The Kaduna State Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Manzo Maigari, has stated that the Nigerian billionaires and aristocrats of the future would be farmers. He spoke at the Business of Agriculture conference organised by Vicampro, a potato company, in Lagos.
”Farmers will be billionaires and private jet owners of the future. But sustainable agriculture means they must produce at whatever cost and sell at a profit, which our farmers can only do with standardised practise. Farming the same way for more two centuries makes our produce fall below global standard,” he said.
Speaking on the herdsmen farmers’ clashes, he said: “It is due to breakdown of law and order and growing population. Nomadic farming is no longer sustainable. This is why we brought in varieties of nutritious grass from Brazil. In six weeks, the pilot project increased daily productivity per cow from 1.5 to 3.5 litres.
We are also looking at artificial insemination: bring in the semen of improved cows, inseminate local cow and come up with hybrid: more milk, more beef. We will solve three problems with these capacity-building initiatives: no more moving around with cattle, clashes with crop farmers end and cattle rustling reduced,” he noted.
Maigari said the state government’s focus was to create the enabling environment through policies and infrastructure so that investors, such as Vicampro, will come into agriculture.