The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Flour Mills mulls job creation, food production

    Flour Mills mulls job creation, food production

    Group Managing Director, Flour Mills of Nigeria Mr. Paul  Gbededo has said the company is planning to create  thousands of jobs and drive growth with the establishment of large-scale farms.

    He said the company is committed to driving productivity and innovation through opportunities offered by markets through the country.

    Gbededo, in a chat, spoke of the company’s performance and projections in the light of the award received from the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) as ‘Award for Impactful Contribution to Economy through Backward Integration’ in the industrial space.

    Gbededo said the company acquired its 10,000ha Kaboji Farm in Niger State about 10 years ago which has grown to become the biggest mechanised maize farm in the country. It uses 4,000ha to grow maize. He added that soybean has been helpful in its vertical integration, which uses the produce at its feedmills in Ibadan and Calabar for feeds for poultry.

    He said the company is dedicated to sourcing its raw materials locally and further the development of the food industry.

    The award is in recognition of the company’s efforts spanning about a decade, when, in the organisation’s plan, backward integration was adjudged the only way to support its food business through local content addition as well as improve food security in Nigeria.

    On backward integration, he said the programme helps to support the group’s manufacturing and processing business.

    For this, the Group Managing Director said it has invested over a billion dollars in the last five years and projects that an equivalent sum would be spent in another five years in the agro-allied business. He added that the company is expanding its portfolio in the agro-allied space because that would grow the local content and help support the food business and strengthen the growth of agriculture, which would provide more jobs in Nigeria.

    On the fall of the naira and impact on the business, Gbededo said there are two sides to the issue of the devaluation of the naira. “In a way, it has put a lot of stress on our ability to bring machinery and spares. It increases the naira cost of those inputs and upsets our projections since we operate in a naira environment – it affects our ability to make profits,” he said.

    However, he pointed out that on the other hand, there is a positive side. According to him, using maize for instance, the commodity sells about N45,000 – N50,000 per metric ton, making locally produced maize to be competitive globally; importing the grain would be at about N60,000, thus making it a possibility to export surplus, if any.

    Gbededo revealed that it does not need to import maize now to run the operations of the processing plants. The company, he said, is now aggregating maize nationwide to help its 350,000 metric ton plants annually. “Except there is a shortfall in supply, we help boost the fortunes of Nigerian farmers in earning more,” he said.

  • ‘There’s need to revamp agric sector’

    A sensitisation exercise tagged: “Revamping Agricultural Sector in Nigeria Through Aggressive Industrial Farm Park Project”, was held recently in Lagos, organised by the management of 1.2 Green Limited in partnerships with Chinese Government Export Credit.

    The exercise, according to the organisers, was organised to discuss ways in revamping the Agricultural sector through aggressive industrial farm park project.

    According to Mr Obada Votu, CEO 1.2 Green Ltd, expressing the company’s readiness and willingness to assist the government in resuscitating this crucial sector stated, “This crucial sector should not be neglected, but should be given the needed attention. Nigerian became a net importer of food and major importer of wheat, rice, sugar and fish. The importation of these four commodities, according to reports, consume over N1 trillion in foreign exchange every year since 2005.

    “The CBN report shows that Nigeria is the world largest importer of United States hard red and white winter wheat, with an annual food import of N635billion. Nigeria’s food imports are growing at an unsustainable rate of 11 per cent per annum, while reliance on the import of expensive food in the global market fuels domestic inflation, and Nigeria is importing what it can produce in abundance. And that import dependency is hurting Nigeria’s farmers, displacing local production and creating rising unemployment,” he added

    Stating further that, there is need for stakeholders to reduce the importation of these products that can be produced in Nigeria. “Nigeria spends N1 trillion annually to import rice, sugar, wheat and fish, translating to N10 trillion from 2005 till date.

    The Nation has vast arable land for cultivation, adding that this must be harnessed by stakeholders in order to effectively prevent food crisis considering the growing population and reduce imports to the barest minimum.

  • Commodities exchange: Failed project?

    Commodities exchange: Failed project?

