The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Teaching farmers profit making tricks

    Teaching farmers profit making tricks

    Teaching farmers how to farm is not enough; experts say they must also be taught to start, run and grow a profitable business to make a living, reports DANIEL ESSIET.

    Olatunde  Aroye (not real name), got a piece of land in Oyo State to do farming to support his low monthly income. Every sowing season, he puts his faith in the latest variety of seeds, hoping for bountiful yields.

    So far, he has not been able to make a huge success of it. He is among the growing number of employed and unemployed graduates, defeated by the challenges of eking out a livelihood from the land.

    For him, farming is precarious: little infrastructure, limited electricity and people did not understand it is possible to farm and make a living from it.

    Though he has established a business growing maize, he does not see himself as a farmer, because there is still so much to learn. Having faced some challenges, he knows that success depends on good training and technical expertise to overcome the challenges of farming.

    With so many cases of failures, the Provost, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Ondo State, Dr Samson Odedina said there is  need to teach farmers not only to farm but also how to start, run and grow a farm into a profitable business.

    He has been involved in extensive training programme in crop production backed by research and extension support. This training enabled farmers and would- be -entrepreneurs to learn the importance of soil quality, pest control and water conservation. In the process, the farmers   identified the best cropping rotations for general adoption, using pilot plots and extension farms to demonstrate and experiment with new techniques.

    For a small fee, the  school’s experts take samples of soil and water, analyse them, and advise farmers on what to farm in given conditions and how. Besides, efforts are made to assist the farmers growing crops with linkages to markets.  The farmers are trained in marketing skills, building enterprises, best farming practices, food technology and simple processing techniques that can add value to a product.

    Farmers, according to him, have to learn the importance of meeting quality control standards; for long-term contracts depend on this.

    Alongside its focus on improving livelihoods, he said the school’s programmes have created   jobs for young people and women and this contributed in turn to social, economic and political stability in the area. This is because workers come from across the different communities to work on the farms and this opened many opportunities for people. Through this, people who didn’t have work found a way to farm and now business is booming.

    So far, he said the school has done a lot to promote rural wealth through market enhancement by linking smallholders to buyers and processors.

    Even farmers with small plots of land, he noted, can hope to increase their access to remunerative local markets.

    Access to these markets, he noted, would help to accelerate sales and returns and therefore, the spread of new intensive cropping and diversification techniques. There are increasing activities to boost food production and farmers’ production.

    Spurred by the need to produce more rice, Lagos State said it is collaborating with Kebbi State o develop the rice value chain.

    The State Governor, Mr Akinwumi Ambode disclosed this at the occasion of the 2015 World Food Day celebration in Lagos. In his address which was read by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Yakub Basorun, the governor said Lagos consumes over 50 per cent of national rice  demand which is put at over two metric  tonnes valued at N365 billion.

    He said: “While Kebbi State is one of the highest producers of paddy rice in Nigeria; Lagos is undoubtedly the highest consumer of milled rice with ultra-modern rice processing facilities in agro industrial estates located at Imota in Ikorodu Division.

    To boost processing, he said the state plan to establish more rice processing facilities in collaboration with the private sector. This, he expressed, also, will help to create more job opportunities for the people. He said also that the government is working towards providing facilities so as to boost agricultural productivity.

    He said the state plans to give incentives to farmers as part of a long term strategy to improve the  food supply chain. One of the strategies is to provide incentives and inputs to enterprising residents, including the farm estates in Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry.

    In furtherance of the policy of making arable land available for farming, he said the state has acquired land in Ogun, Osun and the Federal Capital Territory with a view to allocating plots of land to interested farmers who will sign Off-Take Agreements with the state government. Increased   food production, he believes, could help the nation reduce its dependence on imported foods.

    The Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State Chapter, Otunba Femi Oke, said his group is working with producers to help transform the commodities value chain, making it inclusive and efficient.

    In collaboration with the Lagos State government and exporters, Oke, said the association is providing farmers with continuous feedback on the quality and grade of their produce. This has enabled small scale producers to improve processes along the entire value chain, including picking, washing and drying of commodities. In this way, they improve the quality and value of the commodities that they harvest. The value chain, according to him, is more efficient as small farmers have easy access to grading, storage and transport services provided by members of the association and exporters.

    Along the line, commodities are analysed to make sure that there are no traces of mould, disease or parasites. If they are intended for the export market, it is important that the commodities meet international consumer health and safety standards.

