approved certificate courses on fishery, poultry, snailry, and hatchery.

‘’While this will most importantly keep our youths gainfully self-employed, it is also a good source of generating revenue for the Institute. We have experienced professionals on ground with specialized resources to achieve this’’

‘’This training is not just theoretical, it is both theory and practical as the Institute has the Poultry, Hatchery, Snailery and Fishery units ready, we also intended for this initiative to cut across all states of the country”, he added.

While reeling out the achievement of NALDA in the four years of his time as the Executive Secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne said he is proud of how far the authority has come from.

Speaking further on NALDA’s achievement in the last four  years, he said farm estates were established to create job opportunities along the agricultural value chain, from production, processing to marketing.

He said so far, NALDA farm estate has been established in Katsina, Imo and Borno states.

He noted that, that of Borno State was used to resettle returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and engage them gainfully in agriculture.

 “In Borno state, we completed another big farm estate with housing, which was fully furnished, then those houses were allocated to the IDPs who are returning back to the state, we provided them with livestock’s, for them to go into animal production as well as fingerlings, and that is purely in Borno state”.

“In Imo state, we were also able to resuscitate the Acharubo farm estate that also provided opportunity for a lot of youth, the youth from the community where the Farm estates are located.’’Reminiscing on how he was handed NALDA to resuscitate in 2020 without an office or staff to work with, Ikonne said from reclaiming NALDA’s lands to partnering with states to empowering youths across the country, was done one step at a time”.

Furthermore, Ikonne added that NALDA embarked on the distribution of inputs such as seeds, herbicides, and pesticides, enough for the cultivation of one hectare of farm land across the country.

Beneficiaries of the initiative which consists of mainly women and youth were trained on best agronomic practices for improved yields with over 10 states benefitting so far.

He said: “NALDA also embarked on seed distribution. This initiative began last year, we started distributing inputs where we give out bags of 10 kg that will help farmers to cultivate a hectare fully with all the inputs required for the cultivation of maize, rice and beans”.

Aside from seeds, Ikonne noted that the Authority also provided poultry start-up packs to women in some states across the country.

Speaking on NALDA’s mechanization drive, Ikonne said the Authority has acquired five drones for aerial mapping and spraying of herbicides and pesticides.

“We have drones, you know, Mechanization is key in agriculture, making it easy. We have about five drones for aerial mapping and for spraying fertilizers and herbicides”

“So these are equipment that we have acquired outside of our tractors, combine harvesters, that we are using for large production, in states like Benue, we harvested from 200 hectares of rice last season”.

Ikonne also disclosed that NALDA is currently collating data of farmers in Nigeria to ensure a comprehensive data base of farmers and also ensure that only genuine farmers get needed government support.

“Now one critical thing that we have achieved here in NALDA is creating the data bank of farmers, Nigeria has never had a farmer based data bank. So every year, agricultural planning becomes a challenge because you don’t know who you’re planning for. So now that I came up with that concept and partnered with DSS to create a data bank, we have a server for capturing real farmers from various local governments and that process is ongoing. We have started capturing them as we give them input, we capture them and capture their land”.

Ikonne however called for the sustainability and continuity of the projects and initiates across the six geopolitical zones.

Following the maiden flag-off ceremony of the Renewed Hope Initiative Women Agricultural Support Programme by the First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, at the Imo State Government House, Owerri, the State Capital in February, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has organised a skills acquisition training programme for women, youths and staff of the agency in the south-East States.

The training programme, which was facilitated by Garabb Global Resources Limited, featured three modules including fish farming, poultry farming and Vegetable farming. 

Over 200 women farmers drawn from the five eastern states of Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu participated in the programme from March 14-15 in Owerri.

Each of the three modules of the skills acquisition training programme covered various sub topics. 

For fish farming, there was definition, importance and challenges of fish farming; fish farm site selection, types and designs; fish pond preparation and mode of application of materials; Pond stocking, pond feeding and management; record keeping and management; fish health management; marketing strategy and channels. 

In poultry farming, sub topics treated include: overview of poultry farming: importance and challenges; poultry breeds and farm site selection; commercial Broiler production; commercial egg production; health and disease prevention and marketing. 

