The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Wanted:strategies to boost cassava production

    Stakeholders have called for pragmatic strategies to improve Nigeria‘s position as a leading cassava producer, using innovation and technology.

    Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21) Director, Dr Claude Fauquet, who  spoke at a briefing in Lagos, ahead of the group’s  International Cassava Conference slated for June 11 to 15, in Cotonou, Benin Republic, said developing the cassava industry with innovation and technology would add value to products.  GCP21 is a not-for-profit international alliance.

    He said the demand for cassava by industries would increase mainly in the glue, paper, textile, sweetener, and pharmaceutical sectors.

    Fauguet said though Nigeria was a big player in cassava production, but it had not yet met the cassava needs of Nigerians.

    He said: “In comparison with what Africa and other countries produce, cassava productivity in Asia is more than 22 tonnes per hectare, a situation that gives Asia competitive advantage in global trade while Latin America produces 12 tonnes per hectare.

    “Addressing the yield gap demands more funding for cassava research and development (R&D) from all stakeholders, if truly the world wants to help farmers towards ending hunger and poverty in Africa.”

    Corroborating Fauquet, Prof Malachy Akoroda, Director Designate, GCP21, stressed the imperative of partnership by local operators with experts and other stakeholders and practitioners from different countries of the world. In his words: “This is a conference Nigeria and Nigerians must not fail to exploit. The goal should be how to obtain maximum benefits. Partnership is critical! The Brazilians want to help us. The conference will showcase innovations, new technologies, new systems in cassava being developed elsewhere, including model cassava farmers and hectares.”

     

  • Firm rewards 100 top agro-dealers

    WACOT Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of TGI Group, in Kano, has rewarded 100 of its top dealers for their efforts in marketing its products. They were rewarded with various gifts such as motorcycles, television sets, refrigerators with a car as  the star prize.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Ujwal Senapati, who spoke at the ceremony, reiterated the company’s commitment to delivering only quality input, noting that “our strategy is to brand and promote the products in such a way that they make sales easier for our dealers.

    “We are also using this opportunity to recognise our sales team in our branches across the nation. Without them, none of these would have been possible. Our people are our biggest assets and we will continue to appreciate their efforts in every way we can,”he said.

    TGI Group General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Sadiq Kassim, said: “We pride ourselves in being able to engage our stakeholders at every level, and our dealers are not left out of this.

    “While the rewards are a way of us giving back to them and encouraging them, the joy for us is being able to sit in a room with them to hear directly from them how our products are doing in the market, and ways in which they want us to improve.”

    He added that the rewards for the dealers in various categories ranged from motorcycles, television sets, and refrigerators to a brand new car as the grand prize, pointing out that in Gombe State, due to a tie in the performance, two grand prizes were given out.                He said WACOT has rewarded over 100 dealers across the country.     According to him, WACOT started as a cotton  genary company 20 years ago, “but today, we can be proud of buying over 500, 000 tonnes of maize, soybeans and sesame”.

     

  • Making agric attractive to investors

    The agriculture sector has continued to be attractive to investors. However, operational challenges are hampering them from making good returns. This was the concern of the Institute of Directors (IoD) during its Members’ Evening in Lagos, DANIEL ESSIET reports

    As Nigerians consider ways of improving their livelihoods, experts have said food security is one area to invest. They said efforts must be channelled towards making farming the engine of transforming the economy.

    This was the position of captains of industry and corporate giants, who gathered for the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria Members’ Evening in Lagos.

    According to them, agriculture is suffering from years of under-investment, limited research, and scant input in technology and services for farmers.

    They highlighted the challenges in the sector and urged the government to address  to enhance productivity and  reduce food importation.

    Institute of Bankers President Prof. Joseph Olusegun Ajibola said farmers were trying their best to grow more food, but lack of infrastructure was responsible for their losses.

    In Ekiti where his farm is located, Ajibola said farmers’ lack of access to productivity-enhancing technologies such as quality seeds of superior varieties, mineral fertiliser and crop protection products were some of the challenges being faced.

