The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • How local governments can boost food production

    How local governments can boost food production

    With growing population, increasing local food production capacity has become a major challenge for governments at various levels. One critical level of government, stakeholders feel should address the food security issue, are local government councils. Experts believe local governments can change the game if they create an enabling environment for the local food production food system, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    There  have been so much talks about boosting food production across the country.

    The reason for this is not far- fetched – any nation that is not able to feed its citizens cannot claim to have security. Aside this,  there is need to prune down the huge foreign exchange depleted yearly on food importation, espaecially when Nigeria has vast arable land.

    Increasing local food production has become a major challenge for governments at various levels, but experts say grass root planning of food production should be encouraged. They said the 774 local government areas in the country should be encouraged to boost production.

    To this end, farming will strive when the elected bodies charged with administrative and executive duties in matters at the local government levels take farming seriously.

    Of the 774 local government areas, 700 are  based in the rural areas. This implies that a larger percentage of the populace lives in the rural areas and therefore depends solely on agriculture for sustenance. However, experts have expressed concern over the poor state of agriculture within the local government councils.

    Observers agree that with the poor attention to agriculture developmentin the local councils,  growth in the foreseeable future could be threatened.

    Project Director, Cassava Adding to Africa (CAVA), Prof Kola Adebayo, has expressed concern over the absence of strategic plans in the agric sector to ensure that local government chairmen commit efforts and resources towards implementing agric projects and programmes.

    He said local councils could help  to boost food security if they outline a strategic sector plan for agriculture and implement them.

    Like the state governments, he said local government, though inadequately funded, should be able to give a clear picture of where  they  want agriculture to be in the long term.

    For this to happen, he said local  government councils need action plans, key performance indicators, service delivery standards, monitoring and evaluation systems and time lines in order to realise the integrated strategic plan.

    This will also require them to do things differently—with greater speed and urgency and in partnership with farmers, agribusiness, non-governmental organisation (NGOs), and other government departments.

    He lamented that inadequate funding still remains the main impediment to successful implementation of agricultural  programmes, adding that  it is  responsible for lack of delivery and implementation of a wide range of government policies, regulations and programmes undertaken at the local government levels.

    If properly funded and given sdirection, Adebayo said a local government council’s agric department level, should be able to provide farming inputs, technical assistance and value addition.

    He said the quality and efficiency of services delivered by local government councils’ agric department is important in achieving competitiveness in the sector.

    For this reason, he said a new service delivery guideline should be drafted in order to increase the responsiveness and accountability of local government councils’ agric department to farmers’ and agribusinesses’ needs.

    He also decried the lack of infrastructure in the rural areas. This, he said has resulted in these areas not being attractive for investment. to address this, he called for measures that will lead to briging the infrastructure gaps, adding that attention should be given to rural towns and agric service centres.

    A Consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale, said local population needs more and better roads to improve their lives and help give a much-needed boost to the farming industry.

    He decried the trauma farmers go through when it rains, adding that there were instances trucks get stucked in the mud due to poor rural road network.

    Ogunwale said the bad state of the roads across farming communities is a national problem that takes its toll on vehicles conveying produce from the farms.

    Deterioration of the roads in the rural areas, he noted, has stood in the way of agricultural production, adding that it has hampered plans to expand food production nationwide. He urged local government councils to resolve roads and transportation problems.

    According to him, the agriculture sector, if well harnessed, could be key engine of economic growth. Not only does it put food on the table of Nigerian families at affordable prices and provide raw material for a range of vital purposes, it also supports millions of jobs and is a key economic driver in many rural communities. All measures to increase productivity, he noted, would require increasing yields, diversification to higher value crops, and developing value chains to reduce marketing costs.

    He said localisation of food production, processing and consumption was important in the transformation agenda. One area that the local government councils can provide succour is farm land, which is a major barrier to agriculture. Access to land, according to him, remains one of the greatest challenges to new farmers.

