The Kogi State government has assured farmers of its support to help boost agricultural production in the state.
Gabriel Olofu, the commissioner for commerce and industry, gave the assurance on Wednesday, while declaring open a training workshop organised by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) for cassava farmers and processors in Kogi held in Lokoja, the state capital.
Represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Salifu Ahmed, he commended Governor Yahaya Bello for deploying resources into the development of agriculture in the last seven years.
He urged cassava farmers and processors to form cooperative groups to enable them benefit from government grants
In her address, the state coordinator of NEPC, Amina Abdulmalik, assured of the council’s commitment and readiness to collaborate with the cassava farmers and processors to improve on the non-oil export in the country
She pointed out that the major objective of the multiplication and distribution of the improved cassava rapid multiplication CRM stems was to improve cassava multiplication system and develop effective and sustainable varieties to farmers to help boost cassava production in Nigeria.
In a paper titled “rapid multiplication of cassava to solve low multiplication ratio,” Yakubu Zubairu, the resource person, said the workshop was a follow-up to the previous workshop on cassava production multiplication and value addition, noting that there was a need to train cassava farmers on how cassava stems can be multiply into large quantity for increased cassava farming.
While commending the state for committing resources into agriculture, he urged the government, individuals and commercial banks to inject more funds into the agricultural sector to achieve food security and export.