    He said input needed to increase the land’s productivity – from seed, to fertiliser, machinery, irrigation, and finance – were scarce nationwide.

    He called on the government to invest in roads and electricity– to create an efficient and well-functioning agricultural chain.

    IoD President Ahmed Rufai Mohammed urged the government to take enough measures to revive   agriculture, noting that small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) are involved in food production, but their biggest constraint remains limited access to finance.

    He said  what the sector needed was higher agricultural credit and other incentives to boost farmers’ productivity.

    According to him, a discussion on breaking new grounds in agriculture financing was not only necessary for promoting sustainable investment in the sector, but complementary to efforts at enhancing the socio-economic well-being of the people and the economy.

    He said Members’ Evening was one of such platforms that provide opportunities for members to make meaningful inputs and suggest policy options that could enhance government’s decision making process on issues bordering on provision of an enabling environment for businesses across sectors.

    Former Managing Director of the defunct Nigerian Airways Mr. Yomi Jones said despite its importance to food security, the seed industry was still struggling.

    He lamented that lack of database for the agricultural sector has not only made the sector unattractive to both the foreign and local investors, but has continued to retard agribusiness growth.

    Other directors highlighted challenges that affected food production to include absence of government support, insecurity, kidnapping and poor support for agricultural extension.

    Against this backdrop, they also saw technology as a solution for boosting agriculture. The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), said it has  introduced artificial intelligence and aerial imagery analytics to make farming processes more efficient and lead to better decisions for improving yield and productivity.

    NIRSAL Managing Director Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed said offering  agronomic intelligence to help  farmers to plant crops was based  on the situation on ground.

    He  said there is a lot of scope to increase agricultural productivity by using technology in crop selection, package of practices and pest and disease management.

    Establishing an effective modern agricultural extension service, he said, is key to the revitalisation of agriculture. According to him, this is the vision behind its Project Monitoring Reporting and Remediation Offices (PMRO) scheme.

    He said: “The PMRO structure is very critical to our operations. Agriculture is a field business. The PMROs would act as our eyes to ensure that agricultural projects that we facilitate finance for are executed in line with agreed terms and also serve to extend the reach of our interventions.”

     

  • LASPARK to begin community tree planting

    The  Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) is to  begin community tree planting across the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state. The campaign has “Plant a tree”as its theme.

    At its weekly management meeting, its General Manager, Mrs. Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola said the community tree planting, sensitisation and awareness campaign was in line with the sustainability of the green policy of the state, noting that it has become crucial to continuously reawaken the consciousness of the people to plant trees and combat the negative effects of climate change in their community.

    “The sacred responsibility of preserving nature lies in our hands and nature has been good to us hence, our refusal to reciprocate this kind gesture is ungodly, inhuman and selfish,” she said.

    Mrs Adebiyi-Abiola reiterated that when people continue to cut trees, they kill life, reduce biological diversity and cheat posterity. Therefore, the need to plant trees in our community is germane to healthy living.

    She said the exercise would cut across the state with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), students, green compliance organisations, government institutions as well as community development associations (CDAs)/community development committees (CDCs).

    This  year’s programme flagged off at Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA last Saturday , while Epe LGA will host the event on  May 5.

    She said the programme will move to Surulere LGA on May 19. Other venues include Ikosi LCDA,June 3; Amuwo Odofin LCDA, June 17 and Ikeja LGA July 1.

    She restated the government’s commitment to clamp down on perpetrators of illegal tree felling and pruning, stressing that permission should be sought from LASPARK before any tree was cut or pruned.

     

  • Jigawa procures 5,000 metric tonnes of NPK fertiliser

    Alhaji Kabiru Ali, the Jigawa State Commissioner for Agriculture, said on Tuesday that the state had procured 5,000 metric tonnes of NPK fertilisers for the 2018 cropping season.

    Ali who made this known while speaking with newsmen in Dutse, Jigawa capital, said that the state government would no longer allocate fertilizer directly to anyone.

    He said that the measure was to remove any obstacle that might hinder farmers from accessing the commodity on time.

