NAN-H-34
Team
By Mohammed Mamman
Damaturu, Oct. 3, 2016 (NAN) The Yobe Ministry for Agriculture and Environment, says it has constituted a rapid response team to monitor and tackle locust swarms threatening harvest in the state.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mustapha Gajerima, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Damaturu.
Gajerima said the ministry had sprayed many farmlands against the invasion of locusts and other pests
in six local local government areas – Damaturu, Yunusari, Bursari, Yusufari, Giedam and Machina.
“The ministry used motorised and manual methods to spray and tackle the swarms in good time before they invade the farms.
“In anticipation of possible outbreak of the pests, the state government made early preparation by procuring chemicals and promptly spraying the affected areas,” he said.
The commissioner said the rapid response team would monitor movement of pests for quick response to check the menace.
He said the early preparations and other proactive measures taken by the state government had saved many farmlands from the menace.
“We are happy to have contained the pests and saved the farms for bumper harvest by our farmers which will boost food security and economy,” the commissioner said.
He also said that government would assist farmers by buying up the excess crops for the state Strategic Grains Reserve Programme.
“This will save farmers from Shylock marketers who will buy the grains at low prices, create artificial scarcity and sell at exhorbitant rates and cause inflation,” Gajerima said. (NAN)
MM/AMY
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Edited by Abdullahi Yusuf