EXCLUSIVE: FG set to revive agro aircrafts for pest, disease control

·       Yet to pay locust forecast dues

 

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) will soon resuscitate its moribund Agro Aviation unit to checkmate high contract cost being expended on controlling the pest and other disease activities that have suffered set back in the last twelve years just as the ministry is yet to pay any locust forecast dues for about three decades.

This was disclosed by the Head Pest Control Service Division, FMARD Mr. Danlami Aliyu Chafe in his office during a chat with food farm news.

Chafe said that the spraying of farms against locust, grasshopper, pest attack and other activities being carried out by this unit in the last twelve years had since been stopped leaving the abandoned agro aircrafts wasting away in the open without proper care since the retirement of the pilot and other engineers in charge of the unit about twelve years ago.

He added that huge sum of money are being spent on contracting the activities of the unit to contractors who most times didn’t carry out the pest control activities as being expected, coupled the fact that the proper state of the abandoned  aircrafts cannot be ascertained due to long period of neglect  where they are being packed at the Kaduna Air force base.

The Head, pest control service division pointed that government is making frantic effort to bring  the department back to functional level as about 70% job is completed towards achieving this unit that would now be spraying farms against locust, grasshoppers and other pest attack thereby reducing  Government expenditure on contracting.    

Chafe posited that Government must show more interest in the agro-aviation unit saying by so doing ‘’ we will be achieving a lot as there would be room for partnership with other private sector that are experts in aviation, and this will in turn create employment and also generate revenue for the government’’

He also indicated that effort of the FG to checkmate Africa dessert locust invasion may not be effective until the ministry has full access to information directly from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) forecast platform stressed that Nigeria has not paid her annual dues since the time of late General Sanni Abacha, and this has made us to be relying on Niger Republic for any outbreak information instead of direct access.

Chafe however allayed farmers’ fear on locust attack saying that Government has given support to Niger Republic towards checkmating the outbreak saying that nothing of such would enter the country.

Meanwhile, in 2016 it will be recalled that there was incident of this pest migration from another neighbouring country close to Taraba State, where the Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. Diyos Auta said that about 50.000 hectares of  crops farm was destroyed by this locust disease saying that ‘’ this pest migrated from neighbouring Cameroon’’