The Ekiti state government has destroyed a 20-hectare Indian hemp plantation within the Ise Forest Reserves. The plantation was set on fire by officers of the state Forestry Task Force. The government said it is fully committed to combating illegalities…

This is the second part of this report. Read the first part here. Abayomi Isinleye, chairman of the farmers’ association at the Oluwa forest reserve, put the losses incurred from the destruction of the cocoa plantations at N500 million or…

“I’m a happy man today,” Rotimi Akeredolu, then governor of Ondo State, south-west Nigeria, told investors on 10 June 2021, when he launched the Red Gold Project, an oil palm development initiative. “I call on investors to come. This is…

The Kano State Government through its Agro-Pastoral Development Project, (KSADP) has awarded contracts worth N3.96 billion for the construction of 60 Milk Collection Centers across the state. The contract is funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Lives…

One single thread links Umo Eno, self-styled pastor governor of Akwa Ibom State, his predecessor, Emmanuel Udom and Felix Houphouet-Boigny. It is the religious bigotry and senselessness behind the Akwa Ibom International Worship Centre and the Basilica of Our Lady…

Laraba Maidara could not hide her happiness after she saw a bumper harvest for the first time, five years after she started rice farming. Mrs Maidara from Kura Local Government Area of Kano State attributed the success to skills acquired,…

On Thursday, the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, and his Gombe State counterpart, Inuwa Yahaya, separately met with President Bola Tinubu to discuss how they can collaborate with the federal government to achieve food security in the country. Mr Tinubu…

The bus driver huffed and puffed for the umpteenth time, frustrated by the huge craters on every section of the road. It was in the first week of October and the rains had just stopped. The Iyana Church-Olodo Road that…

Nigerian short story writer, Kole Omotoso. We need the popular short story to live again in Nigeria. Our newspapers can help us by accepting such fiction works in their Arts and Review columns, while the radio and TV can support…

Halilu Sububu, one of the most feared terrorists in Nigeria’s North-west region, is diversifying his operations. Mr Sububu, a former gunrunner who mentored several notorious terrorists, commonly called bandits, in the North-west region, has set up a thriving illegal gold…

It was a bright and breezy Monday morning in September at Wuro Chekke – an agrarian community in the north-east of Nigeria – where Jamila Muhammed, draped in a navy-blue hijab, narrated how she lost all her farm produce to…

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has said the database of farmers benefiting from agricultural intervention programmes of the federal government is “corrupt” and “politicised.” The minister stated this on Monday when he appeared before a joint…

The National President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Adeola Adegoke, has said that Cross River State will soon become the largest producer of cocoa in Nigeria. Mr Adegoke stated this at the inauguration of the Executive Committee of…

The Kano State Government said it is recruiting 1,000 agricultural extension workers to work across the 44 local government areas of the state. The Executive Secretary of Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project (KSADP), Farouk Kurawa, stated this while briefing…

Wheat farmers in Jigawa State have expressed optimism that this year’s dry-season farming will see bumper harvest following the commitments of both the Jigawa State Government and the federal government towards the National Wheat Development Programme flagged off in the…