MEXICO MULLS PORK AS RESPONSE TO U.S NAFTA PRODUCE PROPOSAL.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Mexican negotiators are working on a response to informal U.S. proposals to include protections for fresh produce in the re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), two people briefed on the proposals said.

U.S., Canadian and Mexican delegations finished a second round of talks last week to renegotiate the 23-year-old treaty, which U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon if he could not get a better deal for U.S. workers.

One suggestion U.S. negotiators raised prior to the first round of talks in Washington last month was to protect certain products by making it easier for U.S. seasonal produce growers to launch anti-dumping cases against Mexico, the people said, citing a presentation made by Mexican officials after the Washington talks.

Mexico is looking at creating its own list, that might include pork, in case Washington formally proposes to give seasonal fruit and vegetable farmers added protection, the people briefed on the matter said.

Mexican negotiators are studying the inclusion of pork legs in its counterproposal, including possible limits on the volume of U.S. exports to its southern neighbor, the people said.

The legs account for the bulk of Mexico's pork imports from the United States and are used to make some of the country's most popular dishes, like tacos al pastor and carnitas.

Some Mexican agricultural leaders have said that dairy and chicken could also be deemed sensitive, though those products were not mentioned by the sources briefed on the proposal.

In its NAFTA negotiating objectives published in July, the Trump administration said it would seek a "domestic industry provision for perishable and seasonal products" in trade cases. Since then the issue has not come up in official statements and it was unclear whether the idea was brought up again in the latest round of talks.

However, the possibility of a tit-for-tat response by Mexico to a potential U.S. proposal to limit fresh produce trade highlights the risks of granting exceptions to selected interests. Several U.S. retail, restaurant and agriculture groups flagged such risks last week in letters sent to Trump administration officials.

NAFTA gradually eliminated nearly all tariffs for goods from the three countries. But disputes over certain sectors, such as sugar, have led to negotiated agreements establishing regulated trade in the form of minimum prices and export limits.

Mexican officials have repeatedly said NAFTA's aim should be to increase, not limit market access. New seasonal produce protections that could more easily curb Mexican fruit and vegetable exports but also invite retaliation, went "against the interest of free trade," said Raul Urteaga, head of international trade for Mexico's agriculture ministry.

Urteaga told Reuters there have been no proposals "so far" from Canadian or U.S. negotiators to designate certain sensitive products.

Bosco de la Vega, president of Mexico's National Agricultural Council, an influential private sector chamber representing farmers interests to the government in NAFTA talks, told Reuters that existing Chapter 19 dispute resolution mechanism was sufficient to resolve allegations of illegal dumping or health safety concerns.

U.S. companies with production on both sides of the border said granting special protection to produce growers in the United States' southeast over the rest of the industry would limit U.S. consumers' access to affordable produce.

"The proposal to put temporary tariff barriers to protect one sector will lower vegetable consumption," said Carlos Visconti, CEO of Red Sun Farms which has greenhouses in Mexico and the United States, during the NAFTA round in Mexico.

In Mexico, pork farmers have similar grievances to U.S. growers of tomatoes, complaining their U.S. rivals dump into Mexico cheap cuts, such as pig legs, that are less in demand in the United States.
Apples and potatoes, which are major U.S. exports to Mexico, are also caught up in battles between the two countries, with Mexico using health concerns to slow imports.

Total U.S. exports of pork legs to Mexico reached some 690,000 tonnes last year, or nearly 80 percent of total U.S. pork shipments to its southern neighbor, according to data from Mexican pork association OPORPA.

Overall, Mexico relies on imports for about 44 percent of domestic pork consumption, which last year reached about 2.5 million tonnes. Before NAFTA, Mexico produced about 90 percent of the pork it consumed.  BY David Alire Garcia.

STARTING A POULTRY FARM, AVOIDING PITFALLS.

Starting poultry farming in Nigeria is an ideal business to venture because of its lucrative turnover and huge consumption rate of chicken products in Nigeria.

At the moment there exists a huge market potential for chicken and poultry products in Nigeria given the high rising population. Out of the needed annual 200 million birds to meet demands, only about 140 million birds are produced annually, creating a huge gap of over 60 million birds annually.

Poultry farming has become one of the most important aspects of agriculture in Nigeria. It creates business opportunities for entrepreneurs, provides employment for job seeking citizens and brings in a lot of income for families.

