Author: Adewale Kupoluyi

By Omolola Pedro Stakeholders in Ogun State have issued a note of warning to farmers in the region against the practice of bush burning. The warning is coming after the recent fire incident that razed farm plantations, which resulted into losses running into millions of naira. The recent incident destroyed a 10-hectare oil palm plantation around Onipepeye, along the Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu expressway, Ogun State. FarmingFarmersFarms gathered that the farm, owned by a former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia/Malawi, and one-time Commissioner for Women Affairs in Ogun State, Mrs. Folake Marcus-Bello suffered losses running into several millions of naira, as over 500 palm…

By Sodiq Lawal The cash withdrawal limits, which took effect from January 2023, may affect food production, stakeholders in the agricultural industry have said. Food inflation in Africa’s biggest economy surged to a 17-year high last year on the back of the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war and the floods that ravaged many parts of the country. According to Africanfarmer Mogaji, the Chief Executive of X-Ray Farms Consulting, “The rural economy is 100 per cent cash dependent because there are limited banks, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), and the banks are very far”. He described the…

By Adewale Kupoluyi The Board of Trustees of International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), have appointed Prof. Appolinaire Djikeng as Director-General of ILRI and CGIAR Senior Director of Livestock-Based Systems. In a statement, signed by David Aronson and made available to FarmingFarmersFarms, Prof. Djikeng is a globally-recognised expert in developing multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, and global research and development programmes focused on agricultural development, livestock development, and human health. He would take over the role from Dr. Shirley Tarawali, who is currently interim Director-General at ILRI. Dr. Tarawali assumed the lead from Dr. Jimmy…

The Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), a non-governmental organisation with focus on empowering small-scale farmers recently provided 225,000 farmers with farm inputs to improve their productivity and overall livelihoods across 10 states in Northern Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory. The empowerment is part of the Integrated Community-led Scale-up (ICON2) Project, which is expected to provide employment and employability opportunities for youths in the agricultural sector. The 225,000 young project partners are part of the 675,000 partners planned to be reached by the ICON2 Project over a period of three years, starting from 2023. After the third year of empowerment,…

By Omolola Pedro The Farm Inputs Support Services Department (FISSD), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has vowed to clampdown on companies and individuals who adulterate fertilizers such that companies and individuals that adulterate fertilizers are to risk a 10 year jail term. FarmingFarmersFarms reports that this piece of information was given during a one-day Capacity Building of Fertilizer Quality Control Inspectors across the 36 states of Nigeria, held at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The capacity building with the theme, ‘Zonal Sensitisation Training Workshop for Fertilizer Quality Control Inspectors and other Relevant Stakeholders’, had its focus on the…

The Osun State Government has announced the immediate lifting of suspension on forestry consultants and permits across the state. The governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke had, in earlier directed a suspension and review of some permits including, plantation or forest reserve concession allocation permit; sawmill permit and renewal; flinch sawn evacuation permit; timber and logs permit; hammering permit or release permit; motor-saw permit; forest reserve access permit and Tungya farming system allocation permit. In a new development, the governor, through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, noted that the lifting of the suspension was sequel to an ongoing review of the state’s internal…

The Agricultural Produce Sellers Association of Nigeria (APSAN) has decried the mounting of illegal checkpoints to extort money from its members in the Middle Belt, as one of the factors responsible for the skyrocketing price of food items. The National President of APSAN, Aloys Akortsaha lamented that for over 20 years, the incessant extortion had continued to make food prices expensive for the common man in the country. Akortsaha said that the cost of transporting food commodities from one state to another is far more expensive than the cost of the commodities. According to him, “This is why the prices…

The Ukrainian government has expressed its readiness to establish grain hubs in Nigeria and other African countries to boost bilateral ties. Already, Nigeria has signed the “Grains from Ukraine” project, which would see Nigeria receiving grain imports from the Ukraine. The Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Mykola Solskyi, recently led a delegation to the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar, in Abuja. The basis for the decision is to establish a trade-partnership with Nigeria by initiating a grain hub in all of Africa with Nigeria serving as…

A final year Nigerian student from the Department of Chemistry, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Jigawa State, Zainab Bilyamin, has converted sachet water waste to hybrid fuel of kerosene and diesel, as her final year project, which is titled “Conversion of low-density polyethylene and mixed low-density polyethylene with polyethylene terephthalate into fuel”. According to FUD Newsletter, the final result shows that the hybrid fuel produced from the pure water waste products had similar properties as normal kerosene and diesel as it was used to light up a kerosene lamp and power a pumping machine successfully. Ms. Bilyamin said she was motivated…

The Federal Government has announced plans to expand the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) to the 36 states of the federation. The National Project Coordinator of RAAMP, Aminu Mohammed disclosed this during the Agency’s annual retreat and training of staff held in Calabar, Cross River State. At the occasion, Mohammed stated that “RAAMP was poised at making remarkable impact across the country, hence the need to extend the project to all states”. He expressed delight over an increase in the number of participating states, stressing that the successes recorded from the project’s commencement in 2008 in Cross River…