Borno seeks Agric tech from Egypt, Thailand

[DT]

     The Borno State government has signed agreements in Egypt and Thailand for the transfer of agro-allied technology and supply of equipment to revive irrigation, rice milling and fish farming.  

Governor Kashim Shettima yesterday returned from a trip to the two countries, where he led a "high-powered" delegation that included Chief Audu Ogbeh, former presidential adviser on Agriculture and Minister of Communications, a statement by Shettima's spokesman Isa Gusau said.  

He said the trip to the two countries were to explore opportunities for the "reactivation of irrigation activities in the Lake Chad basin; creation of agricultural productivity in Borno state with focus on cotton production; integrated farming; agricultural mechanisation; agro training and capacity building; fish farming, rice milling and alternative power sourcing through solar system."

In Cairo, the Borno delegation met with the Egyptian minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Mr Mohammad Reda Ismail; Dr Magdy Anwar, head of central administration of foreign agricultural relations; as well as with Director General, Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture.

The Borno team also discussed with the Egyptian Cotton Research Institute; the Agricultural Mechanisation Station and the World Fish Centre.

Gusau said in Thailand, Shettima's team undertook study visits to rice plantations and irrigation sites in Suphanburi province with special focus on portable rice milling machines which the state government "plans to procure for a massive citizen's rice milling programme aimed at creating thousands of agro-based employment opportunities."


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Daily Trust