NAN-AE-2
Exhibitions
By Shuaibu Tatu
Birnin Kebbi, March, 1, 2018 (NAN) Alhaji Abdulhahi Zuru, General Manager, Labana Rice Mill, says agricultural exhibitions are veritable means of providing new market opportunities for the products of farmers and others in the agriculture sector.
Zuru said this on Thursday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi at the Farmers Forum and Exhibition, jointly organised by Daily Trust Newspapers and the Kebbi Government.
“This kind of agricultural exhibition organised by the Daily Trust and Kebbi State Government brings all the stakeholders — farmers, producers of farm produce and manufacturers of farm inputs — together.
“It is an opportunity for them to come together to interact; this will bring us together to partner on how to move the sector to higher level.
“A fertiliser producing company can partner with farmers’ associations; farmers could also go into partnerships with agro-chemical companies and so on. At the end of the day, there will be abundant food in our country,’’ he said.
Besides, Zuru said that his company and stakeholders in the farm inputs supply business, including cooperative societies, had discovered new modes of partnership during the exhibition.
He noted that the exhibition would particularly motivate rice farmers to increase their production, thereby reducing food importation into the country.
Also speaking, Mr Garba Aminu, the General Manager of JADA Food and Beverages, said that the exhibition would encourage farmers to intensify their efforts to boost food production.
He noted that the exhibition had also exposed farmers to modern farming techniques.
“We are also advertising our products which we produced from farm outputs. The workshop also gives the farmers the hope of a better future,’’ he said.
Aminu, however, appealed to all stakeholders in the agriculture sector to invest more in the sector so as to enable Nigeria to become self-sufficient in food production..
Mr Mawoli Muhammad, the Senior Researcher of Sokoto Energy Centre, said that the modern irrigation product of the agency would revolutionise farming in the country and motivate young Nigerians to engage in farming.
“ With our new solar-powered irrigation technology, farmers, with little money, would need minimal land to farm with improved outputs,’’ he added. (NAN)
SZT/ECN/OOK
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Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye and Dayo Komolafe