NGOs urge FG to enact new agricultural policy

By Steve Oni, Ilorin

A coalition of Non Governmental Organisations has called on both the Federal Government and the National Assembly to synergise and enact a new agricultural policy that would motivate the youth into embracing farming.

According to the Coalition which comprises the Cultural and Societal Values Development Initiatives (CSVDI), Moringa Development Association of Nigeria (MDAN) as well as Ruminants and Livestock Cooperatives Society (RLCS), the new policy should be funded with one percent deduction from Value Added Tax (VAT) and 10 percent deduction from the Constituency Projects’ fund, with the River Basin Development Authority saddled with farm preparation and irrigation all over the country.

The call was made on Friday on behalf of the NGOs by their Coordinator and Consultant, Prof. Samuel Ibiyemi and Dr. Kayode Ige respectively in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, while also urging that farms from the new policy should be made to give priority attention to the planting of Moringa and Thevetia trees as Green Belt to control climate change. This, they reckoned, would be in tandem with international call to check climate change incursion in order to reduce its future catastrophic effects on humanity.

On the choice of plants of priority, the Coalition added that seeds from Moringa and Thevetia could be extracted to produce biodiesel, adding that Moringa leaves are very useful for food supplements while Moringa’s cake is equally useful for water treatment.

They posited that ranches would be promoted because the plant provides protein for animals while its stem provides feed.

Other uses of Moringa, according to the Coalition, include production of ethanol as well as fiber for flours.


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