    Food prices volatility and high transactions costs have remained major problems to farmers. They have given a strong justification for a virile commodity exchange.Farmers and stakeholders believe the commodity exchange has failed to develop into a sustainable trading platform to boost agriculture. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Many farmers in Nigeria and Africa face a myriad of challenges in marketing their produce. They lack proper storage facilities, which makes them incur heavy post-harvest losses. Most farming areas are inaccessible due to poor road infrastructure, which translates to high transaction costs as they pay heavily to transport their goods. Besides, they are victims of fragmented and disorganised markets where they sell their products lower than the market price.

    To this end, farmers need every support that will provide a centralised market place where they can sell their commodities to manufacturers and consumers to make profit.

    Experts believe the commodity exchange can help farmers link up to markets.

    Commodities exchange, according to the Director-General of African Centre for Supply Chain (ACSC), Obiora Madu, is part of efforts to get small-scale farmers sell their crops at a profit.

    Such exchanges come with a warehouse receipts programme by which farmers can store their harvest at a certified warehouse and sell when prices rise. The warehousing system can also turn their commodities into collaterals if they choose to apply for loans.

    According to him, if the farmers are able to increase their income, they would be able to afford input such as high-yield seeds and increase production.

    Normally, farmers, who have produce sell them through the exchange, just like people would sell shares.  Before them, the produce is inspected and certified as tradable. Sellers and buyers place their products and orders, which they execute in a transparent manner. The future aspect of the exchange takes a price risk management function as it helps farmers to avoid serious losses when prices fall. It also enables farmers to receive a guaranteed price from a purchaser or intermediary and facilitates more effective planning and investment because of greater income predictability.

    One of the most prominent examples is The Ethiopian Commodities exchange (ECX) set up in 2008.

    The commodities exchange trades coffee, beans, maize and a few other crops.

    Analysts say Ethiopia Commodities exchange experiment has helped farmers to sell their commodities at a profit with agricultural mechanisms such as crop insurance and warehousing.

    This will help them gain collateral, and then loans to expand their businesses.

    The ECX has been a big motivator for African nations to form their own exchanges. Only two countries have produced lucrative models: South Africa and Ethiopia. But there have been a large number of commodity exchanges tried over the past decades, many resulting in failure or little growth and activity. One of the examples cited is Nigeria. The exchange has not convinced stakeholders that it can improve food security. One of them is Madu.

    Speaking with The Nation, Madu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and Programme Director of Multimix Academy, expressed concern that the nation’s commodities exchange has had difficulties getting off the ground.

    He expected the commodity exchange to do well with an economy made up of large commodity producers and many of them are top suppliers worldwide.

    Nigeria one of the largest producers of agro commodities in West Africa, he said, is lagging behind in such market infrastructure.  Watchers see Nigeria as a home of a non functioning exchange.

    Since 2006 when an intensive effort to get commodity trading off the ground through the Abuja Securities & Commodity Exchange (ASCE), stakeholders said the exchange was operating below potential. Relabeling ASCE to “Nigeria Commodity Exchange”, a roadmap was adopted to put in place a fully functional electronic warehouse receipt system, with some 16 commodities selected for trading.

    Notwithstanding, this has not changed the fortunes of the market.

    According to the Programme Corodinator, Farmers Development Union (FADU), Mr Victor Olowe, said a functional exchange rests on clear rules for trade and delivery, as well as consistent monitoring to ensure integrity.

    Apart from that,  the contracts, he said, must define the amount, quality, and location of the commodity traded, as well as an execution date. Other necessary features include the minimum increment for price fluctuations, duties required of buyers and sellers during the delivery process, and deadlines for those duties to be completed.

    Olowe said one of the biggest problems that farmers and producers have is poor knowledge of the market.

    A lot of farmers, who belongs to his group do not know that the market exist not to talk of using the platform to sell.

    His other concern is that the system is not supported nationwide by a warehouse receipts programme, where farmers can store their harvest at a certified warehouse and sell when prices rise. The warehousing systems helps them to turn their commodities into collateral if they choose to apply for a loan.

