BUHARI TASKS NIGER DELTA YOUTHS ON AGRICULTURE.

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the people of the Niger Delta region to shun illegal pipeline vandalisation and oil theft and seek wealth creation through peace and focus on agriculture for sustainable economic development and wealth creation.

President Buhari,who was represented by the Minister of state for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made the appeal yesterday at the 20th anniversary of Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s Green River Project Farmers Day in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, also urged them to take advantage of the huge potential in agriculture and stop the destruction of oil and gas pipelines which only served to destroy the country’s ecosystem and economy.

According to President Buhari said, “I wish to acknowledge the unrelenting efforts of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, who in their bid to prove that oil production and agriculture can coexist, has for the past 29 years supported their host communities to focus on agriculture through the GRP, a corporate social responsibility initiative which has resulted in sustainable development in these communities.

I appeal to the people of the Niger Delta region to embrace peace and focus on agriculture for sustainable economic development and wealth creation. I urge you to take advantage of the huge potential in agriculture and stop the destruction of oil and gas pipelines which only serve to destroy our ecosystem and economy.”

“The present administration is committed to doing everything possible to support the people of the Niger Delta to achieve their potential in agriculture which is far more than its endowments in oil and gas.”

PMB said the focus of his administration was to redirect attention to agriculture in its entirety and empower Nigerians in a productive and sustainable manner.
He said the process entailed treating agriculture as a business to create wealth and provide employment and take the country from being an import dependent country to a self – sufficient nation with surplus for export to earn foreign exchange. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

BUHARI TASKS N/DELTA YOUTHS ON AGRICULTURE.

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the people of the Niger Delta region to shun illegal pipeline vandalisation and oil theft and seek wealth creation through peace and focus on agriculture for sustainable economic development and wealth creation.

President Buhari,who was represented by the Minister of state for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made the appeal yesterday at the 20th anniversary of Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s Green River Project Farmers Day in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, also urged them to take advantage of the huge potential in agriculture and stop the destruction of oil and gas pipelines which only served to destroy the country’s ecosystem and economy.

According to President Buhari said, “I wish to acknowledge the unrelenting efforts of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, who in their bid to prove that oil production and agriculture can coexist, has for the past 29 years supported their host communities to focus on agriculture through the GRP, a corporate social responsibility initiative which has resulted in sustainable development in these communities.

I appeal to the people of the Niger Delta region to embrace peace and focus on agriculture for sustainable economic development and wealth creation. I urge you to take advantage of the huge potential in agriculture and stop the destruction of oil and gas pipelines which only serve to destroy our ecosystem and economy.”

“The present administration is committed to doing everything possible to support the people of the Niger Delta to achieve their potential in agriculture which is far more than its endowments in oil and gas.”

PMB said the focus of his administration was to redirect attention to agriculture in its entirety and empower Nigerians in a productive and sustainable manner.

He said the process entailed treating agriculture as a business to create wealth and provide employment and take the country from being an import dependent country to a self – sufficient nation with surplus for export to earn foreign exchange. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO TAKE URGENT ACTION ON AGRICULTURE

President Muhammadu Buhari has promise to strengthen the country’s agricultural sector and make concerted efforts to increase local food production to dampen escalating food prices.

In his address at the National Economic Council Retreat on the economy held at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari noted that food production in the country have become abysmally low and they require urgent action.

“Today, both the peasant and the mechanized farmers agree with the general public that food production and self-sufficiency require urgent government action. For too long government policies on agriculture have been half-hearted, suffering from inconsistencies and discontinuities. Yet our real wealth is in farming, livestock, hatcheries, fishery, horticulture and forestry.

“From the information available to me the issues worrying the public today are rising food prices, such as maize, corn, rice and garri; lack of visible impact of government presence on agriculture; lack of agricultural inputs at affordable prices, Cost of fertilizers, pesticide and labour compound the problems of farming. Extension services are virtually absent in several states; imports of subsidized food products such as rice and poultry discourage the growth of domestic agriculture; wastage of locally grown foods, notably fruit and vegetables which go bad due to lack of even moderate scale agro-processing factories and lack of feeder roads.”

These problems I have enumerated are by no means exhaustive and some of the solutions I am putting forward are not necessarily the final word on our agricultural reform objectives:
• First, we need to carry the public with us for new initiatives. Accordingly the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the States should convene early meetings of stakeholders and identify issues with a view to addressing them.

• Inform the public in all print and electronic media on government efforts to increase local food production to dampen escalating food prices.
• Banks should be leaned upon to substantially increase their lending to the agricultural sector. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should bear part of the risk of such loans as a matter of national policy.
• States should increase their financial support through community groups. The appropriate approach should be through leaders of community groups such as farmers cooperatives.
• Provision of feeder roads by state governments to enable more effective evacuation of produce to markets and processing factories.”
The president recalled that when he was a schoolboy in the 1950’s the country produced one million tons of groundnuts in two successive years. “The country’s main foreign exchange earners were groundnut, cotton, cocoa, palm kernel, rubber and all agro/forest resources.
“Regional Banks and Development Corporations in all the three regions were financed from farm surpluses. In other words, our capital formation rode on the backs of our farmers. Why was farming so successful 60 years ago? The answers are simple: access to small scale credits, inputs (fertilizers, herbicides etc) and Extension services. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

WE MUST GO BACK TO AGRICULTUREAS OIL REVENUE SHRINKS.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigerians must stop paying mere lip service to agriculture, as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.

The president gave the charge at an audience with Kanayo Nwanze, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Friday.

“It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice. We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many want to go into agricultural ventures,’’ he said.

Mr. Buhari pledged that his administration would also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government.
He told the IFAD President that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.

“There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organisations like IFAD for advice,’’ he added.

According to the president, foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks’’.

Mr. Nwanze had earlier congratulated President Buhari on his victory at the general elections and assured him that IFAD was ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.

Mr. Nwanze, who later spoke to State House correspondents, said IFAD had since 1985 been providing loans and grants in the nation’s agricultural sector to boost agricultural production.
“Nigeria has the largest portfolio of IFAD’s investment in Western and Central Africa and the second largest in Africa.

“But the case point here is that this country has all the endowments that it takes not only for it to produce enough food for its population but also to be the bread basket of region.
“And this is where my institution on my behalf, I offered our services and our support in the agenda of rural transformation as a key ingrate in this country’s economic and social development,’’ he said.
IFAD was established in 1978, and has been collaborating with Nigeria for over 30 years.
(NAN).

UPDATE1-DUPONT PROFIT BEATS ON STRONG SEED DEMAND.

April 25 (Reuters) - Chemicals and seeds producer DuPont
, which is merging with Dow Chemical Co, reported
a better-than-expected profit for the seventh straight quarter,
helped by a rise in seed sales.

DuPont has moved from selling its farm products to retailers
and distributors, focusing instead on selling directly to
farmers in the United States.

This pushed the timing of some seed sales to the first
quarter from the fourth.

Demand was also propelled by late-season seed demand in
South America and the planting of the largest combined corn and
soybean acres on record in the United States.

Operating earnings at DuPont's agriculture business rose 12
percent to $1.24 billion in the first quarter ended March 31.

Net income attributable to DuPont fell to $1.11 billion, or
$1.27 per share, in the first quarter, from $1.23 billion, or
$1.39 per share, a year earlier.

The latest quarter included charges of $36 million, while
the year-ago quarter included a $160 million gain.

Excluding items, operating profit in the latest quarter was
$1.64, above analysts' estimate of $1.39, according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.