FG to establish N750bn agriculture fund

NaijaAgroNet:

The Federal Government disclosed plans to establish a N750 billion agriculture fund in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, affirmed this at the 2016 national summit of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), with the theme: “The Role of Poultry Industry in the Economic Revival of Nigeria” stated that the Federal Government is committed to diversifying the economy away from oil and revive the agricultural sector to boost the economy.

According to him, access to credit is one of the biggest challenges farmers are facing which is why the government has made this move to revive the agricultural sector. In addition the federal government is also talking with Islamic Bank which has agreed to provide about $ 2.5 million which will be rooted through Bank of Agriculture and Commerce Bank and at a single digit rate to finance different agric programmes.

He also disclosed that talks are being held with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) for funding in the same sector.

“The present administration is committed to make agriculture attractive by making funds accessible and affordable as no business can survive with high interest rate charged by commercial banks. Already, there exist some funding from CBN that even the poultry farmers can access at an affordable interest rate of nine per cent but the contention is that nine percent is too high. We are trying to make credit not only accessible but available and affordable,” Lokpobiriemphasised.

In addition, he also promised to use all means at his disposal to harmonize taxes on farms – “and that since poultry products are food items, they should not be taxed.”

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FG dismantles bottlenecks to seed industry growth

NaijaAgroNet

The Federal Government of Nigeria has assured that it will dismantle all bottlenecks which stand in the way of growth of the seed industry in Nigeria, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This disclosure was made recently by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sonny Echono, at the launch of the Nigerian Chapter of the Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA) in Abuja.

Echono, NaijaAgroNet gathered, said that efforts must be made to identify relevant issues and remove all bottlenecks to the smooth growth of the seed sector in order to make quality seeds available to farmers.

He disclosed that the Federal Government was planning to train 100 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to ensure production and marketing of good quality seeds by various seed producers.

The permanent secretary said that the Federal Government had also sanctioned by de-listing some seed companies, who supplied adulterated and poor quality seeds to farmers, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

 “To achieve the laudable objectives particularly in the seed sector, it is imperative that the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) as the government agency responsible for seed industry development must be fully supported to perform. NASC must come out with specific recommendations, to create a sound level, sustainable dissemination and strategies for improved crops to resource poor farmers in the country,” Echono stated.

For the country to achieve the objectives of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda launched in 2011, he said, it was necessary to provide the right policy to protect seed production, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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AFAN chieftain appeals to FG for easy access to credit facilities

NaijaAgroNet

Nigerian farmers have appealed to the Federal Government to make access to credit facilities for their members easy by relaxing stringent rules, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Making this appeal in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and monitored by NaijaAgroNet, the former Delta Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Jerry Ossai, urged government at all levels to end all rules that serve as obstacles to enable farmers access credit facilities to boost food production.

Ossai noted that although funds were available to provide lending facilities to farmers in Nigeria, but the conditions were too stringent for rural farmers to benefit, adding that access to farm inputs like high yielding seedlings, fertilizers, herbicides among others has made investment in agriculture especially farming very difficult.

“Loans are there to be obtained but the conditions are too stringent for rural farmers to access. Liberal terms to cooperative groups may help to address the challenge of funds and access to input may be tied to repayment with harvest,” he said.

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Bill on mechanised agriculture for youth empowerment on the way--Rep-elect

 NaijaAgroNet

  

 A Bill that will enable the federal government to attract unemployed youths into mechanized agriculture is being planned, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to information gathered by NaijaAgroNet, Alhaji Abdulsamat Dasuki, member-elect of the House of Representatives (APC-Sokoto) on Sunday promised to initiate a bill that would attract unemployed youths into mechanised agriculture.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto which was monitored by NaijaAgroNet, Dasuki stated that such legislation would ensure the availability of modern farming inputs at government controlled rates across the country.

He  further disclosed that the youth would be actively engaged in the system to enable them to contribute towards the nation’s socio-economic and political growth.

Dasuki, who will be representing Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency, said that federal and state governments will be encouraged to set up colleges of agriculture to train the youth and women in mechanised farming.

He said that the introduction of mechanised agriculture NaijaAgroNet learnt, will guarantee food security and  discourage food importation.

Cyriacus Nnaji /GEE

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Fish importation policy review to benefit Nigeria’s youths

NaijaAgroNet

The on-going review of fish importation policy by the Federal Government would immensely benefit youths in the South Western part of the Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to NaijaAgroNet reports, Lagos and Ogun State are the key beneficiaries from the production capacity boost as Premium Aquaculture Limited (PAL) revealed its plans to generate over 500 jobs from two large fish farms already set up in Nigeria.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that the two large fish farms located in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital and Epe suburb in Lagos State are expected to produce 4,500 metric tonnes of catfish per annum with focus on breeding two species of fishes.

The development came as a result of the decision by the PAL to invest in local fish farming in support the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina in his efforts through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop fish production in Nigeria and reduce the country's dependence on imported fish.

The Project Manager, Premium Aquaculture Limited, Sarvesh Pandey said the company will center on breeding only catfish and tilapia, explaining that the Epe fishpond is ready for production while Abeokuta farm will commence operations in April, 2015.

"A lot of research has been carried out on what area of fish to invest in and where to start the production. We will be committing an investment worth about $1 million on the production of tilapia fish to be produced in Abeokuta farm.

"Investment in catfish will be lesser than tilapia because catfish is like in-house (Nigerian owned fish), we are doing case culture on tilapia and case culture is more expensive. We are going to import from china and 1kg, will cost us around $4000 at the capacity of 5 metric tonnes per circle. If you do two circles in a year, you can get 10 metric tonnes in one cage."

 
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