    This gives the farmers breathing room and the option not to sell their maize at harvest time, when everyone else is selling and prices are low. For him, storing commodities in certified warehouses eliminates a range of risks, guaranteeing quality, and ensuring that the crop is secure. Those two factors open the door to financing from banks. On the whole, he observed that the problem is that conditions for success, such as large trading volumes, a strong financial sector, and a commitment to transparency, do not exist yet. In most of the towns, transactions involving agricultural commodities are not based on formal standardised measures. These conditions make it impossible to operate commodity exchanges, which compel actors to certify quality and quantity by physical sampling. The other issue is lack of reliable market information, not only on commodity prices, but also on available volumes and estimates of demand.

    Further, the system has not been able to curtail cheating on weights and measures from which disadvantaged smallholders farmers suffer, and reduce storage losses. As a result of these constraints,  commodity exchange, he argued, has not lived up to expectations.

    Watchers believe that the system is weakened by an inefficient legal system, small spot markets, limited numbers of potential participants, passive financial institutions, and high levels of policy unpredictability.  More broadly, concerns are mounting that the Abuja commodity exchange was being churned out without due consideration for enabling conditions.

    The failure of such platforms elsewhere shows how important it is to have the right infrastructure in place from the start. Some are of the opinion that the exchange was created as a political rather than commercial endeavour, with poor infrastructure and political bickering that hampered imminent efforts.

    For watchers, trading suffered from the same flaw: a top-down approach that is better at attracting foreign aid than at improving farming practices and developing transportation and communications networks. But AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX), a subsidiary of Africa Exchange Holdings Limited, established last year through a partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said it is facilitating access to commodity and financial markets for Nigeria’s 35 million smallholder farmers.

    The organisation said it operates across 11 states, but are mainly in the north, offering solutions to agricultural problems faced by farmers in the region.

    The organisation said farmers face a myriad of challenges ranging from poor distribution structures to limited storage, warehousing and quality control. All these, according to it, combine to drastically reduce the price at which their products can be sold, hence their income.

    It said AFEX’s investors, are deploying capital and entrepreneurial skills to create a competitive agricultural sector and a commodity market with price discovery and risk management mechanisms.

    Licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in March this year, as an operator of a commodities exchange in Nigeria; it said Afex is the first private sector-led commodities exchange in Nigeria.

    With its facilities, it said farmers will have direct access to high value markets, store long enough to earn over 30 per cent increased profit from sales. While its Electronic Warehouse Receipt System (EWRS) secures the underlying commodities, instills integrity of trade and facilitates access to finance, the organisation said e-WRS is a real-time online inventory management system with the ability to transfer stock between buyers, sellers and banks.

    The organisation said it plans to scale up to 100,000 farmers in the 2015/16 season, creating up to 25 million in increased income to the rural communities across Nigeria.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has resolved to partner with the Nigerian Commodities Exchange Commission to develop the commodity market.

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, who disclosed this in Abuja, when he received the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer and management of Commodity Exchange Commission, expressed the readiness of his ministry to collaborate with the board in developing the commodity market and its storage programme, but informed the commission of the presidential directive on the ministry to do an index study before engaging in any concessionary plan.

    He said the ministry is promoting ware housing and working very hard to open the market to competitors, saying some may be kept for storage reserve. He advised the commission to consider warehousing, saying 33 of such warehouses are available for off-taking.

    Earlier in her remarks, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange Commission, Mrs. Zaheera Baba-Ari said the Commission was in the ministry to seek areas of support and value addition.

    She said the Commission would want to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on storage and co-operatives with the Ministry and equally needs warehouses in some locations in the country.

    She said the Commission started working with the Ministry of Agriculture since 2010, with a request for the leasing of some warehouses and had worked with some seed associations in the past.

  • Stakeholders advocate sustenance, modifications of agric reforms

    Stakeholders in the agric sector from the Southwest have expressed confidence on the ability of the reforms implemented by the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina to boost food production.

    The reforms, according to them, will ensure abundant food production.

