N12bn Worth of ‘Strange Projects’ Discovered in Agriculture Ministry’s Budget

Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh and his team have reportedly found 386 strange additions worth N12.6 billion in the ministry’s budget proposals – which were believed to have been inserted by the National Assembly.

The said projects were allegedly fixed into the budget after the N40.918 billion earlier proposed had been reduced to N31.618 billion.

A source told the Nation Newspapers that Ogbeh and his team were shocked at the strange inclusion found in the budget after they discovered about 3 projects that aren’t linked with agriculture in the budget.

Some of the projects are erosion control in Federal University, Kashere, Kwadon and Garin Alhaji at N200 million, N100 million and N45 million.

A source reportedly told the news outfit that: “In the Agric sector, 386 projects were inserted, which totalled about N12.6 billion.”

“While N5.3 billion of the main ministry’s budget is taken away, about N7.2 billion is infused into almost 40 agencies and parastatals of the agric ministry.”

Also, 58 boreholes for 29 rural communities worth N175 million as well as another 50 boreholes for 50 communities worth N150.4 million were also added to the budget.

According to the source “curiously, the communities are not named.”

“Similarly, of the N90 million allocated to the Cocoa Research Institute in Ibadan, various sums are allotted the following ýof the seven sub-heads: provision of rubber seeds and seedling in Igbotako, Okitipupa, (N5m), training and empowerment of youths in poultry farming in Oluyole, Ibadan(N20m) and provision of cassava processing plant in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State(N10m).”

“Of the four sub-heads under the Rubber Research Institute, Benin, two areas are equally outside the focus of rubber. These are training and empowerment of youth and women in fish farming in Ndokwa, Delta State as well as fabrication and installation of cassava processing machines in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State at N10m and N20m.”


“Also, N1 billion was allocated to two projects in Kwara South Senatorial District, including the construction of rural roads for N700 million as well as empowerment of women and youths in agricultural products for N300 million.”

Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee has revealed that the projects were fixed into the budget without the knowledge of the committee’s members.

“We are happy that the Speaker hinted that the issue of the budget will be revisited this week. But what some of us want is the understanding of Nigerians on this matter.”

“The issue of this controversial budget has to be carefully done this time around because some persons who think they were smarter had already led the entire parliament into collision with the executive and indeed Nigerians.”

“They have done this by inserting projects without the knowledge of others either in the appropriation or relevant sectoral committees and presenting same as the collective decision of the house or the entire parliament.”

“To the best of my knowledge, as a member of both the appropriation and agriculture committees in the House of Representatives, I did know that we reduced the ministry’s N40.9 billion proposal by about N9.3 billion.”

“But the surprise here is that while a decision was not taken where to infuse the reduced sum, some of us were surprised to see that so many projects were passed on to the President for assent, which he declined.”

“The implication is that if the President did not insist on details, most National Assembly members would not have had the opportunity to know what went behind them.”

The Budget Minister, Udoma Udoma is expected to meet with the president on Monday, April 18 to brief him on the impasse.


Article by

Adebayo Emuleomo for ynaija.com

WATER RUNS DRY...

Good morning, this is to hoping everyone had a refreshing and enjoyable Easter holidays. Its been a week since we posted up the press release for the Biogas Project we embarked on in Rije community of Kuje. I felt it was only right to keep those of you that showed interest in the news article a follow up into the process and our progress thus far.

Our technical partners from Cotonou have arrived. The Franco –Anglo barrier continually been stretched into a blur as we communicate. The biggest set-back thus far has been the challenges with the water. We decided to dig a ground –water borehole which hasn’t looked like a splashing success. On first trials the water supply has been stuttered at best. We would continue to find a solution to the borehole situation meanwhile the engineers have started digging the ground and making preparations for a bio-digester tank.

The next challenge for us now is building the actual bio-digester tank. We are in process of searching for a reliable metal work construction contractor to help us build the tank. We prefer this over the plastic types used in a lot of the foreign manufactured tanks. They are a lot more durable, robust and resilient than their foreign counter parts therefore we don’t mind spending a bit more. Never under-estimate the possibilities of a rodent infestation and how quickly they can chew through plastic. I have included some random images of all the works so far. Enjoy and please leave a comment or email us with any questions or ideas you want to contribute to making Rije Community build its own electricity grid.
-KOA

BREAKING NEWS : STUDIES CONFIRM BIOFORTIFICATION OF TUBERS (Sweet Potatoes)

A study published today in the Journal of Nutrition provides conclusive evidence that orange sweet potato (OSP) provided significant amounts of vitamin A to malnourished Ugandan children and women and that a modest improvement in vitamin A levels in the body was measurable in some cases.Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a major public health concern in poorer countries and accounts for more than 600,000 deaths a year among children under five years of age. In Africa, VADprevalence is estimated at 42% among children under five.Uganda is among the African countries reported to be at high risk, with 28% of children and 23% of women estimated to be vitamin A deficient. VAD can impair immunity and cause eye damage that can lead to blindness and even Annually, up to 500,000 preschool children go blind from VAD, and about two-thirds will die within months of going blind.

