The National President of Federation of Cowpea (beans) Farmers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, has urged the Federal Government to provide seedlings and soft loans for farmers to boost agricultural production.
Mr Kabiru Mohammed, the newly elected national president of the association, made this call in Abuja on Thursday after the election of the national executives of the association.
Mohammed said to boost agriculture in the country, the Federal Government should provide soft loans and farm inputs to rural farmers and build factories where perishable commodities can be preserved.
He said the aims and objectives of the association are to promote the interest and welfare of cowpea in Nigeria and articulate their challenges through improved agricultural techniques and modern scientific methods of farming.
Others, he said, are to create awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of cowpea and promote the establishment of cowpea market in all beans growing towns and villages.
Mohammed said the country can provide up to three to four hundred billion tonnes of cowpea when properly managed.
According to him, the new executives would focus more on advocacy in the rural areas to enlighten farmers on storage and preservation.
“We will also teach farmers on how our forefathers used to store their beans with pepper.
“If you put pepper inside the beans, it can stay for a very long time without any insect affecting it,’’ Mohammed said.
Earlier, Mrs Omololu Ope-Ewe, Director, Commodity Protection Inspectorate in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the association would speak with one voice and assist government to make better policies on agriculture.
Ope-Ewe said the association would help to develop non-oil sector and make it competitive in the international market.
She said the country has the best type of beans in the world but due to non compliance to the insecticidal use, it was being rejected at the international market.
Ope-Ewe urged the association to ensure that only quality beans are imported to the international market to increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
Also, Mr Victor Iyama, National President, Federation of Agriculture Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), said the Federal Government can use agriculture to diversify the nation’s economy.
Iyama advised the association not to disappoint the country.
“If we develop our non-oil sector, the country can bring in 500 billion dollars yearly,’’ he said (NAN)