    They urged the President Muham-madu Buhari-led administration to adopt, adapt and upgrade the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) blueprint of the former administration and sustain its gains.

    This was their resolution at the end of a one-day town hall meeting anchored by AgroNigeria, a media organisation promoting agriculture and its value chain. It held at the conference hall of the University of Ibadan.

    A stakeholder and Chief  Executive Officer (CEO), Agric House, Mr Kayode Ehindero, advised that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should avoid policy summersaults in agriculture, refine and sustain good policies and frameworks put in place by the former agriculture minister.

    He advocated that migratory cattle herdsmen should be incorporated as an integral part of the policy and frameworks to be put in place by the new administration. This, he said, is to forestall needless clashes between crop producers and herdsmen, adding that all are working to ensure a food-secure Nigeria.

    Another stakeholder and Chief Executive Officer, Aquatech, Dr George Sheguna, identified challenges faced by farmers in Nigeria and other parts of developing world as finance, management and marketing.

    He said farmers should be able to show financiers what they need the money for and faithful in the implementation of financial proposal to engender trust in the industry.

    Sheguna also advocated that youths should be attracted into agriculture by making training in management, land and farm tools available at subsidised prices.

    A University of Ibadan (UI) post-graduate student, who  attended the conference, Miss Michele Opinache, said graduates of agriculture and allied disciplines were not interested in agriculture because they opted for such studies because they couldn’t secure admission into their chosen disciplines.

    Prof Rasheed Awodoyin, of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, UI, said public universities in Nigeria are overwhelmed with lopsided admission applications, with over 70 per cent applying to study popular programmes, such as Medicine, Law, Accounting, Economics, among others, while Agriculture and allied disciplines are usually not applied for.

    This, he said, informs giving candidates courses they do not apply for. He urged agricultural graduates and others to develop interest in agribusiness as their contributions would reduce unemployment, poverty and associated vices.

    Another participant, Chief Executive Officer of Fagna Consult, an agricultural service provider, Mr. Ajadi Bolade, while lamenting poor financing of youths in agriculture, encouraged them to ignore all odds, explore agriculture with passion, plans and determination to make a difference with quality products, good agricultural practices and cost-cutting strategies.

    Representative of Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP), Mr Akinola Dauda, said although youths should be incorporated into schemes of things in agriculture, most of them entrusted with facilities are not usually faithful based on experience.

  • Set aside 10% of budget for agric, govt urged

    The Federal Government has been urged to set aside 10 per cent of the budget for agriculture to ensure food security.

    The sector, according to the Deputy Director, Directorate of General Management, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr Ademola Adeyemo, is slowly recovering from disrupted farming.

    Adeyemo said agriculture is one of the key sectors that have propelled steady and sustainable economic growth. To this end,  adequate funding, he said, is needed to help the government follow a clear roadmap for its development.

    Past budgets, he said, have not allocated sufficient funds to agriculture, especially in the expansion of infrastructure for growth. Post-Budget analysis revealed that the allocation is not adequate for the boosting of the sector and falls below the international benchmarks. He said key agricultural areas are still underfunded falling short of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) target of allocating 10 per cent of the budget to agricultural sector.

    Adeyemo stressed the need to allocate more resources to other key areas such as research and development and provision of extension services and infrastructure. He recognised that several positive measures and pronouncements have been presented in the budget to support agricultural development. He urges the government to ensure that the ideas are backed by implementation.

    According to him, sufficient budgetary provisions will translate into a vibrant agricultural sector, raking in revenue into the Government’s coffers and providing jobs for Nigerians to contribute effectively towards economic growth.

    He urged the government to employ prudent fiscal discipline as a key to ensuring financial sustainability and quality service delivery.

    Adeyemo also asked for doubled efforts aimed at using improved seed variety and diversify on-farm activities. These measures, he added, should be supplemented by enhanced extension services.

    He called on the government to enhance the use of science and technology in the pursuit of its policy objective of achieving a competitive, diversified and sustainable agricultural sector.

