NIHORT trains 50 participants on plantain, banana production

The National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan on Wednesday trained no fewer than 50 participants including youths and women on plantain, banana and citrus production.
The NIHORT Executive Director, Dr Abayomi Olaniyan, said during the training in Ibadan, that it was important considering the significance of the commodities in daily diet and economic empowerment.
Olaniyan said that the training would cover important aspects of the commodities’ value chains such as nursery production practices, economics of production, marketing and significance of record keeping for good business management.
He said that plantain was an important food security crop and source of income, especially for smallholder farmers, adding that “it’s easy to cultivate and maintain unlike other crops which require much time and money.’’
“It’s a low capital agribusiness, very lucrative and almost every Nigerian soil is good for its production, it fruits are year round which makes it a more reliable all-season staple food crop.
“Also, citrus is one of the world’s most important economic fruit crop, citrus nursery production is important for future development of the commodity value chain and a basic need for horticulture; a prerequisite for producing quality seedlings.
“Nursery practices should be geared towards producing well grown and vigorous seedlings, free from major pests, diseases and there are no substitutes to starting off with well nursed planting materials.
“Establishment of nursery provides employment opportunities for technical, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour,” he said.
Olaniyan therefore drew the attention of the participants and other stakeholders to the potential of plantain, banana and citrus value chains for personal benefits as well as national economic development.
The NIHORT Governing Board Chairman, retired Maj.Gen. Mohammed Garba said the commodities had been linked to many health benefits and solutions including reduction in risk related diseases, diabetics and cancer.
Garba said that agriculture had been identified as a critical multiplier sector with high potential for massive job creation needed to tackle unemployment crisis in the country.
“NIHORT is not only the centre of excellence in horticultural crop research but also has the necessary capacities and skills on production, processing and marketing of fruits, vegetables and spices,” he said.
He therefore urged the participants to make good use of the opportunity by paying special attention to all the training sessions.
“I sincerely hope that the knowledge you would acquire during the training shall be deployed to productive use so that our country can achieve the much desired food security and self reliance in agricultural, horticultural value chain,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NIHORT has the mandate to conduct research into genetic improvement, production, processing, utilisation and marketing of fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, spices and other medicinal plants of economic importance. (NAN)