The minister of Agriculture and Food security Abubakar Kyari has emphasised the need to promote sustainable development of breeding programme and research that will boost productivity, create jobs to farmers and living standards of citizens.
The minister made the call at a 3-Day farming conference held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
This gathering of experts in the Agriculture sector is the second global Okra Round Table, aimed at promoting and enhancing sustainable development of Okra crop in Nigeria through breeding.Okra is a significant crop in Nigeria with high nutritive value, as the country produces over 1 million metric tons annually with Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, and Edo being the top okra-producing states in in the country.
But in recent years, there have been low productivity of the crop due to various factors and now the Agric minister is calling for more focus on breeding more varieties of the …