Rivers State Mega Rice Farmers Association has revealed why the rice production plan has not taken of in the state. <\/p>\n
Speaking to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt, Godwin Akandu, the association’s president said lack of agricultural equipment is responsible for the situation. <\/p>\n
Akandu, however, disclosed that told the association had successfully coordinated members into cooperative groups using local government bio-data records processing system.<\/p>\n
He said the sector needed agricultural equipment to start off rice cultivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs farmers, we now understand our environment \u2013 when to plant, given the weather conditions and planting seasons for optimum output \u2013 but our major constraint is lack of agricultural equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing our records, the various farmer groups have been able to acquire large arable land with forest and stumps in them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we need now are equipment like bulldozers and tractors before we can start off operations on this virgin land.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsidering that rice has a general gestation period of three months with various species ranging from upland, riverine and swamp rice.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers in each area of the state are acquainted with the specie that is most suitable for a particular soil type and climate,\u201d he also said.<\/p>\n
Stressing the importance of equipment in mechanised agriculture, Akandu said with adequate equipment, there would be more canals to channel water sources to farms to sustain crops during the dry season.<\/p>\n
He also urged the federal government to re-define agricultural investment models to enable the youths to participate actively in the subsector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country is currently advocating for young people to embrace agriculture; the important question is, how can they achieve this without adequately equipping the sector?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Akandu, however, urged the federal government to consider ways of promoting agriculture across the rural areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government should consider the distribution of at least two tractors and two bulldozers across the 774 local government areas in the country to enable cooperative farmers to get them on lease to boost agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpon distribution of these highly cost-effective equipment, it is expected that the federal government should make deductions from statutory monthly allocations of the states as repayment on those equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch deductions should spread over a stipulated period across states. The steps, if adopted, will make it mandatory for states to begin to re-define agricultural investment rather than paying mere lip service to agro-business. (NAN) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Mega Rice Farmers Association has revealed why the rice production plan has not taken of in the state. Speaking to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt, Godwin Akandu, the association’s president said lack of agricultural equipment is responsible for the situation. Akandu, however, disclosed that told the association had successfully coordinated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":91373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2133,39592,39591,1914],"class_list":["post-194635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-federal-government","tag-godwin-akandu","tag-rice-production","tag-rivers"],"yoast_head":"\n