    At the national level, the campaign is to stimulate nationwide food production and increase farmers’ incomes.

    Addressing a forum on family farming organised by gourmet guide234.com at the University of Lagos, Lagos, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina said agricultural transformation and food security will continue to feature prominently in the nation’s development agenda.

    According to him, there is a renewed vision for agricultural transformation, which placed emphasis on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

    With declining oil revenue, he said the agricultural sector has the greatest potential to produce a substantial share of the nation’s revenue as well as boost food production.

    The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, he said sees agriculture as a great a major player in efforts to overcome hunger and poverty.

    With the appropriate management methods, training and innovative technologies, he said the nation has the opportunity to build sustainable agribusinesses that will generate high yield, quality food and long-lasting economic betterment.

    For Nigeria to feed herself, he said there was a need to increase the productivity and profitability of the nation’s family farmers. Adesina challenged media practitioners to partner in government’s quest to transform agriculture.

    He said the agenda of a green revolution could succeed if journalists report agriculture well by encouraging the government to adopt good agricultural policies as well as the farmers to take up good practices to transform the sector.

    He said the media has a role to play to help the government in its bid to transform the nation’s agriculture into a highly productive and sustainable system and enable Nigeria to be food sufficient and food secured.

    He called for the adoption of modern methods.

    Dr Kayode Oyeleye, Special Assistant (Media) to former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, who spoke at the event, said farmers needed to use sustainable strategies to achieve results and mentioned irrigation and the cultivation of improved seeds as some of the new things they could learn.

    Alongside its focus on improving livelihoods, Oyeleye urged the government to invest considerably in providing services and creating better conditions for farmers.

    The farm settlements, he said should have markets, roads, housing and consistent electrical supply.

    This, according to him will enable smallholders to become viable suppliers to big buyers and  be successfully linked with market intermediaries, processors and exporters.

    He said farmers need to participate in programmes that assist them on their farms to improve yields, reduce use of fertilizer and pesticides, and increase profitability. While many innovative technologies exist, he said they often are not integrated into the tools that farmers use every day.

    Oyeleye said though technology, tools and know-how to assure better farming future exist, the reforms have not being widely adopted, even when they provide positive financial returns. According to him, the nation’s agriculture system cannot afford to wait for piecemeal adoption of better practices and solutions.

    He said tools and solutions are emerging to help farmers see these opportunities. In order to unlock the potential value for farmers, Oyeleye said research institutes need to work together and coordinate their actions to make agriculture more sustainable.

    According to him, a high proportion of smallholder farmers need to move out of poverty stressing that for this to happen, they must have access to improved staple crop varieties, inputs and services.

    He stressed the need for capacity building to continue to be mission critical for research and development, including the adoption revolution.

  • Farmers seek new credit policy for agriculture

    LAGOS State Federated FADAMA Community Association president, Alhaji Abiodun Oyenekan, has urged the Federal Government to evolve a new credit policy that will contribute to agricultural restructuring and boost food production.

    Oyenekan asked that farmers access to finance be improved to enable them buy agricultural machinery to increase their productivity and incomes.

    According to him, many smallholder farmers do not have access to modern agricultural machinery that can help increase their productivity and improve both food security and incomes.

    This is because they can’t afford new tractors. Without access to credit, he said they often have no choice but to continue farming without the benefit of modern equipment. He noted, however, that credit for agriculture is still facing difficulties, such as high interest rates and strict loan approaches.

    Right now, he explained that loans given by banks are not single digits and tend to be too expensive for rural smallholders to take advantage of financing, and they can rarely meet the rigid collateral requirements or pay back the loan within the typical short-term lending periods.

    Oyenekan said credit  for agriculture still faces difficulties, such as high interest rates and strict loan approaches. According  to him, restructuring the credit policy will lead to banks developing loans for agriculture, which include production and processing of agricultural products and processing and consumption, production of seeds in crop, livestock, fisheries, forests and supplying of products and services and lending for trade development in rural areas.

    Besides, he said there should be support for partnership and application of high technology in agricultural production; increasing competitiveness to contribute to sustainable development of the agricultural sector and enhancing the living conditions of rural residents and contributing to implementation of the national target programme of new rural areas.

    He said there are funding windows provided for farmers by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the World Bank to boost government’s efforts to expand agriculture sector while providing food security and improved nutrition to the rural poor.

