Agric Minister Blames Ibrahim Babangida for Nigeria's Poor Economy

Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has stated that the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, is responsible for the poor running of Nigeria's economy. 
The Agric and Rural Development Minister claimed that the Structural Adjustment Programme pointed Nigerians in the wrong direction, and blamed Nigeria’s over-reliance on crude oil.

Unemployment: Saraki charges Unilever, other multinationals to increase investment in Nigeria

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Thursday urged the Unilever Group to increase their investment in Nigeria with the aim of providing more employment opportunities in the country.

Saraki while receiving the management of the Unilever Group, led by its President in charge of Africa, Mr. Bruno Witvoet, also urged the conglomerate to source more of their raw materials, especially agricultural produce like palm oil, from the country in order to provide the much needed empowerment for local farmers.

Nigeria: FG to Empower Niger Delta Youths Through Agriculture

The Federal Government on Thursday pledged to train non-militant Niger Delta youths in agricultural activities as a way of empowering them economically.

The Minister of State for Niger Delta, Prof. Claudius Daramola, made the pledge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

New Guide Shows How Maize, Rice, and Wheat are Grown to Boost Yields, Reduce Environmental Impact

Achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – especially the crucial goals of zero hunger and zero poverty by 2030 – requires a global transition to more productive, inclusive and sustainable agriculture.

This week, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) makes what we believe are two important contributions to that transition. First, this week it released, Save and Grow in practice: maize, rice, wheat, a new guide which shows how the three crops fundamental to world food security can be grown in ways that boost yields, strengthen small farmer livelihoods, reduce pressure on the environment, and build resilience to climate change.

Nigeria suffers from huge post-harvest losses

Post-harvest loss is a great concern in Nigeria, although the country is rich in agricultural produce, food insecurity remains a huge problem. The majority of farm produce is lost to pests, rodents, and deterioration, due to lack of proper handling, post-harvest processing, packaging and storage. Post-harvest losses are as high as 40% in some cases, according to statistics by the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI).

Perishables like tomato, paw paw and other vegetables and fruits have constantly faced spoilage; not only does this deprive farmers of income and consumers of food, but it also deprives the nation of a constituent part of it Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Nigeria: Bird Flu Kills 3.3 Million Birds in 24 States

Kano — Katsina, Adamawa Bayelsa and Ebonyi are the latest states affected by bird flu, bringing the total number of states affected since last year to 24. According to the latest data obtained from the Department of Veterinary and Disease Control of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 96 local government areas have recorded the outbreak while estimated 2.5 million birds have been depopulated and buried.

Wheat farmers cultivate 3,000 hectares of irrigable land in Kano

No fewer than 3,000 hectares of irrigable land is being cultivated by farmers in Kano state under the current dry season farming.

The Chairman, Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), Alhaji Faruk Rabiu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.

Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Moreplantation, Apata Ibadan, Prof James Adediran, has urged the Federal Government to invest in agriculture and educate Nigerians on the usefulness of the new vitamin A cassava products.

He spoke a seminar by the college to empower farmers in Ibarapa land.

Nigeria: Can We Really Survive Without Oil MoneY

Last Christmas, after discussing the state of our nation, my little cousin exclaimed: "in fact, why don't we stop everything for this year and just concentrate on building three brand new refineries... These refineries will even provide more than the 500,000 jobs government is talking about... Then, next year we might take our Roads or Power and deal with it". I was surprised at her simplistic and funny solution to a national problem. However, does this not have some little semblance to what HRM Lamido Sanusi said during his senate screening, when he was nominated as Central Bank

Lassa fever: Stop eating rats – Ortom warns Benue residents

He said that after working as Minister of Trade and Investment in the past administration, he foresaw that Nigeria would face some challenges in revenue generation.

Ortom said that when he declared for the governorship of the state, he decided to make promotion of agriculture a major campaign programme.

He said: “we are going to take on the entire value chain; we will look at seedling; we will look at the way we do our cropping, planting, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing.

“An average farmer is not making anything out of his produce for now.

China’s new ideas, policies for Nigeria, Africa

In the bid to deepen bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and China, the Chinese government through its Department of West Asian and African Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Beijing, China, has expressed the need for the two countries to sustain their diplomatic ties, by way of establishing a Win-Win cooperation to boost their economies.

FADAMA III-AF PROJECT SUPPORTING GRANTS

 Fadama Information & Knowledge Service (FIKS) under the Third National Fadama Development project (Fadama III) received a grant from the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF), to establish sustainable Fadama Information, knowledge and business advisory services (FIKS) to increase farm productivity and rural household incomes in the poorest sections of Fadama communities in Nigeria.

