By Hassana Yakubu
Kaduna – Alhaji Murtala Nyako, former governor of Adamawa has stressed the need for northerners to work with various organisations to enhance positive changes in agricultural, socio-economic development and security in the country.
Nyako made the call in a paper presented at the Annual Lecture and Honours award of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The paper was entitled: “Integrated Agriculture for food Security and sustainable Economic Regeneration in Northern Nigeria”.
“We need this determination from all of us to put our country on track to being a great nation,” he said.
On the poor yields of agriculture, he said that it had negated the realisation of food security being the key components of the administration’s policy on agriculture.
“Earning of foreign exchange through agric exports has not been impressive and curtailing unnecessary imports of basic food material such as rice, beef and milk which we should be exporting, has been the bane of the sector.”
Nyako noted that there was a shortfall of quality of livestock products, which was as result of low yields.
He said the country needed to start massive importation of modern high yielding and adaptable cattle in both milk and beef from wide range of sustainable breeds available in today’s world.
Nyako said that for country to achieve the quality and volume of milk required and fill the gab of low yields by local breed cattle, “we need to import modern cattle for high milk yield and improved beef.
“We also have to improve the local breed through insemination to meet the demands for milk and beef to encourage farmers to adopt modern techniques of cattle breeding and to support farmers through credit facilities to enhance breeding,” he said.
(NAN)
