FAO's Country Rep urges Oyo state Govt. to use NIHORT to increase plantain production

The FAO's country rep in Nigeria has
advised the Oyo State
Government to leverage the
expertise of the Ibadan-based
National Institute for Horticulture
(NIHORT).
Dr. Louise Setshwaelo, the FAO
Country Representative, gave the
advice when she paid a courtesy
visit to the Permanent Secretary
in the Oyo Ministry of Agriculture
and Natural Resources in Ibadan.
Setshwaelo thanked the state for
its collaboration with the FAO on
the plantain and banana project,
saying that the necessary launch
pad had been provided for the
state to upscale the project to
cover farmers in the other 24
local governments not
participating in the project.
At the moment, only Oluyole,
Afijio, Iddo and Ogoluwa are
participating in the project.
‘’Farmers have been trained on
the production of plantain and
banana. To upscale will be for
Oyo state to extend this to other
farmers.
``Oyo hosts NIHORT which can
provide the necessary planting
materials. Please consider the
upscaling of this project and that
of aquaculture under the ATA
priority areas.’’
She also intimated the
permanent secretary about the
2015-2017 Nigeria-FAO
framework, whose five priority
areas applied to Oyo state,
adding that the state should
study the document carefully and
intimate FAO on those areas that
it needed support.
Responding, the Permanent
Secretary, Elder Tunde Adedokun,
told the FAO representative that
the state was facing serious
problems with ageing farmer
population.
Adedokun said that the
government had begun a school
agriculture programme in maize,
cassava, poultry and fisheries as
part of the school curriculum, to
generate interest as well as to
promote practical engagement.
He said that the 13 secondary
schools in the pilot programme
were selected on the basis of
their comparative advantage.
Adedokun urged the FAO to
support the state in containing
its post-harvest losses, especially
in fruits and also provide support
in irrigation needed to mitigate
some of the negative effects of
climate change.
The permanent secretary said the
state had embarked on a re-
afforestation programme to
mitigate some of the effects of
climate change.
So far, the ministry had
distributed more than 500,000
teak and gmelina seeds to
farmers for planting this year.
He also told the FAO country
representative that Oyo State had
keyed into the Federal
Government’s Agriculture
Transformation Agenda (ATA).
``Tthat is the best thing that has
happened to agriculture in
Nigeria’’ as over 300,000 farmers
in the state have been receiving
their fertilizer and inputs based
on their different commodity
interests, he said.