The Federal Government has called on research institutes to give priority and focus to sorghum value chain as other agricultural produce.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar,\u00a0 made the call at the inauguration of a technical working document and debriefing of outcomes of socio- economic studies on Thursday in Abuja.<\/span><\/p>\n The inauguration is held by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n Abubakar said that sorghum should be given the same priority as other crops like cassava and rice.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy is sorghum not given the kind of priority like cassava and other crops are given?. The time is now to do that. So I want the ministry to take note that sorghum is equally, in fact, a very important crop that should be given the same kind of attention\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d The bottom-line in agriculture is research, development, collaboration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n The minister further said that investment in agriculture was paying off and the country have become the largest producer of rice and sorghum in Africa and second largest producer of millet.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d Our investment in agriculture is paying off and the country has become the largest producer of rice and sorghum in Africa, second largest producer of millet in Africa and the first in cassava and yam production globally\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d However, more needs to be done, the potentials across crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries sub-sectors are enormous. Government is determined to fill the gap and consolidate on the achievements recorded and focus on productivity enhancement, institutional realignment and private sector investment\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d Expectations are to deploy improved varieties and support agribusiness undertakings in the country,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Abubakar noted that the expectations in agriculture was to take Nigeria to the promised land and that could only be achieved when researches are adaptive, focused on solving challenges and needs.<\/span><\/p>\n He also said that entrepreneurs should take deliberate actions to invest in the different agricultural value chains.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d The ministry, therefore, requires your contribution and support towards delivering in the above priorities areas, only then we will be able to address the impact of the global health emergency and high expectation of present administration in agriculture,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr Ernest Umakhihe, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, also said that the expectation to take agriculture to the promised land would only be achieved when researches were adopted, and focused \u201cto solving our challenges.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201d It is gratifying to note the potentials in crops, livestock and fisheries sub-sectors that are very enormous. The prospects are to deploy improved varieties associated with technologies and support agribusiness undertakings in the country,\u201d Umakhihe said.<\/span><\/p>\n Also, Country Representative, ICRISAT, Nigeria, Dr Hakeem Ajeigbe, expressed hope that research findings on sorghum, groundnut and pearl millet value chains would go a long way to boost the sector when included in policy formulation<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Federal Government has called on research institutes to give priority and focus to sorghum value chain as other agricultural produce. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar,\u00a0 made the call at the inauguration of a technical working document and debriefing of outcomes of socio- economic studies on Thursday in Abuja. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[277],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture"],"yoast_head":"\n