The wonders of Pawpaw

The pawpaw plant is a native of South America, where it was cultivated since Pre-Columbian times. There are 22 plants and trees in the pawpaw genus; the most famous of which is Carica papaya. Pawpaw (Carica Papaya) reached Europe in 1690 and Asia in the 18th Century. Pawpaw is now grown all over tropical Africa. It is a very beautiful plant; hence it is used ornamentally in some parts of the world.

Pawpaw is one of God’s wonderful gifts to humanity. When one looks at the beauty and richness of nature, one cannot but burst into songs of praise to God. Pawpaw is a pharmacy in its own right. We all eat pawpaw and enjoy its sweet and pleasant taste. But how many of us know the medicinal values of this wonderful plant?

Some time ago I visited a poor old man living alone in a village house. His three children are working outside the country. This old man had an old sore that refused to heal despite regular medication. The sore had gone so bad that the man’s leg was actually rotting away. “Why is no one treating you?” I asked him. He replied: “My children are all living abroad and they always send me Oyibo (Western) medicine to cure my leg, but the leg is stubborn”. My heart sank. At the back of this old man’s house are three healthy pawpaw plants. I drew his attention to the plants and showed him how to use the pawpaw fruit to treat his sore. Within three months his leg was back to normal. He was able to trek to the farm and go to church. I did not need to bring Holy Communion to him in the house anymore.

How heart-rending it is to see people dying of common illnesses that can easily be cured. Go to our hospitals and you will see what I mean. The drugs are so expensive. Worse still, seventy percent of the drugs in the Nigerian market are fake. What other hope do we have then, but to turn to nature? I once passed the night with a simple family in a remote village, where I had gone to do research. Having settled down, my host showed me to the bathroom and apologized that there was no special soap for me to bathe. I told him I did not need a special soap because there was a natural soap growing nearby. I took him to the pawpaw plant in front of his house and showed him how to use the leaf as soap. The following morning he applied what I had taught him. He simply squeezed the leaves together and used them to scrub his body. He was excited at how effective it was. Such is the wonderful nature of the pawpaw plant.

Pawpaw improves the digestion of protein and expels worms. The ripe fruits are rich in vitamins A, B and C. Vitamin A is good for eyesight. Vitamin B for the nerves and muscles, while vitamin C strengthens the immune system and helps to fight against illnesses. For worms, chew two tablespoons of the seeds of ripe pawpaw fruit first thing on rising and last thing at night. Do this for three days. Take only fruits for breakfast and supper for those three days.

For chronic external ulcers or sores, cut a piece of unripe pawpaw fruit and tie directly to the wound. Do this four times daily. Continue till the wound has dried, which will be in a few days or weeks. To make the wound heal faster, eat plenty of ripe pawpaw.

Pawpaw is also useful in treating the following conditions:

1.) Malaria Fever
Squeeze some yellow pawpaw leaves in water. Take a glassful three times daily for seven days. The preparation is also good for jaundice. The dosage is the same.

2.) Diabetes:

The green leaves of pawpaw are good for diabetes and for diabetes-induced hypertension. Squeeze the green leaves in water and take a glass three times daily. This preparation is also good for constipation.

3.) Stomach Ulcer:

Cut a big unripe pawpaw fruit into pieces. Do not remove the peel or seeds. Simply cut the whole fruit into cubes. Then soak in five bottles of water for four days. Sieve and take half a glass three times daily for two weeks. This is a very good remedy for any type of intestinal ulcer.

4.) External Ulcer:

The white milky sap of the unripe pawpaw contains a high percentage of papain, which is used for chronic wounds or ulcers. This can be obtained by making a slight cut on the unripe pawpaw fruit to allow the juice to drop. Papain is also present in the ripe pawpaw fruit.

