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President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed excitement over the agriculture transformation in Jigawa State and commended the rice famers for their immense contribution. Buhari who was on Tuesday in Dutse to inaugurate the Jigawa State Social Intervention, a pProgramme to empower communities at polling unit level, said agricultural sector had been boosted by irrigation. President Muhammadu Buhari The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said in a statement that the inauguration came on the second day of the President’s two-day working visit to Jigawa which commenced on Monday. Buhari expressed happiness that Jigawa had formed part of the success story of his administration in rice production. “I am excited by what I have seen over the last three years, I have seen the commitment to return to the farm,” President Buhari said. The event which took place at the Aminu Kano Triangle in Dutse witnessed a huge crowd excite

Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has approved N1.8 billion (about $5million) for Doreo Partners to train 50,000 farmers in the Babangona Outgrower Farming Scheme in line with the Federal Government’s efforts to boost agriculture and reduce the economy’s dependence on oil exports. NSIA manages the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund.   Alhaji Sanusi Lamido  Emir of Kano and Chairman, Doreo Partners Mr. Uche Orji, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSIA, who disclosed this at the agreement signing ceremony in Lagos last weekend said the facility is a term loan with a two-year moratorium aimed at adding another 50,000 farmers by 2021 to the fast growing farming scheme. Babban Gona, which means “great farm” in Hausa, is an agricultural franchise, developed by Doreo Partners, a firm with a proven track record of exclusively investing in profitable, high growth, early stage businesses that improve the livelihoods of Nigerian smallholder farmers. Alhaj

Farmers in areas near Kisarazu City in Japan have deployed robot wolf on their farms to prevent their crops from being ravaged by wild animals. The robowolf, named “Super Monster Wolf,” emits terrifying sounds to scare animals, and sometimes humans, from straying into the farms.   Robowolf The farmers turned to technology after wolves went extinct in Japan in the early 1800s due to state-sponsored eradication campaign and populations of deer and wild boar rose sharply. The wild animals became a nuisance as they feasted on rice and chestnut crops. Following the resounding success of the first official trial of the immobile robowolf, the manufacturers have decided to commence mass production in April. The robot measures in at 65 centimetres in length, nearly the same size as an actual wolf. It also has tufts of hair and a set of white fangs. It uses solar-rechargeable batteries and detects intruders with infrared ray sensor. It has an effective radius of just about on

Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State has assured farmers in the state of adequate provision of more farming implement to boost agricultural activities.   Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State Bagudu made the assertion on Monday at Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnics during the report presentation by Agricultural committee of 21 local governments in the state. He said the state government is ready to find solution to any problems that is associated with agriculture and food insecurity. The governor promised that the state would provide chemical, insecticides for famers to protect crops against rodents, Quellea birds and insects. “We have to focus on our attention to all farmers so that we can make optimal arrangement that can help farmers to produce more in the state.” Governor further disclosed that the state government has procured 10,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for farmers and his administration is planning to distribute 300 tractors and 250 harvesters to far

The management of Landmark University, Omu-Aran in Kwara State, has approved free tuition for all its agriculture-related programmes in the institution. Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, Vice-Chancellor of the university, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran that the approval would take effect from the 2018/2019 academic session. Olayanju said the approval was in respect of the tuition fees for the affected programmes, adding that the students were expected to pay other components of the school fees. According to him, the affected agriculture programmes are: Crop Science, Animal Science, Agriculture Extension and Rural Development, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management, Environmental and Natural Resources Economics. Others are Aquaculture & Fisheries Management; Tourism and Recreation; Horticulture and Landscape Management and Agricultural Engineering. Olayanju said the institution, in its magnanimity, also approved the payment of the said

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (AADS) in a bid to reduce unemployment in the country and ensure food security for Nigerians.   Godwin Emefiele CBN Governor The scheme which was flagged-off in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by Stanley Nzekwe, Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, is intended to engage a minimum of 10,000 unemployed young people in each of the 36 states in the federation and the FCT. Nzekwe who explained that the flag off was meant to sensitise FCT residents towards ensuring the success of the Scheme in the FCT, said “The AADS is a Federal Government special agricultural programme under the CBN which is expected to focus essentially on youths, in the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, targeting a minimum of 10,000 young farmers per state.”   He said prospective farmers must be within the ages of 18 and 35 years and must belong to cooperative organizations. Farmers will also

Farmers in Nigeria are likely to experience bumper harvests at the end of this year’s wet season following the release of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) 2018 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) which indicates that normal rainfall will persist across the country. Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of State, Aviation, who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the official presentation of the SRP report, explained that the expectation for this year is a normal length of season with normal rainfall amounts in most parts of the country. The report entitled, "seasonal climate forecasting for sustainable development" and presented by the Prof. Sani Mashi, Director-General, NiMet, noted that this year’s rainfall "shouldn't present any major threat to agriculture." Giving specifics on the predictions, Mashi said: "The earliest onset date is expected to be from March 1 around the coastal region of the South-South. The onset date changes as we mov