Understanding CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme

CBN

Festus Akanbi examines the dynamics of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme launched last week, saying the effort, which is part of the CBN’s development agenda will not only create millions of jobs but that it is also capable of lifting thousands of small holder farmers out of poverty

Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched an Anchor Borrowers Programme said to have been pushed by 14 states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Admawa, Plateau, Lagos, Ogun, Cross-Rivers and Ebonyi for rice and wheat farmers to advance their status from small holder farmers to commercial or large growers.

Branding Nigeria through agriculture

Special events have proven to be veritable means of putting places and people under spotlight and generating awareness among the public at both local and international levels. In recent times, an upsurge of various events, in sports, entertainment, professional meetings, NGO fora, international organisations and global groups has elicited a frenzy of interests in participants,…
https://businessdayonline.com/2016/01/branding-nigeria-through-agriculture/

Lagarde Urges Banks To Increase Lending To SMEs, Agriculture

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Ms Christine Lagarde has called on Nigerian banks and financial institutions to increase their financial intervention to the real sector of the economy, particularly the small and medium enterprises and the agricultural sector, in order to boost economic growth.
The IMF boss also donated N1.5 million ($7,500), to the Mother Teresa Children’s Home, in Gwarimpa, Abuja, during her visit to the orphanage.

Nigerian university honours AfDB President Adesina with 2nd honorary degree

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, 21 December 2015 / PRN Africa / — Exactly one week after receiving a similar award from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife in Nigeria, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina was awarded yet another Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, from the Adekunle Ajasin University in Ondo State, Nigeria. The award was conferred in recognition of Adesina's outstanding contribution to the development of agriculture on the continent, his passion for fighting poverty and his exceptional pursuit for excellence.

TB Joshua's prediction for Agriculture Minister, Korean leader and Syrian war

“There are going to be unusual, uncommon challenges this year 2016 but in challenges, we children of God flourish."

Lead pastor at the The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet TB Joshua, has returned to his church at Ikotun Lagos, after an eight-month absence and revealing more predictions for 2016.

On politics, he said, “One of the minority parties will be lifted up and reckoned with. Let us pray for God’s love and unity in Nigeria.”

The prophet also mentions  Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbeh. “We have to pray for God to sustain him because much is expected from him,” Joshua declared.

Joshua further made some prediction for the Southern Africa and the

Nigeria: How Buhari's Administration Will Revive Agriculture - Ogbeh

Transporting maize to the market.

interview By Hussein Yahaya & Vincent A. Yusuf

Chief Audu Ogbeh, a farmer, is the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. In this exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, he explained why agriculture collapsed in Nigeria and the plans by President Muhammadu Buhari's administration to resuscitate it.

What is your assessment of Nigerian agriculture at the moment?

Buhari urged to declare emergency in agric sector

A member of the Seventh House of Representatives, Bamidele Faparusi , has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare an emergency in the agriculture sector owing to dwindling oil revenues.
He also backed the removal of oil subsidy as mooted by the Federal Government and supported by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Faparusi described the fund as opportunity for some fraudulent Nigerians to amass ill-gotten wealth.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Faparusi praised Buhari for the

Turning agric to forex earner

• Cocoa beans farmers

Nigeria’s earnings from oil keep on tumbling, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting the price could go down to $20 per barrel this year. Agriculture experts are divided on how to redress the situation. To some, more money can come in through agro exports mix. But others argue that there are impediments to using such a step to improve the nation’s balance sheet, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
The falling oil price is affecting the nation’s export revenues significantly.

Why SMEs Perform Poorly In Agriculture, Mining Sectors – Masari

In the 2013 National MSME Survey report, the agriculture and mining sectors had a poor show with 1, 536 and 245 numbers of small and medium enterprises operating in the sector respectively. In this interview with AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE, the director-general, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bature Umar Masari gives reasons for the weak numbers.
In the 2013 National MSME Survey Report, agriculture and mining appear to have a small number of SMEs. What could be the reason?
It is quiet true that the result of the national survey on SME which came out early last year in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics

Wheat output may drop for 2nd year straight due to warm winter

NEW DELHI: Wheat production in India, the world's second-largest producer, is likely to fall below 90 million tonnes (MT) for the second year in a row in 2015-16 due to an unusually dry and warm winter.

Wheat output had declined to 88.95 MT in 2014-15 due to to poor monsoon and unseasonal rains in February-March, as against a record 95.85 MT achieved in the previous year.