5.) Convulsion:

The dry, brown pawpaw leaf is a good remedy for convulsion. Pick up the dry, fallen pawpaw leaves and grind into powder. Add two tablespoonfuls of the powder to half a glass of palm kernel oil. Stir well and rub all over the body. This preparation is of great help during an attack of convulsion. It quickly arrests the abnormal condition. It is also helpful in cases of high fever to bring down the body temperature.

6.) Bronchitis:

The root of the pawpaw plant is a good remedy for respiratory problems, especially bronchitis. Bring some pawpaw roots to boil. Take half a glass thrice daily. For cough, simply chew a tender pawpaw root and swallow the juice.

7.) Piles:

Pawpaw root is effective for the cure of piles. Prepare as for bronchitis. Dosage is half a glass twice daily.

8.) Impotence:

Cut two unripe pawpaw fruits into pieces (seeds and peel inclusive). Bring to boil in eight bottles of water. Take half a glass thrice daily.

(AZOMA CHIKWE)

Credit: Sunnewsonline

Govt releases N995m for agric insurance

Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
The Federal Government has released N995.2m ($5m) to the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation for the development agricultural insurance in the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this at the inauguration of Lagos head office annex of NAIC.

“I have given a directive to NAIC to totally reform and reposition agricultural insurance. To ensure this, I have directed the release of $5m to NAIC to support its institutional reforms, strengthening of its operations and roll-out of agricultural insurance products,” he said.

The minister also said he had directed NAIC to ensure that it worked with global reinsurance companies to make agricultural insurance in Nigeria of global standard.

He said government had introduced the Growth Enhancement Scheme to provide subsidied farm materials to farmers directly through electronic coupons on their mobile telephones or the electronic wallet (e-wallet) scheme.

According to him, the e-wallet scheme has been a huge success.

“Within the past three years, over 14.5 million farmers have received their farm inputs directly through the e-wallet scheme,” he said.

According to him, this included over 2.5 million women farmers, many of whom received subsidised farm inputs for the first time.

The Chairman, NAIC, Mrs. Chioma Ohakim, said the firm is the pioneer insurer of agricultural risks in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

She said the current board of directors, which is the sixth in the history of the corporation, was inaugurated in September, 2013.

The chairman said upon inauguration, the board immediately commenced work by putting in place some critical arrangements including appointment of its vital committees to oversee the challenging task of turning the corporation around.

She said for the first time in the history of the corporation, the board organised a board and management retreat, where highly cerebral facilitators helped to dissect all issues concerning the smooth-running of the corporation.

At the retreat, she said that core values, vision and mission statements of the corporation emerged.

The chairman said the inauguration of the building in Lagos wqs one of the results of many acts of synergy employed towards enhancing the visibility of the corporation in the nation’s business environment.

She said to achieve the objectives of the firm, it restructured the operation of the corporation in different areas.

She added that it enhanced customer service and improved turnaround time; it re-branded and improved the visibility of the corporation.

This, she stressed, increased market penetration, leading to an increase in premium income.

Others, she added, were improvement in staff training and development as well as improved staff welfare.

She said it also ensured the deployment of the ICT in the corporation, creation of succession plan for senior and middle management levels and improved corporate governance.

The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Gus Wiggle, said the inauguration of the NAIC office in Lagos was a good development.

Accessibility to agricultural insurance, he added, would be an end to colossal loss by farmers in the state.

A former President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mrs. Laide Osijo, said it was cogent for NAIC to do a lot of training and workshops to enlighten the farmers on the benefits of having insurance.

She assured the corporation of the council’s support.

(Punch)

FG Earmarks N600m To Compensate Farmers Affected By Bird Flu

The federal government has set aside the sum of N600 million to compensate farmers whose farms were affected by the avian influenza (Bird Flu).

“So far, 300 farmers were identified as being affected from 18 states of the federation where the disease had manifested,” the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said.

He made this known at a function at Tahir Guest Palace Hotel, Kano, on Monday, during the “Training-of-Trainers on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Workshop,” organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the federal government of Nigeria.