The world talks a lot about the digital revolution, but few connect it to the coming agriculture revolution, especially in Africa. Digital solutions have huge potential for helping farmers boost productivity and connect to financial tools and markets around the world. Farming in the plains of northern Nigeria around Abuja requires tedious manual labor because of the lack of farm machinery. A few days of tractor use for farmers in this region could improve productivity by 20 to 40 times. However, farmers cannot afford to buy a tractor in remote rural areas of Africa. Jehiel Oliver, founder of Hello Tractor, thought that an Uber-like tractor service might be a solution. “Our booking system allows farmers to conveniently request, schedule, and prepay for tractor services from nearby smart tractor owners, through text messaging and mobile money. Once service is completed, the prepayment is automatically released to the smart tractor owner,” explains Oliver. His smart two-wheel t

Despite Federal Government's claim that food production has increased across the country, the 2017 wet season National Agricultural performance survey report has shown that the overall farm yield is still below global and African average for the agricultural subsector. The study highlighted challenges that affected food production during the 2017 wet season farming to include: climate change, absence of government input support, insecurity, kidnapping, poor support for agricultural extension. The study carried out by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development noted that the constraints affected all the subsector of agriculture including crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, and agro forestry value chain. The report which was launched recently in Abuja noted that although there was increase in land area for food production, it only resulted in 35 per cent increase in l

AFEX Commodities Exchange, the only private commodity exchange in Nigeria, recently launched the hashtag #CodeCashCrop at the CoCreation Hub in Yaba, Lagos. According to Ayodeji Balogun, Country Manager of AFEX Commodity Exchange, #CodeCashCrop is designed to help participants get practical insights into developing for or investing in agriculture and also “have the invaluable social impact of putting smallholder farmers, who form over 90 percent of the exchange’s aggregation transactions and produce over 80 percent of our national food supply, in the spotlight as an addressable market segment.” The launch followed a workshop hosted by AFEX in Lagos which brought together over 90 corporates and startups in the finance and technology sectors to interact with agriculture entrepreneurs to co-create a functional prototype for collaboration that nurtures the competitiveness of the agribusiness sector. The workshop was organized in partnership with Dalberg Advisors, a globa

 Mr. Adamu Musa, National Organising Secretary, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, has said government’s various policies on agriculture have enriched more farmers in the last two years than any other period in Nigeria’s history.   President Muhammadu Buhari Musa who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, recently noted that the acceptance and participation of Nigerians in the Federal Government agricultural policy had made many farmers richer in the last two years than they were. According to him, farmers are smiling to the banks because the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has given a lot of support and has made farming lucrative through subsidies. “President Muhammadu Buhari has a strong agenda for agriculture to improve the lives of indigenous farmers. In many villages today in Nigeria, there are farmers who could not boast of N1 million before the coming of

The Federal Government has said plans are underway to restructure the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) as part of an effort to make it easier for Nigerian farmers to access credit facilities on offer in the bank.   Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who announced this at the Ministerial Press Briefing on the celebration of the World Food Day in Abuja, stated that the process of restructuring BoA has commenced. He explained that the bank will be reorganised to stimulate an increased interest of people in farming as a source of livelihood and for effective performance through the provision of credit facilities to agribusiness in the country. He condemned the high-interest rate charged on loans by commercial banks, saying that the agriculture sector cannot survive more years of lending money at 25 percent to farmers. Ogbeh said the vision and mission of the ministry include to e

Nigeria has recorded an increase in crops production and in land areas agricultural cultivation in 2017 above the 2016 production records. A report on the 2017 Wet Season Agricultural Performance Survey (APS) report presented by the Federal Government in Abuja on Tuesday, said the overall Farm yields still remained below global and African averages for all the sub-sectors. The study was done by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) in collaboration with the Federal and states Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. According to the report, maize production increased from 10,813, 980 tonnes in 2016 to 12, 107,580 tonnes representing 11.96 per cent increase. Rice production increased to 8.02 million tonnes was produced in 2017, representing an increase of 14.7 per cent over the 2016 output, sorghum increased by 4.4 per cent with an average yield of 1.3 tonnes per hectare. Others are cowpea with a 6.1 per cent increase, 11.4 p

A total of 150 cassava farmers in Auchi, Estako West Local Government Area of Edo State are set to receive loan support under the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) Anchors Borrowers Programme (ABP). HRH Alhaji Aliru Momoh, Ikelebe III, Otaru of Auchi, has also donated 500 hectares of land to the cassava farmers for the success of the scheme. Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki who disclosed this at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the farmers, CBN officials and other supporting institutions, said his administration has outlined many programmes to uplift the living condition of farmers in the state. Governor Obaseki who was represented by Prince Joe Okojie, Special Adviser on Agriculture, assured the farmers that tractors would soon be made available to prepare the land for the farmers. Obaseki noted that the decision to engage the farmers in clusters was to teach them new ways of farming in his quest seek alternative to oil. He said