    For the agric sector to develop rapidly, he said the economy must support it’s demand for credit and expand business operation towards modernisation.

  • Buhari hails NNPC, Agip, Oando on agri programme

    President Muhammadu Buhari has praised the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC)  and its partners, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Oando, for the Green River Project (GRP) which has covered over 120 rural communities and empowered over 35,000 farmers. GRP is the firm’s agric intervention project.

    In an audio-visual message to an agricultural exhibition and Farmers’ Day, organised by NAOC, Buhari explained that the company’s GRP had become more important “now that oil has ceased to be the nation’s cash cow. We have no option, but to turn to agriculture. Diversification of our economy is no longer something to pay lip service to,” he said.

    He unfolded the government’s agricultural development programme aimed at attaining self-sufficiency in food production and yearly export of 10 million tonnes of grains and processed food by 2019  to farmers from Bayelsa, Delta, Imo and Rivers states during the celebration.

    The return of marketing corporations is to serve as the main platform of the government’s programme which is also expected to lead to the development of 740,000 market-oriented young agricultural producers from among unemployed youths.

    In the speech delivered on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Sonny Echono, the President said government’s strategies include: establishment of Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), which will benefit 20,000 school leavers and rural youth leaders in each state of the federation and develop 18,500 university graduates into young agribusiness entrepreneur called “nagropreneurs” and Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHEs) – a private sector led mechanisation programme which will inject a total of 6,000 units of tractors and implements, 15,000 power tillers, 20,000 planting and postharvest equipment to mechanise an estimated four million hectares of land nationwide.

    The Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Fulvio Rustico  described the GRP of NAOC as a means to re-enforce a healthy relationship and cooperation between his country and Nigeria.

    The Chairman of NAOC, Mr. Ciro Antonio Pagano with his Vice, Massimo Insulla in their respective remarks spoke on the impact of GRPin the four stakeholder  states.

    They also spoke about the potential of the Project becoming a pivot for the development of the agric sector in Nigeria as it will serve as a major platform for knowledge sharing among farmers, academia, public extension services and agro allied industry.

  • Expert calls for better irrigation, reservoir management

    To protect farmers from the growing stresses of extreme weather and climate change, the Federal Government has been urged to promote better use of irrigation to improve food security.

    Dr Ademola Adeyemo, Head of General Management Division, Agricultural & Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, said it would give the country’s agriculture sector a new lease of life, in the face of shifting weather patterns.

    He said it paved the way for the country to use its available land resources for the sustainable development of irrigation.

    He said irrigation development is crucial since rain-fed agriculture is affected by drought and floods that will be exacerbated by climate change, impacting significantly on both the national economy and smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to food insecurity.

    To combat the effects of climate change, he said the nation needs sustainable irrigation that recognises the role of farmers and the challenges they face in developing the sector.

    He called for funding to pave the way for financing irrigation activities carried out by individual farmers and investors, through loans or grants. This will enable farmers’ groups, private individuals, associations and companies to own built irrigation infrastructure.

    He wants the government to improve the management of its numerous reservoirs to optimise the efficiency of its water management.

    He said the effects of climate change and natural disasters are becoming more unpredictable. He said the management of reservoirs should also encompass the collection of weather statistics, rather than depending on information provided by weather forecast agencies.

    He stressed the need to build a more comprehensive reservoir management system that prioritises structural safety, efforts to reduce adverse effects of flooding, and initiatives to maintain the water supply in downstream areas.

    He said the country had the potential of becoming a leading food producer since it had vast water bodies for irrigation purposes.

    According to him, irrigation facilities in the country are not in shape and the onus is on Government to invest more on irrigation infrastructure to boost food production capacity instead of relying on imports.

    He urged the government to boost the nation’s agriculture by accelerating the development of infrastructure such as roads and storage.

    He emphasised that increasing productivity in agriculture is critical for sustainable development and economic growth.

  • Nigeria: Screwing up agricultural transformation

    I read with dismay on October 12, The Nation article titled: “Importers, traders laud govt for lifting ban on rice.” The decision to lift the ban, we are told, is at the prompting of the Comptroller-General of Customs. The article incredulously informs us that lifting the ban on imported rice was necessary because a minimum of 10,000 bags of rice is smuggled into Nigeria each day. The logic is that opening the floodgates to importation would bolster Customs revenues.