Adesina was represented by a director from the ministry, Dr AbdulGaniu Abubakar, who further stated that 255 farms were so far detected as being affected by the disease.

“One million birds have been depopulated. Our record shows that out of the 255 farms that were affected, Kano has the largest share with 158 farms affected in the 18 states,” he revealed.

He called on the government of Kano State to be up and doing in combating the disease.

“We directed our staff at the ministry to work hand in hand with the Kano State Government in controlling the menace,” stated the minister’s representative.

(Leadership)

Only manufacturing, agric revolution can save Nigeria- Dangote chief

The unprecedented crash of the crude oil price in the international market and subsequent devaluation of the Naira has been described as a pointer to the fact that the salvation of the Nigerian economy in the future depends on massive agricultural revolution and local manufacturing.

Making this claim in Lagos is the Group Executive Director of Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin who said that the development of the nation's vast agric potential is the only solution to the incessant distortion to the Nigeria's economy by the market forces.

He stated while fielding question from newsmen in his office that Nigeria has left its economic fortunes to the vagaries of the international market forces through excessive importation and that it was high time private investors latched in on this situation and help the government out by going serious agriculture and manufacturing.

This he noted had been long forsaken by the Alhaji Aliko Dangote led conglomerate which was why the company has made a huge investment in agriculture and manufacturing by delving into sugar and rice cultivation, fertilizer production, oil and gas refinery as well as petrochemicals.

"And these twin activities are the sectors with huge potentials for employment generation which the country is in dire need of now"

Edwin said "in our sugar business, you see Savannah sugar which we have today apart from the direct employment of 4000 people, during investing and plantation, we engage almost 20,000 people and there is a small farm where we have about less than 10,000 hectares and the cultivation is going on today employing another 10,000 people and today we are talking about 200,000 hectare of land, savannah plant for sugar where almost 200,000 hectares will be producing 20 million tones of cane and 2million tonnes of sugar.

"You can imagine the amount of employment we are going to create in the agricultural sector and this is a big intervention, so most of the businesses we have done in the course of our investments will still trickle down to the cities. In Lagos, we have the massive investment in our flour mills, it is in Ilorin, Kano, Calabar because it was all put up close to consumption centres,

"However, when we started going into cement, we decided that it has to go close to raw materials because it is more expensive to transport the raw materials, but again, if you see Obajana, it is quite close to Lokoja and Ibese is next door to Lagos, Gboko is close to Makurdi all still inside the country but closer to major cities, but if you talk about farming, we are just looking for arable lands and we are just going right deep into the rural areas, so that people in those areas will see no reason to migrate to the cities, because if they do, it would put a lot of pressure on the cities.

"The refinery will improve the petrochemical industry, the fertilizer plant will create a lot of employment and the employment to be generated in the agricultural sector is phenomenon and if you look at the trade transport sector again, we have about an operation of 6000 trucks a day which we are also trying to increase. 6000 trucks, we are talking about 6000 drivers and apart from that, we have workshops, we have vulcanisers, filling stations, you can see the trickling down benefits from people on loading the cement, off loading the cement in warehouses, the benefits are huge and the employment opportunities we have created today is huge and really apart from the government, we are the largest employer of labour and i believe that once we complete other projects, we will be neck to neck with government in terms of employment."

Besides, the Dangote Company boss pointed that Nigeria Has been blessed with what it takes for a country to succeed economically because the potential for growth in Nigeria is phenomenon. "The potentials and opportunities for business are phenomenon and Nigeria has a huge population with enough skills, with huge quantity of arable land and water and lots of raw materials and mineral resources, so you have a market because of the population, you have the people to produce, you have a lot of minerals which you can develop for export."

Giving a practical insight into how good to invest in Nigeria, Edwin explained that Dangote Flour Mills was initially designed to produce 250 tonnes per day and "by the time we started building up the plant we decided to move up to 500 tonnes per day. We ended up finally with 7,000 per day capacity and others too expanded. Flour Mills of Nigeria expanded and so many other companies expanded too and within a short period of time, everybody could grow their capacity and they could still sell.

