By Fatima Muraina

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Cassava farmers in Ondo state have been trained on modern technologies for better yields to increase productivity.

The training which was facilitated by the International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with facilitated with Akilimo was held at the Federal College of Agriculture, FECA , Akure, on Monday.

A Resource person at the training, Dr Emmanuel Moyin-Jesu said the training was to increase production through prescription and exposing people to new ways of improving production.

Moyin -Jesu who is a senior lecturer at the FECA, noted that people must see agriculture as a prescription and to identify areas where they can upgrade production.

He said Akilimo is a Swahili word to mean Smart agriculture, saying participants are expected to explore the knowledge gained in production and as well, teach others to make it a form of training the trainers programme.

According to Moyin-jesu, the training has exposed farmers to the need for fertilizer application and the importance of timing for the application, weed control and management.

A facilitator from Akilimo, Mr Seyi Kehinde took participants through the best planting practices and weed control, specifying the  choice of field, deciding on slashing or use of herbicides, ploughing and ridging as well as considering the cost of tilling and controlling weed during planting.

Earlier, an Akilimo officer, Mr Kayode Oguntoye who described cassava as a forbidden crop because it is a good investment, told farmers to look at Cassava as an alternative to improve the economy.

He noted that Akilimo is a digital service to provide agronomic advice to cassava growers which focuses on best planting practices and weed control, fertilizer application, optimal inter cropping practice and scheduled planting and harvesting.

The participants expressed satisfaction and applauded the facilitator for what they called a well deserved one which has exposed them on the importance of fertilizer application among many others.