FCTA ban transportation meat from neighbouring states

Bello, FCT Minister

The Acting Secretary, FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Dr Musa A. Aliyu said the FCT Administration has banned unauthorized transportation of meat into FCT markets from neighbouring states.

He made this disclosure during a press briefing on the activities of The Agric Secretariat in the last two years.

Aliyu stressed that only live animals can only be brought into the territory for slaughtering and inspection before sale at the markets. This became necessary in order to stem the sale of donkey and horse meats in the FCT meat markets.

The Secretary further stated that where such demand to bring in fresh meat into the territory is deserving, the operator will have to seek official approval from the Agric Secretariat before doing so.

In his words, “…the Minister in 2015 directed the Secretariat to embark on the clean-up of abattoirs within the Territory. The exercise is aimed at evacuating the pile up of abattoir waste as well as remove the illegal structures to help reduce congestion and have enhanced effective monitoring of all activities in the abattoirs to ensure that they conform with acceptable hygienic standards.”

Meanwhile, the secretary said the administration has so far vaccinated over 20,000 livestock in the FCT.

In a related development, the FCT Administration said about 9,000 farmers in the FCT has so far been registered to participate in the CBN Anchor Borrowers programme.

Aliyu claimed that 16 Village Extension Agents and 800 farmers from the Area Councils have been trained and will be issued certificates on the day of formal launching in the FCT.

The Anchor Borrowers programme he explained is targeted at small holder farmers who are into crops where FCT enjoys comparative advantage like rice and soya beans production.

“…The achievements so far include: The average yield of rice increased from 2.0 metric tons/hectare to 3.5 metric tons per hectare; cassava witnessed upward review from 16 metric tons/hectare to 20 metric tons/hectare…

“The FCT ADP continued to collaborate with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA; Competitive Africa Rice Initiative, CARI; British America Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, BATNF; United States Agency for International Development, USAID; Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, FMARD; Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Notore Fertilizer Company, NFC; National Association of Nigeria Traders, NANT, etc.”

The Secretary also stated that pest management control has helped to curtail the spread of the tomato pest otherwise referred to as “Tuta Absoluta” which affected farmers in 2016.

On the release of counterpart funding for the World Bank/Fadama III additional financing programme, Dr Aliyu disclosed that FCT Minister, approved the release of the counterpart funding for the commencement of the World Bank-Assisted Fadama III Additional Financing project. Already, about 200 farmer groups have been registered to benefit from the project, he said.

“Third National Fadama Development Project Additional Financing (FADAMA III AF) came into effect by 2014 nationally. However, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the project did not take off due to the non-payment of outstanding counterpart fund (part 2011, 2012 and 2013).

“In order to boost fish production, the FCT was selected as one of the five states to benefit in the cage fish farming project. The Minister has already directed the Secretariat to key into the project and ensure that youths and fisher-folk communities are carried along.

“To develop and manage forest resources on a sustainable basis, the FCTA in line with its forest conservation policy, raised 30,000 seedlings of different species of forest trees in Bako Bwari Nurseries and distributed to schools and individuals for planting” Dr Aliyu stated.