    A lot of farmers have had to grapple with the challenge of limited land.  As a result of this development, there is pressure on farmlands as they are now selling at a market value which is equivalent to land used for residential and industrial uses.

    Most people are selling their farms for building and industrial development. The picture paints many challenges for farmers who increasingly believe that local food is integral to the health and wellbeing of residents, and the economic and social vibrancy of their communities but face the challenge of acquiring prime agriculture land for food production.

    While people believe that government protect farmlands from development, there is concern that it does little to ensure that the land is actually farmed or accessible to farmers.

    According to experts, assisting farmers to access farmlands should be part of a broader strategic response plan which aims to build the resilience of rural livelihoods and local food and nutrition security systems.

    While there are efforts to promote agro-industrialisation nationwide, the Provost, Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure, Ondo State, Dr Samson Odedina said much could be achieved if the councils are supported to create community level  food chain with  efficient infrastructure in place to get food from fields to markets.

    This is because a lot of small and medium-size farms who operate outside the industrial system often lack the  tools necessary to gather, store, and transport food on a scale larger than a farmers’ market.

    He said community-linked food hub will occupy the middle ground between the small scale of a farmers’ market or a community-supported agriculture project and the behemoth of the industrial food system, which pumps massive quantities of processed substances into the pipeline of institutional purchasers.

    With dwindling oil earnings, he urged the various tiers of government to take a more comprehensive approach to food system planning and addressing many challenges that agriculture faces.

    The provost said the little effort made by the academic institution is helping communities around the school.

    For instance, since setting up the point of sale, Odedina said the college has supported the growth of the food and farming zone in the area. Because of the school, he said some areas of the state are   home to safe, high-quality and affordable food grown, harvested and made within the communities, for all to enjoy.

    The college is working to unleash food entrepreneurs, bringing together researchers, farmers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers so they could improve productivity and spark new ideas along the supply chain from farm to fork, from lab to lunch. This, notwithstanding, he said food enterprise zone are needed there, including artisanal food village to sustain a cluster of local artisan food producers around the area.

    Food enterprise zone, according to him, makes it easier for businesses to grow and bring different parts of the food supply chain together, and  ensure greater collaboration between rural businesses, kick-start local food economies and help people develop new skills. Recognising this, he said the college has launched a multi-pronged local food strategy to encourage students and agro entrepreneurs to grow foods within the local areas.

    This, according to him, is to use the students on graduation to support the establishment of food hubs to drive a rural food revolution.

    According to him, a network of food hubs, supported by the college graduates would create jobs nationwide in the food and farming industry, attract investment and add millions to the rural economy.

    Notwithstanding, he said a partnership between farmers and local government councils is win-win, because it allows for technical know-how to be deployed to support the investments that the communities so very much need.

  • Expert urges produce audit to avert exports rejection

    Chairman Board of Trustees, Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria, Prof Dele Fapohunda,  has  urged  the  government to  improve  on exports  standards and ensure commodities  meets European Union (EU) requirements for import.

    He said the rejection of some of Nigeria’s exported food items by the EU is not only detrimental to the agricultural sector, but is also counterproductive to the economy.

    He was addressing a workshop organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council in Abuja.

    He said beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish and meat, peanut chips and palm oil from Nigeria have been banned by the EU till June, next year, which the reason given were aflatoxins and pesticides at unacceptable levels.

    According to him, plans to make the agricultural sector a major revenue earner for the country may suffer a setback if produce from the industry are being rejected by foreign countries.

    He said local exporters were at the risk of suffering losses since imports are significantly protected by the high standards of the major food suppliers and retailers, and the regulatory controls which deter the importation of seriously contaminated material.

    Stringent mycotoxin standards on exported food crops, he noted, countries must export their best-quality foods while keeping contaminated foods away.

    For Nigeria to make remarkable agricultural progress, he said further action is required to address new and emerging contamination challenges.

