Kwara boosts agric value – chain through processing project
As part of measures taken to unlock massive economic opportunities abound in comprehensive development of agricultural value chain, the Kwara State Government has launched Cassava Mechanisation and Agro Processing Project (CAMAP) for 2016 in Malete, Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The project is in partnership with the Africa Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) and other relevant agro-allied institutions in Africa. The project is geared towards achieving food sufficiency and reducing unemployment in the state.
Speaking during the flag-off of CAMAP for 2016 in Kwara State at the weekend, Anu Ibiwoye, the special adviser to Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed on Agriculture and Rural Water Support Services, declared that the project could transform the fortune of the state for better, if effectively pursued.
Ibiwoye said that CAMAP was an initiative of AATF which seeks to sponsor and promote the cultivation of cassava, and to also empower farmers that engage in cassava farming, adding that the objectives of the project is to provide input such as seedling- stem and fund to 100 identified farmers on one hundred hectares of land yearly, solely for the production of cassava.
He noted that the programme runs with the support and supervision of Kwara State ministry of agriculture through the appropriate platform of the ministry, just as he lauded the initiators and sponsors of the project, adding that farmers are already feeling the good impact of AATF, having engaged in such a project for a period of three years consecutively.
While advising the farmers to take the programme as an opportunity, Ibiwoye noted that the project would create reasonable employment opportunities and empowerment for participating farmers, but revealed that farmers who failed to comply with the terms of the programme would be replaced subsequently.
He, however, urged the farmers to show some level of seriousness and desire to appreciate the effort of the organisers by justifying the confidence reposed in them as farmers, and encourage other farmers coming on board.
He said, “This CAMAP, keyed into the State Government’s empowerment programme, especially in providing an exit strategy for graduates of Malete Youth Farm who are yet to be empowered by the state, although some of them have been integrated into the ongoing off -taker demand driven agriculture of the state.
Earlier, Toyin Zubair, deputy director, Agric and Engineering services noted that statistics had shown that much effort is being put into cassava farming, but little was realised at the end of cultivation, adding that the new initiative would thus increase productivity and profitability of the participating farmers, who would in turn, transfer the approach to other farmers. Tope Amujo, coordinator, Kwara Agro Mall (KWAMALL), was also present at the flag-off of CAMAP 2016 to demonstrate farmers’ Biometric Registration since all the participating farmers were captured in the Biometric Registration Facilities brought to the venue to collate farmers who had been registered on the Kwara Agro Network Platform.
Meanwhile, Kwara State Government has established 2,500-hectare grazing reserves each in Lata in Patigi and Gidan Magajiya, both located in Baruten Local Government Area of the State, as part of steps taken to curb incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers over cattle grazing.
The special adviser to the Governor on Agriculture and Rural Water Support Services, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, but added that the grazing reserves required expansion and repair of existing facilities such as dams, roads, schools and other social amenities that would make the place more functional and enable intending Fulani herdsmen to settle there.
Ibiwoye, who said that government was also looking at other issues related to the activities of the herdsmen to curtail cattle rustling, stated that the Miyeti Allah Cattle Breeder Association (MACBA) had earlier in the year, paid a courtesy call on Governor Ahmed with a view to collaborating with the state to reduce cattle rustling and other related vices associated with herdsmen in the state.
He added that government was increasing its advocacy and enlightenment by getting the communities to know the essence of the grazing reserves and also let the herdsmen understand why they have to be confined to the grazing reserves only.
According to Ibiwoye, the economic loss that comes from activities of cattle rustling is huge and “we must, as a government try to reduce such effects, and the state government is a responsible one, taking steps by working in conjunction with the Nigeria Police Force to curb the excesses of the cattle rustlers,” he said.
RAZAQ AYINLA and SIKIRAT SHEHU