Farmers In Anambra Get Value Chain Development Training

Anambra State Ministry of Agriculture has begun the training of over 100 farmers from the three senatorial zones of the state on the benefits of Agricultural Value Chain Development in the area of rice production.
 
The two-day training in Awka, done in partnership with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), exposed farmers to the strategic vision of strengthening the agricultural sector in order to achieve food security, increase production.
It will also help expand and improve rural economy for employment and income generation and most importantly, increase food exports while reducing food importation.
Pursuing Commercial Agriculture
The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Afam Mbanefo, said that the ideas generated in the training would help accelerate agricultural growth and its sustainability in line with the vision of the state government in pursuing commercial agriculture, especially in rice production.
The training would help accelerate the commercial production of rice to the point that the state would become the third producer of rice in Nigeria, Mr Mbanefo said.
According to him, the training will encourage farmers to produce more, knowing that there is a waiting market for their produce.
In the programme, the consultant trainer, Mr Aderemi Osijo, maintained that the active participation of government and off-takers, whose support in providing technical assistance and the market for the sale of the mass produced rice, would go a long way in ensuring that there would not be any missing link in the value chain.
Mr Osiji also emphasised the need for incentives in the Value chain development programme to make it attractive to people, especially youths to be part of the programme.
Farmers and off-takers expressed satisfaction at the training, maintaining that their expectations are high to see production gain momentum.
With government support and the off-takers market opportunities present, it is necessary that farmers swing into action and begin massive rice production for commercial purposes, as the value chain still revolves around benefits in terms of income generation, job creation and food sufficiency.
© Einnews Today

FG seeks cost-effective means of addressing malnutrition

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, has stated that the Federal Government will seek new ways and means that will be cost-effective in addressing malnutrition in Nigeria.
The Minister made this disclosure, Thursday, 10 March, 2016 in Abuja during a Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the Reviewed National Policy on Food and Nutrition.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed (Mrs) stood in for the Minister at the occasion, which was held at Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja.
Udoma said: “We are hoping, with the support of development partners, that this review will help us to find a new way and means in which malnutrition will be addressed in a very cost-effective manner in Nigeria.”
He also said that going forward, the policy will help the country to look at different ways food will be processed by Nigerian mothers so that they can give balanced diet to their children.
Accordingly, the Minister also disclosed that the Ministry is working with a quite large number of development partners to raise awareness as well as programmes that will cascade down to the grassroots level with a view to educating and encouraging mothers to farm basic foods like vegetables within their backyard to feed their children in a bid to fill the nutrition gaps.
Explaining further on the draft food policy, Udoma said that, the policy is a 10-year blueprint which is the output of the hard work of dedicated stakeholders and experts who worked in varying capacities to produce a qualitative work of international standard.
In his contribution, the World Bank Lead Specialist (Social Protection and Labour), Professor Foluso Okunmadewa, congratulated the government of Nigeria for pulling together the National Policy on Food and Nutrition and also described it as pleasurable and heart-warming to see that the issue is being prioritized with the new government, especially given the persistently high levels of stunning (37%) in Nigeria, and the increasing trend in wasting and underweight.
Professor Okunmadewa also stated that the cost benefit analysis show that the nutrition interventions are highly effective and can actually increase gross domestic product of a country, expressing that the World Bank appreciate that the issue of Food Security and Nutrition is on the front burner once again with the belief that this time it will be concluded and concretized.
 © PM News

Stakeholders Agree On Wheat Price Ahead Of Harvest Season

In an effort to step up wheat production in Nigeria, stakeholders in  the wheat value chain have discussed and agreed on the price farmers would get for their wheat as the harvesting of 2015/2016 wheat season comes to a close.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after a meeting convened by the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), under the instruction of the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Abuja the executive director of LCRI, Dr. Gbenga Olabanji noted that a minimum price favourable to the farmers and millers was considered.
He stated that although the millers seemed to have yielded ground and expressed readiness to pay the minimum suggested by the farmers’ representatives, they nonetheless asked the farmers’ representatives to consider lowering the price a little to allow the millers reduce their losses.
He said, ‘’The millers argued that they presently import wheat at nearly half the price the farmers are asking for, while the farmers
made a point about their cost of production and the fact that some farmers are under temptation to sell off their wheat harvests in the open market where it presently commands a higher price. The risk, however, was that the market price would drop significantly when harvested wheat floods the market.’’
© Leadership News