    Going forward, he said Nigeria needs to improve its policy environment, to enable investments that will allow help exporters to adapt to the opportunities created by rising export demand.

    As increasing agricultural exports is now an integral part of the government’s sector-development strategy, Fapohunda said the government should help exporters to streamline exports with the ever-changing food quality and safety norms of major importing countries. According to him, there  have been concerns over pesticide residues in horticultural produce.

    As result, he  said  the  food industry has to deal with various intrinsic issues impacting food quality and safety across the supply chain.

    To further harness the potential of the agriculture and food industry, he said robust policy strategies on food quality and safety  are  imperative to improve standards and secure greater market access of food products in the developed markets.

  • Fed Govt targets 30,000 youths through agric

    As part of its commitment to the promotion of decent income generation and livelihood for Nigerian Youth, the Federal Government, through the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), has commenced the empowerment of 30,000 youths in area-based priority value chains.

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,  Sonny Echono, made this known, during a meeting with stakeholders in the poultry industry at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.

    He said the ministry received about 34,000 applications from intending agropreneurs and market oriented producers from 12 participating states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He said a total of 250 agropreneurs would be selected per state including FCT under the first phase of the programme.

    He explained that the validation and final selection of the young agropreneurs and market oriented producers would be done at state levels in collaboration with the ministry’s state directors; training would also be conducted for the beneficiaries at various credible agricultural and research institutions, universities and other vocational training institutions across Nigeria.

    Echono listed the participating states to include Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kastina, Lagos, Niger, Ogun as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The beneficiaries, according to the Permanent Secretary, would  be trained in various value chains, including rice, aquaculture, poultry, maize, tomato, wheat, sorghum, apiculture, soya bean, cassava, groundnut, oil palm, snailry, grass cutter  and multiple value chains, such as welding and fabrication, repairs and maintenance.

  • ‘Why we need livestock insurance’

    A former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Prof Abiodun Adeloye, said a functional livestock insurance scheme will protect farmers and their assets after disasters.

    He said agriculture is a risky business exposed to volatile production and commodity prices, and ensuring a sustainable food supply for the growing population is one of the biggest global challenges today.

    However, this huge livestock industry faces a number of potential threats including floods, fires, epidemics and unavailability of fodder. Moreover, there are no customised insurance product offerings to suit the diverse needs of farmers across the industry

    He said livestock insurance will help farmers reduce their losses in crop and livestock production.

    According to him, there is need to help livestock producers limit losses in coming years.

    Some of the risks that livestock farmers face that can be insured include mortality, uncontrollable pest and disease or epidemics, snake bites, theft, natural hazards such as fire, lightening and floods among others.

    Such insurance programmes, according to him, would  insure against loss of revenue and  loss of animals. These risks, according to him,discourage a lot of people from undertaking farming.

    He said they can face such risks with protection from insurance.

    According to him, it is important for farmers to arrange appropriate insurance for their livestock.

    With a functional livestock policy, he said farmers will be encouraged to cultivate a culture of insuring their live stock. Under livestock insurance, farmers may insure their cattle, goats, sheep and camels.

  • How policies can drive agro-based economy

    Until the early 70s, agriculture was the mainstay of the nation’s economy, accounting for 80 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its major export income earnings before losing its place to oil. This is largely on account of the easy access to cash that oil provides.

    Agriculture experts said in reinventing agriculture in an oil-economy, such as Nigeria’s, the solution does not necessarily lie in commercial or large-scale agriculture. This view contradicts the enduring myth that extensive farming is always more productive than small-scale agriculture, which continues to guide agricultural policy in quite a number of developing countries.

    Ironically, studies conducted in developing countries have shown that there is an inverse relationship between farm size and agricultural productivity: smallholder farmers in these parts of the world are generally more productive than large-scale farmers. It was, however, observed in the studies that it may not be the case for developed economies. A publication by a global non-profit organisation that promotes rural smallholder farming, Landesa Rural Development Institute, quotes a research finding as follows: “Smallholder farms in developing countries can generally be more effective than large-scale farms in helping governments and donors achieve their poverty alleviation, food security and many other development goals.”