  • Community Supported Agriculture: Connecting consumers, farms

    Community Supported Agriculture: Connecting consumers, farms

    With rural farmers facing the challenge of accessing profitable markets, experts say Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), an arrangement in which members pay for produce upfront at the beginning of the farming season, should be adopted. CSA provides needed fund for farmers and ensures affordable fresh food for consumers, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Some farmers have started  tapping into the growing demand for fresh produce to make money.

    In Lagos and other cities, the increasing demand for fresh produce, such as vegetables, mushrooms, tomatoes, water melon and others, by supermarket chains has increased. For example, farmers in Lagos have been making steady income by supplying outlets such as Shoprite and  Eko  Farmers  Mart.

    Spotting a lucrative opportunity, many farmers have agreed to sell their produce using the thriving market platforms. For instance, it is a daily ritual for workers at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, to stroll into Eko  Farmers Marts to buy fresh fruits, eggs and vegetables. Such markets are celebrated for providing fresh produce, such as eggs and fruits.

    The Eko Farmers Mart has, undoubtedly, increased farmers  income. Under the arrangement, the  Lagos  Agric  Youth Empowerment Scheme  works with young  farmers to  produce  crops and  poultry  products, which  are  distributed through  the marts.

    At a forum, the  Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Olajide Basorun, said the markets offer quality, freshness, hygiene and reasonable prices.

    He said the government would play a pivotal role in supporting the local industry by assisting farmers to sell their ever-increasing volumes of fresh farm produce.

    Across Lagos, Eko  Farmers Marts and supermarket chains  have revolutionised food distribution in the short span. The megastores are popular with customers for their lower prices, choice and convenience.

    The marts, according to Basorun, provide added value with healthier food in an environment that fosters social interactions. Producers or farmers keying into the system sell a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and poultry products. The benefits are manyas they provide jobs, generate less waste, bring fresh wholesome food, and connect one to their source.

    Through Eko Farmers Marts Basorun said local  producers are  being  integrated  into a food distribution system recognised for its  potential to boost  economic  development  through  agriculture. The  system, he  noted,  has  created  a market channel  for people to  bring fresh  produce  into the city and  new opportunities for families, who live in rural Lagos.

    He said the marts, located  in  various  parts of the  state, offer cheap fresh foods to members of their host communities and encourage farmers to increase output.

    While these types of markets are on the rise in the cities, the same is not obtained in rural areas. Consequently, many small farmers in rural areas do not have access to such markets unlike their  medium and large growers, with more money and marketing savvy

    For example, farmers outside Lagos struggle to take their produce to the  market. They have to transport the produce to far  places by trucks.  As such, the  produce do not arrive their destinations fresh. They are also of limited variety and are expensive with costs rising between 50 to 100 per cent  in centrally located urban areas.

    Its feeble attempts to sell to major supermarkets in the town illustrate how the odds are stacked against small farmers. Those  produce may be sold in small shops and open-air markets, but the value of supermarket purchases  in places  such  as Eko  farmers marts and Shoprite have soared.

    Stiff competition from big urban and industrial growers is also real. To supply the supermarkets is a big challenge in terms of requirements.  Even though sales are there in the rural areas, the local markets accounts for less than 10 percent of sales.

    For   watchers, local food systems are pillars of rural economic development together with agriculture. The  expansion of cities and their increasing demands should be  paired with the challenges of improving rural livelihoods.

    Consequently, there   is a clear need for small scale farmers to find an alternative to formal market that is mainly dominated by big -businesses. One possible solution is the Community Supported Agriculture ( CSA) model.

    In CSA, members buy a share at the beginning of the growing season. That provides farmers with up-front capital to grow and manage the farm. In exchange, consumers receive a weekly delivery of fresh, seasonal produce. They also take on the risk of a poor harvest. Ideally, the model builds community and personal connections around food.

    Speaking  with  The Nation, The Project Director, Cassava Adding to Africa (CAVA), Prof Kola Adebayo said  CSA refers to an arrangement where consumers purchase a share of a local farm’s harvest prior to the growing season. Sometimes known as subscription farming, CSA is based on an annual market agreement between a farm and local individuals or households. In return for the up-front cash and commitment to the whole growing season, consumers get a weekly variety of farm-fresh produce.

