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Federal Government has said it will cost the country about N2.98 billion to fight armyworm infestation ravaging farmlands across the country.   Audu Ogbeh Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Mike Kanu, Deputy Director, Horticulture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who disclosed this in Abuja at a meeting with Commissioners for Agriculture from the 36 states last week, warned that the situation may lead to food shortage if the menace is not speedily brought under control. Kanu used the national maize output which is currently 10.5 million tonnes to illustrate the danger ahead. According to him, the government may have no other option than to import the crop if the country is to fill a national demand gap of five million tonnes because demand for maize is 15.5 million tonnes. He suggested the use and spraying of organic and inorganic chemicals to stamp out the pest infestation. “The major host for this caterpillar is maize but it als...

Dr. Adetunji Oredipe, ‎ World Bank Task Team Leader, has said the Graduate Unemployment Youths Support Scheme (GUYSS) will enhance food production and create job opportunities in Nigeria.   Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria's Agric Minister Oredipe told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja recently that GUYSS was a new initiative of the World Bank-assisted FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) programme. He said the World Bank, through FADAMA III AF programme, created GUYSS to empower more than 200 youths from various parts of the country via the creation of employment opportunities. He said the programme was conceptualised to engage the youths productively in different agricultural endeavours that would enhance their livelihoods. “We are collaborating with the Federal Government to ensure the success of the programme. The programme is targeting job creation, building the capacity of the youth and facilitating efforts to keep the foreign exchange rate of the nation’s currenc...

Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has called on African leaders to make agriculture a really cool choice for young people so that the future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will come initially from agriculture.   Akinwumi Adesina  President, African Development Bank  Adesina made this observation at the just-concluded G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy, stressing that it is essential for African leaders to create greater economic opportunities for young people to stay home and live a meaningful life instead of migrating to European countries. He said, “The future of Africa’s youth does not lie in migration to Europe; it should not be at the bottom of the Mediterranean; it lies in a prosperous Africa. We must create greater economic opportunities for our youth right at home in Africa. That’s why AfDB has launched the Jobs for Youth in Africa initiative, with the goal of creating 25 million jobs within 10 years, with a focus ...

As part of drive to place agriculture at the forefront of the of the effort to diversify the economy and cushion the effects of lower earnings from oil, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has said it will soon commence the posting of corps members to serve on farms across the country. NYSC Director-General Suleiman Kazaure who disclosed this during an interview in the NYSC permanent orientation camp, Sagamu in Ogun State recently said the deployment of corps members to farms will ensure an all round participation in the government’s economic diversification plan. He said the first batch of corps members in the pilot scheme will be deployed to farms in Bauchi, Oyo and Kebbi states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. He added that posting will commence immediately after the on-going three weeks orientation camp in the identified states and FCT. “It should interest you to know that the NYSC will soon begin its agricultural development scheme where corp...

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said Nigeria would be self -sufficient in rice production before the end of 2019.   Acting President Yemi Osinbajo Osinbajo made the forecast recently in Abuja at the launch and official handover of Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system developed through the Agricultural Market and Information System (AMIS) project to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Osinbajo, who was represented by the Special Assistant to the President, Economy Management, Mr. Dolapo‎ Bright, said that the government’s effort to revolutionise agriculture and diversify the country’s economy was already paying off. According to him, “the effort is now paying off in so many ways, for example; the success with rice has been tremendous. It started with Kebbi , but when you look a rice now it has gone past Kebbi, you have Kano, Bauchi, Jigawa, doing well. You have all the States in the north that are now involved in rice. Apart from Ebon...

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Nigeria has said it will hand over the Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system developed through the Agricultural Market and Information System (AMIS) project to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development so that Nigerians can gain better access to relevant data on agriculture.   Director-General, FAO Mr. Olutayo Oyawale, National Project Coordinator, who disclosed this recently, said the CAPI system will provide an unprecedented access to agriculture information from various stakeholders across the country that will, in turn, deliver tremendous growth for the agriculture sector. Oyawale said “Real-time data gathering has always been a problem in the agricultural sector. With this CAPI System, investors, agriculture merchants, traders and farmers can make better decisions and optimise their activities in their respective roles.” FAO also conducted a pilot use of crowdsourcing...

Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has said export Nigeria will start exporting yams to Europe by June 29, 2017.   Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development He said this in Abuja while speaking with journalists, stating that within the next two years, Nigeria’s agricultural sector would have improved. “In another two years, we will be back on the world stage where every country had recognized and expected Nigeria to live up to the name – Major Food Producer. On the 29th of June this year, the first container of yams will be leaving the shores of Nigeria for UK. “Yes, we have been dealing with vegetables and a lot of other produce already and we will continue to be selling pulses mainly beans and cowpeas to India. We will soon be back exporting cocoa again on a large scale, although we are exporting very little now; and cashew nuts to Vietnam which we intend to start processing here very soon. “The processed cashew n...