Food security: Don’t concentrate on cash crops alone – NIHORT boss Sharubutu advises farmers

The Executive Secretary of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria, Professor Garba Hamidu Sharubutu has advised Nigerian farmers not to concentrate on production of cash crops alone.

Sharubutu made this declaration while addressing journalists during the opening of an international conference titled “Global Okro Roundtable II.”

The event which was organised by Advanced Training in Plant Breeding, ATPBR, Maharashtra, India and National Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT, Ibadan, was held in Ibadan on Wednesday.

The conference was attended by Senator Yunus Akintunde who represented the Senate; NIHORT Director, Professor Mohammad Lawal Attanda; representative of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Director of ATPBR, Dr. Surinder Tikko; and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

Sharubutu, while addressing journalists, advised Nigerian farmers to shift their attention from production of cash crops to production of food crops such as Okro.

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He said that diversification from cash crops to food crops such as Okro will go a long way to meet the focus of the current administration which has placed more emphasis on diversification of the economy.

Sharubutu said: “Moreso, Mr. President is also interested in diversification of the economy. We cannot just concentrate on production of cash crops alone. We need to also support and look at other staple food items. And most importantly, Okro. It can grow anywhere and any season. In the desert or anywhere.

“What we are doing is to promote the production of Okro. It can grow in two cycles, and these two or three cycles will make agriculture more sustainable in the sense that in between the farming of yam you have Okro maybe once or twice. So Sustainability of our own citizens is key and this is what this government is doing.

“The council has the mandate to regulate agricultural research and training and extension. We are here in Ibadan in view of the global roundtable conference that is taking place under the promotion of okro. Okro is our food and our delicacy.”

Sharubutu further noted that “Okro is most acceptable in all parts of the country, North, East, South or West.”

Tikko, while speaking, noted that the conference was organised to have inputs from the stakeholders on how to make Okro a global crop.

“We are here for the conference to make Okro a global crop with the help of ATPBR in India and NIHORT in Nigeria. We are together working towards making it a global crop. To work on the modalities to make it one. We are here to talk about it,” he said.