The four committees on the operationalization of Federal Government storage and Agro Processing facilities Resuscitation of Cotton, Textile and Garments, strategic Action Plan for the Development of Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes Nationwide and Revitalization of Agricultural Extension Services in Nigeria, made far reaching recommendations based on their terms of reference.

AN international environmentalist and agriculturist, Dr Vandana Shiva, has raised alarm over the proposed introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms, GMOs, in Nigeria and other African countries, describing it as suicidal. Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, Shiva said that Monsanto and other food corporations from the West were out in Africa to make huge profits and enslave African farmers at the expense of their well-being.

Cashew nut yields can be boosted by as much as 78% with weaver ants only, and 151% with ants and GF-120 bait sprays, when treatments incorporating the African weaver ant (Oecophylla longinoda) are employed against Béninois insect cashew pests. The researchers carried out their two-year study on a cashew orchard in the Parakou area of Bénin. First they divided the cashew trees into three blocks. Each block was then divided into four treatments, each with 72 trees.

THE African Union Commission (AUC) and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) have been urged to facilitate the mobilisation of investment finances required for the operationalization of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated African Agriculture Growth and Transformation (3AGT).

Preliminary results from experimental plots carried out by researchers working under the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) led Cassava Weed Management Project show that by switching to improved weed management practices, Nigerian cassava farmers can double current national average yield of 12-13 tons per hectare.