ABUJA – The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) said on Thursday it would collaborate with research institutes to ensure that farmers used improved, climate-tolerant and high-yielding seeds.
Its President, Mr Kabiru Ibrahim, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
“We will have to collaborate with all the research institutes of this country and they should be functioning; they should be funded and we will use the results of their findings to enhance agriculture in this country.
“If I have a group in research and development and that group relates very well with the research institutes; working with them, we will be able to say this cassava is fortified with Vitamin A, it’s good enough because the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) has confirmed that.
“If a seed is good, the yield is good, the resistance to disease and pesticide is good, I can only see it when I put it in my demonstration farm and we have the enabling environment – all the farmers are with us. [eap_ad_1] “I want a situation where when you give me any seed at all, the yield is at least five tonnes per hectare.
“At the end of our tenure after five years we should be able to say that in Nigeria we are net exporters of certain crops or items if we sensitise the people properly.“
While assessing the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, Ibrahim urged more effort in ensuring that the nation’s economy had the needed support to boost food production and income generation.
“Before now, farmers in the grassroots had no chance of getting even the two bags, either their various states would politicise the distribution of fertiliser and they sometimes end up (giving) one bag of fertiliser to 10 people.
“Today under GES, at least the two bags reach the intended targets; so that is a serious advantage; but what I am saying is that for our economy to grow and be agriculture-supported, not based, supported, you must do more.
“We are not saying government is not doing enough but you can do more; we are talking of ways and means of adding value to our agriculture.
“The vehicle that we are all using to sensitise our people and to reawaken their (consciousness) is the current Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
“And in all aspects of agriculture I believe they are there; if there is any draw back it’s in the implementation, but the idea is very good.“ (NAN)
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