The Federal Government says it will increase groundnut production, processing and value addition to address food and nutrition challenges in Nigeria.
Mrs Omolara Oguntuyi-Abimbola, the South-West Zonal Director, made this known in Ibadan on Tuesday at a workshop on “Effects of Pests and Diseases in Groundnut Production”.
Oguntuyi-Abimbola said the gathering was made up of key players, particularly farmers and researchers, amongst others who were charged with the responsibility to review the current status of the sub-sector.
According to her, there is no gain in saying that Nigeria is blessed with a diverse agricultural endowment to drive the country’s economy, but this has been relegated to the background due to years of neglect of the sector.
“Many thanks, therefore, go to this administration that has made agriculture the centre of its economic diversification.
“Nothing is more important than food. A nation that does not feed itself becomes a threat to its sovereign existence.
“Growing our food, processing what we produced, becoming competitive in export markets and creating jobs all across our economy, are crucial for our national security.
“Nigeria has immense agricultural potential. We have 84 million hectares of arable land, but only cultivate 40 per cent. We have 263 billion cubic meters of water with two of the largest rivers in Africa. We have a cheap labour force for agricultural intensification.
“Our population of close to 200 million makes us a huge market.
“But, we must not be the market for others. We must grow and process our food. We must feed ourselves. We must create markets locally for our farmers. Charity they say begins at home,” Oguntuyi-Abimbola said.
Also, Dr Florence Kakulu, the State Coordinator, FMARD, urged participants at the workshop to step down the knowledge with other farmers.
According to her, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the Federal Department of Agriculture, is saddled with the responsibility of carrying out surveillance on the incidence of yield and yield parameters of various crop commodities through its specialised units.
She said that the greatest of the yield parameters- pests and diseases of crops- could reduce crop yield to zero, if not tackled at an early stage of infection.
“The purpose of this workshop is, therefore, to address pests and diseases of groundnut and their effects and management practices to improve farmers’ income and livelihood.
“As we all know, pests and disease control are very vital to crop cultivation, because of the negative impact they can have on farm families’ livelihood and the nation at large.
“Groundnut rosette is the most destructive viral disease of groundnut, which is transmitted between plants by insect vectors such as the groundnut aphid. It can cause a considerable setback to groundnut farmers, if not tackled,” Kakulu said.
One of the facilitators at the workshop, Dr Adedayo Adetumbi, a Seed Scientist and Deputy Director at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), said the general belief that groundnuts were not grown in the South-West was not true.
Adetumbi said that the soil in some parts of the South-West was doing well for groundnut farming.
“Farmers should understand that it can be grown effectively and profitably in the South-West.
“We have to begin sourcing for quality seeds in South-West as most of the seed companies do not believe that they grow groundnuts in the region,” Adetumbi said.
