The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) are collaborating to provide financial services to five million farmers across the country over the next two years.
Managing Director of BOA, Kabir Adamu, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Kaduna after the bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Policy and Multi-Sector partnership with a consultancy firm, e Worldwide Group.
Nigeria should see a bumper cocoa harvest in the coming season as late rains have helped boost pod production, the head of the cocoa association said on Thursday.
Sayina Riman, president of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), expects output for the new season which starts in October to hit between 300,000 tonnes and 320,000 tonnes, up sharply from the season just ended which was blighted by poor weather.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday inaugurated the N30 billion Integrated Feed Mill, Hatchery and Breeder Farm in Kaduna.
Middle East Olam International Business Head, Mr. Vinod Kumar Mishra, had earlier said that when inaugurated, the multi-million dollar investment would utilise around 180,000 tonnes of corn and 75,000 tonnes of soya beans for its feed production.
Mishra said the company had the capacity to produce 360,000 tonnes of animal feeds every year.
He said the company would also produce 1.6 million day-old-chick every week.
The Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society, on Tuesday, urged the Federal Government to set a timeline to ban the importation of maize into the country.
The group’s National Coordinator, Mr Redson Tedheke, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that the suspension of the import would protect local farmers and encourage massive production of the commodity.
According to him, unchecked importation of maize remains a major threat to local production and President Muhammadu Buhari’s agricultural revolution drive.
With the onset of the harvest season in some parts of the country, farmers have urged the federal and state governments to provide adequate storage facilities, to prevent wastage.
A survey on the prices of foodstuffs conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the South-West, showed that the harvest of produce had forced down prices.
The farmers, who spoke with NAN correspondents, said that they were faced with the challenge of storage facilities for surplus produce.
The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has promised to provide useful information to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in its efforts to curb the smuggling of rice into the country.
The RIMAN’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mr Peter Dharma, gave this assurance in Kano on Tuesday at the inaugural meeting of the association, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He said that Nigerians had, over the years, been losing enormous resources to the smuggling of food items into the country.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it is working towards providing support to cocoa producers in the continent in order to turn around their fortunes.
A statement by Mr Emeka Anuforo, AfDB’s Communication Officer on Wednesday said the bank was also considering support to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to reduce the volatility of the international prices of cocoa.
Côte d’Ivoire leads the world in the production and export of cocoa.
The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), also known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund, has resuscitated 11 fertilizer blending plants across the country, which substantially brought down the price of fertilizer, ended fertilizer subsidy and ensured the availability of the commodity, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The Fund’s Managing Director Uche Orji disclosed this in Abuja on Monday, while receiving the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who paid a courtesy visit to the Authority.
The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says mining and agriculture will be the focus of the Federal Government for rapid economic development.
Osinbajo made the pledge in Argungu on Tuesday while inaugurating the N10 billion WACOT Rice Mill in Argungu Emirate of Kebbi state.
He said the continued investment in agricultural production by the private sector had vindicated the resolve of the Federal Government to invest in agriculture for revenue generation and development.
The President, Agricultural and Allied Employees Union of Nigeria (AAEUN) in Kwara, Kayode Ehindero, says exportation of yams will boost agricultural activities in the country.
Ehindero told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Thursday that yam exportation was a wake-up call to farmers to double efforts in food production.
“The direct effect of this exportation is a wake-up call for farmers to cultivate more yams because of competition in the demand for exportation and domestic requirements.
