BrainsAgroBlog

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel How to cultivate money-spinning Moringa oleifera plants Matured Moringa seeds The saying that agriculture is profitable and sustainable is neither rhetoric nor a cacophony. Careful inward looking and proactive efforts in the agricultural sector truly have the potentialities. Income generation, employment creation and poverty alleviation potential of the sector are real considering the foreign exchange earnings from cash crops such as cocoa, cashew, palm products and moringa oleifera. In the last few years, the demand for moringa oleifera in the international market has become high, and with the high demand come the high foreign exchange earnings. Some Nigerians have become millionaires buying and selling (exporting or serving as agents for foreign buyers) or cultivating moringa oleifera seeds and leaves. However, the focus here is largely seed production and marketing. Science-proven benefits So far, scientists have affirmed about si...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel  Fayemi presents N129.9bn budget for 2019 By  NAN [FILE PHOTO] Kayode Fayemi Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state, on Friday presented a budget of N129.9billion for 2019 to the state House of Assembly for consideration. The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the budget, christened, “Budget of Restoration”, is made up of N57.8billion capital expenditure and N72.7billion recurrent expenditure. The capital expenditure represents 44 per cent, while the recurrent expenditure is about 56 per cent of the budget. Fayemi said the budget was tailored after the 4-pillars of his administration, which are Social Investment, Knowledge Economy, Infrastructure and Industrial Development and Agriculture and Rural Development. He listed the policy thrust and objectives of the budget to include establishment of an effective strategy to revamp the state’s economy as well as improving Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), among others....