    For most smallholder farmers in developing countries, farm size does not put any constraint on their productivity and their capability to assist their countries in achieving food security and rural economic development. Rather, their biggest limitations have been, among other things, lack of capital and material resources, poor access to technology and innovation, and the presence of obstacles to trade.

    For this reason, stakeholders in the agriculture sector posit that the Federal Government should put the right strategy in place to empower smallholder farmers who actually hold the key to true transformation in the nation’s agricultural sector.

    In a bid to give a new lease of life to the agricultural sector, diversify the economy and enhance foreign export income by ensuring food security and job creation, the Federal Government established the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and other agricultural policies.

    Unlike what obtained in the era of administrations that preceded the erstwhile government, this agriculture intervention has remarkably been receiving the much-needed support from the private sector in recent years.

  • Govt urged to reduce fish feed cost

    Fish farmers have urged  the Federal Government to reduce the cost of feed to make the industry attractive to Small Medium Enterprises (SME) and investors. Feed is said to  constitute  70 per cent of the cost of production.

    Speaking at an aquaculture value chain investors’forum in Lagos, with ‘Reducing the cost of fish production in Nigeria’as its theme, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) Gbola Akande said if the government sponsors long-term and low-interest loans with simplified borrowing procedures, it would reduce the cost of production and stimulate expansion of the fish farming industry.

    He called on the government to look into agricultural subsidy, ensure low interest rate on credits to farmers, and ensure moratorium periods and subsidies on aquaculture inputs especially fish feed.

    He added that government should make available soft loans to fish marketers to make farmed fish affordable to consumers, stressing that there is need to source a local fishmeal to replace the foreign fishmeal.

    President, Lagos State Catfish and Allied Farmers Association (LASCFA), Mr Femi Ajala, called on government to remove all tariffs on agricultural inputs such as extruders, fishmeal and plants, in effort to make locally produced fish feeds to compete favourably with imported ones.

    He said tariffs on fish meal which is key ingredients in the production of fish feeds should be removed.

    Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Fishery Society of Nigeria, Habeeb Giwa, said the imported fish feeds means a lot of revenue and it drains our naira.

    Giwa called on the government to provide the facilities to produce fish feed in the country and urged other stakeholders to contribute to making the fish feed as cheap as possible.

  • ‘Ban exports to EU’

    ‘Ban exports to EU’

    The Federal Government has been urged to ban exports of some produce to the European Union (EU) market until issues on interceptions by the Food and Vegetable Office (PVO) of the European Commission (EC) are addressed.

    Deputy Director, Department of General Management, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI) Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr Ademola  Adeyemo said this will help the industry address its challenges.

    The exports incurred the wrath of  the European Food Safety Authority when some of Nigeria’s beans were found to contain between 0.03mg per kilogramme and 4.6mg per kilogramme of dichlor-vos pesticides more than acceptable maximum residue limit of 0.1mg per kilogramme.

    The EU Rapid Alert System discovered excessive chemical contaminants, such as aluminium phosphide and dichlorvos, in the food, which included beans, melon seeds, sweet potatoes, cashew kernels, nutmeg snails, soft drinks and sesame seeds.

    He said there was a need for the government to revamp the food safety system to ensure that exporters of such produce don’t  flout the regulations.

    He said the agents of freight forwarding firms should be enlighten to ensure exporters produce meet  inspection requirments.

    He said exports should be inspected and certified before delivering to the airline, adding that the government should collaborate with relevant agencies to address the endemic issue of false coding.

    He urged the government to conduct thorough inspection of produce, the sampling size and enforce the ban on all exporters who flout guidelines.

    He asked the government to inspect and regulate farms sourced by exporters to ensure that vegetables are supplied from farms with no history of false coding moth infestation.