    The following day, another national newspaper carried a similar article titled: “Brazilian investors beg FG to ease barriers on rice importation.” The article goes on to say that in a meeting with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, the Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria said he was keen on exporting rice to Nigeria.

    First of all, this is the kind of meeting that should never have held in the first place. Sales of agricultural technology, yes! Rice importation, absolutely NOT.

    I am totally scratching my head on this one. Only in Nigeria, does this type of thinking take place and only in Nigeria do we jettison well thought through policies on a whim. No wonder foreign investors tend to be ultra cautious before venturing into the Nigerian market. One would have expected Customs to enforce existing regulations and clamp down on illegal importation in order to safeguard the nation’s food security,  support rural and commercial farmers, and preserve Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange earnings.

    I’m the grandson of a farmer, so I guess my biases are obvious. For the record, between 2011 and 2015, the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, and his team, spearheaded a major transformation across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain. Was it perfect? Nothing is. Was it unprecedented and enormously successful? Without a doubt!

    We are a rice-eating nation. We consume approximately 6 million metric tonnes each year. Consequently, rice is life! In this sector alone, as with many other crops, Adesina provided millions of farmers with new high-yielding seeds at no cost, and fertiliser at 50% subsidy.

    The goal was to create access, empower rural farmers, massively boost productivity, and reduce import dependence. The end result of a highly creative and generous Growth Enhancement Support program and an electronic wallet system was that under Adesina, Nigeria achieved 80 per cent self-sufficiency in paddy rice production.

    Additionally, Adesina aggressively engaged the organized private sector and State Governments, with the goal of up scaling commercial rice production. Kebbi, Nassarawa, Zamfara, Ebonyi, Ekiti and many other States, worked in tandem with the Federal Government to turn Nigeria’s high dependence on imported rice into self-sufficiency. In 2013, under a backward integration program, investors who were engaged in farming and milling were allowed to import rice at reduced tariffs until 2017, when 100% self-sufficiency was anticipated.

    What do we now tell the millions of farmers who believed the previous Government’s mantra that Agriculture was Nigeria’s new black gold? What message have we just sent to the many young entrepreneurial University graduates who for a moment in time considered agriculture a viable pathway to wealth?

    How do commercial farmers and millers recoup billions of Naira in investments in a market awash with inferior and cheap imported rice? By this singular act, have we not sent powerfully wrong signals to the agriculture sector? That it is a whole lot easier, more convenient, and certainly much more lucrative to import rice rather than engage in full scale production that has the potential to create more jobs than any other sector of the economy. My heart truly goes out to our farming community.

    While I expected some agricultural policy flip flops, as is usually the case in our beloved Nigeria, I just did not expect it this soon. After all, lifting the ban on rice importation should not have been at the insistence of the Comptroller General of Customs alone, but in concert with the Central Bank Governor, the soon-to-be appointed Ministers of Agriculture, and Finance, the highly respected Nigerian Agribusiness Group, and the Federal Executive Council. There is no other way to describe what has just happened than as an ‘agricultural coup d’état! But alas this is Nigeria!

     

     – Dr Victor Oladokun is a

    Media Strategist and CEO of 3D Global Consult

  • Fed Govt urged to focus on food safety, agric development

    The Federal Government has been urged to prioritise food safety to boost export revenue.

    The Chief Operating Officer,  Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, Robo Adhuze, who gave the advice, said this had become necessary in the face of dwindling oil revenue and challenges in the export market.

    He urged the government to create conducive environment for enterprises in the agricultural and food sectors.

    According to him, the growth of agriculture at a reasonable rate is important to avoid distortions in the economy and it requires interventions to improve productivity in the land available.

    He said local firms need to enjoy favourable conditions to enable investment in improving output, ensuring quality products and creating value added products in the agricultural sectors, including livestock, cultivation, production of seeds and animal varieties, processing, preservation and technology after harvesting.

    He called on the government to promote public-private partnership (PPP) in the agricultural sector, improve farming and food value chains from production to harvesting as well as distribution of products besides research and expansion in regions producing material for agricultural processing and production.

    Adhuze stressed the need to set-up modern farms and enhances the regulation of quality of food and other farm products to tackle the difficulties.

    He called on the government to encourage private investment in farms and also try to secure cheaper financing options for more farmers.

    Adhuze urged the government to support banks to increase mid- and long-term infrastructure loans to rural areas as part of these developments.

