About two hundred cassava farmers from the south West have been trained by the federal ministry of Agriculture and Rural development on good infestation control and good farm practices.
The South West regional Director of the ministry, Mrs. Omolara Oguntuyi while declaring the training open at National Root and Tuber Training centre at Ijebu Ife, Ogun state said the government was working to achieving food and nutrition security through the training.
She noted that the government was combining other policies and agricultural technologies to create job and wealth as well to improve people’s standard of living.
Mrs. Oguntuyi said federal ministry of Agriculture was promoting crops like cassava because of its comparative advantage in production.
The regional director said the purpose of the workshop was to train farmers on good agricultural practices, control/management of whitefly infestation on cassava farms for sustainable production.
Also speaking, the Director General, Federal Department of Agriculture, Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar stated that Nigeria is the world largest producer of cassava with an estimated production of over sixty million metric tons noting that average yield of the crop in Nigeria is still lower than those obtained in other developed countries around the world.
Mr. Abubakar who attributed the low yield to biotic and abiotic factors including pest and diseases, said the training was expected to increase productivity and promote small, medium and large-scale commercial production of the cassava using improved high yielding varieties.
Wale Oluokun
pub-5160901092443552
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