    He called on the government to review and enforce laid down standard operating procedures for effective monitoring of the supply chain.

    He said documentation for exports must be screened to ensure that the sector adheres to timelines, charging the task force to get the vegetable sector.

    He said the government should not allow the unscrupulous practices to destroy the sector, warning that this unfortunate situation could no longer be tolerated by the ministry.

    The food items banned till next year include: beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish and meat, peanut chips and palm oil.

    Experts said this could be a setback for the country as it should expand its export base to boost domestic agricultural activities and create jobs.

    The European Food Safety Authority said the food were banned because they contained some unauthorised pesticide.

    The Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Paul Orhii, said exporters did not comply with regulatory requirements for semi-processed and processed commodities.

    As a result, NAFDAC has warned  against the consumption of imported or smuggled frozen poultry frozen meat, saying it could cause non- communicable diseases (NCDs) and antibiotics resistance.

  • Kano govt partners Leventis

    Kano State government will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Leventis foundation for the admission of female students into the foundation’s Agricultural Training School at Panda in Albasu Local Government Area of the state.

    The MoU, according to the governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, will in addition, entail the provision of additional facilities in the school. The governor said this during the graduation and empowerment of 154 trainees from the school, as part of the governor’s first 100 days in office.

    He said the government is, particularly, interested in integrating more women in modern agriculture in view of their huge number in the society and their capacity to contribute meaningfully to agricultural development.

    Ganduje also said the government is desirous of improving the capacity of the school because the trainees it produces at the moment are far below the requirements of the state, which boasts of vast potentials for rainy and dry season farming.

    Turning to the 154 graduating students, the governor announced that each of them would be given an empowerment package worth N30,000, totalling N4.62 million, urging them to make the best use of the skills they acquired to become self reliant.

    He said the government would look into the possibility of engaging them as farm extension agents.

    Ganduje, who directed Albasu Local Government, to assist in maintaining security in the school, also promised that the state government would renovate its mosque.

    The governor also promised to look into the issues of poor road network and lack of electricity supply in Albasu Local Government Area, to solve them once and for all.

    The Principal of the school, Mallam Turaki H. Hashim, who earlier took the governor on a guided inspection of facilities at the school, urged the government to provide it with a bus and upgrade some of its facilities.

  • Young women-farmers making impact

    Young women-farmers making impact

    A new generation of young women farmers are springing up. They are educated, dynamic and doing well in the market. The new breed women-farmers are not looking at agric in the conventional hoe and cutlass subsistence way, they are bringing innovation and entrepreneurship into it, Daniel Essiet reports.

    While many young people in Nigeria dream of getting well-paid jobs, Chief Executive, Honeysuckles Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru, a zoology graduate, an alumnus of the Pan African University under the Enterprise Development Center (CEM), headed for the farm.  She grew up seeing farmers raise crops, and livestock, living wretched lives. But  she  wasn’t  convinced  they  were doing  farming  the right way. She had big dreams.

    She had bought a large piece of land and started a large-scale farming, approaching farming as a business.

    Today, she  is  seen  as a model as was   elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2011. Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They work in over 70 countries around the globe in every area of human need. Umoru belongs to this club of the exalted.

    It was in the university that Cynthia gave her interest in agriculture more attention. She took courses in fisheries, and multi-level marketing, and ran a successful cake and cookie business. Cynthia also realised how useful mini-livestock farming could be for peaking young peoples’ interest in the profession of agriculture. Not able to completely divorce herself from the big industries that often appeal to bright youth, however, Cynthia also participated in an internship at ExxonMobil while at university. After graduation,she  launched Honeysuckles PTL Ventures with the primary aim of selling processed food produce. Soon after launching, Cynthia got the opportunity to supply dressed chicken and catfish to one of the fastest growing food retail chains in the country, when the quick service restaurant industry was emerging in Nigeria. However, scarcity and inconsistent quality led Umoru to begin researching production with the intention of a backward integration in preparation for adequate positioning on the food supply chain. She launched a farm to meet the need.