    He said agriculture was the engine of growth for the economy, and that restructuring the sector to improve profitability and sustainability, and added value to products will help the population. The government’s objective, according to him, is to maintain high growth, create more jobs, increase income and improve the livelihood of farmers, and, at the same time, protect the environment.

  • Tackling hidden hunger with orange flesh sweet potato

    Tackling hidden hunger with orange flesh sweet potato

    Hidden hunger refers to the lack of access to micronutrients critical to proper physical and cognitive development. Food fortification is one of the least expensive and most effective nutrition interventions to tackle it on a huge scale. To achieve this, there is a global campaign to distribute sweet potatoes fortified with integrated essential vitamins and minerals to farmers to plant nationwide. The International Potato Centre is championing the campaign, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Hidden hunger is one of the biggest global challenges of our time. While farmers are making efforts to address hunger that concerns quantities of food, nutritionists and farmers agree that not much has been done to position agriculture to address micronutrient deficiency which has to do with  food quality.

    For them, it is possible, for example, to eat 2,000 calories of starchy foods – unenriched white flour, or white-fleshed potato – and while one won’t be hungry, one’s body would lack the essential nutrients to properly function.

    According to them, the human body needs iron from food sources to build blood cells; vitamin A to support immune system and vision; iodine for cognitive development and thyroid function. Of particular importance are the essential micronutrients, which the body needs for survival but cannot be produced by itself. These are vitamins and metals such as iron and zinc, among others.

    To solve this problem, experts are advocating food fortification to eradicate preventable diseases and improve lives. Consequently, organisations have also started to enhance the nutrients in staples. Examples of these include intensive breeding to develop high iron content beans and pearl millet; high zinc content wheat and rice; and high vitamin A content maize, cassava, and sweet potato.

    Once seeds for biofortified crops are distributed, farmers are then free to plant, harvest, and save seeds as they deem fit. Doing so ideally provides a long-term solution to combat hidden hunger.

    Presenting the annual lecture of the Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, Kwara State, the Country Representative and Technical Advisor, International Potato Center (CIP), Dr Mrs Olapeju Phorbee said sweet potatoes are a common staple – but contain little-to-no Vitamin A. To this end, she said her center, is working extensively to introduce an orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) that is high in vitamin to Nigerian farmers.

    According to her, OFSP has shown to be an extremely rich source of bio-available pro-vitamin A, which is largely retained when the sweet potato is boiled, steamed or roasted.

    The CIP she said it is working with the Federal Government to increase the annual production of potatoes put at 3.9 metric tonnes to boost the economy, create jobs and advance the livelihood of Nigerians.

    According to her, Nigeria is the third largest producer of sweet potato in the world after China and Uganda.

    Though with its potential benefits, Mrs Phorbee, said potato has not been unexploited in the country.

    To this end, she said the centre introduced Reaching Agents for Change (RAC) Project to create new awareness focusing on the promotion of OFSP, which is better nutritionally.

    According to her, the market for it has been successfully demonstrated in the Osun State on the school feeding programme.

    Her words: “We are currently on the pilot phase of OFSP pottage in the school feeding menu.”

    According to her, OFSP has huge potential to improve the wealth of the people especially when the whole value chain is well exploited.

    She said:”It’s short production cycle, adaptability in marginal soil and possibility of irrigation farming makes OFSP a cash crop that can be available all year round in Nigeria for various purposes- household consumption, income generation for the grassroots and small-medium processors, and as an industrial raw material.”

    To date, over 20,000 households have received at least one bundle of OFSP vines to plant and access its roots for either consumption or commercialisation. The vine multipliers are obviously making money in vine sales especially from organisations that are using OFSP in their developmental programmes.

    With the growing level of OFSP awareness in Nigeria, raising more commercial multipliers and farmers at all levels, she noted, is worth considering for employment generation.

    The acting Executive Director, ARMTI, Mr Anthony Njoku said the theme of the 18th Annual Lecture of ARMTI, “Food Security, Employment Generation and Wealth Creation in a Developing Economy: The Role of Orange-fleshed Sweet potato (OFSP) Value Chain Development” demonstrated that the institute as a committed agency of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture And Rural Development (FMARD) for strengthening government policies, especially in agriculture and rural development.

    Having been involved since 2012 with CIP and its Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) project in training experts on Sweet Potato Value Chain Development, Njoku said ARMTI chose the title of its 18th Annual Lecture to bring home, the potential and extra-ordinary importance of the sweetpotato value chain development in Nigeria’s efforts to diversify her economy by making agriculture a business.

