NAN-AE-8
Farmers
By Vivian Emoni
Abuja, Jan. 24, 2017 (NAN) Mr Williams Osaze, the President, Society for the Promotion of People’s Rights, an NGO, advised farmers to embrace dry season farming to boost the nation’s food production.
Osaze gave the advice in Abuja on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He urged for more farmers’ participation in large scale dry season farming to guarantee steady income and food security.
“Farmers should continue to engage themselves in dry season farming. They should use crops that thrive during the dry season between November and March are usually vegetables and maize which used to be expensive during the period.
“Farmers should not only concentrate on vegetables and maize during this period but expand their production to rice, sugarcane, potatoes that have short yielding circle.
“With dry season farming, these crops can grow throughout the year because, ordinarily at that time of the year, people don’t normally cultivate the land,’’ he said.
He said that dry season farming could boost the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and eliminate the scarcity of vegetables during the period under review.
The president said that youths interested in agriculture should be trained and empowered for serious farming business to boost the nation`s economy.
He urged the government to put in place infrastructure for an organised market for farm produce to attract better pricing and reduce wastages in the country.
Osaze that availability of farm inputs to farmers in good time would encourage them to increase their agricultural activities.
He, however, pleaded with the government to construct more dams and strengthen state agricultural development programmes through adequate funding. (NAN)
VOE/MOL/GY
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Grace Yussuf