    At ten years in 2014, Honeysuckles currently focuses on high-quality food products using modern packaging and fast delivery, and has its own farms and ponds. The success earned Umoru, the Business Owner of the Year award, a category of the Future Awards; highly esteemed in Nigeria for recognising talent in the younger generation.

    For her, the   journey has been quite difficult. It took her five years to gain relevance. As a young entrepreneur, in her very early days, she lost a lot of the seed capital she got from financial mentors to poor and bad business decisions she  made because there was no one to talk to. She learnt   the lesson a hard. Today, the story is different. She is very successful. As a result, she is determined to show young people that farming can be glamorous and good fortune for them  to trade places with the business executive in the large conglomerate and also the bank’s middle management cadre, which is the initial attraction for most young graduates .

    She is  now focusing on ways to get a new generation of young people interested in and successful at modern agriculture. She makes the rounds of schools in and around Lagos, speaking before hundreds of high school and university students.

    In fact, in a year-long apprenticeship with her Honeysuckles PTL Ventures, those that choose may rotate through all aspects of the value chain, from production to processing to dealing with the final corporate client. Those with their own agribusinesses learn modern skills and ideas to incorporate into their endeavor, while the high school and university students begin to realise that farming does not have to look like their antiquated ideas.

    Tosin Awoyinka is a graduate of Federal University of Technology Minna, and  Federal University of Technology Akure, .She read  agric engineering. Awoyinka started agro business  with a bold dream – transform her life and  others. Through creativity and persistence, she is gradually building  an agro enterprise of her dream.She into crop production,aquaculture, poultry and processing and grow crops under greenhouses. As a woman who founded and built her  own business from scratch, she know how difficult it can be to turn a dream into a lucrative business.

    She had challenges but with faith, patience, gratitude and keeping her eye on the purpose, accepting variations of ideals,she has been able to make it.An agric engineer, Awoyinka, is collaborating with other agro entrepreneurs to and raise awareness on opportunities for young farmers in agriculture. She part of a business coaching program where she  has the opportunity to connect with dozens upon dozens of like-minded entrepreneurs who are also eager to give back to others.

    An entrepreneur to watch is Betty Afolabi. A young fisheries graduate, University of Ado-Ekiti. Ekiti State,she comes from a long line of entrepreneurs.

    A member, Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Cross River State and Secretary, Cross River State women in aquaculture, Miss  Afolabi,  is  co operator of Bangadonase Nigeria limited,based in Calabar,Cross River State.

    She always knew she will go into business.  — Once the right idea presented itself of course. In her’ case, the right idea came in the form of fish farming. “I started fully in 2010 by hatching fish at the back of my house and also rearing 20 chicks.” She has started a fish business with a partner in Calabar, Mrs. Glory Ado Awe ,also a fisheries  graduate, where  they cultivate and sell grown fish to the  market. In her’ mind the importance of local food cannot be overstated both in regards to the goals of her business and the future of agriculture as a whole.

    Afolabi and her partner are happy that are able to produce good fish.

    Like any other agricultural operation, she faced typical challenges, particularly, getting accepted as a female farmer. But she had to prove her worth in the field. Right now, her   challenges are lack of finance for small scale farmer. The other is unfavourable agricultural policy. This makes exporting her product difficult. In Cross River State, she and other women involved in agriculture have formed a union called Women in Aquaculture. It comprises of over 100 women doing fish business, processing to production. The  other ones are reducing the chance of mortality failure and balancing an increase in production with the ability to sell everything they grow. That being said, she is optimistic about the future of her business. Right now, she is into fingerlings production and also processing of catfish for sale. She is also into shrimps and also consultancy.

    Along the line, she found successful women entrepreneurs are also everyday entrepreneurs.

