By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
Niger state government has finalised arrangement to enter into partnership with the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI) to boost rice and sugar cane farming.
Speaking, when he paid a courtesy visit to the NCRI, Badegi in Niger state over the weekend, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, said the state was ready to partner with the Institute in order to boost agriculture.
He said: “We have so many things to gain from the Institute and we are willing to partner with the NCRI. We want to close the gap between us and the institute so that our farmers can produce the best crops especially with varieties of seedlings.
“As we go into partnership with them, they will get us improved seeds on rice, soya beans, sugar cane and other cereals, and we will be able to feed the country and even the whole of West Africa.”
Earlier, the Acting Executive Director of the NCRI, Dr. Samuel Agboire, called on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, take irrigation farming more seriously if it must take its rightful position as number one in rice production in the country.
He said: “We have the potentials to support the state; we coordinate activities of states in the North-central zone where Niger state is. Light and water are our major problems. If we must compete favourably with other states, then irrigation facilities must be revived.
“To be number one producer of rice in the country, irrigation facilities must be put in place. This is a rice producing state; we have 70 rice varieties which can benefit farmers in the state. Other states have overtaken Niger that has the land mass, suitable soil, human resources and NCRI, the oldest cereals institute in the country.”