"The same scenario played out in cement sector. We were just importing about 7 million tonnes of cement and because of the high cost and non availability of cement, people were not consuming. Today we have added 29 million metric tonnes to local production in Nigeria, Lafarge has added Lakatabu, UNICEM added too, and we are all still selling the cement. So there is a lot of surplus demand in any product", He added.

The Dangote GED then made a passionate appeal to private sector not to abandone everything for government to do to revive Nigeria economy saying while government has a big role to play in formation of the right policy to encourage the investors, the business community has a bigger role to play by moving away from importation to production.

(Worldstage)

Nigeria’s agric sector contributes over $245bn to GDP

           

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said the size of agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen from N14 trillion in 2011 to N46.6 trillion (about $245bn) as of 2014.


Receiving an award as the “Newswatch Man of the Year 2014 in Project Management and Revenue Generation” on Thursday in Abuja, Adesina said that the figure surpassed the total agricultural GDP for the 8-year period of 2000—2008 which was N42 trillion.
Quoting from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports, he said: “The agriculture GDP of Nigeria rose from N 14 trillion in 2011, to N 15.8 trillion by 2012 and 16.8 trillion by 2013.
“The total agricultural GDP in just three years of 2011-2014 was N 46.6 trillion, surpassing t
he total cumulative GDP for the 8-year period of 2000-2008 of N 42 trillion.”
As part of achievements in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in the last three years, the minister said over 3.5 million farm jobs have been created across the agricultural value chains, spurring a revival of rural economies, especially for millions of youths and reducing rural-to-urban migration.


“The agriculture sector has brought macroeconomic and fiscal stability for the country, despite the depreciation of the Naira and steep decline in the price of crude oil, food prices have been largely stable,” he said.
Adesina also said the production of maize has recorded tremendous success as 14 million metric tonnes of maize were produced in the last three years of the implementation of ATA.

  Signature : APA

Thousands of youths to be engaged in agriculture

The Federal Government said it would engage 740 000 youths in various agricultural programmes to reduce unemployment across the country.

Hajiya Asabe Ahmed, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, made this promise at PDP Women Rally in Minna on Thursday.
She said the programme would commence in April with 20 000 youths across the 36 states of the Federation.
Ahmed said the participants would include both females and males of all educational levels as well as 100 employed graduates programme.
“This federal initiative will give unemployed youths the opportunity to become employers of labour.
“It is an opportunity for youths to be engaged in different forms of farming’’, she said.
Earlier, Senator Zainab Kure, called on women to vote for the PDP, and also urged them to be conscious of their political positions in order to excel.


(News24.com.ng)

BOA grants collateral free loan to youths

Bank of Agriculture grants collateral-free loans to youths

Mrs Tokunbo Afolabi, the Manager, Bank of Agriculture, Lagos Branch, on Thursday urged the youths to take advantage of the collateral-free funding opportunities provided by the bank, to empower themselves.

She made the call while speaking at the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2015 General Meeting in Lagos.

According to NAN, she said youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years, who engaged in agribusiness, can access up to N1m loans, without collateral.

“The loan is dedicated solely to the youths, in partnership with the Federal Government’s ‘You Win’ programme.

“The loan is granted to youths for start-ups or expansion of agribusiness,” Afolabi said.

She, however, added that youths applying for the loan must provide two acceptable guarantors, one of which must be a civil servant.

Afolabi also said that micro, small and medium enterprises could access up to N250,000 by opening and running a Micro Enterprise Savings Account with the BOA.

She said that the account would also encourage micro enterprises and cooperative groups to develop a savings culture and assist them in achieving a steady and regular income.

“Account holders will enjoy attractive interest rates, monthly interest payments, flexible standing order, acceptability and free passbook,” she added.

