From Chukwudera Eze, Enugu
Farmers in Adani in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, particularly those into rice cultivation, recently had cause to rejoice. For many of them, rice production has broken their poverty line and put them in the league of thriving breadwinners for their families.
Thus, when Africarice chose their domain to celebrate the 2017 Farmers’ Field Day, their joy knew no bound.
The Farmers’ Field Day programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AFDB), was developed by the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase One, ATASP-1.
The aim of the programme was to attract private sector investment to agriculture, increase farm productivity of staples crops of cassava, rice and sorghum, add value to local agricultural produce, create employment for the teeming youths, as well as plans to develop critical infrastructure that would enhance agricultural productivity.
The Farmers Field Day, which started in 2016 saw the cultivation of 16 different rice varieties from which the farmers chose the first and best three that suit their soil ecology in terms of yield, resistance to diseases and other physiological qualities.
Oriental News gathered that the best preferred seeds were given out free-of-charge to the farmers to cultivate this year on their demo and innovation farms.
Africarice Research Associate, Adani-omor, Mr Abraham Ogwu, stated that part of the reasons the programme was developed was to help enhance the different value chains in agriculture.
Addressing the challenges listed by the farmers which include access road, farming implements and land development, Abraham said: “We are really working on road development. Presently, we are building schools, markets among other things. All these things we will look into it. It is not something we will do once; we are taking it step by step.
“This is just the phase one, by the time we finish this phase and enter into phase two, probably, we will do it in phase two.”
He also said that they had encouraged farmers to put their trust and adopt their practices.
Speaking on behalf of the rice farmers, marketers, boilers and millers in Adani, Chief Ifeanasi Dominick, thanked the state governor for accepting to pay counterpart fund of the project, and ATASP for coming to teach them.