Improved Seedlings Guarantee Maximum Yield, Says NIFOR

The Executive Director,
Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Mr Omorefe Asemota, on Friday, said that the development of improved seedling was the fundamental for maximum yield.
Asemota told our correspondent  in Abuja that the guarantee for greater yield in agricultural produce was the continuous development of improved variety of seedlings.
“In oil palm breeding, we normally talk about circle of breeding, we talk about the first circle breeding programme, we moved on to the second circle and as I speak to you we are working on the third circle.
“At the end of our first circle we had materials that if used under best practices and good management, can yield about 18 tonnes of fresh fruits bunch a year per hector.
“ At the end of our second circle we had improved over 23 to 25 tonnes of fresh fruits per hectare per year that translates to over three tonnes of palm oil per hectare per year.
Asemota, however, cautioned that all breeding programmes must be done under appropriate management conditions so that farmers could derive maximum benefit.
“As I said, the development of improved seedlings is the foundation although we already have what we call gold agricultural agronomic practices but we strive to improve on this continuously.
“Therefore, we are testing fertilisers, seedlings and even machines are designed and redesigned for better processing and output. We also have ongoing work on pest control.
“Sometimes you discover that you devise a method of pest control and another pest comes up, so we have ongoing work in this area as well,’’ Asemota said.