School Feeding Programme In Danger

Participants at a stakeholders meeting organized by the Research Extension Farmer Linkage Committee (RELC) have expressed fears about the possibility of misuse of agrochemicals affecting farm produce which are purchased for the School Feeding Programme (SFP). The meeting brought together researchers, District Directors from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Agriculture Extension Agents with support from West Africa Agriculture Productivity Programme (WAAPP). It was to review the activities carried out by RELC in 2013 and plan for 2014, highlighting farmers constrains requiring research and other development attention. The MOFA Director in charge of the Binduri District, Mr Kabonga Thomas stated that majority of the farmers in his District misused agrochemicals on their crops particularly legumes such as cowpea and watermelon. According to the stakeholders, most of the food items that are purchased for the preparation of meals for school children under the SFP are likely to be poisoned from farmers who misused agrochemicals and called for radical measures to help curb the problem. The stakeholders mentioned supplementary feeding for livestock as one of the major problems confronting farmers across the Districts in the Region and said the problem became worse in the dry season. The participants stressed on the need for research on the preservation and packaging of watermelon and said this would help add more value to the produce to help attract good market. They called for the need for sweet potato to be developed into liquid drinks to help address the nutritional needs in the Region. Dr Roger Kanton, Regional Coordinator of RELC who is also the Director of the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI) in charge of Manga, said RELC and SARI would adopt technologies targeting farmers to deal with the problem of the misuse of agro chemicals. On the issue of supplementary feeding for livestock, he said his outfit would research to see how that problem could be curtailed including researching on the preservation and packaging of water. He said RELC and SARI would also explore the possibilities of facilitating the training of women to go into the production of sweet potato into liquid drinks for sale.