Three winners have emerged from African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) Farming is cool art contest, carting away cash prizes of N1 million, N500,000 and N250,000 for first, second and third places respectively. They are Ezra Anthony, Precious Nnenna Enyinwa and Vivien Okoro. Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, AfDB President, presented the prizes to the winners while Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, opened the new office complex. Twenty contestants aged 10 to 16 years took part in the contest. It was part of AfDB’s goal to see a shift in agriculture on the continent, hoping to feed itself and eradicate malnutrition by 2025. At the inauguration of its complex at Abuja, AfDB inspired secondary school pupils with the Farming is cool contest to launch African economic outlook for 2018, as well as to share the high 5. Ebrima Faal, Senior Director, Nigeria Country Department, AfDB, said the contest was organised to sow a seed of awareness on

Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has generated almost 3.5 million direct and indirect jobs through the disbursement of a cumulative sum of N55.526 billion in two years to over 250,000 small holder farmers who cultivated almost 300,000 hectares of farmland for rice, wheat, maize, cotton, soybeans, and cassava, among others. Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, who disclosed this at the weekend in Ondo State during the ground breaking ceremony of Greenfield Integrated Poultry Facility explained that the ABP which is targeted at boosting the agricultural potential of the country “has contributed to the creation of an estimated 890,000 direct and 2.6 million indirect jobs.” He added that more investment is still needed in the poultry sector for the country to meet demand for poultry products. “Some analysts have estimated the Nigerian poultry industry to be worth about N1.2 trillion, comprising about 165 million

Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State has urged governments at federal, state and local levels to increase their investments in agricultural production in order for the country to attain self-sufficiency in food production.   Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State Bagudu who gave the advise during the Farmers Interactive Forum and Exhibition organised by Daily Trust in collaboration with the Kebbi State Ministry for Agriculture in Birnin Kebbi on Monday, noted that farmers in China, America and Britain, among others, enjoy massive subsidies to become competitive globally. According to him, “Nigeria has the largest absorptive capacity in agricultural investment. The European Union protects its markets by giving 90 billion euros to the farmers. Nigerians can begin to imagine if we put more money into agriculture than we put in subsidising petroleum.” The governor added that over N200 billion was wasted on petroleum subsidy, noting that if such amount was

Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has said the country generated $35 million within nine months in 2017 from hibiscus (zobo) export. Dr Vincent Isegbe, Coordinating Director, NAQS, disclosed this at the ‘National Survey of 13 Agricultural Commodities by the Inter-ministerial Committee on Prevention and Control of Mycotoxins in Agricultural Commodities’ meeting held in Abuja recently. He explained that the committee hopes to establish the prevalence type of mycotoxins and on which commodities as part of efforts to help policy makers decide on what to do next and also open the country’s economy to opportunities in research, development, public health disease prevention and the general wellbeing of the nation. Isegbe said hibiscus, popularly called zobo, has high commercial value which the Jigawa State Government is currently benefitting from and is now the largest producer of the commodity, followed by other states like Kastina, Kano, Zamfara, Kebbi, Zamfara

The Imo State Chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) has apologized to farmers in the state over the damages done by their cattle. Audi Dikko, Chairman of MACBAN in Imo, urged the farmers to forgive the herdsmen during a meeting with some traditional rulers at the Imo Police Command, Owerri, the state capital. The meeting which was convened at the instance of Chris Ezike, Imo State Commissioner of Police, had in attendance, monarchs, farmers, leaders of Miyetti Allah, herders and some government officials. Speaking during the event, Dikko expressed sadness at the pains of different communities as explained by the traditional rulers on the conduct of herdsmen.  He said , “I want to apologise to farmers in Imo State. Imo State is a peaceful state and we have been living peacefully with the people of the state. We want to say forgive us. “We are happy that the Imo State Government has formed a committee to look into this issue and we believe

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has expressed readiness to support anyone willing to invest in agriculture across the country.   Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, who disclosed this at the inauguration of Greenfield Integrated Poultry and Powdered Egg (GRIPPE) project in Emure-Ile, Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State at the weekend noted that the agriculture sector has the capability to boost the nation’s economy. “The CBN will help to drive economic growth and reduce unemployment in the country. What we have set out to do is to give support to anyone who wants to tap the potential of what God has given to our country. This we hope to do by providing the finance and also create job opportunities for the youth,” he said. Emefiele commended the Ondo State government for initiating the powdered egg production, expressed optimism that the factory would reduce importation of the product and joblessness. “This project helps to