    He said the “Jumpstarting Project for OFSP Vine Production” is designed to serve the Kwara and Osun states’ farmers.

    He said the institute has undertaken a development initiative, the Village Alive Development Initiative (VADI) to improve the economic well-being of the communities around its operational area.

    Seven communities are involved, they include Fufu, Falokun-oja, Jimba-oja, Elerinjare, Apa-ola, Igbo-owu and Ilota. 53 operational and productive groups have been formed. Seed fund, totalling N10,000,000, he disclosed  has been disbursed to the seven communities; and savings mobilisation in the communities by June this year  stood at  N6,094,865.

    The total loan disbursed by June, in the communities, he said is N11,092,00, while loan repayment stood at N8,378,020 indicating 75.5 per cent loan repayment rate at the time.

    The participating communities, groups and individuals, he disclosed, operate and manage independent bank accounts in the project.

    The Permanent Secretary, FMARD, Sonny Echono said the ministry was also aware of the laudable strides that ARMTI is making.

    Represented by the Director, Human Resources, Mr Itua Aikhoje, Echono, said VADI implemented in seven communities in ARMTI’s operational area has the potential to spread speedy and sustainable development to the rural communities all over the nation, with time.

    “The Jumpstarting Project for Sweet Potato Vines Multiplication that we have just commissioned this morning, I am told, is a pilot project that is being funded by an international partner of ARMTI, the International Potato Centre. Together with the ToT (train the trainers) on orange-fleshed sweetpotato, these initiatives depict the kind of proactiveness we are talking about.”

    He emphasised the importance of agriculture, adding that it has taken the front burner with the dwindling fortunes of oil.

    By this, he said employment would be generated in abundance and the sector would be seen as a major source of wealth creation for the nation.

    Kwara State governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed, said the state has identified the need to take bold steps to develop the agricultural sector to stimulate food security, job creation, wealth creation, economic growth and rural development. Represented by the Special Adviser to Agriculture and Rural Develoment, Hon Anu Ibiwoye, he said the state government has initiated and incorporated agriculture as a major policy-thrust in its Shared Prosperity Agenda, which is the cardinal platform for driving the economic transformation of the state.

    This has culminated in the development of a comprehensive and all encompassing document known as the “Kwara Agricultural Modernisation Master Plan” (KAMP) to fast track the development of Agriculture not only as a major driver of the economy of the state, but also as a veritable tool for youth employment and empowerment, a tool to arrest social ills such as youth restlessness rurla/urban drift.

    He said the state is a trail blazer in the introduction of mechanisation and public private partnership in agriculture. This, according to him, has been yielding tremendous result in terms of increase in agricultural products output, growing export potentials of some products, and ensuring food security in the state. The tremendous success of the commercial farm project in Shonga, Kwara state, being the first of its kind in Nigeria is a good example of this accomplishment, he added.

    The project has engendered the social development of the rural communities in and around Shonga, provided gainful employment for the rural women and youth population as well as facilitated the provision and development of infrastructure in the rural community leading to increased agricultural output, and a reduced rural-urban drift of our rural population.

    In addition, he said the state has established Kwara Agric Mall, a one stop coordination centre for farmers’ needs, providing access to agric inputs, equipments, finance, extension and markets.

    According to him, Kwara State is in the rice producing belt of the country with about 400,000 hectares of land available for rice production. The annual rice production figure for the state, he  said  is estimated at 120,000 metric tonnes. Efforts are being made to increase it through lead farmers under the off-takers Demand Driven Agriculture (ODDA) programme, he assured.

  • ‘Enforce hygiene regulations in abattoirs’

    Experts have called for the enforcement of hygiene regulations at abattoirs nationwide.

    Scoring table of abattoirs, they noted, should be a major part of the government’s policy to drive up hygiene standards.

    Emphasising the need for scoring of individual abattoirs and meat cutting plants, the  President, Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Dr Femi Egbesola, said the food industry and consumers would see evidence of the efforts of the government and the meat industry to improve and maintain standards of hygiene.

    He called for measures to ensure that abattoirs and cutting plants who put consumer safety at the heart of their business have nothing to fear.

    He added that there should not be any hiding place for operators who damage the reputation of the meat industry.

    Egbesola urged the government to publish hygiene scores for individual abattoirs in a bid to push standards up. He urged the government to directed local bodies across the nation to observe hygiene and compassion at slaughterhouses.