Unfortunately some poultry farmers end up losing greatly after starting up their farm, this is simply because they lack basic knowledge on what it takes to make good yield, and therefore end up getting it all wrong.

Most new and prospective investors lack proper information and investment knowledge to decide if they should invest in Broilers or Layers. For others they clearly lack the informed knowledge of why they should start with day olds as against point of lays.

The more knowledge and poultry set up tips and tricks you acquire, the more successful your poultry business in Nigeria will be.

To set up a profitable poultry farm, certain factors must be put into consideration as well as the acquisition of basic knowledge, some of these include;

• Different Breeds of Chicken, their advantages and disadvantages as well as which is more profitable.

• How much funding to take off

• Poultry / Livestock Insurance (Very necessary)

• What number of chicks are considered sufficient

• Day old or Point of Lay (Their advantages and disadvantages)

• Quality of Chicks (Especially day old)

• Identifying quality chicks.

• Pen set up (How to save money when starting by choice of equipments)

• Suitable location for the pen

• Appropriate spacing of the chicken pen to reduce overcrowding.

• Selection of best materials for chicks

• Vaccination and timing (Very important)

• Temperature regulation (Very crucial)

• How to maximize profit by using local feeds formulation (very crucial)

• Types of feed given to the chicken at every growth stage

• Feed timing

• Effective management of various areas, such as changing the food or water in the event of fecal contamination which lowers the risk of disease

• Enhancement of egg production for layers

• Debeaking of chickens to avoid pecking

• Water treatment

• Identifying your target Market before set up (Very important)

Are you interested in investing in poultry farming? Business Plan? Guideline, Farm Set Up & Management? BY AGRONEWS.

FARMERS PANIC OVER MAIZE IMPORT.

The reported approval given to some companies to import maize will crash the price locally and make its production unprofitable, farmers across the country have said.

The local farmers’ fears were premised on the alarm raised by Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari and Senator Adamu Aliero last week that a ship laden with 50,000 tons of maize had recently arrived Nigeria.

Masari and Aliero reportedly indicted the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun and Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh for granting license to importers to bring in maize from Brazil into the country.

The duo made the accusation in Kebbi state during the APC governors’ working visit to the state led by the Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha.

Masari alleged that Ogbeh and Adeosun were responsible for the 300 metric tons of maize imported from Brazil to Nigeria.

Aliero, a onetime governor of Kebbi State said, “We have it from a reliable authority that your ministries issued the licenses to them. This will not help our local farmers. We have agreed that there should not be the importation of any grain into the country.” The two ministers, however, denied the allegation.

Alhaji Nuhu Aminu, Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) told Daily Trust that this is coming at a time when farmers have heeded the call of President Muhammadu Buhari to go back to the farm and that they had invested heavily in agriculture, with little or no subsidy from the government.

He said selling a 100kg bag of maize below N8, 000 would be disastrous and will deter farmers from cultivation.

‘Implication for farmers would be huge’

The National President of AFAN, Arc Kabiru Ibrahim, said the implication for farmers would be huge. He said the goal of the administration was to discourage the importation of what can be produced in Nigeria.

“If we open the door to importing all those things we can produce, it’s not good for us,” he said.

A maize farmer in Sabon Wuse, Niger State, said the increase in the price of maize per bag informed the decision of many farmers to go into farming this year, warning that any attempt to open it to importation will crash the price and make it unattractive to its growers nationwide.

“When maize was sold between N4,000 to N5,000 per 100kg bag, many farmers were not growing it for commercial purposes because they can’t make a profit. But when the price jumped up to between N15,000 t0 N17,000, many farmers turned to it and kept many into the production line,” he said.

He warned that any attempt to import the produce will crash the price and deter farmers from growing it.

The Buhari administration has set a target of 20 million metric tons for Nigeria from the local requirement of 15.5 million tons.

Daily Trust findings have shown that a bag of 100kg of maize sells from N15, 000 to N19, 500 across various markets in the country.

The farmers feared that if maize is imported massively into the country, it will not only crash the market prices of the product but it will erode the gains made in the sector in last two years.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the national demand for maize is estimated at 15.5 million metric tons, while current domestic production stands at 10.5 million metric tons, leaving a demand gap of 5 million annually.

In his response, Chief Ogbeh said: “If I had the power, I would have stopped the importation of goods into Nigeria 30 years ago. I don’t know anything about it. My ministry doesn’t know anything about it. It is the responsibility of Customs to stop them.”

