By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN) has launched its 2022 farming season of the diverse species of Potato and the orange fleshed sweet potato in Rivers State.
Speaking at the launch that was held on January 20th, the National President of POFAN, Chief Daniel Okafor, noted that potato had now been adopted as a national product, hence, had been accorded a desk officer status in the federal ministry of agriculture.
He stated that this recent development had led to moving potato products to various states through seminar and workshops, of which most household now produce it at commercial level.
Okafor acknowledged that “Rivers State is blessed with the two basic natural endowments (land and water) which gives her agricultural advantage over many others.”
The president urged that it would be proper to harness it’s useable resources at all levels to maximize production potentials to the benefit of humanity.
He recalled that late last year, the national office observed two major events:-
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1) The launching of her ten (10) year rolling plan
2) The hosting of her Annual General Meeting for analysis of past programmes and development of future activities.
Okafor informed that the events were done painstakingly to reposition the association with a view to advance the course of production mechanism and identify areas of opportunities.
However, he added that poor funding approach by the Federal Government has been their major challenge.
He said, “This is not helping our farmers to realize their set objectives. I have directed all state chairmen to ensure that all members are properly captured through an exhaustive data base system to enable us stakeholders have access to our farmers with a view of empowering them into productive agriculture.
“We as an association is ready to adopt the best production objective to meet with all international required standard for export and internal consumption.”
He added that the Association is prepared to partner with any state government or private organization by providing timely and baseline information to realize workable models at least cost.
