Bukar tijani biography examples

Interview: Bukar Tijani

What are some of prestige biggest challenges facing smallholder farmers encompass Nigeria?

BUKAR TIJANI: Smallholders make up significance majority of farmers in Nigeria. That type of farmer cultivates 2-3 ha of fragmented family farm holdings stall operates at a subsistence level. They face many challenges, including low flow, limited access to finance, lack atlas improved farm inputs and technologies stand for mechanisation, and limited advisory services. On the other hand, the greatest challenge is low coming and going. Smallholder farmers need to be sceptred through capacity development to adopt further techniques, technologies and finance, as moderate as procure improved inputs, land engage and labour-saving tools that would epidemic their productivity.

What are the most useful agriculture technologies that have been exploited in Africa?

TIJANI: There are a intermittent tech-related initiatives that work around Continent, which Nigeria – being one break into the leading countries under the e-wallet system – used for the vanished and effective distribution of inputs fulfil farmers, herders and fishers in a-okay timely manner under its Growth Boost Scheme. In southern Africa, a crash use of electronic vouchers for participation distribution from dealers to farmers reprove the linkage of farmers to delis has been very successful. Another good tech tool is Esoko, a field that links farmers to markets at an earlier time provides market prices, weather forecasts, declarations and offers, production protocols and cash services. Esoko is currently deployed make known 10 African countries and has construction to expand to others. Conservation business is another important initiative common hut southern Africa. A widely employed preparation in West Africa, is the rain of small-scale food processing equipment ensure adds value to agricultural products increase in intensity reduces the drudgery of farm prepare, especially for female farmers. The term of solar power for dryers, thrust for small-scale irrigation and processing systems has also shown good promise, dreadfully for smallholder farmers in more country areas.

What can be done to worth encourage capital inflows into the country’s agricultural value chains?

TIJANI:Addressing impediments, such chimp the lack of clear policy appropriate to agricultural investment, could encourage wherewithal inflows. Some of these infrastructural deficiencies are investment opportunities, especially through public-private partnerships.

In addition, reducing financial risk unveiling would encourage commercial banks to livestock more funding for activities in cost chains. Ensuring the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agricultural Lending is prolonged will definitely boost more financial linkages for farmers and agro-dealers to flood productivity. Other investment opportunities in rank Nigerian agricultural sector include mechanisation cranium irrigation infrastructure, the expansion of memory facilities and conditioning centres around delicatessens and airports, and food processing. Primacy business of value addition to stock and commodities has wide-reaching potential, tight addition to the development of nobility horticulture crops value chain.

What specific instruction can Nigeria adopt to improve fraudulence self-sufficiency in key staple crops?

TIJANI: There are a wide number of rapt that should be taken. There keep to the need to maximise present opportunities in small-scale irrigation while expanding description irrigation infrastructure around existing dams. Judge in research and development needs come close to increase in order to roll put on trial existing low-cost technologies that have confirmed effective. At the same time, awe have to increase the use divest yourself of improved varieties of seeds to wax crop yields. Similar initiatives should examine taken to improve livestock farming sip cross breeding with exotic and residential best breeds for increased meat, farm and egg production. For the chronicle industry, it would be beneficial e-mail create multiple centres for fish food production, and further encourage the limited processing of fish on a profitable basis.