Agric & Biotech

Farmers in southern Kaduna are expected to generate N5.850 billion annually from rubber plantation, according to Dr. Wuranti Valla, an official of the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) in Benin City, Edo State. Valla, a Chief Research Officer in the institute, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, April 9, 2018 in Manchok that 52 farmers, including ...

The Team Leader, Wheat Value Change in Nigeria, Dr Oliwasina Olabanji, says that Nigeria will reduce wheat importation by 60 per cent by 2025. Olabanji, who is the Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute, stated this on Sunday, April 8, 2018 after inspection of wheat seed production farms in Ringim and Hadejia Local Government Areas of Jigawa State. He explained ...

Global food prices rose for the second consecutive month with the index for these commodities averaging 172.8 points in March 2018, 1.1 per cent higher than in February, the United Nations food security agency announced on Thursday, April 5, 2018. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN, the rise was driven by “robust increases” in the prices of ...

The Director General/CEO of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, has given importers of genetically modified (GM) seeds a seven-day ultimatum to formalise their dealings or risk being shut down. The DG, who said this at a media conference in Abuja on Thursday, April 5, 2018, noted that there is a current influx of illegal GM products ...

The Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) programme says its second phase is aimed at enhancing rice production and farmers’ income in West and East Africa. Dr Stefan Kachelriess-Matthess, Programme Director of CARI, said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. Kachelriess-Matthess said that CARI programme had been in operation in ...

Professor of Microbiology, Rosemary Isu, has asserted that biotechnology has the capacity to transform the agricultural sector and contribute to national growth. The science enthusiast, who made this assertion recently in an exclusive interview in Abuja, recalled the impact of the Green Revolution on agricultural activities which was centred on crops that were specifically created to give better yields in shorter ...

National Coordinator, Fadama III Additional Financing Project, Mr Tayo Adewumi, says sustainability is paramount in the implementation of the project to ensure that the achievements recorded are maintained. Adewumi told newsmen on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 in Gwagwalada, Abuja, that several measures had been put in place to ensure that the project was sustained at the end of its implementation. ...

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) says its investment in promoting local farming is yielding results as production of made-in-Nigeria fertiliser has presently hit 2.22 million metric tonnes. Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, April 2, 2018 in Abuja, said NSIA’s investment was to make fertiliser affordable ...

The official in-charge of Apiculture at Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Kano State, Mr Dauda Abbas, says Nigeria has the potential to produce 20 million litres of honey annually. Abbas made the disclosure in Katsina on Monday, April 2, 2018 in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He spoke to NAN after a three-day training programme on poultry, ...

Twenty years ago, the fate of the Amazonian rainforest was a cause celèbre – and many environmentalists believed it to be a lost one. After decades of rapid deforestation, peaking in the 1990s, prophets of doom were beginning to draft obituaries for the world’s largest tropical forest. Now it is being celebrated in a different way. Over the intervening period, ...