Nigeria: Agriculture Sector to Create 3.5 Million Jobs
President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted the first meeting of Nigeria’s new Eminent Persons Group (EPG). The newly formed group of influential global leaders will be expected to advise the President on actions to help achieve Nigeria’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
The group will also provide a global platform to encourage investment in the country’s agricultural sector.
Read more: Nigeria: Agriculture Sector to Create 3.5 Million Jobs
New UN Programme to Improve Livelihoods of Thousands of Farmers in South Sudan
Some 30,000 vulnerable farmers in South Sudan will be able to benefit from a new United Nations programme that aims to improve their livelihoods by boosting the quality of the seeds they use to produce key crops.
The $612,000 programme, which will be implemented with the support of France and South Sudan’s ministry of agriculture, will target several states for one year, training farmers in the production, storage and marketing of quality seeds and cuttings of staple crops such as maize, cassava, cowpeas and sorghum.
Read more: New UN Programme to Improve Livelihoods of Thousands of Farmers in South Sudan
Rwanda: Exports Board Moves to Improve Tea Quality
Over 1,200 tea farmers have been trained in harvesting standards, a move tailored at improving quality and ensuring the crop fetches high premiums on the regional and international markets.
“Rwandan tea, especially the liquor type, is always the best at the Mombasa auction. However, traders always complain that they find foreign materials in the tea. With the skills gained, we hope the problem will cease,†said Francis Twagirayezu, the National Agriculture Export Development Board (NAEB) representative in Mombasa.
Read more: Rwanda: Exports Board Moves to Improve Tea Quality
Nation Produces Hybrid Cassava Varieties to Boost Productivity
Nigeria has released two improved cassava varieties in an effort to maintain its lead as the world’s largest producer of the root crop, improve incomes of farmers and make them smile.
The varieties were developed through a collaborative effort between the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Nigerian Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike.
Read more: Nation Produces Hybrid Cassava Varieties to Boost Productivity
