Maize Association Mark’s 30th Anniversary with a retreat in Kaduna

Ene Okwanihe, Kaduna

The Maize Association of Nigeria MAAN, has commenced activities to mark its 30 years of existence with a retreat in Kaduna state North West, Nigeria.

The retreat was an Avenue for Maize farmers all over the country to come together and appraise their performance so far, chat a way forward and train members to better position the Association.

The retreat commenced with a training with the theme “New Strategies for redirecting the compass of Maize Association of Nigeria” centered on emerging issues in agriculture, improved Seeds, commodity markets and agricultural best practices, was organized for members of the Association.

The training seeks to bring members up to date on trending issues in Agriculture and technology adoption.

Book Launch

A book titled “Maize Association of Nigeria- history, achievements, future trends” written by some of the founding members of the Association, detailing the activities of the MAAN since inception was launched by stakeholders.

The President of MAAN, Dr Bello Abubakar in his opening remarks at the book launch said it’s necessary to put down the history of the formation of the Association down in a book so that people can appreciate how far it has come and for future references.

“However, during these years the child must have gone through some ups and downs. It is therefore natural to put the story of this child (MAAN) on paper for future references”

While emphasizing the importance of adopting new strategies to improve the sector Dr Abubakar said MAAN would continue to learn and relearn new trends in Maize production.

“However, one continues to learn until the day he or she dies; hence, we shall learn new technologies in Maize Production, New Varieties of Maize, Handling of Grains etc.”

The book launch had in attendance, representative of the Kaduna state governor,  royal fathers and other stakeholders.

The highlight of the 30th anniversary celebration would be the unveiling of 21 Maize pyramids in Kaduna by President Muhammadu Buhari later in the week.