Anyi3:












Brethren read please. The grass would be imported to crossbreed with Nigerian grass and then increased.

Brethren reading really doesn't hurt. I'm not an APC loyalist because I know that's the angle you guys are thinking my comment is coming from. The writeup was done by an expert in this field. It makes sense.

Well apologies but my point was Malaysia imported something, don't know exactly what but they imported from us and developed it. We want to import to develop our grass. What's bad in that
Read brethren.

teemy:


At a point I almost stopped reading news online as baddies seemed to be the order of the day. so guess what I stopped reading the politics and crime sections and reduced my 'Graphic Image' viewing and did more of the business and investment sections. Better to feed myself with betta things faa.

kenchylala:


The countries experiencing this revolution u talk about all imported grass??

obailala:


One of the greatest impediments to the progress of the black man and the black race is our inability to read, our inability to discern and our inordinate urge to 'respond' even before we listen.

The article simply exposes the ignorance of all those castigating the plan to import high nutrient grass seedlings for cultivation in Nigeria. This firstly, is standard practice in agriculture all over the world, but common sense is obviously not too common especially when political sentiments are involved. I can swear on my life that 95% of the respondents above did not read beyond the 3rd line, but mostly read the title and proceeded to comment. Maybe if they read the article, they would have firstly realised it was written by an independent veterinarian and not the minister (as the title implies) and they would have also seen some sensible points.

If it takes decades of research to genetically create a new specie of high nutrient grass which has the capacity to boost beef and milk production beyond our imagination, then my common sense tells me it is definitely silly trying to re-invent the wheel; the sensible thing to do is to take the short-cut by simply obtaining those already optimised grass seedlings and growing them here in Nigeria. Just the same way we imported improved flood resistant rice seedlings some years back which has in no little way contributed to the rice revolution in different parts of Nigeria today. For clarity for those who are oblivious of this, "grass is not grass" and there is a reason why people spend several years studying agriculture in the university and research institutes even when our great grand fathers knew exactly how to sow and reap basic food crops.

A point of note in the article is milk production, Nigeria imports over 90% of the milk it consumes spending over $200m annually on this. A typical Nigerian milk cow produces 200kg of milk annually whereas a typical European milk cow produces up to 6500kg of milk annually, i.e. over 3000% more milk production. The main difference is the nutritional content of the feedstock these cows consume. Ironically, the same people who protest the plan to import improved grass seedlings (for planting) to improve our beef and milk production do not protest the billions we spend importing milk yearly; these same people (probably because of warped political logic) did not also see anything wrong when improved rice seedlings were imported few years back to help boost Nigeria's rice production capacity.

What I find most disheartening about these comments I have quoted is that most of the respondents here are youths, educated youths; and then we begin to wonder why the old have refused to relinquish power. They may claim not to be agriculturists, but that is definitely no excuse for this ignorance because anyone with even partial education should be able to discern these things. If only we can sometimes purge our minds of flimsy political sentiments, then some of these things are just common sense.

temitemi1:
You are importing grass because u are super clueless.

truthspeaks:
Since u r agriculturist, it means ur knowledge is a waste as govt hv no need for ur creative ideas rather they prefer importation. Think abt it. It doesn't tk 1 2 be an agriculturist 2 undstnd d issue n it's implication on our forex n d ailing economy.

obailala:


One of the greatest impediments to the progress of the black man and the black race is our inability to read, our inability to discern and our inordinate urge to 'respond' even before we listen.

The article simply exposes the ignorance of all those castigating the plan to import high nutrient grass seedlings for cultivation in Nigeria. This firstly, is standard practice in agriculture all over the world, but common sense is obviously not too common especially when political sentiments are involved. I can swear on my life that 95% of the respondents above did not read beyond the 3rd line, but mostly read the title and proceeded to comment. Maybe if they read the article, they would have firstly realised it was written by an independent veterinarian and not the minister (as the title implies) and they would have also seen some sensible points.

If it takes decades of research to genetically create a new specie of high nutrient grass which has the capacity to boost beef and milk production beyond our imagination, then my common sense tells me it is definitely silly trying to re-invent the wheel; the sensible thing to do is to take the short-cut by simply obtaining those already optimised grass seedlings and growing them here in Nigeria. Just the same way we imported improved flood resistant rice seedlings some years back which has in no little way contributed to the rice revolution in different parts of Nigeria today. For clarity for those who are oblivious of this, "grass is not grass" and there is a reason why people spend several years studying agriculture in the university and research institutes even when our great grand fathers knew exactly how to sow and reap basic food crops.

