The association of grain sellers in Kaduna State has called on the Federal Government to restrict the importation of maize into the country in order to encourage local production. 

After a curious initial hesitation, Nigeria recently became the 53rd country on the African continent that signed the protocol establishing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

Indications have emerged that the country may reap bumper harvests of crops and allied farm products in the next harvest season. This follows the cultivation of over 477,642.18 hectares of land across the states of the country by 416,835 farm families with rice, maize, soya bean, cassava, wheat, and cotton.

The Ogidi Day celebration, a cultural festival of Ogidi people of Kogi State has continued to draw both local and foreign participation. The cultural fiesta, which started in 2007, has become a rallying point for the people and has attracted development to their area, as well as boost the economy. Once again on June 15,…

The brewery subsector has also come under the onslaught of unfavourable macroeconomic factors induced by the impact of stiff competition, lower consumer spending and pressured production volumes, and infrastructure deficit, which moderated earnings of the brewing companies, with attendant depression of profit margin.   Additionally, worsening security situation in Nigeria’s middle-belt region has put significant…

Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) has called on the Federal Government to ban the importation of maize into the country to encourage local production. Alhaji Bello Abubakar, the National President of the association, made the call while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday. Abubakar was reacting to a recent publication by the National Biosafety Management…

Managing Director of AgroVet Nigeria Ltd, Mr Femi Akinwale, shares his experience on what farmers can do to break even, remain in business and expand operations. FEMI IBIROGBA presents excerpts. How has farmers/herders crisis affected cost of producing animal feeds? The problem affects everybody in Nigeria and the point around it is that we have…

Nigerian maize and rice farmers have accused Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing in Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), an offshoot of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), of delaying their maize and rice cultivation for the year by unnecessarily holding back a loan already released by the apex bank. The farmers, under a cooperative society known as HOPE CONCEPT,…

A Moroccan firm, OCP Africa, has launched its School Lab project in Bauchi State to boost the yield and income of 10,000 smallholder farmers in 70 communities in the state.   The project operates in a caravan of trucks and provides mobile interactive training sessions on good agricultural practices for rural farmers, using live demos…

Suffyan Koroma, at the opening ceremony of a five-day capacity building training workshop for ECOWAS members on control and management of armyworm outbreak in West Africa, said FAO has been...

The maize industry is currently challenged by an array of diseases and pests, especially armyworm caterpillar, stem borers; and Corn earworms, among others, which have dealt deadly and devastating blows on maize plantations across the country.

Despite obvious indicators that N6b was spent on importing maize in April and May 2017, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has denied such expenditure, stressing that the Federal Government has increased maize production.