Adeosun said, “I don’t know anything about it. One NGO approached us to import drugs for IDPs and we told them that they should buy in Nigeria.”

Companies importing corn pay 5% duty – Customs

But when contacted, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) confirmed that some companies often make bulk importation of corn and that the Service ensures it collects five per cent as the duty rate.

The Public Relation Officer at the headquarters, Joseph Attah said: “I can confirm to you that a number of companies do bulk importation of corn at five per cent duty rate.”

Also, the Director of Information, Ministry of Finance, Salisu Na’inna Danbatta referred our reporter to the comments made by the Minister Adeosun last week at the FG-PGF Parley in Kebbi, where she promised to look into the issue of the importation of grains in collaboration with the ministry of agric.

However, a source at the Nigerian Customs Service told our reporter that maize and other grains are not on the import prohibition list or even among the 41 items that the CBN denied access to forex from the official sources.

The source said maize, like other grains, has been coming through the sea in large quantities into the country in recent past because the country has no capacity to meet the local demand in those days. He said mostly the imports are for industrial uses, not household.

But he noted that with the recent move by the federal government to encourage local producers and grow agric-based revenue, there should be some urgent measures to protect the local farmers.

The source said training on storage of such grains and preservation is needed and standardization and specification compliance must be given priority in order to get the attention of the buyers. AGRONEWS.

BUSINESS OF AGRO COMMODITIES AND EXPORT WORKSHOP, REGISTER TO ATTEND.

Agro News Nigeria will be hosting an August edition of the Agro Commodities Investment, Export and Foodstuff Export Training Workshop in Lagos on the 26th August, 2017.

The last edition of the workshop was held in Lagos in February 2017.

The Agro Commodities Investment and Export workshop is aimed at educating prospective Agro commodities investors on how to invest in Agro commodities Investment and Export; (Ginger, Hibiscus, Zobo leaf, Soybean, Sesame Seed, Shea butter, Raw Cashew Nut, Palm Oil. Palm Kernel and Palm Kernel Oil)

Foodstuffs Export and Guideline

Featuring;

* Agro Commodities Sourcing, Pricing, Measurements and Standards

* Local Foddstuff Export Guideline

* How to Make Money Trading and Investing Locally In Major Agro Commodities.

* Export Costs Analysis and Profitability Analysis

* Making a Trade Contract

*Export Documentation, Processes, Specifications

* Foodstuff Export Procedure

*How you can invest in each Agro commodity.

*Making money through storage.

* How to allocate money round year in different commodities for maximum profit.

*Secrets of each trade.

* Quality Determination.

*Export opportunities (key)

* Local Market Trading Opportunities

* Processing Opportunities.

* NEXIM Export Stimulation loan and procedures

* Export Financing Opportunities.

Date; 26^th August,2017.

Venue; Chemline Event & Training Centre,7 Obasa Road, Off Oba Akran Ikeja, Lagos

Time: 9;30am to 4;30pm

Cost; N20,000.

Those interested can register and attend. AGRONEWS.

WHY KEBBI DRY SEASON RICE FARMERS RECORDED HUGE LOSS.

This year’s dry season rice farming in Kebbi State does not seem to be as profitable to farmers as last year’s when many farmers in the state claimed they recorded bumper harvest and huge profit.

Their story is different this year as some of them are already lamenting huge losses they incurred due to poor harvest.

Some of the farmers who spoke to our correspondent said they were able to produce about 900 to 1000 bags of paddy during last year’s rice harvest. They however, lamented that they could only produce about 50 to 100 bags of paddy during this year’s harvest.

The farmers attributed their loss to the variety of rice seeds, poor weather, wind, flood, and lack of fertilizer as well as experience on the part of some of them among other challenges.

Alhaji Kabiru Sani Giant is one of the successful rice farmers at the River Niger valley in Bagudo area of the state with an expansive rice field of over 15 hectares. During last year’s harvest he was able to produce 930 bags of paddy. However, he told our correspondent that after this year’s harvest he only got 148 bags of paddy.

While speaking to our correspondent on the poor harvest he recorded this year, he said, “There are big differences between last year and this year’s harvests. One of the reasons responsible for the poor harvest many of the farmers recorded this year is the fact that many of them are new in rice farming. They are ignorant of what they need to do to achieve high yield in rice production.

