NBRDA To Support Farmers With Agricultural Technology

Muhyideen Jimoh
Nov, Thu, 2024

Food Security , Science & Tech

NBRDA to support farmers with agricultural technology – D-G

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By Sylvester Thompson

Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, the Director-General, National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), has expressed the agency’s readiness to support farmers with technology to boost food production in the country.

Mustapha said this when the Islamic Green Club and Empowerment Initiative, a registered faith-based organisation paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja on Thursday.

According to him, this is an era of technology where nations deploy technology in agriculture to produce their food and cash crops for sustainable growth and development.

“If we do not support our farmers with technology as other countries are doing, what are we going to do?

“Are we going to fold our hands until other countries that use technology to produce their crops for us to go and buy from them?

“The crops that have been commercially released in this country, Tela maize, cowpea and Biotech (Bt) cotton are very essential in terms of development of our nation economically,’’ he said.

The NBRDA boss stated that these genetically modified crops created job opportunities and helped in reducing foreign exchange for food importation.

He added that the climate smart crops were exemplary in the attempt of finding a solution around climate change that was affecting the country and the rest of the world.

Mustapha said that the misinformation about Generically Modified Organisms (GMOs) was being sponsored by people who were trying to bring down the country’s efforts in reducing hunger and malnutrition.

“With the release of Tela maize, a lot has been achieved, we are no longer going to be importing all those GMOs that are being cultivated outside the country,’’ he said.

The D-G said that he requested some farmers to give him an update on their yields in the last planting season.

He said that farmers realised that due to insufficient rainfall, those that planted local seeds did not harvest close to half of what they expected to harvest.

“But those that planted Bt cowpea have harvested fully because it has yielded with the shortest possible time even though the rain did not reach, which is an advantage,’’ he said.

Mustapha assured that his agency was ready to deploy science and technology to improve food production and supply in line with President Tinubu’s eight-point agenda which also includes food security.

He expressed hope that the club’s visit would open a new chapter of advocacy of using technology in the development of the country, especially technology in agriculture.

Earlier, Hajiya Bola Usman, President of the Islamic Green Club and Empowerment Initiative, urged lawmakers to pay an oversight visit to agencies under difficult and unfavourable condition for an on-the-spot assessment and proper regulation.

Usman noted that the visit was to enable the club to gather some relevant materials to support its stand on the subject matter relating to GMOs.

“I am not qualified to make a pronouncement as far as research is concerned, neither do I want to make complementary pronouncements on this burning issue.

“But I am appealing to all concerned stakeholders to be cautious in order not to be misled.

“I observe that while government is planning, some people are counter-planning for obvious reasons not far from mischievousness or self-centeredness,’’ Usman said.

She said other Africa countries were making money through crops and that Nigerians should jettison negativity surrounding technology in agriculture.

She said the technologies, condemned by Nigerians locally, were ones that made other countries to advance and compete with developed nations through cooperation and understanding between governments and the governed.

Dr Shakirat Ajenifujah-Solebo, Director, Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Department, NBRDA acknowledged the role of faith-based organisation in reaching out to the people at the grassroots with accurate information about biotechnology.

She lauded the organisation for bringing the partnership to support technology in agriculture to enhance food production. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab
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