Dr David Kassa, the Taraba State Commissioner for Agriculture, on Thursday, October 19, 2017 said International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) has concluded arrangements to support 4,522 dry season rice farmers in the state with farm inputs.

Kassa disclosed this at the opening session of the state’s Trade Promotion and Knowledge Fair, organised by VCDP at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo, the state capital.

The commissioner said one of the major achievements of VCDP in the state was the construction of 20km  feeder road in the hinterlands.

He explained that the programme supported 4,167 farmers with inputs in the 2016 farming season.

He added that “VCDP is aimed at enhancing the income and food security of poor rural households who are engaged in the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava.”

The National Coordinator of the programme, Dr Ameh Onoja, commended the Taraba Government for the support given farmers and the VCDP in the state.

Onoja described the success of the programme in the state as overwhelming, noting that “I am
impressed with what VCDP is doing in Taraba in the area of rice and cassava production.

“Today, at this Trade Promotion and Knowledge Fair,  we have Olam and Popular Farms; they are all on ground in Taraba to buy and process the rice produced by our local farmers; it’s a great achievement; meaning, we are checking rice importation into the country.”

On his part, the State Programme Coordinator (SPC), Mr Irimiya Musa, expressed satisfaction with the success recorded by the programme in the state.

Musa said that the programme had made many farmers millionaires and created jobs for thousands of people in the state.

He commended Gov. Darius Ishaku and the state’s Ministry of Agriculture for the support given to the programme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Trade Promotion and Knowledge Fair featured exhibition from farmers and off takers who showcased various species of rice, cassava and their finished products.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says the bank will invest $24 billion in agriculture over the next 10 years to help unlock its potential and assure food security in Africa.

AfDB president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said this at a side event of the ongoing Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, USA on Wednesday, October 18, 2017.

Adesina said there was need for supportive public policies and significant investments in infrastructure, especially for roads, irrigation, storage, warehousing and agro-processing.

He said that AfDB would provide support to strengthen African agricultural research and development systems to play significant roles in the transformation processes.

The former Agriculture Minister said the support was to ensure that valuable research no longer simplied gathered dust on the shelves of academia.

The president said that AfDB’s Feed Africa strategy had launched the Transformation of the African Savannah Initiatives (TASI) to help unlock the potential of the Savannas of Africa.

He said that the initiative would start by bringing approximately two million hectares of savannah in eight African countries – Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique.

These countries come under the cultivation of maize, soybean and livestock production in optimum conditions.

“Success in this endeavor requires that we wake up the savannas of Africa.

”When we do so, African agriculture will indeed rise up from its slumber.

“Let’s wake up Africa’s savannas and turn them into the new wealth zones of Africa and unleash Africa as a global powerhouse in food. Together let arise and feed Africa.

“Valuable research must meet the needs of farmers and agri-businesses in ways that exponentially increase productivity and improve the quality of lives of our rural poor.

“Africa must learn from the experiences that have worked elsewhere, while tailoring the interventions to the specific realities of Africa.

“We must ensure that small, medium scale and large-scale commercial farmers co-exist in a way that allows opportunities for all.

” Partnerships in research and development will be crucial,” Adesina said.

According to him, the bank has engaged to work with the strongest possible organisations with proven track records in tropical agriculture from South America.

He said that this included the Brazilian Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the Agricultural Corporation of Brazil (CAMPO), and others with long experience in conservation agriculture.

Adesina that the research institutions would work closely with the universities and the national agricultural research systems across the savannas of Africa to enhance agriculture.

India’s abysmal management of pesticides has started taking a deadly toll, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Over 35 farmers have reportedly died and hundreds have become ill due to pesticide poisoning in several districts of Vidharba region in Maharashtra, since July 2017. These incidents have been reported from the districts of Yavatmal, Nagpur, Akola and Amravati where farm workers died due to inhalation of toxic pesticides while spraying it on the fields.

“The death of farmers in Maharashtra due to pesticide poisoning is because of the gross negligence in pesticide management in the country. This negligence has led to pesticide poisoning becoming a chronic problem in the country. Every year, there are about 10,000 reported cases of pesticide poisoning in India. In 2015, about 7,000 people died because of accidental intake of insecticides/pesticides. The Ministry of Agriculture at the Centre and agricultural departments of the states are solely responsible for the unsafe use of pesticides in the country. Deaths and illnesses due to pesticides can be avoided if we can urgently fix some of the crucial gaps in our regulations and improve its enforcement,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, CSE.

In Maharashtra, pesticides such as Monocrotophos, Oxydemeton-methyl, Acephate and Profenophos are believed to be responsible for the deaths and illness. Pesticides like Monocrotophos and Oxydemeton-methyl are considered class I pesticides by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which are further categorised into extremely hazardous (class Ia) and highly hazardous (class Ib). The classification is based on acute toxicity of pesticide active ingredient and since class I pesticides can be fatal at a very low dose, many of these are banned in several countries. Monocrotophos is banned in 60 countries, Phorate in 37, Triazophos in 40 and Phosphamidon is banned in 49 countries. But India still allows the use of these pesticides.

In fact, there are 18 class I pesticides allowed to be used in the country. In 2015-16, of the 7,717 tonnes of pesticides (technical grade) used in the country, 2,254 tonnes were class I pesticides (about 30 per cent of total pesticides). As per the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management, jointly released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), “pesticides whose handling and application require the use of personal protective equipment that is uncomfortable, expensive or not readily available should be avoided, especially in the case of small-scale users and farm workers in hot climates”.

All class I pesticides require the use of personal protective equipment that is impossible to use by small-scale farmers and farm workers in India. On this basis itself, class I pesticides should have been banned in India long ago, say CSE researchers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, based on a 2015 review by the Anupam Verma Committee, plans to ban only three out of these 18 pesticides starting 2018. The committee had reviewed only 11 out of the 18 pesticides and had proposed to prohibit use of another four, but only after several years – starting 2021.

“While India urgently needs to address pesticide mismanagement from several aspects, the most urgent step needed is to ban use of class I pesticides. The recommendations of the Verma committee is inadequate and the government actions so far is not in line with the urgency and scale of the problem,” said Amit Khurana, senior programme manager for food safety and toxins, CSE.

Approval and enforcement issues

CSE, over the last several years, has highlighted gaps in pesticide management in the country. There is a major problem with the way pesticides are approved for use in the country. There is even a bigger problem of enforcement. Unapproved off-label use of pesticides continues to be a big problem in India along with unsafe application of pesticide by farmers.

A 2013 CSE review of 11 important crops in India – wheat, paddy, apple, mango, potato, cauliflower, black pepper, cardamom, tea, sugarcane and cotton – showed that the pesticide recommendations made by state agriculture universities, agriculture departments and other boards for a crop do not adhere to the pesticides that the Central Insecticides Board and Registered Committee (CIBRC) has registered for those crops. The agriculture universities, departments and boards have recommended many pesticides that have not been registered for some crops. For example, in case of wheat the states of Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh recommended 11, 5 and 9 pesticides which were not registered by the CIBRC.

“Till we reform our pesticides regulations and regulatory institutions, pesticide poisoning and accidental deaths would continue. A Pesticide Management Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 2008 but it was allowed to be lapsed. We need a new Pesticide Management Bill to address the issues related to unsafe use of pesticides,” said Chandra Bhushan.