“I started planting my rice late February this year. However, it grew well and I was expecting about 800 to 900 bags of paddy. Unfortunately there was a terrible wind accompanied by heavy rainfall which caused flood in my farm for over one week. Because of this we could only harvest the little rice that was left in the farm. Many other farmers also suffered this fate. I know of those that can produce about 3,000 to 4,000 bags of paddy rice but were also affected by the flood. If not for the wind and flood that washed our rice away we could have produced more rice in Kebbi State than we produced last year.”

According to him, after planting the rice, water became a problem to some people, saying it is expensive to maintain a rice farm during the dry season.

“From the day I started cultivating my rice farm to the day I harvested it I spent nothing less than N2.5 million on watering it. That does not include what I spent on labour during planting, removing of weeds, harvesting, trashing and bagging the rice. That amount was only for fueling the pumping machines. By the time I calculated the money I had spent I realized I had spent over N5 million.

“Unfortunately I lost everything to the wind and flood. I could only get 148 bags compared to the 930 bags I got after last year’s harvest. More than nine hectares out of my 15 hectares of rice field was submerged and these are the areas we were expecting to have bumper harvest. Where we got the 148 bags was not more than three hectares.

I don’t want to go to government because I don’t want to be seen as begging for money. It was my money I used for the farming to maintain myself and my family. If they want to assist us they can set up a committee to go to the farms and see the losses we suffered.”

Another farmer, Aliyu Abdullahi, at Duku area of Birnin Kebbi, said he could only get two bags of rice from his three hectares of rice farm.

“It was a total loss for me. I spent over N1million cultivating the rice farm but I could only get two bags after harvesting it. I was not the only farmer that incurred losses many others suffered even more serious losses. Many of those who got 50 to 100 bags of rice last year could only get seven to eight bags this year. Unfortunately a bag of rice is currently sold at N6,000 to N7,000.”

In the same vein, a farmer in Bunza area of the state, Saadu Muhammed, who said it was his first time to venture into dry season rice farming, said, “I cultivated one hectare of rice field. I expected to get about 100 bags of paddy after harvest but all I could get is eight bags. It was a complete loss for me,” he lamented. AGRONEWS.

NIGERIA SPENT N428 BILLION ON WHEAT, SORGHUM IMPORTS IN 2015- CBN GOVERNOR

Kano — The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefeile, Tuesday disclosed that over N428 billion was expended on the importation of wheat and sorghum in 2015 alone.

Godwin said the huge bills on the importation of these products informed the decision of the apex bank to boost and sustain the local production of agricultural products such as rice, wheat, cassava fish and poultry, among others.

Speaking at the inauguration of sorghum milling plant at Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Company held in Kano, the CBN governor, who was represented the Deputy Governor, Corporate Service Directorate, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, disclosed that 513 projects across the country had been financed by Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS), saying that a total of 604 projects had equally been financed under Real Sector Refinancing Project.

He said these interventions were the outcome of the collaboration between the bank and the Presidential Task Force on Food Security, aimed at boosting agricultural production, employment and wealth creation.

According to him, CBN would continue to support any venture that would save the nation foreign exchange in which the Northern Nigerian Flour Mill Plc had demonstrated a strong commitment to pursue.

In her remarks,the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, said the inauguration of the milling plant was unique in the sense that it would serve as a real boost in sourcing raw materials locally and would inadvertently have positive impacts on local farmers /out growers.

Abubakar also said the inauguration of the plant directly aligned with the vision of the administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) designed to promote and sustain an inclusive growth in the implementation of Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan(NIRP).

She explained that the plan also focused on areas in which Nigeria has comparative advantage that would guarantee competiveness in the global market and increase manufacturing contribution to GDP in the next five years.

Abubakar said the plan, which was presently being implemented, would strategically unlock bottlenecks militating against the growth and development of the industrial sector adding that government was also reducing the encumbrances that were affecting industrial development.

The Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigerian (FMN), Mr. John Coumantaros, said in the coming planting season, FMN planned to engaged a network of out growers and contract farming arrangement to source over 30,000 metric tones of sorghum wile 10,000 farmers would also be engaged by the company.

The commissioned a sorghum milling plant estimated at the cost of N2 billion with the aim sourcing its raw materials locally. BY AGRONEWS.

BANK OF INDUSTRY COTTAGE LOAN, HOW TO APPLY.

About the fund

Nigeria is richly endowed with abundant agricultural products available in every state of the federation.

However, limited capacity for processing and preservation, results in huge losses and wastages.