    He  said  farmers  in the  rural  areas  will benefit if  they  adopt   CSA  arrangement  with  consumers  within local and  urban  communities. Apart from  having  access  to  markets, they  will  be  able  to  grow the local economies, expand their businesses and get more income for their produce.

    Interestingly,  CSA  is a membership farming scheme. Members of the farm communities commit themselves to buying a share of the farm’s harvest for 12-months at a time. This approach allows the farm to invest in the year ahead knowing that it has the support to continue and that the produce will be eaten as they can grow to meet the demand. This system is very beneficial for the farm because it allows the growers to concentrate on what they love, growing food, rather than worry about marketing, processing, branding among others.

    As community supported market farms, members, both farmers and consumers feel connected to where their food is coming from and how it is produced.

    According to Adebayo, CSA is a relatively new way of farming involving a partnership between food producers and the local community.

    CSA, according to him, brings farmers and their customers together to  share responsibility for the land where their food is grown and how their food is produced.  The farmers and consumers participate in marketing system where seasonal produce are sold weekly. The aim is to provide sustainable and growing market for farmers and give customers access to fresh produce with less food miles and at competitive prices.

    The system ensures that fresh produce is available year round for producers, their families, and local communities.

    Unlike conventional agriculture, where farmers bear the risks of weather, pests, and the marketplace alone, in community supported agriculture the entire community shares the bounty and scarcity.

    He said CSA would work  when  farmers  are committed to buying from a producer, or group of producers. A key point is that the consumers are committed to buying on a regular basis and at least, for a whole growing season.

    Community supported agriculture is, in fact, a big name for a simple idea. Communities of any size make a financial pledge to support a local farm. This helps them to connect directly with their local farmers and provides benefits for both parties.

    The farmer benefits financially from having a secure market of committed customers and the ‘members’ of the CSA often contribute additional labour and a range of skills.

    President, Federated FADAMA Community Association, Lagos State, Alhaji Abiodun Oyenekan said strong links to markets for poor rural producers are essential for increasing agricultural production, generating economic growth in rural areas and reducing hunger and poverty.

    Oyenekan said better access by small producers to domestic and international markets means that they can reliably sell more produce at higher prices. This, in turn, encourages farmers to invest in their businesses and increase the quantity, quality and diversity of the goods they produce.

    To him, belonging to an organised group,  allows small farmers to bulk produce, reduce costs through economies of scale and, perhaps most importantly, to strengthen their bargaining power with powerful private-sector actors.

    With increasing challenges of accessing markets,  Oyenekan said  it becomes necessary to support farmers to organise themselves into groups such as cooperatives that give them needed capacity to negotiate for better prices.

    He said such cooperatives   improve farmers’ access to markets, increase their earnings, and improve the livelihood and well-being of their families. Apart from addressing the real need in the agriculture value chain of ensuring that farmers have access to necessary inputs to raise their productivity,  they are facilitated to increase their overall earnings from agriculture.

    He said cooperatives    enable farmers to work together, reducing competition and making it easier to take care of tasks such as marketing. By combining forces, they can also supply larger users such as restaurants and other businesses, and may be able to hire people to work out the distribution while they focus on farming.

     

  • Govt reviews New Alliance on investments

    The Federal Government and other stakeholders have reviewed the progress made under the New Alliance Co-operative. The parties have agreed to improve agricultural investments, food and nutrition security.

    The commitments were made under the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

    At a validation workshop on the New Alliance Report in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, said the New Alliance is a collaborated approach geared towards developing the agricultural sector.

    Echono, who was represented by Director, Special Duties in the Ministry, Mrs. Ademola Abiri, said the the government made policy reform commitments and the private sector made commitments on the level of agricultural investments in medium terms. He added that Development partners on their part made funding commitments on medium term, while the civil society was expected to ensure that all the commitments reflect the views of the intended beneficiaries.

