Qubes Magazine

QUBES MAGAZINE

Breaking

Advertisement

Showing posts with label farmers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farmers. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

09:48

Lagos govt trains over 8,000 farmers, seeks project extension

The  Lagos State Government has said it has empowered over 8,000 farmers through the Agro-
processing, Productivity Enhancement, and Livelihood Improvement Support project since its 
inception.


The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, disclosed this on Monday during a 

courtesy visit by the World Bank and APPEALS Project representatives for the ninth 

implementation support mission in Lagos.

According to Punchng, Olusanya added that the state government has asked the World Bank to extend the APPEALS project.

She said, “Over 8,000 youths and women have been trained and empowered based on field visits. 

The Lagos State APPEALS Project Coordinator is always pushing us. This team goes far and wide 

just to ensure implementation is done well. If there is also a team that I have seen a lot of integrity in, it is this particular team.


“We attend the state steering committee meetings with the deputy governor and a few other 

stakeholders from other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies and generally speaking, APPEALS 

project is one of the seamless projects that the state has been able to run. I want to believe that if there is a possibility, this project should actually continue in all sincerity.”


The Task Team Leader from the World Bank, Dr. Manievel Sene, said, “Based on the information from the team, the project enjoyed strong support from Lagos State Governor and the state 

government, which is very encouraging. We are very satisfied with the level of implementation and achievements by the APPEALS Project in Lagos.” 



Related farmers #GODloveforokwy
0
By at No comments:
Tags: ,

Saturday, August 06, 2022

03:44

FG to re-establish cocoa board, improve farmers’ earnings




The Federal Government yesterday inaugurated the National Cocoa Management Committee (NCMC) to see to the re-establishment of the Nigeria Cocoa Board and also ensure Cocoa farmers benefit from the Living Income Differential (LID) of $400 per tonne to improve their living standards.



Cocoa exporters in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have been enjoying the LID introduced by the two countries as a premium on their cocoa and as a tool to complement the prices of the cash crop in the international market.


Unconfirmed reports have it that exporters have been taking cocoa of Nigerian origin to either Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire for them to enjoy the $400 per ton LDI premium.



Inaugurating the Cocoa Management Committee in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar stated that the purpose of the committee is to work out modalities for Nigerian cocoa farmers to start benefiting from this initiative like their counterparts in Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire ports.


Abubakar tasked the committee members saying, “One of your immediate tasks is to come up with an urgent draft charter for the operations of NCMC which will enable an Executive Bill to be forwarded to the National Assembly for legal backing so as to meet the demand of joining the Ghana/Cote d’Ivoire initiative to deliver Living Income Differential (LID) of $400/ ton, which will, in turn, improve the livelihood of our smallholder cocoa farmers in the country”.



The committee chaired by the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Garuba Abubakar has the following terms of reference: “develop a framework for the regulation and monitoring of the activities of the Cocoa sector to make the industry more transparent and also develop a strategic plan towards the establishment of a Nigerian Cocoa Board.



Being an important regulatory body in the Nigerian Cocoa sector, they are to upscale their activities to all cocoa-producing states and also develop Local, State and Federal Government strategic implementation plans for the National Cocoa Management Committee.



The committee is also expected to establish a data bank for all Multinational Companies and Exporters of Cocoa Beans from Nigerian Ports.

Abubakar further urged NCMC to drive the cocoa sector through a pragmatic approach as a coordinating body by providing solutions to challenges affecting the value chain so as to guarantee quality, traceability, transparency and sustainability along the Cocoa Value Chain and to also meet both local needs and export demands. Theguardianng 

0
By at No comments:
Tags: ,

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

09:31

Herdsmen crisis: Farmers also bear AK-47 - Gov Lalong alleges




Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum and Plateau Governor, Simon Lalong, on Tuesday said herdsmen alone should not be crucified for carrying AK-47.

Farmers, he alleged, also bear AK-47 for self-defence.

Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed incurred the wrath of Nigerians last week when he said herdsmen are compelled to carry AK-47 and other firearms for self-defence.

Speaking on Channels Television programme ‘Sunrise Daily’ monitored by The Nation, Lalong said an investigation by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum also showed that farmers also carry AK-47 and other firearms for protection.

According to him when the farmers-herdsmen crisis occurred in Plateau, herdsmen and farmers were arrested with AK-47.

He said: “I am not justifying anybody carrying AK-47 but don’t forget in the cause of our deliberations and investigations, it was not only Fulanis that were carrying AK-47 but even farmers are also carrying AK-47.

“Farmers are also carrying AK-47 because when you talk about them, it is just a proliferation of arms with respect to guiding and everybody trying to protect himself.

“We shouldn’t allow people to have self-help. When they talk about AK-47, I have not seen anybody talk about that.

“But at the time there were farmers-herdsmen clashes here, we arrested people. Farmers were holding AK-47 and the herdsmen were also holding AK-47.

“So, if you want all of them not to hold AK-47, you must put deliberate efforts towards curtailing the influx of light arms and secondly, to also find ways of taking these people away from their old ways of farming and then introduce them into the modern system.”

On the decision by some Governors to ban open grazing, Lalong said it will be difficult to implement if alternatives are not provided.

“First of all, you must provide an alternative. You don’t wake up today and say ‘No, you can’t do poultry’. If you say you are not going to do poultry, those into it will ask ‘what alternative are you giving us? This has always been my point.

