FAO trains rice farmers on diversity, resilience for profitability

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations says training of rice farmers in Ebonyi and Kebbi on diversity and resilience would ensure food and nutrition security in Nigeria.

Austin Stankus, the FAO Aquaculture Officer, Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy Division, spoke on Tuesday in Ibadan at the National Conference on “Rice-Fish Farming: A Farm Diversification Process”.

Stankus said the workshop was an opportunity for farmers to share their experiences with researchers and discuss.

“So, we have the farmers from Ebonyi and Kebbi and it is a chance for them to talk to each other and discuss.

“We have professors from the University of Ibadan and the University of Georgia, our partners, and graduate students who are doing Masters and PhD research in this area.

“So, it is an opportunity for them to relate with the farmers and for the farmers to relate with them.

“So, they know the problems of farmers; there is a question about the disease, profitability and the students can speak on the research they are doing in that regard; so that there would be a close connection between research and what is happening in the field.

“The objective of the project is diversity. Farmers are already growing rice, but they can add fish to these rice fields and you get the same yield of rice, but now you’ve added catfish.

“You can eat the catfish for nutrition, increasing the amount of protein for the family or some of them are selling it and that is value addition, which is profitability.

“That is what the farmers are telling us and we are looking at how to support this through FAO and through our partners at the universities and how we can upscale the programme,” Stankus said.

Also, Emmanuel Ajani, a Professor of Aquaculture Development at the University of Ibadan, said the project had helped Nigeria to solve the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Ajani, a Principal Investigator in the project, said there were some states peculiar for rice farming like Kebbi and Ebonyi, saying that the techniques obtained in developed countries such as China and Thailand, Fish culture was embedded in rice farming.

“The advantage is that the farmers will have two streams of income; you harvest from rice and fish and it would also help in food security and nutrition security.

“So, there would be a balanced diet for the family. We have serious cases of malnutrition in Nigeria; as there are so many malnourished children and pregnant women.

“But, when they have rice and fish on their farming plot or their fields, then, you have your rice, you eat fish with it, this is what we are working on,” Ajani said.

One of the beneficial farmers, Musa Najada from Kebbi State, said that the programme was an excellent one that articulated the future of rice farming through diversity.

Another farmer, Amarachi Nweke from Ebonyi, commended the organisers of the project, saying that result of the project was a dream come true for her and other farmers in the state.

“Addition of rice and fish farming is a nice thing because we now gain more profit. When you sell your rice, you also sell your fish,” Nweke said. (NAN)

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