A point of note in the article is milk production, Nigeria imports over 90% of the milk it consumes spending over $200m annually on this. A typical Nigerian milk cow produces 200kg of milk annually whereas a typical European milk cow produces up to 6500kg of milk annually, i.e. over 3000% more milk production. The main difference is the nutritional content of the feedstock these cows consume. Ironically, the same people who protest the plan to import improved grass seedlings (for planting) to improve our beef and milk production do not protest the billions we spend importing milk yearly; these same people (probably because of warped political logic) did not also see anything wrong when improved rice seedlings were imported few years back to help boost Nigeria's rice production capacity.

What I find most disheartening about these comments I have quoted is that most of the respondents here are youths, educated youths; and then we begin to wonder why the old have refused to relinquish power. They may claim not to be agriculturists, but that is definitely no excuse for this ignorance because anyone with even partial education should be able to discern these things. If only we can sometimes purge our minds of flimsy political sentiments, then some of these things are just common sense.

BossTtdiamonds:

Nope.. They would import the grasses (highly aggressive one's) and incorporate it into the existing natural pasture (This transforms the Natural Pasture lands to what we called oversown Pasture lands)
That way the we would have less of the UN-improved varieties and more of the improved over-sown varieties. Which would last longer into the dry season.
Smart Individuals like your person who would see this as an advantage can go into Hay and Silage Making and sell the conserved grasses to the fulani's in the dry season..
When the fulani's see that stationary farming improves the milk production, beef production, profit and reduces the stress of Walking around, they'll finally settle and stop killing.. I'm not saying it is going to be an instantaneous process, but we have to start from somewhere..

And they don't refrigerate grasses... As a matter of fact, refrigerating it might kill it...

@Bolded.. I think they talked about this in @OP.. The phrase was as this "An industry that cannot be measured, cannot be controlled"..

I understand that OP was lengthy, but you wont fully understand without readin'.....
Pasture Agronomist like myself are smilin' to this incentive

linearity:
Nigeria which way? Ban the importation of rice, which is a stable food for millions of Nigerians and advocating the importation of grass, the stable food for animals.

Is it really this bad and backward in my beloved Country? Have our leaders lost their sense of direction and priority? What about empathy and humanity, is that also lost? Shouldn't we make sure humans have food on the table, before thinking of animals?

By the way, why is the government going into the business of importing grasses for cow? If the cattle owners needs better nutrition for their animals, shouldn't they be the ones doing this import? Is the government going to send some of those nutritional grasses to the south to feed our goats? What about the sheeps? Poultry farmers also need government help in importation of chicken feeds and medicinal supplies to increase their yield, is the government going to do that also?

pyxon:


Have you ever travelled by road in Nigeria? If yes, did you fail to see the vast vegetation/grass that abound between each settlement and town?

The minster never said anything about merging this do called 'magic' grass with the local ones scientifically. And let's assume he conceives the idea as an afterthought, They want to cross fertilize it in which lab in Nigeria?
Which lab has the capacity?



Malaysia came to Nigeria, not to import palm produce but to pick up high yielding seedlings for scientific and genetic development that ended up better than even the ones they got from Nigeria



They gave Obj half the yield they got and he mismanaged it as usual.



Don't be deceived. After they will say PDP ruined Nigeria for 16yrs like it was not Obj and his brothers that ruined it for half of that time. Tribe of Judas

obailala:


One of the greatest impediments to the progress of the black man and the black race is our inability to read, our inability to discern and our inordinate urge to 'respond' even before we listen.

The article simply exposes the ignorance of all those castigating the plan to import high nutrient grass seedlings for cultivation in Nigeria. This firstly, is standard practice in agriculture all over the world, but common sense is obviously not too common especially when political sentiments are involved. I can swear on my life that 95% of the respondents above did not read beyond the 3rd line, but mostly read the title and proceeded to comment. Maybe if they read the article, they would have firstly realised it was written by an independent veterinarian and not the minister (as the title implies) and they would have also seen some sensible points.

If it takes decades of research to genetically create a new specie of high nutrient grass which has the capacity to boost beef and milk production beyond our imagination, then my common sense tells me it is definitely silly trying to re-invent the wheel; the sensible thing to do is to take the short-cut by simply obtaining those already optimised grass seedlings and growing them here in Nigeria. Just the same way we imported improved flood resistant rice seedlings some years back which has in no little way contributed to the rice revolution in different parts of Nigeria today. For clarity for those who are oblivious of this, "grass is not grass" and there is a reason why people spend several years studying agriculture in the university and research institutes even when our great grand fathers knew exactly how to sow and reap basic food crops.

