RMRDC Shares Tools, Seedlings To Farmers

The Raw Materials Re
search and Council, (RMRDC), has presented 4,000 high yielding Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) vines and pumping machines to members of the Potato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (POGPMAM), Niger and Osun States chapter.
In a press release obtained by our correspondent at the Federal Secretariat in Port Harcourt yesterday, the Director General, RMRDC, Dr Huaasaini Doko Ibrahim while addressing farmers and stakeholders at the presentation ceremony held at the councils headquarters in Abuja recently said that the initiative was meant to promote development, production and use of improved planting of elite varieties of agro raw materials to bridge the gap between demand and supply in the country.
“The leverage on the potential contribution which the beta corotenerich Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato can bring to improving nutrition and food security in Nigeria the council under its boosting programme is promoting the production of this crops, he said.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Dr Eddy Nwaogu of the National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike-Nyanya Sub-station which developed the technology stressed that Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato is a nutrition food for households, especially those with children below five years, including pregnant and lactating mothers.
Nwaogu noted that the OFSP is a valuable crop for the makers of baby food items, adding that its richess in beta carotene which is a precursor to vitamin A will solve deficiency problems in children.
President, Potato Growers, processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Bayo Ajibade applauded the effort of RMRDC in scaling up elite varieties of crops in Nigeria.
“POGPMAN is particularly happy that RMRDC has uplifted POGPMAN with 2000 bundles of 100 vines each to 20 water pumps to water OFSM farms during the dry season in Niger and Osun States,” he said.
In their appreciations, the Niger State Coordinator, Alhaji Umar Aliyu and his Osun State counterpart expressed gratitude to the council for providing the equipment and technology.