FG sets to open 200 artificial insemination centres — Ogbeh

THE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has disclosed that the Federal Government will build 200 new artificial insemination centres across the country to boost agricultural activities and improve production of milk and meat through cross breeding using insemination of local livestock during 2015 dry season farming for wheat and rice launching for farmers in Kano recently.
Ogbeh said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would diversify the economy with greater emphasis on agriculture and urged Nigerian youths to embrace agriculture to enhance their welfare and enable them become self-reliant.
The Agriculture Minister said that the Federal Government was determined to empower the youths through agriculture by providing farm land to each student of agriculture in Universities and Colleges of Agriculture across the country.
The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje during his remarks said that his administration placed high premium on agriculture and that the government had released over N1 billion soft loan to rice farmers and N100 million to wheat farmers in the state to boost production.
Ganduje revealed that the government had spent over N40 million in constructing artificial Insemination centres at Makoda and Kadawa to boost the production of milk and cattle, aside sponsoring 60 pastoralists to learn modern insemination techniques in Turkey.
Meanwhile, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) president Mr Kabir Ibrahim has expressed optimism that the agriculture sector would witness rapid transformation under the supervision of Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Ibrahim believes that as a successful farmer, Ogbeh would put to bear his wealth of experience in transforming the sector and hailed President Buhari for appointing Ogbeh to oversee agriculture in the country, adding that “the appointment is a round peg in a round hole.”
Ibrahim who revealed that AFAN would soon visit the minister to congratulate him and present the association’s expectations to him, also looked forward to the minister’s welcoming them and believes that he will work with them to achieve their expectations and tackle challenges in the agriculture sector.
He further said that AFAN will work hard like China and India to achieve what they have achieved to feed themselves and have high record in exportation of food and called on the administration of President Buhari to diversify the economy with greater emphasis on agriculture.
The AFAN President also further stressed the need for the Federal Government to empower the youth through agriculture by making farmland accessible for farming across the country and urged the Nigerian youth to embrace agriculture to enhance their welfare and enable them to become self-reliant. He added that the objective of the association was to ensure that agriculture made headway by boosting the economy.