The Maize Farmers Association of Nigeria (MAAN), says research is ongoing for high yielding varieties of maize to increase the production of the commodity to meet its demand in the country.
Alhaji Bello Abubakar, the President of MAAN, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday in Abuja.
The MAAN president said that with the involvement of agricultural scientists and some companies using maize products for their manufacturing, the development would further increase maize production from eight to 12 tonnes per hectare.
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“Every day, we are making research on how to increase the yields of what we are producing and right now we have some companies that come with certain varieties that will give about eight to 12 tonnes per hectare.
“The process with the involvement of beer companies, Agric scientists that will give agronomy practices and the right herbicides and also, if we can get good and adequate mechanisation, we are sure to reach greater heights.
‘’This will be positive because our local farmers are struggling to produce 4, 5 to 8 tonnes per hectare. But with the research, we are hoping to reach a certain level of increased production of maize.’’
He said that there was a great yielding in maize farming in Nigeria compared to the past traditional system of farming.
Abubakar attributed the development to some seed companies, beer producing companies and the government’s interest by giving some assistance through Anchor Borrowers Scheme introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The MAAN president, nevertheless, appealed to farmers who obtained loans through the anchoring scheme to pay back their loans to encourage the government to provide more financial assistance to other smallholder farmers.
He added that it would further sustain the scheme which in return would attract more farmers to gain from the scheme.
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