A point of note in the article is milk production, Nigeria imports over 90% of the milk it consumes spending over $200m annually on this. A typical Nigerian milk cow produces 200kg of milk annually whereas a typical European milk cow produces up to 6500kg of milk annually, i.e. over 3000% more milk production. The main difference is the nutritional content of the feedstock these cows consume. Ironically, the same people who protest the plan to import improved grass seedlings (for planting) to improve our beef and milk production do not protest the billions we spend importing milk yearly; these same people (probably because of warped political logic) did not also see anything wrong when improved rice seedlings were imported few years back to help boost Nigeria's rice production capacity.

What I find most disheartening about these comments I have quoted is that most of the respondents here are youths, educated youths; and then we begin to wonder why the old have refused to relinquish power. They may claim not to be agriculturists, but that is definitely no excuse for this ignorance because anyone with even partial education should be able to discern these things. If only we can sometimes purge our minds of flimsy political sentiments, then some of these things are just common sense.

Please tell them!

ManTiger:

Nigerians cannot/should not be taken so seriously on things like this. I can bet it with you, this is another scam in the making. My apologies for using a sensitive obscure word.

fulanimafia:
^^Reading will not kill all of you.

The writer presents such a compelling argument in favor of importing enriched grass for our livestock, that its hard not to see the sense in it.

When I read through the plethora of criticisms that greeted this post, I had no option than to ignore their follies and let them perish with it. Thanks for taking the pain to explain to them.
In summary...

Princewill1:
This argurment is faulty.No explanation can justify the importation of grass at this period of time in Nigeria.Are you aware that there is shortage of forex in Nigeria? Which is presently causing the economic problems we are having today.

So we should use the little forex left to import grass for cows,instead of to import essential and stable food like rice for humans?

Is like this fulani govt values the lives of cattle more than the lives of human? (Agatu massacre also comes to mind).

By the way,the milk issue you are talking about is a long term project.Is not like if you feed the cattle with imported grass today,then tomorrow they will start producing quantity milk that will serve the milk need of Nigeria.It will take years to develop.The milk production industry in Europe that we are importing from were not developed overnight.

We have emergency economic situation at hand right now,we can't afford to waste the scarce forex we have.They govt should come to the south to take grass to the north.

We have to spend our little forex based on our scale of preference,unless if this govt values cattle more than humans inhabiting the country.

sikirat2020:
do we have national cows or individual cows, importation of grass is it a national concern or an individual cow owner. since we don't have national cows, using the national resources to import grass is the highest level of impunity and gross corruption. or do they mean that they will go into the importation of grass business to resale to Fulani herdsmen.
i just don't understand what Buhari asked ogbeh to say and foolishly acting the script

yomalex:
I don't even know how to reply you sef. It takes one to be an agriculturalist or at least someone that understand the issue holistically to understand the intention of importing the grass seeds. When you start including economy,forex you dilute the issue and by the way Did you read the article I mean every single word of it or you just rushed to comment?

obailala:


One of the greatest impediments to the progress of the black man and the black race is our inability to read, our inability to discern and our inordinate urge to 'respond' even before we listen.

The article simply exposes the ignorance of all those castigating the plan to import high nutrient grass seedlings for cultivation in Nigeria. This firstly, is standard practice in agriculture all over the world, but common sense is obviously not too common especially when political sentiments are involved. I can swear on my life that 95% of the respondents above did not read beyond the 3rd line, but mostly read the title and proceeded to comment. Maybe if they read the article, they would have firstly realised it was written by an independent veterinarian and not the minister (as the title implies) and they would have also seen some sensible points.

If it takes decades of research to genetically create a new specie of high nutrient grass which has the capacity to boost beef and milk production beyond our imagination, then my common sense tells me it is definitely silly trying to re-invent the wheel; the sensible thing to do is to take the short-cut by simply obtaining those already optimised grass seedlings and growing them here in Nigeria. Just the same way we imported improved flood resistant rice seedlings some years back which has in no little way contributed to the rice revolution in different parts of Nigeria today. For clarity for those who are oblivious of this, "grass is not grass" and there is a reason why people spend several years studying agriculture in the university and research institutes even when our great grand fathers knew exactly how to sow and reap basic food crops.

A point of note in the article is milk production, Nigeria imports over 90% of the milk it consumes spending over $200m annually on this. A typical Nigerian milk cow produces 200kg of milk annually whereas a typical European milk cow produces up to 6500kg of milk annually, i.e. over 3000% more milk production. The main difference is the nutritional content of the feedstock these cows consume. Ironically, the same people who protest the plan to import improved grass seedlings (for planting) to improve our beef and milk production do not protest the billions we spend importing milk yearly; these same people (probably because of warped political logic) did not also see anything wrong when improved rice seedlings were imported few years back to help boost Nigeria's rice production capacity.

