Cotton growers partner FUNAAB for improved productivity

As part of measures taken to reduce importation of cotton lint and other cotton materials, as well as to improve Nigeria’s cotton and textile industry, the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) has secured an agreement with Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) on research and implementation that will lead to increased cotton production.

The Cotton growers also urged their members all over the country to make cotton farming, production and processing, a family affair by encouraging more women involvement in the cotton value-chain development in order to create more jobs for jobless women farmers and youths, saying women should establish cotton farms and see the exercise as a real vocation.

According to Lola Kushimo-Adeoye, chairperson, NACOTAN, said that it was high time Nigerian women and youths embraced cotton farming as means of livelihood and economic empowerment during the training session organised for farmers at Ijake-Oke.

Kushimo-Adeoye said that the desire to create more wealth and jobs for the country through cotton production and processing, as well as improvement in the entire cotton value-chain prompted partnership among the NACOTAN, FUNAAB and the Ogun State ministry of agriculture.

While highlighting the economic benefits of women participation in cotton production and management to the nation, He noted that cotton production and processing is enough to revitalise the nation’s economy if well pursued, going by the indispensable nature of clothing to human beings in the whole world.

The Chairperson of NACOTAN in the Southwest, however, urged male cotton growers to encourage their wives to develop interest in the vocation by establishing personal farms rather than being ordinary farm-hand-helps to their husbands, adding that government should support efforts of cotton growers to attain sufficiency in the industry.

Victor Olowe, professor and director, Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre in FUNAAB told farmers to persevere and be diligent in their vocation as better days were still coming, adding that ongoing efforts between the government and stakeholders in the cotton industry would boost the economic status of farmers and the nation, when concluded.

Also speaking at the event, Gbenga Oyesola, director of Tree Crops, Ogun State ministry of agriculture, stated that farmers would soon be reaping direct benefits from an international collaboration tagged, ecosystem-based adaptation for food security, an initiative of both the United Nations and the African Union in tackling food insecurity and poverty in Africa. Oyesola noted that the project would tackle challenges of climate change on farming as farmers would be trained and equipped on practical methods of cultivation.

Meanwhile, the state ministry of agriculture has concluded plans to drive farming and crops production in all the state-owned secondary schools through the re-introduction of practical and demonstration-based agriculture in such schools, involving all the students with a view to inculcating farming and agricultural practice in young Nigerians as a dependable vocation.

RAZAQ AYINLA