KAFACI, IAR&T’s partnership will improve livestock farming —Sang Ho

LIVESTOCK farmers in the country particularly small scale chicken farmers will continue to have a swell time with the ongoing collaboration between the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) and the Institute of Agriculture and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan.

The representative of KAFACI, Kim Sang Ho, who led a team to Nigeria to monitor the progress made so far while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune at the IAR&T stated that the motive behind the initiative was to encourage small scale livestock farmers because they are crucial to nation development.

Sang Ho, who expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far on the project, said that KAFACI will not relent in its effort to ensure that small scale livestock farmers are encouraged to contribute their quota to the development of agriculture and the economy of the country.

Also speaking on the KAFACI initiative, KAFACI Principal Investigator in Nigeria, Professor Akinyele Adesehinwa, said:”KAFACI is a way by which Korea is sharing its agricultural technology with Nigeria and impacting on Nigerian farmers positively.

“This particular project has to do with livestock as it concerns chicken, so we are supporting small scale chicken farmers, we train them and also empower them. We give them chicken as well as feeds till the birds that we give to them start laying.”

Adesehinwa, stated further that the visit by officials of KAFACI to Nigeria was to confirm all the reports they have received as regards the project. “They have sent some money with which we are running the project. It is a project between IAR&T and KAFACI, we have been to Lagos and we were at some locations here in Ibadan yesterday and we are still going to other locations in the south-west.”

Meanwhile, Farmers in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State and its environs have been trained on how to make their farmland more productive.

The training which was facilitated by member, representing Oluyole Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Olasumbo Olugbemi and organised by the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan.

Deputy Director, IAR&T, Dr. Olaide Saka, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune said:”The training is being put together to expose farmers to basic principles on land management for sustainable increase in productivity.

“We are training the farmers on different ways by which they can maintain their land to ensure they continue to have increase in the yield that they are getting from it.

“Our research activities have actually produced a lot of breakthroughs that we need to disseminate to the farmers as a way of coping with the emerging challenges in their agricultural production.

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“The forum is a way of fastracking the dissemination of our breakthroughs on land management to our farmers. I want to also urge the farmers to always pay attention to the management of their land as they pay attention to the control of diseases that affects crops.”

One of the resource persons at the training, Dr Olunfunmilayo Ande, who recommended integrated soil fertility management for farmers said:”It is not just using fertilizer to boost productivity, you combine organic with organic, then you use improved seed varieties because if your seeds has the potential of two tonnes per hectre on maize there is no amount of fertilizer that will make it give you four tonnes.”

She, therefore, advised farmers to cultivate the habbit of using improved crop genetics that can give them high yield.