    “I have just taken delivery of 5,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser and I have about 2,000 metric tonnes in stock and it is of very good quality, he said.

    He explained that the fertiliser would be sold to the farmers at the Federal Government’s approved rate of N5, 500 per bag.

    “If a farmer has his money, he can just walk into any of our stores and buy at the cost of N5,500 per bag.

    “There is no limitation to this. A bigger farmer can buy as many bags as he can afford; so this is our intention,’’ he said.

    The commissioner further said that farmers could obtain the commodity from any of the Jigawa State Agricultural Supply Company ( JASCO ) stores in their local government areas.

    According to Ali, the ministry is also planning to procure urea fertiliser for the wet season farming programme.

    “Now I am discussing with my chief executives how to procure urea; urea is the type of fertiliser that is needed at a later time of the season.

    “That is why we started with the procurement of NPK. We will source 3,000 metric tonnes of the urea, as we have 1,500 metric tonnes of it in stock already,’’ Ali added.

    NAN

  • FG spends N2.8bn as compensation to poultry farmers – Lokpobiri

    Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Agriculture, on Tuesday says the Federal Government has spent about N2.8 billion as compensation to poultry farmers who lost their birds to avian influenza nationwide.

    Lokpobiri told newsmen shortly after a familiarisation tour of Agricultural Institutes under Ahmadu Bello University ( ABU ), Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The institutes included Institute for Agricultural Research ( IAR ) and National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaisons Services ( NAERLS ).

    Others are National Animal Production Research Institute ( NAPRI ) and Division of Agricultural Colleges ( DAC ).

    The minister said: “Like I said earlier, we have just paid about N2.8 billion as compensation to people who lost their birds to avian influenza.

    “Meanwhile, NAPRI took over a decade to be able to do research and we are able to get the birds that were resistant to avian influenza.

    “But many Nigerians are not aware, even those that are aware do not know that NAPRI has the capacity to multiply and supply same to the market.

    “Therefore, the institute has no business crying for money, you need to commercialise your research product,” he said.

    The minister observed that commercialisation of research had become a norm globally, hence the need for Nigerian research institutes to join the queue.

    According to him, the professors and researchers are spending so much time and energy doing researches and evolving technologies which should be commercialised by the instututes for maximum benefits to the public.

    “What is the essence of doing a research if you cannot take it to the public, when they commercialise, they will get some additional money on top of what government is giving.

    “This will change the whole dynamics of the agric sector and we have given that mandate to all our research institutes to do a lot more research, government cannot provide sufficient money for them to meet all their needs.

    “But they have to do what they are paid to do, commercialise the research outputs not only to Nigerians but to the whole of the world, so that we can begin to use those products to get money from the rest of the world.”

    Lokpobiri commended the agricultural institutes for a job well done, saying, “I have heard so much about what the institutes are doing and what ABU is doing, I am very happy that I am here today, I have come and I have seen.

    “I will like to come back again and again until we achieve the objective for each of those institutes and you will agree with me agriculture wasn’t receiving the desired attention before this government came into power.

    “But we are trying as much as possible to increase budgetary allocation to agricultural sector on a sustainable basis and the President is committed to ensuring that whether oil is $100 per barrel, agriculture is the way to go.”

    He identified agriculture as the only path for Nigeria to attain self-sufficiency, adding that it was the only sure way to create jobs for the people, curb restiveness, reduce poverty and get people committed.

    Lokpobiri explained that the present government was trying to make agriculture a business, adding that in the past, people see agriculture as a way of life.

    The minister said agriculture had now become a business in every part of the world, adding that the richest people now are farmers.

    “The richest people are those who are investing in agriculture because you may be an investor in oil and gas, I may decide not to patronise you, you may be an investor in textile, production of cars among others.

    “Not everybody has a car but everybody eat food, whether you are poor, rich, healthy, sick, young, old you must eat food, but you may decide to wear one cloth for one year nobody cares.

    “But you can’t eat a plate of food and have it again, so food is the most important industry in the world.

