The Federal Government in collaboration with the Green Economy Alternative Nigeria (GEAN) and the Nasarawa State Government have empowered 100 farmers with vines for the production of sweet potato in Nasarawa State.
The representatives of the trio parties, who were at the inauguration for the distribution of vines for breeders, were optimistic that the production of sweet potatoes would make its contribution to addressing issues of food insecurity and malnutrition in the country.
Ibrahim Hussaini, director general, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), said that “the orange-fleshed type of sweet potato has a lot of health benefits and contains vitamin A.”
Hussaini added that the agency is responsible for industrial raw materials growth, promotion and utilisation and to advise the government on what is required to add value to raw materials in the country.
“We would work with the state government and others to provide processing equipment for value addition and processing of the potato into different finished products,” he added.
Hussaini commended Douglas Akaba, president & CEO, Green Economy Alternative Nigeria for his effort towards actualising the commencement of the programme in Nasarawa State.
Emmanuel Alanana, programme manager, Nasarawa State Agricultural Development Programme (NADP) said the state government had donated 50 hectares of land in Lafia for the breeding of vines for production of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes.
Alanana also lauded the federal government and GEAN for the partnership to make Nasarawa State one of the sweet potato producing states in the country.
He added that the state government through NADP would put machinery in place to support the beneficiaries with technical knowledge on how to plant the potato to achieve optimal benefit.
According to the programme manager, the initiative would help in addressing the problem of food insecurity and boost the income of the farmers to make their lives worthwhile.
Douglas Akaba, president & CEO of Green Economy Alternative Nigeria said orange-fleshed sweet potato has nutritional value as well as health benefits to the people.
He added that most advanced nations of the world have made it part of their policies for their citizens to eat potatoes at least once or twice a day because of its benefits.
He further said the orange-fleshed sweet potato can be cultivated three times a year and spends only three months before it is harvested adding that his organisation would continue to collaborate with farmers and governments until the production of orange-fleshed potatoes is practised by every farmer in the country.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Joseph Alu thanked the federal and state governments for the initiative to produce in large quantities, orange-fleshed sweet potato.
Alu said that in the next few months, Nasarawa State would be one of the leading states in the production of the crop in Nigeria.