In a bid to tackle this problem, BOI has established a Cottage Agro-Processors Fund to support the establishment of cottage agro processing plants that will produce food products and raw materials for industries within and outside the Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZs) across Nigeria.

The Fund will be accessed by Limited Liability Companies, Enterprises and Cooperative Societies engaged in the processing of agricultural products either into finished food products or raw materials for industry or for the export market

CAP Fund –Products/ Sectors supported

CAP Fund- Products/ sectors supported
S/N	Agric Products	Derivatives
1	Cassava	Cassava Flour, Chips, Starch, Garri, Fufu, Ethanol
2	Oil Palm	Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Kernel Cake.
3	Rice Paddy	Rice, Flour.
4	Groundnut	Groundnut Oil, Groundnut Cake
5	Yam	Yam Flour, Chips
6	Maize	Corn Flour, Starch, Livestock Feed.
7	Sorghum	Sorghum Flour, Syrup, Sorghum Brewers Grain.
8	Aquaculture	Smoked Fish, Fish Fillet.
9	Livestock	Leather Products, Poultry, Milk, Yoghurt, Butter.
10	Cocoa	Cake, Butter, Powder.
11	Shea nut	Shea Butter For Cosmestics, Confectionary And Pharmaceuticals
12	Plaintain	Flour, Chips
13	Cashew	Cashew Nuts
14	Tomato	Tomato Paste, Tomato Ketchup

Cottage Agro-Processors (CAP) Fund

• 9% Interest rate

• N10 million single obligor limit

• 5 years tenor (Inclusive of 6 months moratorium)

• 1% processing fee (payment at approval)

Parties to the fund

• Bank of Industry

• Partnering Bank

• The customer

• Accredited Equipment Suppliers and Valuers

Bank of Industry

• Provides the long term loan

• Manages the fund

• Equipment procured in BOIs name and revert to the customer upon liquidation

Partnering Bank

• Provides working capital

• Tripartite agreement with BOI and customer to sweep repayments to BOI

The customer

• 10% equity contribution

• Select equipment from BOI accredited suppliers

• 3-year equipment maintenance agreement with the supplier

• Factory constructed for new project and modified for existing project Sign the Tripartite Agreement authorizing the Partnering Bank to sweep loan repayments into BOI’s account based on the Loan Amortization Schedule

Accredited supplier

• Supply, installation and commissioning of the equipment

• 2-year warranty for the equipment

• 3-years equipment maintenance agreement with the customer

• Provide standard factory layout to accommodate the equipment to be supplied

• Provide initial training for the customer on the operation of the equipment

• If supplier is a fabricator, it must have Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) certificate

Security arrangement

• Debenture over assets of the company or lien over the equipment

• Deposit of 10% equity into designated BOI account

• Personal guarantee of promoters

• Two (2) external guarantors to be backed by notarized net-worth statement acceptable to BOI

• Referral Letter from a recognized Traditional Ruler / Local Government Chairman or LG Secretary/ Imam / Priest

• Domiciliation of sales proceeds with the selected/accredited SME friendly banks. BY AGRONEWS.

EXPORT LOAN, HOW TO ACCESS NEXIM ESF FACILITY.

NEXIM’S PRODUCTS & SERVICES – NEW EXPORT INTERVENTION SCHEMES

As part of efforts to arrest the declining trend in export credits and boost investments in the non-oil export sector, the CBN recently approved two funding schemes and appointed NEXIM as the Fund Manager:

• N500 Billion Export Stimulation Facility (ESF) – Newly Introduced
• Tenor of up to 10 years for project finance facility inclusive of moratorium of 2 years.
• Working Capital / Stocking facility shall be for a maximum tenor of one year with the option of roll-over not exceeding twice
• Maximum interest rate of 7.5% per annum for facilities with a tenor of up to three (3) and (9%) per annum for facilities with tenor of over three (3) years.
• N50 Billion Export Rediscounting & Refinancing Facility (RRF) – Enhancement of existing N1.225 Billion RRF being operated by NEXIM from inception in 1991
  • It is a rediscounting & refinancing window available to Commercial Banks for a maximum tenure of 360 days.
  • Export bills / transactions shall be discounted / refinanced at an “all-in” rate of a maximum of 6% per annum with the Bank allowed a maximum spread of 3%.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The Bank’s facilities are available to any registered, creditworthy export Company/Cooperative Society, incorporated in Nigeria, registered with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

1. Application Form
2. Certified True Copy of Certificate of Incorporation, Certified True copies of CO2 & CO7; and Memorandum & Articles of Association;
3. Current three year tax clearance;
4. Three (3) year Audited Accounts and most recent management accounts, where applicable
5. Feasibility Study/Business Plan including Projected Cash flow, P&L and
6. Board Resolution Authorizing Company to borrow and Letter of Authorization for NEXIM to seek information on Company;
7. Registration with NEPC;
8. Proforma Invoice; Export Contract or MOU and Evidence of past export(s) if any;
9. Valuation Report of the proposed security; BY AGRONEWS.

