Agriculture / News / politics / Production

Ghana grows the ‘best’ weed; Why are we not capitalizing on it? – John Dumelo

Dumelo, who is also a farmer, posted on Twitter that the impending benefits Germany is about to gain from legalizing the plant should make Ghanaian authorities rethink.

This is because, in his view, Ghana should not be borrowing from western countries that act swiftly to gain from their resources when the country has more of such resources.

“Germany is set to make billions of Euros from taxes by legalizing marijuana. Then we will turn around and go and borrow that same money with interest for our development, forgetting that we (Ghana) grow the best marijuana in the world. Ain’t we smart?”

He has therefore urged Ghana’s government to consider legalizing the planting and commercial use of marijuana in the country.

To him, when this is done, the country can reap a lot of revenue from it.

He believes marijuana can create the most viable source of revenue for the country than any other crop if it is considered carefully.

A Neuroscientist Drug Researcher at the University of Columbia, Professor Carl Hart, urged Ghana to reevaluate its position on the plant in 2019.

At the time when the legalization of the drug generated enormous public attention and the Bill had not yet been passed by Parliament, the Professor said,

“People are making money out of this and we have to implement it and improve on its education.”

Other advocates did not hide their desire to see the decriminalization of the drug.

A Former Executive Secretary of Ghana’s Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Akrasi Sarpong, spoke to the BBC when he was the head of the Board and said that the “war” being waged on marijuana is destined to fail because a lot of people believe “what you are fighting is not a

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Agriculture / News / politics

Open Grazing: Obaseki storms Abuja, meets Buhari

The governor made the call when he addressed State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Obaseki said that the people of Edo had resolved that ranching was a private business and should be treated as such.

He said: “Our people say that as far as they are concerned, ranching is a private business just like every other agricultural venture, therefore, those involved should provide the land. “As you already know, it is expensive to run and manage ranches.

“So I came to discuss with the President that since the people of Edo would rather invest privately.

“Then, the National Livestock Transformation Programme, which is now being implemented by the Federal Government, should acknowledge our model.

“It should also be able to help Edo people benefit from the funding that is now being made available for people who want to go into the livestock business and have made investments in ranches and other similar livestock programmes,”.

According to Obaseki, the state government is yet to promulgate a law banning open grazing because it sees the venture as private business.

“As you know, most Southern States have passed laws relating to open grazing but Edo State has not. Because we want to ensure that whatever laws we pass are laws that we can enforce.

“We have had extensive consultations with our people to deal with the issue that yes, we do not want open grazing because it is out modelled and out dated; however, what are the options?

“If we are asking that we should now have ranches and these cows should be constrained to specific areas such as ranches, then who provides the land?,” he queried.

On politics, Obaseki commended the Senate for joining their House of Representatives counterparts in approving the transmission of election results electronically.

He said: “Definitely if not for God and the technology utilized by INEC, I may not be governor today.

“So, I am one of those people who believe that we should not …

Agriculture / News / politics

El-Rufai to Southern Governors: You can’t implement anti-open grazing law

The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasil el-Rufai, has told his counterparts in the South that the anti-open grazing law that their House of Assembly are passing and which they are signing into law are not implementable.

El-Rufai said this on Tuesday during his visit to the headquarters of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja.

The Governor, who spoke with newsmen, said since there are over 14 grazing reserves in Kaduna State he would want to convert into ranching, he would be glad if the Federal Government can support his state with N140 billion.

He said: “The Northern Governors Forum has already taken a position that open grazing is not a sustainable way of livestock production. “And we must move towards ranching.

“But moving towards ranching cannot be done overnight.

“We have to have a plan, we have to have resources and we have to implement it sensibly.

“It is not a matter of populist legislation or saying tomorrow this or that.

“It is not a solution.

“We have taken a position as northern state governors and we are implementing that.

“And in my state, for instance, we are developing a huge ranch to centralize the herders.

“And that is the solution, a long time.

“But can it be done overnight?

“No.

“This project we are doing will cost us about N10 billion.

“The CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) is supporting us with about N7.5 billion.

“And it will take about two years to do.

“We will be settling about 1,500 Fulani herders family.

“And I hope that they will see that there are alternative ways of producing livestock instead of running up and down with cattle going to people’s farms to cause all kinds of problems. We want to solve the problem.”…

Agriculture / Health

How Jamun keeps diabetes under control

When it comes to people suffering from diabetes, strict diet rules are important to keep the insulin levels under control. And in this process, it is often suggested that one should consume certain fruits and vegetables. One such seasonal fruit that can do wonders is Jamun. Jamun not only acts as a powerful antioxidant that helps to improve immunity but it is also beneficial in the treatment of diabetes. According to Diabetic Living India, jamun has lesser glucose and fructose count and it is also laden with minerals and provides fewer calories as compared to other seasonal fruits.

According to Unani and Ayurvedic systems, jamun is beneficial in many digestive disorders. It has been proven that the leaves, bark, and seeds are popular for their anti-diabetic properties.

