Agriculture
THE International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) charged Taraba rice farmers to redouble their efforts towards boosting productivity to guarantee food security.
Mr Dauda Marafa, Head of the Knowledge Management Committee (KMC) of VCDP Taraba, gave the charge on Thursday at a learning visit to the dry season rice farm belonging to Malam Muniru Mafindi in Gassol.
Marafa told the farmers, who came from the Karim-Lamido, Donga, and Bali local government areas, to pay attention and learn best practices from Mafindi, whom he said had become a consultant in rice farming.
“VCDP has organised this learning visit for you to practically see how a dry season rice farm is set up using the modern approach for better yield,” he said.
He added that Mr Irimiya Musa, the State Programme Coordinator, has approved the visit for them to learn and become better farmers for a brighter future.
Earlier, Mrs Altine James, the Rural Institutions, Gender, and Youth Mainstreaming Officer of VCDP in the state, told the farmers to take advantage of the visit to learn best practices and become successful rice farmers in their communities.
She explained that the visiting young farmers were at a point, trained at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan under the VCDP Community Rice Seed Entrepreneurs, and have since been doing great things in their communities.
Albtine explained that Mafindi has, however, distinguished himself by bringing more innovative ideas to bear on his rice farm, making VCDP sponsor other farmers, equally trained, to visit and learn from him.
The farm owner, Mafindi, who conducted the visiting farmers and the VCDP team around his large rice farm, explained that since after the training at IITA in 2017, his rice farming skills have tremendously improved.
He noted that his expertise on weed control using chemicals, water reticulation in a large farm, land selection, and timing has made him a consultant to rice farms in Taraba and many other states of the federation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that leaders of the visiting farmers, including Peter Tenemu from Bali, Bello Sani from Donga, and Olivia David from the Karim-Lamido LGAs, said they were overwhelmed with the quality of the farm they saw, pledging to go back and improve. (NAN)
9th January, 2025.
C.E.
Tags: IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
