Category: AGRICULTURE

‘Nigeria’s agricultural revolution created over 13m jobs in seven years’ – President Buhari

Aminu Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Washington D.C said Nigeria’s agricultural revolution has led to the creation of over 13million direct and indirect jobs in the last seven and half-years. The President disclosed this at an interactive session, titled: “A conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria’’, co-hosted by the United State Institute of Peace (USIP), the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. The Nigerian leader used the occasion to once again advise western nations not to be in a rush…

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Agric sector yet to reach potential despite CBN’s N1tr – NBS 

Aminu Imam

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has revealed that the agricultural sector continues to struggle despite the massive intervention in the sector. According to NBS latest GDP report, the agriculture sector grew by only 1.3% in real terms, during the third quarter of 2022. Although this is an increase of 0.12% points from the corresponding period of 2021, and an increase of 0.14% points from the second quarter, the expectations for the sector remains a far cry from expectation. The agricultural activities measured by the NBS include crop production, livestock,…

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H/Reps probe Agric Ministry for spending N18.9bn on ‘ghost bush’ clearing during Covid-19 lockdown 

Aminu Imam

The Public Account Committee of the House of Representatives Committee (PAC), has invited the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to give an account of how the ministry spent N18.9 billion on bush clearing, land-preparation among others during the Covid-19 lockdown. The chairman for the committee, Wole Oke, made this call, demanding that the Ministry of Agriculture show the places they claimed to have cleared. According to him, “During the lockdown of the country as a result of COVID-19, some companies took contracts worth about N18 billion for bush…

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Insecurity: Over 400 poultry farms shut in Katsina

Aminu Imam

The Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Katsina State chapter, Musa Danhassan, has said that over 400 poultry farms have been shut down due to insecurity in parts of the State. Danhassan, who disclosed this in an interview yesterday, in Katsina yesterday, said that more poultry farmers would run out of business if the Government failed to take decisive action against bandits and kidnappers operating in the state. “This is very unfortunate. The poultry farms were located in flash points where banditry and kidnapping are rampant which forced…

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Banditry: Katsina relocates displaced farmers, families to irrigation facilities

Aminu Imam

The Katsina State Government has revived its irrigation schemes to enable displaced farmers in parts of the area to continue their work without molestation. Several farmers and entire communities, especially from the frontline areas with links to the Rugu Forest, have continued to abandon their ancestral homes due to the murderous activities of bandits and terrorists operating in the state. According to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Aminu Garba Waziri, “We have 32 irrigation schemes across the State and we have revived them to the extent that one irrigation…

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Food Security: Farm protection, agric funding only solution to food scarcity, unemployment in Nigeria – ActionAid

Aminu Imam

The only solution to food scarcity and unemployment among the youth that have turned to crime to eke out a living is the protection of farms from incessant banditry attacks and funding of agricultural mechanisation. This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a one-day Non-State Actors (NSAs) Post National Dialogue & Dissemination on Nigeria’s Performance at the 3rd Biennial Review Exercise on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was held in Abuja recently. ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and ActionAid International pointed out…

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Food Production: “We made progress shutting borders” – Buhari

Aminu Imam

…Africa to lose $11bn to Russia-Ukraine war ― Adesina President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, rationalised the closure of Nigerian borders, saying that progress was made through the action, which according to him was to encourage local food production. Recall that the President ordered the closure of the country’s land borders in August 2019 to crack down on smuggling. Four of the borders were re-opened in 2020, including the Seme border, in the South-West region; Maigatari and Illela borders, in the North-West, and Mfun borders, in the South-South. Four more were ordered…

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UN allocates $15m to address rising food insecurity in Nigeria

Aminu Imam

The United Nations (UN) has allocated 15 million dollars from the 100 million dollars earmarked to Africa and the Middle-East to address food insecurity as the spillover effects of the Russia-Ukraine war threaten to push millions even closer to famine. The contribution from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which was announced on Thursday, would go towards relief projects in six African countries and Yemen. The countries are Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and South Sudan. The CERF was established in 2005 to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance whenever and…

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Buhari orders release of 40,000 metric tonnes of grains to less-privileged Nigerians

Aminu Imam

…Summons Agric Minister President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate release of 40,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains from the Strategic Grains Reserve, (SGR), to assist less-privileged Nigerians to celebrate the forthcoming Easter and Sallah festivities. This was made known by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, while briefing State House Correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. The president’s action is expected to help reduce the impact of the high prices of grains in the market on the…

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Gombe: Governor Inuwa visits NALDA Office in Abuja, Assures of Sustained Partnership to Boost Wheat Production, Agric Value-Chain

Aminu Imam

Umar Kaltungo Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, says his administration remains committed towards strengthening the existing partnership between Gombe State and the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, (NALDA), in order to boost the agricultural value-chain in the State. The Governor stated this while answering questions from journalists shortly after visiting the Director-General of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, in his office in Abuja to discuss issues that are beneficial to Gombe State. Governor Inuwa observed that the partnership between the Gombe State Government and NALDA in the area of wheat…

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