As per traditional Ayurvedic medicine, the key ingredient that shows anti-diabetic action is jamboline, a chemical found in the seeds. Also, it has been proven that the extracts of the bark, seeds and leaves help in the prolonged decrease of blood sugar and glycouria. It has been found that jamun seeds, which are rich in alkaloids, have hypoglycemic effects with up to 30 percent reduction in blood sugar when consumed regularly during the season. It is suggested that diabetic patients should consume 10-12 jamun daily to control their sugar levels, which automatically helps in controlling insulin activity and sensitivity. In addition, experts suggest that jamun seeds powder can be taken as an adjuvant both for type-2 diabetes, insulin-dependent or non-insulin-dependent. According to experts, the use of jamun seeds powder is beneficial at the IFG (Impaired fasting glucose) stage. Consuming seeds powder helps in the regulation of IFG, which further prevents the early onset of diabetes and further conditions. Jamun is also rich in vitamin A and C, which makes it perfect for eye and skin health. It also acts as a coolant and also possesses anti-diarrhea properties, and is beneficial for the digestive system.…

Agriculture / News / Security

FG will task stakeholders on food security

The Federal Government has commenced meeting with stakeholders through the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) in a bid to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, floods and conflicts on food security.

 

This is against the backdrop of recent reports by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) that listed Northern Nigeria as one of the 20 countries where acute hunger is expected to soar.

The Permanent Secretary, Dr Ernest Umakhile while declaring open the 44th NCARD meeting urged stakeholders to come up with strategies to scale up food production, processing and marketing within the agribusiness ecosystem to avert food crisis and engender food sufficiency for the growing Nigerian population.

While reiterating Federal Government’s commitment to implementing the framework of the National Economic Sustainability Plan and the Nigerian Agricultural Technology and Innovation Plan as a strategy for food resilience and economic development, he highlighted some efforts in the sector to include, “the provision of mechanization inputs to farmers, training of extension agents on extension service delivery in crop, fishery and livestock value chain activities and construction of mini earth dam for irrigation activities.

He emphasized the commitment of the ministry “to be tied to the commodity value chain concept of strengthening sectoral linkages, Import substitution initiatives, value added processing and export-oriented activities in the country”.

Umakhihe stressed the importance of sustaining the collaboration on agribusiness initiatives to facilitate incentives to researchers, farmers and processors geared towards increase in agricultural output and match National requirements.

The Federal Capital Territory Secretary of Agriculture, Ibe Prospect, noted that the coming of COVID -19 is a wakeup call for a new beginning in agriculture and for nations to ensure sustainability of their internal food supply.…

Agriculture / News

Food, cattle dealers threaten nationwide strike

The Amalgamated Union of Food Stuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria says it will embark on a nationwide strike over alleged illegal roadblocks and multiple taxations on its members.

The National President of the union, Muhammed Tahir, stated this while addressing newsmen at the end of an emergency meeting of the union on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalled that the union had in March went on strike following similar allegations, including extortion of her members and attacks of its members in some parts of the country.

The union had earlier embarked on a six-day industrial action which was suspended after the intervention of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

Tahir said after reviewing the issues, the union resolved to throw her weights behind the Onion Union, who had commenced cutting off supply to the southern part of the country due to the same issues.

He, therefore, said the union would cut the supply of food nationwide if government failed to meet its demands within three weeks.

According to him, AFUCDN is not on strike at the moment, but may not guarantee industrial harmony after three weeks if the government fails to meet the union’s demands.

Also, Magama Saleh, Legal Adviser to the union, said the government must do the needful to avert cutting down of food supply across the country.

Saleh said: “This is an emergency meeting in regards to what is happening to our members in South East and South South Nigeria, this is also to brief our members nationwide on the aftermath of the three-month strike.

“Today’s resolution is that we are declaring support to the various unions under the umbrella of the amalgamated union.

“The onion association has embarked on strike last night and only to the south, and as a national union, we have discussed extensively and have resolved to support them on their industrial action.

“We have written a reminder letter to the Federal Government, through the ministry concerned and security agencies reminding them of their previous promises to the union.…

Agriculture / News / Production

Why Nigeria must legalize cannabis cultivation, Akeredolu insists

Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, says it is important for the country to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

He spoke on Thursday on a live interview program tagged ‘Governor Speaks’, which is part of activities lined up in commemoration of his 100 days of his second term in office. Akeredolu was sworn in for a second term on February 24, 2021 after he won the October 10, 2020 governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

Speaking during the live interview, the governor said cannabis could be a strong foreign exchange earner for Nigeria if its cultivation was legalized.

Akeredolu said, “We must find a way to legalize cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. There is nothing wrong about it. We are only shooting ourselves in the foot. It is a foreign exchange earner for people outside the country. People want this. We ourselves, even our pharmacies want to develop.

“I travelled out of here and I was in Thailand trying to study the cultivation of cannabis for pharmaceutical use. We did all these, we even went there with NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency), the chairman at that time went with us, maybe he came and said what he went for was for a different thing but that was why we went and all I felt that let us look at the way they did it over there.

“Everybody has drug problem, most country has drug problem. We are having it here, it is not as pronounced here as in other places but there are ways they went about these things that those who are involved in drugs, those who are selling, those who are exporting had other ways of doing things that they had to leave it. So, when we talk about cultivation, we are saying in which it is a monitored one, in which NDLEA will have an office (near farms).”

It was earlier reported on January 7, 2021, that the House of Representatives was …