The Guardian Falaju bags POFAN award

The Guardian Agriculture Correspondent, Joke Falaju, has received the Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN) award of Excellence, for her tenacity in the reportage of the association’s activities.

During the award, in Abuja, recently, POFAN President, Chief Dan Okafor, commended Falaju for her passion in reporting POFAN, despite the association’s shortcomings in its early years.

He said: “I remember, in 2012, when she followed us to an interior village in Nasarawa State. Despite the condition of the place, she ensured our event was well reported.”

Also honoured were the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Shehuri; Director-General, Raw Material Research Development
Council (RMRDC), Prof. Ibrahim Doko; Gombe State Commissioner for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Dr. Shamsudeen Ahmed
and former Head of Agriculture Division, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Ernest Aubee.

Other journalists honoured include Senior Reporter with Nigerian Tribune, Collins Nnabuife; Senior Reporter with Daily Trust, Vincent Yusuf and Gabriel Ewepu of the Vanguard.

Okafor urged the award winners to sustain their support for POFAN by ensuring positive and balanced coverage of the association and all issues affecting its members.

He noted that POFAN was working tirelessly to contribute its quota to the achievement of nutritional and food security in Nigeria, urging all stakeholders to join the association to achieve the desired goal.

Okafor, who described the award as an application for more dedication, urged them to deepen their support for the association.

Potato, Shehuri said, is recognised as the fourth global staple after wheat, rice and maize, adding: “In Nigeria, the crop has assumed the status of high value on account of its contribution to national food
security.”

He revealed Nigeria as the fourth largest producer of potatoes in Sub-Saharan Africa and seventh globally with yearly production of about 900,000 metric tonnes.

While acknowledging the 10-year rolling plan of the association to ensure Nigeria is among the top three global players by the year 2030, the minister charged the association to stick to the plan, as the ministry and other stakeholders would support them to promote potato cultivation by providing farmers with inputs, extension services among other factors needed to
boost their yield.