NAN-AE-1
Policy
By Kudirat Musa
Abuja, Dec. 4, 2017 (NAN) Participants at the inaugural consultative committee meeting for federal and state governments policy alignment have commended Synergos Nigeria for preparing a agricultural policy document and building the capacity of farmers.
The participants told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday that many beneficiary farmers of the Synergos programme had recorded high yields in those crops, in which they had comparative advantages
Mrs Jummai Kathleen, the Director of Agricultural Services, Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture, said that since the state joined the Synergos programme this year, the collaboration had been effective and purposeful.
She said that some of the achievements of Synergos in Kaduna State included building the capacity of agricultural extension agents, solving technical issues and presenting latest information on agricultural production to them.
“Synergos with the Technoserve Nigeria have prepared production guidelines for maize, rice and ginger, while building the capacity of our farmers.
“We now have modern ginger cleaning centre to boost the quality of ginger we produce and train our farmers on how to clean, dry and package their ginger.
“Our farmers have learnt a lot, not only in agricultural production but also in imbibing good agricultural practices, and we are following the agricultural calendar,’’ she said.
Besides, Kathleen said: “We have a success story in the area of innovation; the water trap technology was introduced to our maize farmers, although it came late but they are now getting 20 per cent more yield than what they were getting before.
“We have improved our production in the area of maize to an average yield of 5.6 tonnes per hectare in 2017; the same goes for ginger production which has increased from 17 tonnes to 21tonnes per hectare.’’
Kathleen said that Synergos had trained women and youthsin agribusiness, while building their capacity as to proper packaging and branding of their products.
“Our women have recorded appreciable advances in their product packaging; they only need to continue to gather and push for finance to enable them to record more progress,’’ she said.
The director said that Kaduna State just validated its agricultural investment plan last week, adding that this would go a long way to encourage people to invest in agribusiness in the state.
“We do not have an investment plan for agriculture before but with the help of Synergos, we have developed an investment plan for state,’’ she said.
Mr Thomas Unongo, the Director of Agricultural Services, Benue State Ministry of Agriculture, also lauded Synergos for assisting the state government to articulate its agricultural policy document, which was validated last month.
“Synergos has done great things to our farmers; we have been able to convert cassava waste, which was hitherto having negative impact on our environment, into wealth in Benue.
“The cassava peels have been converted to animal and poultry feeds, and this has somewhat brought peace to our state.
“The Synergos factory will now enable Benue State to produces feeds for pastoralists who want to engage in cattle ranching. Agriculture as a business is being promoted by Synergos,’’ Unongo added.
Besides, Dr Isa Ochepa, the Acting Permanent Secretary of Kogi State Ministry of Agriculture, commended Synergos for assisting the state to draft an agricultural policy document and build the capacity of farmers.
“We have just perfected the document two months ago; although the state has its own policy document on agriculture before but Synergos contributed a lot towards perfecting the document.
“We are going to adopt it as our agricultural policy because it has really facilitated the collaboration we are now having with different partners,’’ he added. (NAN)
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