Cross River partners South Africa in agriculture, tourism development.

The Cross River State government has announced its partnership with the North West Province of South Africa to develop agriculture and tourism sectors. Governor Ben Ayade disclosed this yesterday in Calabar, while addressing the Mafikeng delegation that was in the state for a three-day working visit. He explained that the partnership would also include the implementation of the recommendations on mass production of yellow maize and livestock farming, particularly poultry.Cross River partners South Africa in agriculture, tourism development. New innovations and strategies are needed to feed the ever growing population,such as this The governor explianed that the state state would go into the full production of not only yellow maize, but barley and hops to make alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. There are also plans to establish a brewery industry and produce animal feeds, through an irrigation process to be supported by the Cross River Basin Development. more

Poultry allowed back outside but threat of avian flu not over yet .

Poultry keepers in the South West will be able to let their birds outside again this week, after months of emergency housing restrictions to halt the spread of avian flu. Since December last year, farmers have been ordered to keep their poultry inside to protect them from the highly infectious H5N8 strain of avian flu, which has been found in wild and farmed birds during that time. But from Thursday, free range birds across the country will be allowed outside again, following updated evidence on the risk posed by wild birds.Poultry allowed back outside but threat of avian flu not over yet ,more

New Law Compels Zimbabwe Banks to Accept Cows as Collateral.

New Law Compels Zimbabwe Banks to Accept Cows as Collateral.Commercial banks in Zimbabwe will soon be compelled to accept livestock such as cattle, goats and sheep as collateral for cash loans to informal businesses under a new law presented to parliament Tuesday. Under the Movable Property Security Interests Bill tabled for debate by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa in the House of Assembly, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will compile and administer a collateral-security register in which small-business operators and individuals can register their movable assets as security for credit. Vehicles, television sets, refrigerators, computers and other household appliances will become acceptable as collateral once they are evaluated and registered in the central bank’s register, according to Chinamasa. New Law Compels Zimbabwe Banks to Accept Cows as Collateral,more

Farmers Reap Richer Harvest with Futures.

: Thousands of farmers have started using commodities futures to get better prices for their produce, in line with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s recent call that such bourses should help cultivators, not speculators. India’s largest farm futures bourse said, 30,500 small farmers had for the first time used the futures market through farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to sell their produce at much higher rates than what agents at mandis used to offer them. NCDEX has, for the first time, managed to get 30,500 small and marginal farmers out of 1.62 lakh registered last year to deliver around 12,000 tonnes of produce on the exchange platform through FPOs. FPOs from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, MP, Bihar and Gujarat have tendered crops such as maize continue

AGRIBUSINESS: How to feed fish with cassava peels to boost growth and productivity.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to feed fish with cassava peels to boost growth and productivity. Fish is a valuable source of animal protein in human diets and also as protein in compounding of feed ration for animals. There is a need to increase production of fish for human consumption to meet the ever increasing demand by the population. There is a potential to produce locally that which is needed and even extend trade by exporting,but certain constraints are limiting growth. The cost of fish feed is a major constraint to productivity and farmers are always searching out ways to cut cost without affecting productivity. AGRIBUSINESS: How to feed fish with cassava peels to boost growth and productivity. The fish farmers are very innovative when it comes to feeding the fish,they usually start with compounded feed(finished) to start them up after which they source out locally produced feed(home- made) and then they finish them off with compounded(finished) feed. AGRIBUSINESS: How to feed fish with cassava peels to boost growth and productivity. In a bid to feed fish to boost productivity and growth several combinations have been used with success,read. Farmers have used cassava to feed fish in various combinations. Fish farmers often use a combination of cassava flakes with crayfish at mid-season and towards the harvesting time. Fish are fed with only cassava flakes also @1 week to harvest. The use of cassava peels have also been used to compound fish feed with tremendous success, learn how A study conducted to determine the growth response of fish to cassava peels shows that fish thrive very well on the peels using high inclusion rates. The study conducted at Department of Fisheries Technology, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri in 2012. The test used factorial design of five treatments of cassava peel meal at 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% graded level . The cassava peel meal was sun dried for 48 h, grinded and added to the feed fed to 150 fingerlings of Oreochromis niloticus into 10 tanks in triplicates and fed twice daily at 5% body weight for 60 days. The result shows that fish fed with 100% cassava peel meal had the highest mean weight gain of 10.46±0.01 and specific growth rate of 1.23±0.04. The poorest result was shown by fish fed 25% cassava peel meal with the lowest survival rate, weight gain, feed intake and specific growth rate, respectively. more

AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels to poultry feed.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels to poultry feed. Cassava peels can be processed into animal feed to feed cattle, sheep, goat,pigs,fish ans poultry. The processing of the peels for poultry feed is different as it has to be fine particles for easy digestibility. AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels to poultry feed. The cassava peels are processed as follows 1) fresh and clean peels are used. 2)peels are sorted and only small to medium size peels are selected. 3) pour into a grater,grate 3 times. 4) pour in sacs, sack on one another in an hydraulic press to dewater. 5) 24 hours later pour cassava peel cake in flash dryer/ sun dry. 6) grate the dried cake again until fine or grate and leave coarse particle if other animals will be fed from this batch. AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels to poultry feed. Cassava root meal(CRM) as a substitute for maize has been explored and the result was an increase in productivity.The effect of replacing maize with graded levels of cassava root meal (CRM) as energy source in the diet of laying hens was evaluated during the eight weeks of feeding experiment on performance and cost benefits on layers.The fresh cassava roots were peeled, washed and grated. The grated cassava mash was poured into a sack and pressed using a hydraulic pressing machine to remove excess water. The dewatered cassava mash was broken into fine granules and was sun dried on black polyethylene sheets, after which it was milled in a hammer mill and packed in bags as cassava root meal (CRM). Forty-five Nera black laying hens of 24 weeks of age were allocated to five dietary treatments, with nine birds per treatment in a completely randomized design. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks and result showed that replacement of maize by CRM up to 50:50 ratios did not significantly affect the hen-day egg production.more

AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels into animal feed.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to turn cassava peels into animal feed. Cassava called Manihot esculenta, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. 

Cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people. Cassava is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils and Nigeria is the world's largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of dried cassava. 

 Cassava can be processed into various products such as garri,tapioca, cake,bread and flakes for human consumption,but the peels can be processed and fed to animals. Cassava peels,used to be an environmental nuisance,because farmers and processors just left heaps on the floor to decompose or they burn them because they did not know how to process or preserve the peels until intervention of CGIAR.

 CGIAR scientists developed a low-tech way of transforming wet cassava peels into high quality, safe and hygienic feed ingredients within eight hours, producing one tonne of high quality cassava peel (HQCP) mash from three tonnes of wet peels. The processing of the peels into feed has a high potential because Africa’s estimated 50 million tonnes of cassava peel waste per year could generate at least 15 million tonnes of HQCP, thus providing alternative animal feed that are cheap ,easily accessible and with a capacity of creating a $2 billion a year industry on the continent.

. The cassava peels can be fed to both ruminants,fish and monogastrics,making it an ideal feed source,locally produced to reduce cost and boost productivity. The processing of the peels depend on the target animals. 

 The cassava peels processing is as follows; 1) peels must be clean and fresh. 2) sorted to remove tubers or big sized lumps/cuts. 3) pour the peels in a grater,and grate 3 times.4) put in sacks stacked on one another in an hydraulic press to dewater the peels. 5) 24hrs later the cassava peel cake is ready and can be fed to cattle, sheep,goat and pigs.