    The Permanent Secretary disclosed that under the partnership the government is committed to 13 major policy actions in the areas of seed and fertiliser, while the key development partners are committed to funding, equivalent to $500m for Nigeria’s agriculture sector between 2013 and 2016.

    He added that international and local business firms are committed to making investments of about $4 billion in the agricultural sector, adding that through the partnerships, more private investments would be seen, thereby improving the environment for investment.

    He said annual progress report on the level of implementation of stakeholders’ commitments would be provided at the national and continental level.

    Earlier in a welcome address, the Director, Planning and Policy Co-ordination, FMARD, Mr. Rabi Idi – Adamu, said the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition was launched in 2012, with the principle of reaffirming continued donor commitment to reducing hunger in Africa.

    She said the workshop would afford participants the opportunity to share the 2014/2015 Nigeria Progress Report of Implementation  based on the various commitments of partners for the purpose of consolidation and improvement before its submission to the African Union Commission by August 31.

    Expressing support for the workshop, the President and Chairperson, Steering Committee, Nigerian Women Agro-Allied Farmers (NIWAAFA), Mrs. Lizzy Igbine, assured that Nigerian farmers are strongly behind the workshop.

    The founding development partners in the initiative are Canada, the European Union (EU), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United State (US).

    The 10 African countries that initially joined were Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.

  • Lagos to support fish farmers

    Lagos State Government has reaffirmed its support for fish farming in its bid to  the decline in supply of fish, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olajide Basorun, has said.

    At the closing of the 11th Annual Executive Training on Investment Opportunities in Fish Farming,  where 89 persons were trained in production techniques, Basorun said the state committed to facilitating capacity building for fish farmers and easy access to credit facilities.

    He said: “Government will continue to create enabling and conducive environment, facilitate capacity building and create ground for easy access to credit facility for fish farmers so as to reduce cost of production and enhance their profitability.”

    The Permanent Secretary explained that the reduction in fish supply is due to a number of factors, which includes pollution, high cost of fishing input and use of obnoxious fishing methods, rural urban drift and over fishing, among others.

    He noted that traditionally, Lagosians have always been fisher men, but over the years volume of fish caught has been dwindling;  thus prompting the state to introduce fish farming about 20years ago to address the dwindling supply.

    Basorun said the executive training on farming was conceived 11 years ago to expose participants to the new investment opportunities in the fisheries value chain and build capacities of practicing fish farming for enhanced productivity.

    The Permanent Secretary said food security is one of the cardinal programmes of the present administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, adding that strategies are in place to engender sustainable food production and ensure that the citizens are well fed.

    According to him, “one of the major principles of attaining food security is to look at those areas where we have comparative and competitive advantage and focus on them. One of those areas is aquaculture because over 22 per cent of the land mass of Lagos is covered by water and we have a 180-kilometer coastline”.

    Speaking earlier, the special guest of honour, who is a veteran fish farmer and a former Permanent Secretary in the state Civil Service, Mrs. Adedoyin Olusoga, said the downward trend in fish supply over the years has necessitated the massive importation of fish, adding that: “this is a big drain on the scarce foreign exchange, hence aquaculture or fish farming has been identified as the next viable option for increasing domestic fish production.”

    She said the state requires about 330,000  metric tonnes annually to satisfy the dietary needs of its citizen and the aggregate domestic fish supply from all sources is about 176,850 tonnes per annum.

    She added that the government has realised the huge potential for increasing fish production and has initiated developmental projects that make aquaculture popular and as a tool for sustainable fish production and employment creation.

  • Govt urged to reposition commodity exchange

    The Federal Government has been urged to strengthen the commodities market to boost trade in the sector.

    The Managing Director, Multimix Academy, Mr Obiora Madu, said failure to do this would put off investors and stifle the development of commodities business.

    According to him, the main factor limiting economic potential of the sector is lack of a common market that boosts the confidence of farmers, as well as financial institutions, to invest in the sector.

    The move, he said, would encourage market access and fair returns for smallholder farmers and facilitate the formalisation of informal agricultural trading.