“Open grazing is out of fashion but what do we do as an alternative? We must be able to teach people the modern way of animal husbandry and also sensitive to them before they understand.

“Otherwise, if you just wake up tomorrow and say you ban it, it will be difficult. To be honest with you, it will be difficult to implement because not everybody will understand,” Lalong said. Thenationonlineng
0
By at No comments:
Tags: , ,

Monday, January 25, 2021

06:39

Lagos govt empowers over 10,000 farmers, SMEs




Lagos State government said no fewer than 879 farmers and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) across poultry, aquaculture and rice value chains have directly benefited from the Lagos Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project in the last three years.

It also said that another set of 3,516 stakeholders in the agricultural sector benefitted indirectly from the project, while over 8,000 farmers received one form of training and demonstration with strong evidences of positive resultant effect on the output of these stakeholders and farmers.

In a statement yesterday, the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, who stated this at the pre-sixth implementation support mission of the project, explained that these farmers and SMEs had been empowered with physical input and equipment to help them improve their productivity in the stipulated value chains.

Olusanya, who spoke through the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya, said the state’s steering committee and the technical committee had been performing their oversight functions in ensuring that the project implementation remains on course, adding that the project’s stakeholders have so far been satisfied with the level of interventions.

The commissioner, who disclosed that the state government was providing maximum support to the project in ensuring that the contributions of these value chains to food security, local production, improvement of livelihood as well as creation of export market are sustained, assured that the state would come up with a conducive regulatory framework and a business-friendly environment where commerce could thrive by providing support for the key economic sectors.

She added that the state government would always contribute its quota to all donor/World Bank Assisted Projects through regular payments of its counterpart contributions as well as provision of capable human resources for the successful implementation of these projects.
Olusanya, therefore, implored the mission’s team to look critically at ways of removing all bottlenecks associated with the implementation of the project, especially because of the looming food crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and other security challenges in the country.

The National Co-ordinator for the project, Mr. Mohammed Jobdi, said that the essence of the pre-sixth implementation support mission was to critique and assess the work so far in terms of projects implemented, farmers trained and empowered and many others before the actual meetings with the World Bank and other stakeholders in the budget.

Theguardianng
0
By at No comments:
Tags: , , ,

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

04:03

Lockdown: Farmers warn of food shortage, blame police intimidation

   

   

Farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector have warned that the country is in danger of food shortage due to the police intimidation that has frustrated efforts to move farm produce during the lockdown.

    

   
President Muhammadu Buhari had imposed a lockdown in some states across the country to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Individuals in the agricultural value chain were exempted from the movement restrictions; categorising them as essential services.

    

   
Acknowledging the government’s efforts, stakeholders in the agricultural sector said the palliatives put in place are insufficient.

This was made known in a statement jointly issued by Voices of Food Security (VFS), All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), the Association of Small-Scale Agro-Producers in Nigeria (ASSAPIN), Ogbonge Women Farmers’ Association, Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) and Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN).    

   

The statement was signed by Bridget Osakwe, protem chair of VSF; and Gbolagade Ayoola, Right to Food Group VFS chairman.

“We observe that these palliative and recovery windows may well work for the manufacturing and other sectors, but we are concerned that they do not adequately cover the needs of agricultural sector stakeholders let alone meet the needs of the nation of smallholder farmers who presently face the challenge of feeding the nation during the lockdown and immediately afterwards,” the statement read.    

   

Expressing regret that farmers associations are not strictly termed as SMEs and will likely not be eligible for SME financing from the CBN, the stakeholders said the “funds are very much needed”.

“This is especially important as we consider the needs of farmers in the rainy season planting period.”    

   

Giving recommendations, they urged that state governments should set up “measures to avoid any form of disturbance to the supply chain while maintaining security and food safety”.

“Federal and state-level ministries, as well as the CBN, should work with farmers and processors throughout the country to use this opportunity to better improve working relationships with farmers.

“Too often, agricultural support does not reach ‘real farmers’ and this reality cannot hold if we are to ensure food security in Nigeria.    

   

“Police and other security checkpoints set up throughout the country should be sensitized on the need to facilitate seamless access to agricultural inputs and produce to the markets.

“Ministries of agriculture at state and federal levels, as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria, should consider facilitating agricultural insurance, especially for small scale farmers in order to forestall losses occasioned by climate change-induced flood, drought, erosion, etc.    

   

“Small household grants should be extended to poor farmers at scale to enable them to stay afloat in this uncertain period, and effort should be made to ensure that these reach real male and female farmers.”

Making a case for transparency, the coalition urged the government to work with civil society in the distribution of all the stimulus funding to be provided. TheCable
0
By at No comments:
Tags: ,
Disclaimer
Most News articles reported on Qubes Magazine are a reflection of what is published in the media. Qubes Magazine is not in a position to verify the accuracy of daily news articles, however, we ensure that only news articles from credible sources are reflected in this service. Independent opinions which are mailed to us may also be published from time to time at our discretion, however the sources for these independent articles will be clearly stated.

Share your story with us: SMS: +2349067561649, Whatsapp: +2349067561649, Email: qubesentertainmentmagazine@yahoo.com
Receive Alerts on: Whatsapp: +2349067561649, Twitter: @qubesmagazine