Agric institutes showcase products

At the pavilion of the National Oil Palm Research Institute, Benin, Dr. Segun Solomon, Head of Extension Services of the institute, who took this reporter round said the institute has worked extensively in the area of oil palm.  On planting material for oil palm farmers, “the new technologies we developed, now have the potential to […]

At the pavilion of the National Oil Palm Research Institute, Benin, Dr. Segun Solomon, Head of Extension Services of the institute, who took this reporter round said the institute has worked extensively in the area of oil palm.  
On planting material for oil palm farmers, “the new technologies we developed, now have the potential to yield up to 20-25 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm per hectare per year; that is a big achievement,” he said.
The institute has also developed bottled palm wine, which can last for 12 months. In the area of agricultural engineering, the institute has developed machines that can process two tonnes of fresh fruit bunches in one hour.
At the pavilion of Rubber Research Institute, Iyanomo Benin, Dr. Paul Anegbeh, the Head of Research of the institute said that the institute has developed new clone of rubber seeds that can mature within 5-6 years, which is a significant step from the 12 years’ maturing age of the unimproved variety.
The institute also showcased products made from rubber seeds which include, liquid soap, body cream, printing ink and shampoo.
Other products include rubber liquid for the manufacture of vehicle tyres, hand gloves among others.
The institute has also developed the technique that will integrate other crops through rubber-based cropping system, where crops like pineapples, yam, cassava, medicinal plants and others of interest are planted alongside the rubber trees.
At the Lake Chad Research Institute, Mohammed Sadiq, the farm broadcaster and Information Officer said that a lot of achievement has been made in the area of their mandate crops – millet, barley and wheat. New varieties of the crops have been released to farmers, which will increase yield of over 4.0 tonnes per hectare.
Sadiq also revealed that the institute has developed technologies for value addition to the crops along the value chain. Variety of biscuits, cookies, bread, flour and other processed products of the mandate crops were displayed.
The National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike was also on hand with its newly developed orange-fleshed sweet potato juice along with potato bread, cake and other products, which were displayed at the show.
Dr. Godwin Asumugha of the Extension Services Department of the institute said they have  developed many new technologies that will be valuable to farmers through value addition to the mandate crops such as cassava, yam, potatoes and other minor root crops like turmeric, ginger coco yam among others.