NAN-AE-1
Investment
By Okon Edem
Abuja, Dec. 8, 2016 (NAN) Dr Olukayode Oyeleye, the Media Adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, says the FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) programme is aimed at boosting farmers’ return on investment.
Oyeleye stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Cue in audio 1 ( Oyeleye)
“What is important is the new approaches being introduced.
“People have been farming before now, no doubt, and the rural farmers have been feeding us; but they have been using traditional methods that really cannot take farming to scale.
“But the best practices that are being introduced to them, actually will change a lot of things.
“It will help them to be able to see agriculture as worth the while.
“Teaching them the business side of agriculture is one remarkable thing for instance which of course will change their perception and of course the attitude.
“And so, they will now adopt methods that will actually enable them to see the difference between what they are putting in and what they are getting out; and that is a good thing.
“And then, of course, the idea of planting and how to maintain the field and then harvesting is also a very good aspect of thing that the FADAMA is introducing to them.
“And you will hear these days of business plan, that shows the level of seriousness being put into it that farmers have to prepare business plan, so they have an idea of what they are doing especially as they put it on paper.”
Cue out audio 1 (Oyeleye)
According to him, the potential energy in the country’s agricultural sector is undisputable even though such energy has not been harnessed to make the sector dynamic over the years since independence.
Cue in audio 2 (Oyeleye)
“The potential in agriculture is undisputable.
“For a long time we’ve known it, because if you cast your mind back to the immediate post-independent years, you will see that Nigeria was a net exporter of some commodities like groundnuts, palm oil, cocoa, and cotton.
“But over time, all that went down, because our attention has been shifted.
“So the potential has always been there; what we can say is that, yes the FADAMA intervention clearly underscored the fact that given some kind of support by training, by funding, the farmers will do a lot better.
“And there will be a lot more agric produce in the market, and of course it can also help in some significant ways in ensuring food security.
“So when you put all of these together it show clearly that FADAMA programme is actually making positive impact.
“Now it’s easy to tell more farmers to adopt these methods and my take away actually is that, is not even just about yield increase now, but about making the farmers: one to see agriculture as a business, and two adopting methods that are scientifically proven.
“These are the major things I think FADAMA intervention is actually achieving.“
Cue out audio 2 (Oyeleye) (NAN)
MZM/OSA/YEE
Edited by Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
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