We Are NOT Importing Grass But Improved Pasture Seeds ~ Eze

In a recent interview by Collins Nnabuife with the Director of Animal Production and Husbandary Services of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr Egejuru Eze, on the recent news on the social media which said that the government was planning to import grasses into the country to feed animals.

Is the going actually planning to import grasses to feed animals in Nigeria?

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development did not say we are going to import grass to feed animals, what his said was that we are going to use improved pasture seeds/cultivars to plant in Nigeria, because we have our soil that can support the growth of these pasture seeds, so we can say because we have grass in Nigeria, and we have seeds in Nigeria, there is no need to bring in improved seeds. Similarly, we have palm trees in Nigeria and we still import improved palm seedlings.

What the Minister was saying was that we are going to look for those seed that have high productivity per hectare of land and also high nutritive value, that is what he wants us to bring in and add to what we have.

A lot of researches have been carried out on the type of grasses that can grow in different areas, for example, Alfalfa grass thrives in temperate areas and we have temperate areas in Nigeria at the Mambilla-Plateau, Adamawa, Jos-Plateau and Obudu, so we are trying to exploit the use of good seeds in that areas for diary production.


Tribune

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