    “Therefore, government is calling on Nigerians to see agriculture as a business, invest in it and create wealth for themselves,” he said.

    NAN

  • Tackling low cassava yield

    Cassava is a key tuber crop that can help Africa overcome its reliance on food imports for Africa. But experts are concerned that average yield per hectare is still between 10 and 20 tonnes. The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21), a non-profit international alliance of 45 organisations, is meeting in June in Benin Republic to seek ways to help Nigerian farmers use cassava create wealth and food security, DANIELESSIET reports.

    In Nigeria, and other West African countries, cassava is the main source of carbohydrates, replacing some traditional staples, such as millet and yam.

    With its adaptability to a dry climate, and  application  to many products, including foods, confectionery, sweeteners, chips and pellets, experts say cassava has shown strong capacity in helping Nigeria to become less dependent on food imports.

    Indeed, West Africa produces 50 per cent of world cassava. Nigeria alone accounts for 20.2 per cent  of this output, making it the world’s largest producer of the tuber.

    Despite Nigeria being the largest producer of cassava in the West African sub-region, experts said the nation’s  average yield per hectare is 10 to 15 tonnes.

    Speaking in Lagos, the  Director Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP 21), Dr Claude Fauquet said due to the archaic methods of cultivating it, Nigeria’s cassava yield per hectare remains one of the lowest in the world, having never been greater than 12 tonnes per hectare.

    Brazil, for example, has the highest cassava yields at 50 tonnes per hectare.

    The scientist said he had achieved 80 tonnes per hectare.

    Fauquet said low plant yield and poor agronomy practice were responsible for the poor status of most cassava farmers in the sub-region.

    He said Africa’s population would double by 2050 and food was important, in view of the need to feed the population.

    He said: “We need to mechanise the production of cassava to produce it in large quantity and make its price affordable to the large number of people, who consume it daily.”

    He explained that  cassava has enormous potential as a food security crop. To achieve this, crop yields would have to be improved.

    Also, farmers must have access to better-quality stems, fertiliser, mechanisation, and maintain  frequent weeding, right planting and harvesting times.

    According to him, cassava could become the raw material base for an array of processed products that would increase demand for the tuber and contribute to agricultural transformation and economic growth in many sub-Saharan countries.

    He  added that the  market for cassava in Nigeria and the rest of the sub region  is enormous and could still be explored further. Taking into account the multiple uses for fresh cassava, he projected a demand  for cassava  to hit over 2.6 million tonnes of fresh cassava.

    According to him,  Nigeria and the rest of West Africa  have a lot of work to do  to stimulate cassava production.

    He added that average yield per hectare must increase to 30 tonnes nationwide to cope with the population expected to double in a few years.

    According to him, mechanisation of the cassava production is a pre-requisite for industrialisation.

    He noted: “The major difference is the yield, which was 28 tonnes per hectare( t/ha) in 2014 in Parana, instead of about 10 t/Ha in Africa. This will have to be changed in Africa for allowing industrialisation of the gari production. We do know that mechanisation of the production with the best agronomic practices and available improved CVs would boost the production to 25-30 t/Ha, making it compatible with an industrialisation similar to the production in Brazil.”

    Fauquet said there must be a  move by the Federal Government, other international institutions and the private  sector  to stimulate the improvement and transformation of fresh cassava through various agricultural-industrial projects.

    To help the sub-region achieve high cassava production to tackle increasing population, Fauquet said GCP21 is holding its fourth International Cassava Conference in Cotonou, Benin, between  June 11 and 15. Top on the agenda of the conference is the need to enable farmers on the continent access technologies developed by international institutions for cassava production and processing.

    According to him, prominent agricultural scientists and development specialists from around the world will assemble in Cotonou for five  days to develop a plan and develop  intervention programmes to  address production constraints.

    Also, Prof. Malachy Akoroda, Director Designate of GCP21, said the group was set to partner with stakeholders globally to improve cassava production.

    Akoroda said that partnerships and reviewing successes of other countries would ensure cassava sustainability and development.