(www.today.ng)

Follow on Twitter: @ayo116

Exceptional Agric Minister

EXCEPTIONAL ADESINA, TELLS STORY OF THE JONATHAN DECISION THAT SAVED NIGERIA FROM FAMINE (MUST READ)

When there was a flood in this country 2012, everybody panicked, President Jonathan didn’t panic, people said there was going to be food crisis. I remember I went to him, I had my detailed analysis done, Mr President people are telling you that we are going to have food crisis, I said; No, you didn’t choose to shock we choose our response.

The President had that day on his desk quite a lot of people that had sent him letters asking for waivers to bring in food and flood the country with food.

The President didn’t listen to them and he called his Minister of Agriculture, that is a great leader and he said can we survive? Do you think we are gonna survive?

Mr. President, I said, we can survive if you help us to do dry season rice. I gave him the plan, he took his pen, he used his green pen and he cancelled every single one of those things on his desk asking for waivers. He said Akin as he normally calls me go get the job done.

Today he launched dry season farming program the first President in the history of this country to launch a program for National dry season farming, so we can produce food during the main season, food during the dry season.

All across the North of this country it started and that is why we have been able to boost so much food production, farmers, young people that use to leave the north to come and work in Lagos or Abuja as mai guards or night guards or stuffs like that have stopped.

We create a lot of jobs, agricultural sector alone in terms of farm jobs have been able to do 2.3million farm jobs, you go and ask people not on the internet, not on Facebook, you go ask in Jigawa, you go ask them in Katsina, ask them in Sokoto ask them in Kano, ask them in Bauchi and ask them in Gombe; they will tell you that there is no other President that has loved farmers more, supported farmers more, encouraged them more and being there for them all the time, he truly is the farmers President and he truly is the farmers president because he loves Farmers, he supports farmers and I believe that the farmers are going to reward him back because the farmers don’t want to be naked again, they want the clothing on their body and they are not going to loose that to just empty promises from others.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is the Farmers President and the Farmers are for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.



Akinwumi Adesina is Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Forbes Africa Man of the Year 2013

(Thewhistleng.com)

The farmer called D'banj is now a farmer

                       D'banj’s Story

“

Today the Koko Master has become the Koko Farmer. Cocoa is very big in Ghana, but the people who grow it don’t even have enough money to feed themselves – and they’re farmers!

”

Musician and ONE member D’banj travelled to Ghana to meet cocoa farmers like Adam and find out what it means to be a smallholder farmer.

I got here and had no network on my phone – then I felt it. I knew that ok, this is real.

I’ve come to study and understand the power and values behind agriculture. You can call me the new farmer.

This is where the farmers are, this is where agriculture is key, and then there’s no light, there’s no GSM, there’s no phone there’s no technology.  These are the individual small-scale farmers that feed us.

Farmers are the foundation of the society. And if your foundation is not strong, no matter the mansion, it’s going to collapse.

I’m from Nigeria, and I’ve found out that 40% of our income is spent on food.  Here in Ghana it’s also such a large percentage and yet we are not awakened to know agriculture is the future.

Cocoa is very big here, but the people who grow it don’t even have enough money to feed themselves – and they’re farmers!

They don’t have enough stability, enough financial services, or enough support from the government– everything that they would need to build their jobs, grow more food, to take it from A to B.  And this would bring the cost of what we are spending on food down. It’s affecting us everywhere.

My parents didn’t want me to do music because they thought it wasn’t bankable. So we need to make people understand that when it comes to agriculture, it’s not a job for the less privileged.  Most people don’t know that agriculture can actually make you a billionaire.

We need to come together as one, because Africa is one. We need to wake our youths up, let them know that they are the future leaders of tomorrow. Let them know that we have 69% of Africa’s labour force working in agriculture, and yet we’re suffering.

Farmers are so important. And just like foundations, you hardly notice them – but if we have a strong foundation, we can not only feed Africa, but Africa can feed the world.  We have everything we need right here.