Biofortification is the process of breeding new varieties of foods crops that contain higher amounts of nutrients to improve nutrition and public health. Agricultural approaches, such as biofortification, are now being looked upon to fill the nutritional gap for vitamin A and other nutrients.Traditionally, white or yellow sweet potato varieties are grown and eaten in Africa, but these provide little, or no, vitamin A. OSP was conventionally bred, not just to provide more vitamin A but also to be high yielding and drought tolerant.From 2007–2009, HarvestPlus and its partners disseminated new OSPvarieties to more than 10,000 farming households in Uganda for whom sweet potato is a key staple food.

The project provided OSP vines for farmers to grow, as well as extension services and nutritional information so that farmers could incorporate OSP into their cropping systems. Since sweet potato is available for about 10 months a year, it can be a rich and steady source of vitamin A.The project resulted in 61% of households adopting the vitamin A-rich OSP to grow on their farms. They were also willing to substitute more than one-third of their traditional white and yellow sweet potato consumption with OSP. This level of substitution was enough to push large numbers of children and women over the threshold, ensuring that their daily requirements for vitamin A were met.Vitamin A intake increased by two-thirds for older children and nearly doubled for younger children and women by project end. For children 6–35 months, who are especially vulnerable, OSP contributed more than 50% of their total vitamin A intake.The high prevalence of inadequate vitamin A intake among a subset of children 12–35 months who were no longer breastfeeding fell from nearly 50% to only 12% as a result of the project. This is a very positive finding as young children who have recently stopped breastfeeding are at higher risk of VAD. This is because breast milk has been their primary source of vitamin A and their vitamin A needs continue to be high.Researchers were also able to measure a small positive impact of eating OSPon the amount of vitamin A in the blood among children 5–7 years that had lower levels of vitamin A at the start of the project. At project end, researchers also found that women who got more vitamin A from OSP had a lower likelihood of having marginal VAD. (VAD was unexpectedly low among the women sampled in this study, thus making it harder to detect changes.)“Overall, these results add to the growing evidence base that OSP provides large amounts of vitamin A in the diet,” says Dr. Christine Hotz, former HarvestPlus Nutrition Head who led the nutrition study. “We were also able to show a modest increase in vitamin A blood levels among children, despite this being challenging to measure given the changing nutritional landscape over two years under real-world conditions.”This project was undertaken concurrently in Mozambique where results showed even higher levels of adoption—and consumption—of OSP by vulnerable households.“We now have evidence from two very different countries and contexts that show that farming households are willing to adopt OSP, incorporate it in their diets, and get the vitamin A that they need,” says senior IFPRI economist, Dr. Daniel Gilligan.HarvestPlus is now scaling-up OSP to reach another 225,000 households by 2016.

The International Potato Center (CIP) plans to scale-up OSP to reach more than 600,000 households in 10 countries by 2015, including 120,000 households in Mozambique.About the ProjectFrom 2007-2009, HarvestPlus and its partners disseminated orange sweet potato—to see if VAD could be reduced—to more than 24,000 households in Mozambique and Uganda. HarvestPlus leads a global effort to breed and disseminate micronutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hidden hunger in malnourished populations. It is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). It is coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).Journal Article Introduction of β-Carotene–Rich Orange Sweet Potato in Rural Uganda Results in Increased Vitamin A Intakes among Children and Women and Improved Vitamin A Status among Children. Journal of Nutrition.Partners in Uganda Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and Regional Potato and Sweetpotato Improvement Network in Eastern and Central Africa (PRAPACE), Farming for Food and Development Eastern Uganda (FADEP-EU), International Food Policy Research Institute, International Potato Center (CIP), Makerere University, National Agricultural Research Organization, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO).

Thanks go to the district and provincial officials in Uganda (Bukedea, Kamuli, Mukono) and to the many people of Uganda who participated in the project and the research study.DonorsThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided a direct grant that made this research possible. Additional HarvestPlus core funding was also used to support this work, which included support from (in alphabetical order): Denmark (DANIDA), Sweden (SIDA), the Syngenta Foundation, the United Kingdom (DFID), the United States (USAID), and the World Bank.

Media ContactYassir Islam, Head of Communications (Washington, D.C.) y.islam@cgiar.orgTel: + 1 (202) 862-560

CALL FOR COLLABORATORS, PARTNERS & VOLUNTEERS

ARE YOU BETWEEN THE AGE GROUP OF 18 –35 ?
ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT CREATING WEALTH ?
DO YOU HAVE GREAT COMMUNICATION SKILLS ?
LOOKING FOR PRODUCTIVE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
INTERESTED IN JOINING A PROJECT THAT MAKES A REAL DIFFERENCE ?

We are looking for motivated and committed individuals/organizations to
collaborate with Youth Agro Entrepreneurs (YAE) in organizing outreach
programmes and events.

YAE is a social enterprise incubator that aims to train a new generation of farmers by building sustainable agricultural training centres on farm sites across the region. YAE is a training centre that teaches agricultural practices and business skills required to become a successful agro-entrepreneur. We are convinced that this will contribute to reducing levels of youth unemployment in Nigeria. Interested parties should please contact us for specific details.

The project is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and Ajima Farms Nigeria Ltd and was awarded the Social Innovation Award in 2012.

Interested candidates should send an email to youthagroent@gmail.com