Kano, Dec. 19, 2024 – The federal government is distributing subsidised inputs to about 6,000 wheat farmers in Kano State. Abubakar Kyari, the minister of Agriculture and Food Security, said this on Thursday at the commencement of the distribution exercise in Alkamawa village in the Bunkure Local Government Area. He said the programme, which is under the Federal Government’s special programme on wheat production, is expected to boost wheat production. The minister, who was represented by Isa Hotoro, the State Coordinator, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said the government …
FG to provide N30bn to universities of Agric to start mechanised farming
Abuja, Dec. 17, 2024 – The federal government is to provide N30 billion to the 30 universities of agriculture in the country for them to commence mechanised farming. Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, disclosed this on Tuesday while declaring open a retreat organised by the Ministry of Education for pro-chancellors of federal universities. He said each university would receive N1 billion as take-off grant for the mechanized farming. The federal government had also directed specialised universities to focus strictly on their core mandates and stop offering unrelated courses. …
FG, World Bank to scale up rural access, agricultural marketing
Abuja, Dec. 14, 2024 – The federal government has said it was collaborating with the World Bank to scale up the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) in Nigeria. Aliyu Abdullah, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this in Abuja on Friday at a news conference. He said the RAAMP project was an on-going project and had been implemented across 19 states of the federation. The minister said out of the 19 states, 16 had already passed laws establishing their state’s rural access rule authority …
FG will reform livestock sector to attract investors – Tinubu
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Nov. 22, 2024 – President Bola Tinubu has promised to reform the livestock sector in Nigeria in the bid to check farmer-herder clashes, hunger as well as poverty. He made the promise on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while signing of a Letter of Intent between Nigeria and the JBS S.A, one of the top three largest global meat processing companies. The president said the federal government was determined to reform the sector to attract local and international investors. “What we are doing right now …
FG secures $134m AfDB loan to boost seeds, grains production
Abuja, Nov. 14, 2024 – Nigeria has secured a $134m loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to boost seeds and grain production in the country. Eremah Anthonia, the Chief Information Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, disclosed this in the statement on Thursday, The statement quoted Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, to have said this during the flag-off of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming initiative in Calabar. The minister said the reintroduction of the national dry season farming was key to …
BoI launches mobile app to monitor food prices across 8 states
Abuja, Oct. 4, 2024 – The Bank of Industry (BoI) has launched a mobile app, Pricesenseng, to check food prices across eight states in the country The app is for real-time monitoring of price variations of food commodities such as rice, beans, tomato, maize and others in different states across the country It covers eight states of Borno, Plateau, Rivers, Oyo, FCT, Lagos, Enugu and Kano. Olasupo Olusi, the Managing Director (MD) the bank, disclosed this during the bank’s annual public lecture series with the theme ‘Creating Impact: The Role of MSME Support …
US economy on ‘soft landing’ path, Fed’s policy rate will fall to neutral level – Yellen
Washington, Sept. 26, 2024 – US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday that labor market and inflation data suggest the US economy is on a path to a “soft landing,” but the “last mile” on taming inflation is bringing down housing costs. Yellen told CNBC in a live interview that based on comments from Federal Reserve officials, the US central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate will continue to decline to a neutral policy level. “I always believed that there was a path to a soft landing, that it was …
Floods destroy foods for 8.5m Nigerians – FAO
Abuja, Sept. 25, 2024 – Floods have destroyed crops that would have fed 8.5 million people for six months, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated. Farmers in Nigeria were expecting a bumper harvest this year, but land planted with groundnuts, vegetables and rice has been inundated, the organization said in a response to questions on Wednesday. Livestock ranging from chickens to cattle have drowned. The floods, which stretch from Guinea on Africa’s west coast to the Central African Republic more than 2,000 miles to the east, have …
Tinubu donates 100 trailer-loads of rice, other food items to Maiduguri flood victims
Abuja, Sept. 21, 2024 – President Bola has donated100 trailer-loads of rice and other assorted food items to flood victims in Maiduguri, Borno State. Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday. The president also donated 50 trailer-loads of maize, 30 trailer-loads of sorghum and 20 trailer-loads of millet to the state government to help mitigate the plight of the flood victims. “Following the visit of our President and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to Borno State …
Ghana’s economy grew by 6.9% in Q2 2024, fastest in five years
Accra, Sept. 18, 2024 – Ghana’s economy grew by 6.9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, the fastest rate in five years, boosted by expansion in several key sectors, the country’s statistics agency said on Wednesday. The strong growth represents a significant recovery for the producer of gold, oil and cocoa which has been grappling with its worst economic crisis in a generation due to skyrocketing public debt. “The 6.9% growth rate is highest since the second quarter of 2019 and it was driven largely by strong expansion in …