YEAP

FMARD INVITES APPLICATION FROM NAGROPRENEURS & MARKET ORIENTED PRODUCERS TO PARTICIPATE IN YEAP

The Federal Government of Nigeria is working to address the ageing farming population in the country, youth unemployment, restiveness, insecurity and unorganized agricultural markets by changing the labour composition in the agricultural sector in favour of the youth and reduce crime and criminality. Accordingly, the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) already launched by Mr. President on 16^th December, 2014 was conceived to support young commercial farmers with specialized entrepreneurial skills and access to credit to upscale their businesses. The goal of YEAP is to attain National Food Security, lay a solid foundation for a more competitive, commercialized and efficient agriculture that will help Nigeria to rapidly diversify the economy and become a global powerhouse in the food and agricultural and consequently actualize the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)

YEAP will empower over the next three (3) years 18,500 Nagropreneurs (500 per state) and 740,000 Market-Oriented Producers (Rural Youth) 20,000 per state from 36 States and the FCT. The 36 States and FCT are to be admitted in batches in the first three (3) years of the programme. Batch 1 made up 12 States with selection from two (2) States from each zone + FCT. This will apply in Batches 2 and 3 States.

The first batch of participating states to be admitted in 2015 is: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Ogun, Lagos, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Benue, Bauchi, Gombe and FCT Abuja. The programme will support each participating state for a period of three (3) years of which the states will prepare a follow-up strategy to sustain the programme.

The priority value chains include; Poultry; Aquaculture; Sheep & Goat Production; Bull Fattening; Welding & Fabrication; Repair & Maintenance of Agricultural Equipment; Foot Wear & Leather Goods Manufacture; Cassava Production & Processing; Cocoa Production & Processing; Oil Palm Production & Processing; Sorghum Production & Processing; Maize Production & Processing; Wheat Production & Processing; Groundnut Production & Processing; Snailery & Grass cutter Production; Apiculture (Beekeeping & Honey Production); Horticulture (Tomato Production & Processing and Orchard & Nursery Establishment) and Agricultural Extension Services.

Accordingly, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development invites interested and eligible potential Nagropreneurs (Graduated Youth) and Market Oriented Producers (Young School Leavers and Out of School Rural Youth) of age 18-35 years and registered business entrepreneurs, Youth Associations in the above mentioned States to express interest in participating in the Programme.

Qualification Criteria

In order to be considered, interested applicants should submit Expression of Interest documents accompanied with following:

i. Name (Male or Female)

ii. Marital status

iii. Date of birth/age declaration

iv. Present place of residence

v. Contact details

vi. Academic qualification and date

vii. Tertiary Institution attended

viii. Letter of attestation from Ward/Community Head

ix. Photocopies of iii, vi, vii, and viii are to be attached

x. Any other documents to support the qualification of application

xi. Evidence of registration where applicable

Submission of Expression of Interest Document

Expression of Interest Documents must be addressed to the Honourable Minister of Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and submitted in three (3) copies including one (1) original and two (2) copies with selected value chain and state of residency clearly written on the top right corner of the envelop on or before 12noon of Tuesday 31^st March, 2015 to the 

The 

Ministerial Tenders 

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

                        Ground Floor, Room F001

                        FCDA Secretariat, Area 11 – Garki, Abuja.

a)         State Directors

Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the following States: Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Enugu, Imo, Ogun, Lagos, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe.

Notification of Successful Applicants

The expression of Interest documents will be evaluated and successful applicants will be notified accordingly through Newspaper publication, Notice Board of Submission Centers, Official Website of the Ministry, e-mail addresses and telephone.

Please Note

i)          Please ensure that you register your Expression of Interest

  (EOI) document and obtain your submission slip.

ii)         For clarifications/complaints please contact Procurement Department through this mobile phone number – 2348186564413

ii)         Late submission of bids will be rejected.

iv)        Consideration shall not be based on indigeneship of a State but on residency.

Signed: Arc S.T. Echono, fnia, Permanent Secretary.

Daily Trust.