    Also that people who run businesses are making huge contributions but may not be necessarily brand names.

    She sees the successes of those ventures and realise that there’s a real possibility that their startup can do well. So the female agro entrepreneurs ’re taking a different approach.

    Across the country, executive women   are ramping up agro entrepreneurship opportunities, as they pursue their dreams of lucrative innovation, and startup glory.

    Some of the women involved in agriculture and food production, hold  international  MBAs that   are part of a striking trend among business school students toward entrepreneurship. Increasingly, they are rushing to apply their business skills to their own enterprises. For them, agro entrepreneurship is entering the mainstream in the economy and therefore it’s starting to enter the mainstream in the business schools.

    For instance, Lagos Business School has started something on agribusiness management and this has served as the primary impetus toward entrepreneurship.

    As tech-driven agro business companies are spreading, highly ranked business schools are right on their heels.

    Chief Executive Officer, Melinda-D Global Farms, George Omololu Akinbi said entry of young female graduate into agriculture  portend a greatfuture for the nation.

    According to him, young women pursue agriculture with great vigour. He believes  agriculture is expanding the horizons of  young ladies who want  to become farmers. He look forward to seeing these young women flourish.

    Meanwhile, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) has urged youths to harness the vast business opportunities in the agricultural sector rather than seek paid employment. Assistant Project Accountant of WAAPP, Mr Godffery Onuegbu,  made at a training workshop for 50 selected youths and women on cassava and fruit juice processing technology, in Awka.

    “We have enough agricultural raw materials available in the southeast that could change the fortunes of our youths and women roaming the streets for employment.

    “A lot of fruits, including oranges, pineapples, pawpaw, mangoes, among others are rotting away in the region which can be harnessed into fruit juice.

    “The by-product from fruit processing can also be converted to animal feed.

    “Nigeria is a ready market for all these produce but the issue is that our youths do not show interest in the business.

    “I encourage the youths to look inwards in the area of agriculture instead of applying for jobs all over the place,” Onuegbu said.

    Technical Assistant to the National Project Coordinator of WAAPP, Mrs Grace Samuel,  said interested youths could be linked to funding institutions.

    Samuel explained that WAAPP was collaborating with the Rural Finance Institution Building Programme to provide grants, not exceeding five million naira, for cassava and fruit juice processing.

    She urged the state governments in the zone to develop an agricultural framework that would encourage the training of the youth in fruit and cassava processing.

  • Dangote to develop Kano varsity’s agric master plan, says VC

    Dangote to develop Kano varsity’s agric master plan, says VC

    African richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote is partnering Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, Kano, to develop its agricultural master plan.

    Its Vice Chancellor, Prof Shehu Alhaji Musa, made this known at a briefing on the 15th Anniversary of the university.

    He said Dangote, who is Pro-Chancellor of the university, is keen in seeing to the development of the university’s faculty.

    “The plan is in the pipeline and we have already started clearing way for the new project. When the master plan is achieved, it can cater for one million farmers. That will bring succour to our agriculture. We can also have reliable food security with its attending benefits,” Musa said.

    Dangote, who is president of Dangote Group of Companies, the VC added, pledged to also construct industrial borehole that could cater for 30,000 people.

    “Apart from these contributions, he pledged to give a support of N100million to the university to inject in other projects,” the VC said.

    “For your information, Alhaji  Dangote has promised to employ 15 professors for the university and promised to pay for their salary for four years. This will bring tremendous development for the state. Academically, this assistance will improve our institution and the state in general,’’ the VC added.

    Other contributions made to the  varsity by Dangote are the building of two 500-bedroom hostels for males and females, he said.

    The VC added that Dangote completed 12 new projects, handling 36 ongoing ones and four others four at tender stages.

    “Thirty one academic staff are sent for PhD programme – 22  abroad and nine within Nigeria. So far, we have nine Professors and 14 Readers as academic staff. We also have 49 Visiting Professors, “ he added.