    He advocated engagement with butchers’ for capacity building and improvement of their facilities as per standards.

    Former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Prof Abiodun Adeloye, said meat must be inspected and passed fit for consumption.

    He said such meat must carry health mark before it can enter the food chain. This, according to him, guarantees that it has been produced according to statutory hygiene standards, under veterinary supervision and has been declared fit for human consumption.

    He said abattoirs scoring low marks in hygiene inspections should be named and penalised. Adeloye said abattoirs, which failed to hit target hygiene scores should face tougher inspections.

    He insisted that back-up checks on every piece of meat should be  enforced  to ensure safe meat.

    Adeloye urged abattoirs and meat cutting plants to do a lot to ensure that levels of disease-causing bacteria are suppressed.

    Scoring, according to him, is one way of demonstrating how far plants are using best practice to achieve this goal.

    He said there were large abattoirs where food safety and hygiene are not of a high standard.

  • Smuggling killing local poultry industry, says PAN chief

    Smuggling killing local poultry industry, says PAN chief

    Local poultry producers are struggling to compete with smuggled cheap chicken, Chairman,Poutry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Oyo State chapter, Mr Banji Akanji, has said.

    He spoke at a workshop by state PAN at the Civic Centre, Ibadan.

    He urged the the government to ‘end chicken meat import, saying  it is undermining local production and could lead to the collapse of the local poultry sector.

    He condemned “the dumping of cheap imported poultry products, calling for steps to be taken to ‘create fair competition for the local poultry industry”.

    Though they are cheap, Akanji said, smuggled chicken had excessive antibiotic residue and chemicals that are unhealthy.

    He said solving the problem required a three-pronged approach:  diplomatic channels, international laws and providing security at the borders.

    He asked the government to enforce the regulations to deter smuggling. He challenged the association’s members to embrace mass production of broilers, saying this would bring benefits of economy of scale, help to meet local demand for poultry products.

    Akanji praised the Nigeria Customs Service men for intercepting and destroying smuggled poultry products in the state recently, saying it would send a strong signal to smugglers that smuggling would not be tolerated in any form.

    Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Gabriel Kehinde, praised the Customs for effecting the ban on some poultry products and measures being put in place by PAN to rev up productivity, saying the government had been sensitising the public against patronising  smuggled poultry products.

    Chairman, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association of Nigerian (NVMA) in the state, Mr Ibrahim Adekunle, lauded the efforts of the association for its efforts to feed the country with poultry products as one of the most affordable sources of protein to Nigerians.

    A guest speakers at the workshop, Dr Jimoh Famoyin, said poultry farmers should ensure that they feed the public with hygienic and fresh poultry products, for all members of the public must be food safety conscious.

    Representative, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs O. Dosumu, said procedures for approval of poultry processing and packaging centres in the country.

    Among the registration procedures, she said, are certificate of incorporation; labeling information, including name of products, pack size, expiry date, manufacturing date, batch number, factory location; quality control mechanism; distribution chain and professional production manager. Comptroller in charge of Oyo and Osun command, Mr M. S. Bawa, described smuggling as an act of economic terrorism aimed at killing the Nigerian economy by enriching cartels behind the illicit behaviour.

  • Osogbo hosts bee keepers’ confab Nov. 9

    The Centre for Bee Research & Development (CEBRAD) is organising a three-day conference for key players in the apicultural business under the theme, “Maximising apicultural potential as a way forward to oil dependent economy in Nigeria”.

    The conference, the second Biennial Nigerian Beekeeping Conference, tagged, NIBEECON 2015, is aimed at providing updates of advances in all aspects of beekeeping and develop strategies for reaping success from this industry in the areas of dissemination of research findings, latest beekeeping technology, globalisation and trade issues as a better alternative to monolithic oil dependent economy.

    The event will hold on November 9, through at Brymor Hotels Ltd, Ilobu Road, Osogbo, capital of Osun State.

    According to the Director of the Centre, Mr. Bidemi Ojeleye, the conference is a major event in the beekeeping calendar and the nation’s biggest national beekeeping event because it will attract people from the hobbyist to the commercial beekeepers, MDAs relevant to beekeeping and economic activities of the nation, development programs workers, trainers and extension workers as well as parkers of beekeeping products, equipment fabricators, apitherapists, entomologists and academics, farmers, journalists, students and other interested members of the public.