FG, NDDC MOVE TO REVITALISE ABADONED RICE MEALS.

Ado Ekiti — The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari will stop importation of rice in 2017.

Explaining the reason behind the policy, Ogbeh hinted that the country has enough internal production that can sustain home consumption and meet foreign exchange earnings that can guarantee diversification of the economy.

In order to further boost internal production of the commodity and enhance the country’s comparative advantages in rice and yam production, Ogbeh stated that the federal government will sign a memoranda of understanding with Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Ekiti State Government in the two critical sectors.

He unveiled his ministry’s intention to supply ABUAD with 20 tonnes of rice seedlings in the next planting season to boost rice production internally.

The minister said these in Ado Ekiti at the weekend during a visit to ABUAD’s farm and Ekiti State government.

Ogbeh said the current economic recession being experienced under Buhari’s government has helped the federal government to think outside the box and had succeeded in bringing the deserved revolution to agriculture sector .

The minister assured Nigerians that the skyrocketing prices of foods in the country will soon crash, saying specifically that that of rice would happen within the next two weeks.

“Of recent, prices of diesel increased from N130 per litre to about N280 which makes the cost of a tractor to move up to N14 million from N7 million. The interest rate on every loan given to farmers also went up, so the aggregate of all these factors caused increase in the prices of food items.

“We are concerned with the plights of Nigerians. We knew that many are hungry but we are working round it because it doesn’t speak well of us that we are in government and people are hungry.

“But the major challenge is that Nigerians produced children more than other Africa nations put together and youths are not interested in farming and the question now is that, who will feed all these children?

“Nigeria has about 150million population and if these people can’t be fed with food, then they will be fed with anarchy and chaos,” Ogbeh warned.

The founder of ABUAD, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), praised Buhari’s administration for bringing revolution to the country’s agriculture sector that had been neglected by successive governments, describing the current economic recession as a blessing in disguise.

“To support the federal government initiative, this university for the past three years has been holding the annual Afe Babalola Agriculture Expo (ABAFEX), where we give N1million to the best farmer in Ekiti and N250,000 to the best in 16 local governments.

“This year, we intend to hold rice summit with intention to expose Ekiti potential in the production of the commodity,” Babalola said. BY AGRONEWS.

FG TO PARTNER OSUN FOR MASSIVE FOOD PRODUCTION.

The Federal Government has expressed readiness to partner with Osun State Government in the ongoing process of massive food production as a means of getting the nation out of the current economic recession.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh who stated this when he paid a courtesy call on the Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Osogbo disclosed that Nigeria will by December this year stop the importation of rice  due to massive rice production embarked upon by government.

Ogbeh said it is unfortunate that Nigeria is still spending billions of dollars on food importation, thereby calling for maximum collaboration and partnership between and among the various authorities to revamp agriculture.

The minister said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has been restructured to meet the nation’s needs on food production so as to bring an end to all forms of food importation.

He said the purpose of the visit is to cement the existing relationship between the Osun State Government and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the need to achieve a better agricultural productivity.

Ogbeh attributed the current economic recession to the nation’s failure to harness her huge potential in agriculture.

Ogheh said Nigeria has gotten to a stage where her numerous God-given resources must be appropriately harnessed, saying the era of sole reliance on crude oil as a means of sustenance has gone.

The Minister said his ministry has meeting with relevant stakeholders to revamp the agriculture sector, a move which he said would go a long way in rescuing the nation out of poverty and unemployment.

He said the ministry has engaged in an extraordinary initiative to rid off the sector of her current challenges, saying no stone will be left unturned to bail the country out of her present predicament.

According to him, it is high time Nigerians, irrespective of socio-economic status, developed interests in whatever that can be use as alternative to crude oil whose era is almost disappearing. BY AGRONEWS.