    Akoroda, said technological changes had influenced cassava production, allowing the possibility of offering better products, with increased value.

    He noted that one of the major limitations for cassava producers is technology application to fresh cassava.

    He said the use of appropriate technologies in farming reduces time, increases productivity and addresses the constraints of small scale farmers. He urged stakeholders to work together to transform the industry.

     

  • Nigerians in Diaspora urged to invest in agric

    A firm, Adbond, Harvests & Homes, has launched a campaign to encourage Nigerians  in the diaspora to invest in agriculture.

    Its Managing Director, Adekoya Oluwasegun Gbenga urged members of the Diaspora to take advantage of the many investment opportunities which exist in agriculture.

    He said his organisation has been pivotal to unleashing the potential of farming and agribusiness with investment in land infrastructure.

    Gbenga said he was receiving enquiries from Nigerians, who are passionate about agriculture.

    According to him, discussions on investment in agriculture focused on potential land options, how businesses could access land in Nigeria for large-scale agricultural operations; incentives and procedures for the agricultural sector, and the technical requirements when undertaking specific agricultural activities.

    He said his organisation was providing affordable lands around Ogun and Lagos states for would-be investors  and to generate funding to kick-start various projects .

    He said the organisation was determined to provide farm managers service to assist absentee farmers.

    He noted that they were making farming a serious business, and this included employing professional managers.

    He said his organisation is ready  to  manage third party farm land for absentee landowners, agricultural land investors, developers as well as other producers.

    He said his organisation was also looking at farming as a business and intends to create jobs and make a profit out of ventures engaged in.

    He assured Nigerians from the Diaspora that their money would be more secure if invested in agriculture.

    According to him, his  organisation is ready to publicise the accessible opportunities in agriculture  diaspora to help Nigeria  abroad to know where to invest.

    He said the company’s core value lies in developing agriculture and its ancillary services, adding that the company believed in a partnership approach and were looking at partnering with local farmers in many agricultural projects, focused on partnerships, individual projects, and empowering local communities.

    He believes Nigeria is blessed with good soils upon which a variety of crops can be grown, favourable climatic conditions, and a well-developed labour force.

    For him, what is now required is to harness all these positive factors to spur the growth of the agricultural sector.

     

  • NIHORT moves to boost production

    The National Horticultural Research Institute of Nigeria (NIHORT ), Ibadan , Oyo  State is working towards increased productivity and overall production of horticultural products

    Its   acting Executive Director of the Institute Dr. Abayomi  Olaniyan stated this during a training programme held  collaboration with the Kord Resources Nigeria Limited to empower farmers in plantain, banana, ginger Value Chain development  in Ogun and Oyo states.

    Declaring  open  the  programme, Olaniyan  said plantain, banana and ginger are important agricultural commodities that can  produce returns in terms of income generation to farmers, and employment creation for unemployed  youths

    The Chief Executive said the statistics has shown that Nigeria has high comparative advantage in plantain production as the fifth largest producer in the world.

    He said  the potential can be maximised  by  encouraging  more farmers to participate in its production.

    On ginger,   Olaniyan further said  Nigerian grown is one of the best in the world market with  increasing  demand, “it was on this premise that we deliberately focused on each zone comparative advantage (agricultural products) to fashion  out a wealth driven value chain to get the products & produce for export. We are not  just  training the farmers and participants but we are also providing them with Starter kits to help them start something immediately we conclude the training process”.  He  anoounced   that after the training ,the team  will  move to South- south and South east to  train other farmers  on other agricultural products.

    The Training  Coordinator , Dr. Lawrence Olajide – Taiwo  said  the training on plantain, banana and ginger value chain development will help participants in  production, processing, packaging and marketing.

    He said the training is meant  train people on how to create wealth from plantain, banana and ginger.

    He highlighted the nutritional and health benefits of consumption of plantain, banana and ginger,urging the participants to explore other ways to creating derivatives  the three crops .

    The capacity building was held for three days at the  Ogun Osun River Basin Development Authority, Abeokuta, Ogun  State.  About fifty farmers  attended the programme.