What I find most disheartening about these comments I have quoted is that most of the respondents here are youths, educated youths; and then we begin to wonder why the old have refused to relinquish power. They may claim not to be agriculturists, but that is definitely no excuse for this ignorance because anyone with even partial education should be able to discern these things. If only we can sometimes purge our minds of flimsy political sentiments, then some of these things are just common sense.

kenchylala:


What happened to planning How long does it tk for grass to grow? How long would it tk to import grass n grow some for urself n channel d cash too something else?

truthspeaks:
Lekwa ndi agriculturist . Beta stick to ur title 'theoretically' if u hv no position/contribution to offer.

stevedre:
You made some good points which I must say are valid. I am not a nutritionist but I would suggest we import what the Brazilians used in multiplying the nutrients in their grass rather than importing the grass. When Malaysia took our palm oil ideas they went for our Palm fruits not our Palm trees so how about importing chemicals or fertilizers that will multiply and enrich the grasses wasting in the south then move most to the north thereby creating jobs and helping our economy to grow instead of importing grass which I know will be left to dry if care is not taking due to corruption in high places. I would like you to correct me if I am wrong, thanks.

Mboi:

That is the problem we have, a lot of dead brains like you all over Nigeria. Knowing how to read and write is not wisdom. The old SSCE holder u voted knows even if your parents send u to University, you'll still reason like a pupil. It's only a clueless and insensitive unrepentant old man that they made a President that will leave the pressing issues in his country and be cooking up stories and reasons so he can import grasses for his cows. Zombie will always be Zombie.

yomalex:
wallow in your ignorance then. It seems you're incapable of discussing without casting aspersions. This is my last response to you

Pidggin:


Okay, i want to know why they can't just import samples and then modify them, why spend millions importing, instead of bringing in samples

ManTiger:

So they will import grass, refrigerate it so as not to withered and start selling it to the abokis abi? , i'm not sorry to say this, you be mumu.

Everyone knew Obj was about to scam us when he proposed his satellite idea, 8 months after its launching, they claim it disappear.

I dey look GEJ mouth when he was saying SURE-P will cushion the effect of pms subsidy removal, I only pity those idiats I see in their lagos office, 4yrs after, Babangida Aliyu said SURE-P was fraud which is obviously true.

We don't say they shouldn't steal, afterall "stealing is not corruption" but if they must ten they should come up with convincing ideas, not like importing grass! Who will buy it? The industry is not even controlled by anyone, com'on use your brain!

JealousPrince:

.
.
Oga go and sit down.

obailala:
Every single time you try to insult people you do not know, first take a look at yourself in the mirror. The agriculturists involved in this are not iidiots.

If only you can use your God given brains and at least just read the freaking article, you wouldn't be here dancing ignorantly in public. Even if you couldn't read the long article, you could have at least read by short explanation but you were too intellectually handicapped to do that; you just wanted to respond before even reading.

FYI, special grass seedlings are being imported to be planted and grown in Nigeria; the imported grass isn't meant for eating, it is meant to be planted and produced in Nigeria.

Princewill1:
This argurment is faulty.No explanation can justify the importation of grass at this period of time in Nigeria.Are you aware that there is shortage of forex in Nigeria? Which is presently causing the economic problems we are having today.

So we should use the little forex left to import grass for cows,instead of to import essential and stable food like rice for humans?

Is like this fulani govt values the lives of cattle more than the lives of human? (Agatu massacre also comes to mind).

By the way,the milk issue you are talking about is a long term project.Is not like if you feed the cattle with imported grass today,then tomorrow they will start producing quantity milk that will serve the milk need of Nigeria.It will take years to develop.The milk production industry in Europe that we are importing from were not developed overnight.

We have emergency economic situation at hand right now,we can't afford to waste the scarce forex we have.They govt should come to the south to take grass to the north.

We have to spend our little forex based on our scale of preference,unless if this govt values cattle more than humans inhabiting the country.

ManTiger:

We both understand how this will end just.
But my point is; this shouldn't be a priority for now. I later apologised for using an uncouth word, probably I apologised to the wrong person I quoted. My apologies, just having not so good day.

obailala:
I beg to differ, every single thing which can boost agriculture in Nigeria today is a very high priority. I dont need to remind you that it is only agriculture and solid minerals developmnet that can save us from the present travails of low oil price. This is something that should have been done a very long time ago but it's never too late to start.