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Stakeholders In Agric Business Seek Better Support For Vegetable Farmers

Published

4 years ago

November 28, 2021

Our Reporter, Ado Ekiti

The federal and state governments have been tasked to institute a well structured system that will provide a standardized procedure for vegetable farming in Nigeria.

A centralised market where all vegetable produces that will ensure regularisation of price and access to healthy products was also recommended.

These and many more are resolutions reached by farmers, consumers and experts in Agric business during a summit organised by RAFI to educate its new graduands on the challenges and prospect of farming.

At the summit held in Ado Ekiti, the panelists opined that the proposed standardisation will give room for quality control, enhance food production and encourage more youths to venture into agriculture.

The panelists affirmed that farming remains the best profession that could surmount the challenges of poor economy, unemployment and poverty, urging government to invest more in agriculture and support farmers with necessary tools and fund to enhance their productions.

They identified lack of access to tools, insecurity, labour, lack of market and cost of production as major factors militating against farming profession, just as they urged government to it, if the nation desire to achieve food security.

One of the panelists who represented consumers, Dr. Folakemi Olomojobi, sympathized with farmers over the numerous challenges facing them but stressed the need for production of quality organic foods due to its importance.

She explained that food consumption constitutes 60% of various health challenges in the society, hence there is the need for farmers to do more in providing healthy produce and access to vegetables.

In his remark, Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Olabode Adetoyi, commended RAFI for putting up the programme and appealed to more youths to embrace agriculture, following the proper laid down procedures.

Mr. Olabode noted the various challenges confronting farmers with a promise that government would continue to work harder to give them the necessary support to enhance their production.

According to him, the government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi places premium on agriculture due to its enormous benefits.

He urged youths interested in Agriculture to apply for land to farm in some of the already opened spaces by government.

He, however, announced that government would soon clamp down on eateries and hotels making use of unhealthy vegetables procured at cheap rates from the open markets.

Earlier, the convener of the summit, Mayowa Ekundayo known as Farmer Lawrence said the initiative was to create a platform for stakeholders to share experiences, brainstorm and reach a compromise on how best to go about farming in a profitable manner.

He advised youths to stop looking for white collar jobs which according tom him are not available but venture into vegetable farming to make ends meet for themselves.

Related Topics:Agric Stakeholders vegetable Farmers

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Nnamdi Kanu’s Case Proof Of Religious Persecution In Nigeria – US lawmaker, John James

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Former chairman of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative, John James, has claimed that the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is proof of religious persecution in Nigeria.

James stated this when the United States House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, held a public hearing to review President Donald Trump’s recent redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

The hearing in Washington, DC included senior US State Department officials and Nigerian religious leaders.

James claimed that in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal had struck down the charges against him and ordered his release in 2022.

He said: “Religious persecution is tied to political repression and weakening institutions in Nigeria. The detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear example.

“In 2022, Nigeria’s Court of Appeals struck down the charges against him and ordered his release.

“The UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention has also called for his unconditional release, yet he remains in solitary confinement in deteriorating health and recently had to represent himself in court.

“Nigeria has signaled that the law is optional and targeting Christians is fair game. Just hours ago this morning, despite the pleas and cries of Nigerian people and many Nigerian lawmakers, Kanu was convicted on all charges.”

Nnamdi Kanu was on Thursday, sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism charges.

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Nigerians Don’t Trust Their Govt – US Congressman Riley Moore

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

US Congressman Riley Moore has said that Nigerian people do not trust their government.

Moore stated this on Thursday at US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, which is investigating Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’, CPC.

“The Nigerian people don’t trust their government. ‘How can you trust a government that doesn’t show up when you ask them to?

“The Nigerian government must work with the US in cooperation to address these insecurity issues.

“A case that just happened recently in Plateau state. We had a pastor there who warned the Nigerian government that they were under attack. There’s imminent attack forces here in the next 24 hours. Please come and help us.

“The Nigerian government did not only ignore it but put up a press release that it is fake news,” he said.

Moore would be meeting with a delegation of senior members of the Nigerian government, over the devastating insecurity in Nigeria and the US designation of the country as CPC, DAILY POST reports.

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US Makes U-turn, To Attend G20 Summit In South Africa

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1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

In an 11th-hour about-turn, the United States has told South Africa it wants to take part in this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.

President Donald Trump’s administration had said it would not take part in the November 22-23 meeting and that no final statement by G20 leaders could be issued without its presence.

It has clashed with South Africa over various international and domestic policies this year, extending its objections to Pretoria’s G20 priorities for the meeting of leading economies being held for the first time in Africa.

“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit,” Ramaphosa told reporters.

“This comes at the late hour before the summit begins. And so therefore, we do need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means,” he said.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials.

Ramaphosa said: “We still need to engage with them to understand fully what their participation at the 11th hour means and how it will manifest itself.”

In a note to the government on Saturday, the US embassy repeated that it would not attend the summit, saying South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency”.

Ramaphosa said earlier Thursday that South Africa would not be bullied.

“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” he told delegates at a G20 curtain-raiser event.

There “should be no bullying of one nation by another”, he said.

– ‘Positive sign’ –
Ramaphosa said the apparent change of heart was “a positive sign”.

“All countries are here, and the United States, the biggest economy in the world, needs to be here,” he said.

South Africa chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme of its presidency of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.

Its agenda focuses on strengthening disaster resilience, improving debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition” and harnessing “critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

After early objections from Washington, it vowed to press on with its programme and its aim to find consensus on a leaders’ statement on the outcome of the discussions.

“We will not be told by anyone who is absent that we cannot adopt a declaration or make any decisions at the summit,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Thursday.

Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.

He expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March and has imposed 30 percent trade tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

US businesses were well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg Thursday.

The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change” during its rotating presidency, which transfers to the United States for 2026.

“The US Chamber of Commerce will use our B20 leadership to foster international collaboration,” Clark said.

The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more than 600 US companies operating in the country, according to the South African embassy in Washington.

G20 members account for 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.