Deficiencies in maize production within the West Africa sub-region may soon be minimized as efforts are being made to address those deficiencies as a way of increasing crop yield.

In line with this objective, a five-day Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Training-of-Trainer workshop has been jointly organized by the Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP) project and CropLife Africa Middle East, in Kumasi.

The workshop which was held from February 8 to 12, 2010, was aimed at building the capacity of the private sector to become a more effective maize value chain stakeholder. The workshop was run simultaneously in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as well. Similar workshops are taking place in Côte d’Ivoire from February 22 to 26, 2010, and in Mali from March 1 to 5, 2010.

These workshops are part of efforts by ATP and CropLife to address deficiencies in maize production. According to Mr. Frederick Brandford Boampong, Programmes Officer of CropLife Ghana, the workshops are intended to create greater awareness among farmers on the impact of poor soil fertility and pests, including storage pests.

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Nairobi — Food insecurity in Kenya has been the force behind the flourishing cross border trade in agricultural produce in East Africa.

Faced with unfavourable weather, ineffective agricultural policies, poor organisation of small-scale farmers and largely unresponsive research, the country has been unable to produce enough food for its people and has had to turn to its neighbours.

Last year, the country produced a total of 2.1 million metric tonnes of maize, the staple crop. This was against an estimated consumption of 3.2 million tonnes, according to figures from the East African Grain Council.

Kenya has the largest deficit, according to statistics on the food situation, which project that as at June this year, Uganda and Rwanda will have a maize surplus of 409,000 tonnes and 206,500 tonnes, respectively.

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Successful implementation of commercial agriculture would remain a viable option for diversification into non-oil sector of Nigeria’s economy, National Project Coordinator of Commercial Agriculture Development Project Dr. Babandi Aminu has said.

Addressing officials of Kano State Commercial Agriculture Development Association (CADA) when he paid an advocacy visit to Kano, the coordinator also said the project if well embraced would greatly help to reduce over-dependence on oil and gas. A statement by communications officer Kano project Dan’asabe Yahaya quoted the coordinator as saying commercial agriculture development project was designed to improve the business environment for agriculture to become more successful through transforming small and medium agricultural enterprises.

“Thus, by this intervention, more food will be produced and surplus processed for export to reduce importation of rice, maize, milk and milk by-products”, he said. Aminu, therefore, implored the association to mobilize its members to take advantage of the project and improve their economy and by extension complement federal government’s food security initiative. The scheme’s preparatory stage, according to him, was and that with some commodity interest groups had identified some areas of intervention, especially in the provision of rural infrastructure such as electric transformers and construction of farm access roads.

The Delta State Government has commended the people of Aniocha North Local Government Area for making available hectares of land, along Asaba- Benin expressway for the youth’s empowerment through agriculture programme.

The Executive Assistant to the Delta State Governor on Micro Credit, Dr. Antonia Ashiedu, stated this at the flagging off of the programme in Issele-Uku

Dr. Ashiedu, appealed to the youths in Aniocha North Local Government Area, to channel their energy towards agriculture, as according to her, the Delta State Government is determined to diversify the economy.

Dr. Ashiedu, who singled out the traditional ruler of Issele-Uku, HRM Henry Ezeaguna, for praise for his role in providing a strategic site for the programme, said, the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, is eager to see more youths take to agriculture.

Similarly, the Chairman Aniocha North Local Government Area, Jaunty Okwudi and a former Permanent Secretary, Delta State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, State Moeteke, said the youth empowerment programmewas unique and unprecedented.

Mozambique is in a good position to export high quality organic produce to the European market, according to the government’s Export Promotion Institute (IPEX).

According to Jose Jossias, advisor to the IPEX Board of Directors, under a project financed by Holland, Mozambique will export to the European Union cashew nuts, pineapples, mangoes, green beans, chilli peppers, groundnuts and handicrafts over the next three years.

These products were chosen for the project after analyzing European demand and potential of Mozambican producers. “We identified constraints concerning quality, the quantity of goods, packing and certification”, Jossias said. “What we want in this project is to sell goods that the market wants, and for this we have to respect certain requirements”.

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