    They  were  presented   starter kits such as industrial gas burners, cylinders, planting materials among others.

     

  • ‘Why Nigeria needs agric census’

    Regular census will promote agricultural growth, a university don has said.

    According to Prof Abiodun Adeloye, a former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), regular census is crucial if the government wishes to implement evidence-based policies to foster agriculture and rural development, ensure access to land, improve food security and reduce the adverse environmental impacts of agricultural activities.

    Globally, he said, agric census provides information on the structure of the sector, including the number and size of holdings. It also gives information about land use, crop area, crop intensity, irrigation facilities, agricultural input use, livestock numbers, as well as farmer demographics and employment.

    It covers figures on crop and animal production. The data form a source in the calculation of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    Besides, the private sector needs such data to make informed decisions to guide their investments.

    He expressed concern that available data was not comprehensive enough to aid planning and decision making, adding that the nation needed to create data platforms and capacities for farmers to understand what crops grow best and where.

    Meanwhile, climate change and its pressure on agriculture are adding fresh urgency for accurate data amid a fast-changing agricultural landscape.

    Statisticians and analysts said issues surrounding climate change were also adding to the challenges posed by food insecurity, poverty and undernourishment.

    Experts at a regional meeting of the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture (WCA) 2020 held September in Kenya said African countries have some capacity to conduct census on agriculture because 22 countries from the region participated in the last census held in 2010. But they added that there is a need for more capacity building and financial investments to ensure more countries conduct censuses.

    The experts were concerned that available agricultural data in the region was not comprehensive enough to aid planning and decision making in the sector.

    The meeting that was organised by the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) brought together agricultural research scientists and policymakers to discuss new features of the WCA 2020 in the light of UN’s Agenda 2030 on sustainable development and other initiatives.

    FAO senior statistician, Jairo Castano, said with about 800 million people malnourished globally, it is imperative that governments and development agencies have accurate, timely and accessible data for decision making.

    “Africa has the highest number of undernourished people but most countries have poor capacity for collecting, analysing and disseminating agricultural data,” said Castano. “This is because of low investments and prioritisation of agricultural data.”

    He urged African countries to improve their capacity to conduct well managed agricultural census, citing confidence provided by the FAO through roundtables to prepare countries for the 2020 census.

    The meeting was organised for 20 African countries including Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

    According to Castano, some agricultural officials have inadequate or no basic data such as number of farmers in their countries and the average age of the farming population. He said that the continent needs to strengthen the quality and availability of data if it wants to feed the rising population.

    The FAO has organised the 2020 WCA under 15 themes including land, irrigation, crops, livestock, demographics and social characteristics, household food security, fisheries and aquaculture.

    Kenya’s cabinet secretary for agriculture, livestock and fisheries, Willy Bett, said that the country will conduct its first ever comprehensive agricultural census in 2019 whose methodology will be informed by the WCA 2020 guidelines.

    “Owing to our unique farming systems, Africa needs data more than any other parts of the world,” said Bett adding that African countries are faced by systematic challenges that hinder generation and management of high quality agricultural data and statistics.

    In 2015, the Food Agriculture Organisation (FA0) released a set of updated guidelines to assist governments in carrying out their national-level agricultural censuses in 2016. It is the latest edition of guidelines which FAO provides every 10 years.

    Based on countries’ experiences and lessons learnt over previous decades, the new guidelines form part of the FAO coordinated World Programme for the Census of Agriculture, which covers the period 2016-2025. For the first time, the new census programme provides guidance on how to obtain and integrate data on fisheries (capture fisheries activities as aquaculture was already included) and on greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from agricultural activities.

    “The use of these guidelines by FAO member countries ensures that census results are harmonized and internationally comparable, and allows countries to benchmark their performance against others,” said FAO Chief Statistician, Pietro Gennari.

    “They address the requirements of both developed and developing countries, and provide the foundation for the development of an integrated census and survey programme, for using innovative methods and tools for data collection, and ultimately, for making better informed strategic decisions,” he added.