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kaduna Zonal Office, has recovered N297 million diverted from the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) in Kebbi and Kaduna states. A statement by the spokesman of the commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, said the funds were diverted by beneficiaries of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Programme, disbursed by BoA. Ibrahim Bappa, Head of Operations of the EFCC office in Kaduna , formally presented a bank draft for the N102 million to Mohammed Babangida, representative of the BoA Managing Director. Bappa assured the bank that the EFCC would continue to assist it in the discharge of its statutory duties. He, however, decried the worrisome trend in which beneficiaries of the scheme diverted the funds, and urged the BOA to ensure proper orientation before loans were disbursed. Responding, Babangida lauded the efforts of the EFCC in the recovery, saying the action had restored confidence in the bank. The EFCC s

Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) has said the research and innovative solutions being developed at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) could transform Nigeria’s agricultural narrative.   Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President, NABG Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President, NABG, said this when he led a delegation from the group on a visit to IITA to explore areas of possible collaboration. NABG is widely regarded as Nigeria’s agricultural think-tank. The group comprises eminent players in the agricultural value chain. The team was excited over the many innovations already developed by IITA ranging from improved seeds that could more than double farmers’ productivity, to technologies that control weeds and double the yield of cassava, to simple processing machines that add value to crops such as cowpea, cassava, and yam. Other technologies such as inoculum production which raises the productivity of legumes such as soybean by about 20 percent, and aflasafe—a

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has taken steps to end intermittent clashes between farmers in the state and herdsmen while insisting that no part of the state would be given for the purpose of cattle colony.   Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State In order to achieve this, conscious effort would be made to engage traditional rulers and leaders of Miyeti Allah in the area with a view to sustaining the peace among the two groups, according to a statement signed by Emmanuel Uzor, Chief Press Secretary to Umahi. The statement noted that the governor had stated in his address to traditional rulers, presidents of town unions and other stakeholders gathered at the Akanu Ibiam International Conference Centre, Abakaliki that the state government is committed to the sustenance of peace across the state to boost development. The governor was quoted as saying, “the traditional rulers are not just custodians of culture and tradition but also part of peace building. They must e

The Federal Government has concluded plans to adopt technological tools for farmers across the country. Bukar Hassan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who disclosed this during the presentation of smallholder value chains technology this week in Abuja, underscored the importance of extension services to small-scale farmers.   Audu Ogbeh Minister of Agriculture He said: “If we want small-scale farmers to find their footing in the agriculture sector, we must provide farmers with extension services and the knowledge needed to evolve from subsistence to commercial farming. And I believe this technology would help us solve so many problems.” Pierre Sibery Traore, Director, Research and Development Digital Agriculture explained that the initiative is divided into two phases of agcelerant and phygital technology, noting that agcelerant is the value chain orchestration platform that helps link farmers to financial services. He said the esse

Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RIELA, a German agricultural technology firm, to establish ways of minimising estimated N2.7 trillion annual post-harvest losses in the country. In his speech at the signing ceremony in Abuja recently, Aliyu Abdulhameed, Managing Director of NIRSAL, said the agreement tallies with the organisation’s mandate to ensure sustainable value chain-driven solution in agriculture. Abdulhameed said the partnership would provide increased access to harvest and post-harvest technology equipment, to help farmers at the production level with technology, training, machinery and technical assistance. Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), he said Nigeria loses over 51.3 million tonnes of food annually to post-harvest losses across agricultural products, describing the development as unacceptable. He said the partnership is a business-driven

The Taraba State Government has advised herdsmen operating in the state to co-operative societies for easy intervention by the government. Dr David Kassa, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Taraba State, who said this on Monday told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, that crop farmers and herdsmen who formed cooperative societies would be eligible to access government’s intervention to build their own ranches and curb frequent crises. “I want to advise herdsmen and other livestock farmers to form cooperative societies for easy identification and intervention by the government. “Between five and 10 herdsmen can come together and build a ranch and mark their cows to live there. This can make for easy access to government’s intervention in terms of grants, soft loans and subsidies on animal feeds,” he said. Kassa said ranching was the best form of rearing animals globally.  NAN reports that ranching is the pract

Dr. Nasiru Mohammed, Director-General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), has said efforts are underway to train 30 unemployed young persons in agricultural production in a bid to make them self-dependent. Mohammed disclosed this during the opening ceremony/orientation of the Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme organized by the Rural Employment Promotion Department of the NDE for beneficiaries at the Municipal Hall in Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state. He added that President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for agriculture involves working with key stakeholders to build an agric business economy capable of delivering sustained prosperity by meeting domestic food security goals and job creation. Represented by Mr. Marcel Igboanude, Ebonyi State Coordinator for NDE, the Director General explained that the primary objective of the scheme was to ensure that young people are gainfully employed through massive job creation in agriculture. Acc