For Vegetable farming, the participants were trained on:   types of vegetable crops; types of vegetable production;  farm site selection; soil preparation and management; propagation of vegetable crops; planting method;  cultivation; irrigation and green house systems; fertilizer application and weed control as well as pre-marketing operations and selling. 

The overall objective of the training was to give the opportunity for trainees to learn more about areas of agriculture and widen their knowledge on the various farming activities under consideration and how they can be implemented as a business venture.

Participants in fish farming were introduced to fish farming and why fish farming. They were introduced to the different species of fish and species recommended for breeding in Nigeria. 

The requirements for fish farming were x-rayed and fish farming systems and practices were discussed. Hereafter they were taken through the various designs of fish ponds and their construction. Pond preparation was discussed and questions on stocking density, nutrition, disease handling and general farm management were discussed. The module ended with discussions on fish farming as a business and how the farmer can succeed as a fish farmer.

For vegetable farming, participants were introduced to vegetable farming, types of crops and vegetable production. Different factors that influence farm selection such as soil and climate and continued trend toward specialization and mechanization for commercial production were discussed. Various soil preparation and management techniques as well as vegetable propagation and planting methods were discussed with best practices distilled for direct application by farmers. Irrigation and green house systems were x-rayed and types of fertilizers and weed control agro – chemicals needed for optimum vegetable production were discussed. The module ended with discussions on record keeping, processing and marketing of vegetable products.

Participants in poultry farming  were introduced to poultry farming, its importance and potentials. They were introduced to the different species of birds that are recommended for breeding in Nigeria. 

Some challenges of poultry farming and ways to mitigate them were discussed. Hereafter they were taken through the various breeds for commercial poultry production, the various designs of poultry pens and their construction. The various steps in commercial poultry production and egg production were x-rayed. Various questions such as stocking density, nutrition, disease handling and general farm management were discussed. The module ended with discussions on poultry farming as a business, marketing of poultry products and how the farmer can succeed as a poultry farmer.

At the end of the program, participants expressed gratitude to NALDA and promised to implement what they have learned in their farming activities.

Two million women are expected to benefit from the Renewed Hope Initiative launched by Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu and the National Agricultural Land Authority (NALDA).

The initiative is targeted at empowering women farmers across the six geopolitical zones.

Speaking at the flagg of of the initiative in Owerri, Imo State, the First Lady said the Renewed Hope Initiative’s commitment to supporting women farmers aligns with a broader national agenda to strengthen the agricultural sector.

This, she said, is in line with the ongoing efforts to support women and youths farmers to produce food and earn income.

She noted that the President Bola Tinubu administration recognises the pivotal role that agriculture plays in achieving sustainable development and ensuring food sufficiency.

The First Lady, who noted that the initiative is a 2-in-1 programme to support women-farmers nationwide, explained that it will support 20 women-farmers per state with the sum of N500,000 each making it a total of 10 million Naira per state.

She also presented bank-drafts of N10 million each to the South-East First Ladies who are the zonal coordinators of the initiative.

On his part, the Executive Secretary of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, said the Authority has made provision for two million women under this programme, as it’s committed to partnering with the First Lady in encouraging women in agribusiness.

He assured the First Lady that NALDA will go with her all the way across the country to make sure they touch the lives of the people.

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In her welcome address, Wife of Imo State Governor, Mrs Chioma Uzodimma, noted that the initiative signifies a profound commitment to the empowerment and upliftment of women across the nation.

She added that the empowerment of women fuels the progress and building of a more inclusive, prosperous community.

The event was attended by prominent women, including the wife of the Vice-President, Hajia Nana Shettima, wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, wives of all the southeast State Governors, wife of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mrs. Salamatu Gbajabiamila and wives of Service Chiefs.

Also in attendance were traditional rulers, industrialists, women cooperatives groups, stakeholders and beneficiaries of the scheme from all the South-east states.

The Nation learnt that beneficiaries of the scheme, numbering 200 were provided with a kit that consists of maize seeds, liquid fertilisers and herbicides enough to cater for one hectare of maize farm.

Another group of 200 beneficiaries received 25, two weeks old poultry birds, one battery cage and 3 bags of feed that would last till the birds mature.