About one hundred Farmers Have Been Trained in Rice Farming production
By Esther Enna
National Cereals Research Institute has trained one hundred farmers in Pre-Season Rice Farming to improve seed production in the country.
Executive Director of the institute, Doctor Aliyu Umar stated this at a two-day Training of Train the Trainers on Rice Production in Lafia the Nasarawa State Capital.
The two-day training for rice farmers by the National Cereals Research Institute in Collaboration with the Institute of Crop Science, Green Agriculture West African Limited and the Bill and Melinda Foundation among other partners was geared towards improving the rice production value chain in the country.
Executive Director of National Cereals Research Institute Badeggi, Doctor Aliyu Umar said the training was aimed at equipping the farmers with requisite knowledge on improved technology for rice farming towards achieving national sufficiency in food production.
On his part, Assistant Managing Director of Green Agriculture West Africa Limited, Professor Wang Xuemin, explained that his organisation have supplied over twenty thousand metric tonnes of seeds to Nigerian farmers in over thirty states.
The Programme Manager, of Nasarawa Agricultural Development Programme and Head of the Department of Agriculture, Federal University of Lafia, Mr Emmanuel Alanana and Doctor Abdul Ibrahim maintained that the choice of Nasarawa for the training is apt owing to the roles the state play in terms of high quantity and quality of rice production.
Participants were drawn from Kogi, Benue and Nasarawa States including the Federal Capital Territory.
