• Institute grants corps member N2 million

For food security, Governor Abdullahi Sule has expressed gladness over the high yield from the Nasarawa State-owned 10,000 hectares rice farm located at Jangwa village in the Awe council area.

The governor, who was at the farm yesterday to ascertain the level of harvest, said the state would take the lead in rice production to support President Bola Tinubu’s food security agenda.

He said: “In our effort to achieve this, we secured 10,000 hectares of land, and started planting with 2,000 hectares, which is the first wet season farming. The yield is really good as you all can see.

“With this yield, we will expand even beyond rice farming to other crops depending on the land texture.”

MEANWHILE, the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Kwara State has presented a N2 million grant to a serving corps member for reducing post-harvest losses greatly.

The winner of the 2023 grant award, Miss Zainab Adam, engaged in smoked fish business activity, and was honoured at the training, titled, ‘Skills acquisition for corps members on value addition to agricultural commodities in Kwara State’.

The programme was sponsored by Synergy Impact Consultants Limited.  Speaking at the five-day training for 50 selected corps members in the state, NSPRI’s Executive Director, Prof Lateef Sanni, noted that post-harvest losses have led to an increase in the prices of agricultural commodities.

Sanni, who lamented the effects of 40-55 per cent in post-harvest losses of agricultural commodities in the country, added that close to $200 million are lost globally, while 10 per cent of yearly post-harvest losses in Nigeria is nothing less than $5 billion.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs Oloruntoyosi Thomas, commended the NSPRI for retooling the corps members on value addition, and post-harvest losses.