* NAQS, FMITI emphasise on standard
The Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) has begun the process of updating the database of farmers and improvement of all agricultural related institutions as a means to increase the productivity of food system that will meet the growing population demand aspiration, says the Minister of state, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu.
This FCT
Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu disclosed this at the opening ceremony of
the Agribusiness Innovation Conference and Expo held in Abuja last week
Tuesday.
Aliyu said
that the updating of the farmer's database would enhance inputs provision along with adequate extension services towards increased food production to efficiently
cater for the daily increasing population in the FCT and its environment.
She pointed
at some challenging areas as lack of information on best agricultural
practices, insufficient financial support and access to inputs, inadequate
storage and processing facilities, pest infestation, and access to markets,
adding that the FCT administration is passionate to overcome these challenges
with proactive strategies to restoring the agricultural sector to its prime
glory.
The
strategies according to her include-‘’ keying into the various Nigerian
Government Agricultural initiatives such as the Accelerated Agricultural
Development Scheme (AADS), the National Agricultural Land Development Authority
(NALDA), the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), amongst others
adding that “On the implementation of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) funded AADS, all the six Area Councils of
the FCT, and participating farmers and off-takers have been fully mobilized and
are ready for the take-off at the start
of the 2021 dry season farming”
An invited
Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, from Texas USA, Mr. Sid Miller in line with
the minister said the panacea to the increasing growth of population in the world
is to advance food productivity using improved technologies for farming and
processing towards a better product for markets, saying that ‘’ as the
population of Nigeria is growing, also the population in the United States is
growing, so we need more and more food to grow in order to meet our needs’’
Also, the
Director General (DG) Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) Dr. Vincent
Isegbe in his remark stressed the need for adoption of improved technologies that
would advance productivity to meeting external markets’ standards, saying farmers
need to work as cooperative in order to access government facilities for more
economic earnings.
The
Director, Commodity and Export Department (CED), Federal Ministry Industry and
Trade (FMITI) Mr. Suleman Adebayo Audu who represented the Permanent Secretary emphasized
the need for food sufficiency productivity to checkmate import bills, and not turning Nigeria into a dumping ground,
saying there is need for quality products for acceptability in the foreign
markets as more investments are being attracted into the country.
Audu
hammered on the need for partnership and synergy among the Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) towards ensuring the promotion of made in
Nigeria products across the shore of the country in the global markets.
The convener
of the event, Hon. Emeka Ebo said the conference interface is a window created
to galvanize wealth for farmers through the adoption of modern technologies towards
achieving increment in food productivity with industry actively playing a
private sector role in the economy and government supporting in terms of
funding to harness the massive land potential to cultivate more to meet the food
demand of 200 million population in Nigeria.
Ebo stressed
that agriculture should be taken seriously for more jobs and wealth creation
adding the sector could be used to address the challenges of insecurity in the
country.
No comments:
Post a Comment