How To Produce Plantain Chips General Introduction to Plantain Chips Business in Nigeria Plantain Chips are crunchy Nigerian snacks made with either ripe or unripe plantains. Plantain Chips which is made with unripe plantains are bright yellow while those made with ripe plantains are deep yellow in colour. It is also known as sweet banana chips it is great and healthy for all ages. You can take for Launch or Give it for your Children as a welcome Market gift for parents. Plantain chips production is one of the easiest businesses you can start in Nigeria if you want to generate quick cash within a short space of time of starting. We deem it necessary to post this Training just to properly welcome you to this year 2016, so take this opportunity by venturing into this Business after learning what it take in starting it. WHY THIS BUSINESS IS LUCRATIVE The reasons why plantain chips production business is easy to set up is because plantain chips is a snacks widely eaten by ...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel  Youths have not fully utilised agricultural opportunities’ Samson Adeola Odedina Despite efforts by the government at all levels to diversify into agriculture Nigerian youths have not adequately utilised the opportunities in agriculture. This was the observation of the outgoing Provost of the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA), Dr Samson Odedina, said while being honoured during the 2018 Imeri Convergence by Liberal Platform (LP) in Imeri, Ose Local Government Area of the state, at the weekend. According to him, there were myriads of opportunities available in agriculture but most of them are still untapped and underutilised to solve employment challenges and create wealth among the youth. “From my own experience and observation, awareness has been created and the youth are taking up the opportunities, but the fact is that we don’t have enough youths taking up these opportunities,” he said. He, however, said that there is the need to cre...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel   Kebbi secures 250MTs of fertiliser for farmers The Kebbi State government has purchased 250 tonnes of fertiliser to be subsidised to farmers for the dry season farming. Addressing newsmen in his office, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Attahir Maccido, said the fertiliser would be sold to the farmers at subsidised rates. He explained that the state was ready to support farmers during the season, assuring of his administration’s commitment towards promotion of the agricultural sector in the state. Maccido, who added that both NPK and Urea types of fertiliser and other farm tools would be given to the farmers at the affordable prices, urged the people to support the administration towards diversifying the state economy to reduce unemployment in the state. “We are number one in the country in term of rice production. We are blessed with agricultural resources, and many youths in the state have been engaged in doing one or two ...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel  FG commends IFAD $500m investment in agriculture The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has commended the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for supporting the nation’s agricultural value chain development with $500 million. Speaking when he received the new country representative of the fund, Ms Ndine Gbossa, in his office in Abuja, Lokpobiri applauded the development partner, saying the fund had played critical roles in making Nigeria the highest producer of rice and cassava in Africa. “We take our partnership with IFAD very seriously and we appreciate the investments and the support that we are getting from you. Today, Nigeria is rated as the highest producer of rice and cassava in Africa, courtesy of IFAD’s intervention and the Anchor Borrowers programme and Nigerians answering the clarion call of this administration to go back to the farms to produce what we eat and eat ...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel  LAKE rice delay due to technical issues, says Lagos government Lake Rice • 170,000 bags coming soon, says Kebbi   The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Olayiwole Onasanya, has disclosed to The Guardian that the subsidised rice jointly produced by Lagos and Kebbi (LAKE) states would soon be made available to Nigerians in Lagos. He admitted that the brand should have been made available earlier, but the partnership was unable to do so “due to technical issues.” Onasanya said: “We are going to sell LAKE rice any moment from now and it will be available for a long time. The delay is due to some technical issues.” LAKE rice was made available several weeks before the Christmas festive period in 2017, which served as a cheaper alternative to other brands, with a differential of about N5,000-N8,000. However, many Lagos residents have lamented the unavailability of the brand this year, calling on the states involved to spe...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel     Fighting food, poverty challenges through women equity in land ownership When Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, launched the National Gender Action Plan (NGAP) on Agriculture in October, the idea was to upgrade women from the realm of subsistence farming to medium-scale and commercial farming. The figures provided by the minister at the launch showed that Nigeria had 95% subsistence farmers, 50% of whom were women. Beyond this, women farmers in Nigeria had to contend with unequal access to land, insecurity, cultural practices and pseudo-religious dogmas. Harping on the same challenge, Nigeria Country Director, African Development Bank, Mr Ousmane Dore, had said, “Despite the huge labour investment of women, productivity is low and they often have limited roles in decision making on the farms. Lack of ownership of land and other productive assets due to existing social norms has created a signific...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel Dangote increases investments in agriculture Aliko Dangote Against the background of Nigeria’s economic vulnerability, President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said the current efforts of the Federal Government at diversifying the economy to an agriculture-centred one remains the viable solution to creating a healthy economy. Dangote, who spoke in his office few days ago, during a meeting with some Asian businessmen, in Lagos, said his belief in government’s approach at re-energising the economy, and making it export-oriented made him step up his investment in agriculture especially in the area of food sufficiency. According to him, Nigeria has wasted huge foreign exchange importing foods that ordinarily should be produced locally, and even exported, and until a new approach at redirecting the economy from import-dependent to an export one, which the present government is leading, no meaningful change can happen. He said; “We hav...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel FG begins release of GMO cowpeas to farmers By  Cornelius Essen, Abuja After nine years of field trials, the Federal Government has released genetically modified organisms (GMO) cowpeas to farmers in the country. Director General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, disclosed this yesterday at the presentation GMO cowpeas in Abuja.Ebegba said this would afford government the opportunity to sustain its efforts to ensure information sharing among stakeholders. He explained that the agency was not established to stop GMOs, but was set up to ensure that the crops were safe to the environment and public health. He explained that the application for commercial release of GMO crops was the first of its kind and in line with NBMA Act to build on past efforts of basic science of PBR cowpea. Ebegba added that every new technology is bound to face suspicion and concerns, stressing that Nigerian farmers should not fail to expl...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel Agricultural Extension Graduates, Career Opportunities and Prospects Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for rural people by educators from different disciplines, including agriculture, agricultural marketing, health, and business studies. Scope of Agricultural Extension Agricultural extension work has a venerable, albeit largely unrecorded, history. It is a significant social innovation, an important force in agricultural change, which has been created and recreated, adapte...

Benedict Emmanuel Mitchel Career Opportunities for Graduates of Agriculture Introduction Agriculture (from the Latin: ager meaning "field" and cultura meaning "growing") is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance life.[1] Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. The history of agriculture by humans dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies; industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural method. Although generally understood to denote the practices of humans, other animals— for example, fung...