FG Trains 120 Cassava Farmers on Management of Whiteflies Infestation

Fidelis David in Akure

The federal government has commenced the training of 120 cassava farmers from Ondo, Edo and Ekiti States on good agricultural practices, control and management of whiteflies infestation on cassava farms.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, disclosed this yesterday at a workshop on capacity building and development for cassava farmers at the Federal College of Agriculture, Training Centre, Akure, Ondo State.

Abubakar, who was represented by the Ondo State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Tony Otunoye, said the training became necessary to sensitise farmers and other stakeholders along the cassava value chain from the three states, through the workshop to spread the basic concept of agricultural best practices on whitefly and disease control in cassava production.

He said: “Whitefly is an old scourge but cassava farmers are now overlooking it, but the disease is coming stronger. The cassava varieties that we released then are losing vigour, so the Ondo State programme manager of Agriculture Development Programme (ADP) and his team alerted the federal government and we have to swing into action.

“So, this training is to teach cassava farmers on how to manage the disease and increase their production.”

He stressed that the essence of the training is to ensure that cassava production system is aimed toward sustainable agriculture and ecologically safe, so as to obtain harmless products of high quality, and to contribute to food security and income generation.

In his remark, Ondo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Olayato Aribo, described the training of cassava farmers from the three states as monumental intervention from the federal government.

Aribo who was represented by the Programme Manager, Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Babasola Adeniyan, explained that “the whitefly insect does one thing on the cassava plants: it sucks the circle of the plant and reduces the plant activity. It also transmits a very dangerous disease called Cassava Mosaic Virus (CMV) to the cassava plants.”

He noted that Ondo State had combated whiteflies many years ago but saw it again towards the end of 2021, hence the need to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to step in.

“From one hectare of cassava, an average farmer is supposed to have 25 – 30 tons of roots but the yield was reduced generally to about 20 tons because of this disease.”

Earlier, the Deputy Director, Roots and Tuber, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Raji Hakeem, said that it is important to establish best agricultural practices, control and management of insect pest,  whiteflies and other diseases in order to foster sustainable production, while contributing to the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

Hakeem said: “No cassava crop will produce well where the best and desirable agronomic practices such as weed, whitefly pest and disease control are ignored, hence the need to sensitize cassava farmers in Nigeria on improved methods and best practices of weed, pest and disease control to increase cassava yield.”

The Provost, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Dr. Akinyemi Albert Fadiyi, said the institution has a team of cassava production experts that are collaborating with research institutes basically, towards the training of farmers, eradication of whiteflies and ensuring that new varieties of cassava evolve that can resist this disease and spread same to farmer.

Highlight of the event include lectures, distribution of manual chemical spraying machines and insecticides to the farmers.