    Madu  said commodities trading platform has certain innovative features which have been designed to limit risks in the sector to attract agricultural investments, aside from the provision of a ready market and formalisation of commercial activities.

    To create a transparent and efficient marketing system for key agricultural commodities to promote agricultural investment and enhance productivity, he said the government must commit itself to the establishment of a functional commodity exchange and associated Warehouse Receipt System (WRS). One structure of a commodity is the Warehouse Receipt System, where farmers will be provided with receipts based on the food crops that they deposit.

    This system means dealers or farmers certified by the exchange to receive receipts from warehouses showing the quality and quantity of the commodity that they have delivered. The warehouses serve as the point at which the commodities are stored with the owner of the goods issued with the receipt to confirm their existence. In the event of a pressing need, the receipts can be presented to the bank as security for loans, in a manner similar to the way title deeds and logbooks are used in lending.

    At the commodities exchange, the warehouse receipts can be traded like shares, thereby becoming derivative instruments because they are derived from underlying real assets in the form of commodities.

    He said it is good for the banks to understand the system, so that they could see these receipts as collateral to provide funds to various actors along the agric value chain to push sector productivity and growth.

    Madu said banks would introduce financing for commodity traders and farmers secured through warehouse receipts. He said the commodity receipts will be used as collateral by exporters and commodity dealers to get loans from banks. He said dealers could then pay for their business activities even when the goods have not been sold or exported.

    He said the exchange would  tackle the challenges which make the sector a risky investment as farmers and sector actors would produce and deposit their crops to the designated warehouses and get the receipts to source funds from banks.

    This, he said, would help smallholder farmers to move from subsistence to commercial farming, as they would grow more crops which the country has comparative advantage in to promote the national quest for an export-based economy.

  • Promoting cashew farmers’, processors’competitiveness

    Promoting cashew farmers’, processors’competitiveness

    A cashew stakeholders forum organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport Project (NEXTT) in collaboration with African Cashew Alliance (ACA) took place in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. The forum focused on ways to promote industry growth, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Thousands of Nigerians are engaged in the cashew industry. Most of them are farmers who cultivate the crop, while others export the produce to countries, such as India and Vietnam. The nation’s annual production of raw cashew nuts stands at 144,000 tonnes. Approximately 50,000 persons are engaged directly in the processing of cashew, and another 100,000 are engaged in the growing of the produce.
    Experts say there is a prospect of the industry creating over 50,000 new jobs in four years and injecting over N2 billion into the economy. However, there are constraints farmers and exporters face that undermine the efforts to realise the full trade potential through cashew export.
    The constraints include barriers that impinge on trading, lack of access to finance, information and capacity for growth is limited. Adding to the problem, is the fact that only 10 per cent of raw cashew production undergoes further processing.
    Despite these, the Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Segun Awolowo said cashew remains a big foreign exchange earner which has to be repositioned in the face of the declining crude oil price that is now more vulnerable to external shocks.
    Addressing the forum on cashew business competitiveness and environmental sustainability, co-sponsored by USAID Nigeria, (NEPC) African Cashew Alliance (ACA), in partnership with the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) in Ilorin, Awolowo, who spoke through the Deputy Director, Product Development Department, Mr William Ezeagu, said cashew has been identified as one of the major cash crops with huge export potentials for the country.
    The cashew industry as a whole, he observed is still dogged by issues related to quality. Much of the problem with quality and safety issues, he continued, related to the large proportion of smallholders within the industry who lack the finances and ability to invest in modern technologies and innovate. Aflatoxins contamination, he noted is a trade issue, which needs to be tackled with urgency. He said the contamination imposes an enormous economic cost as it prevents commodities from meeting international regulations and standards governing agricultural trade and food safety. He, however, said awareness on the deleterious effects of Aflatoxin is fast rising and there is increasing demand by country stakeholders for action. Awolowo said NEPC is working with the World Trade Organisation(WTO) on preventive measures to address the issue that has lead to rejection of the nation’s cashew export.
    He said as a country, post-harvest handling of produce should be taken seriously and farmers educated on how to mitigate Aflatoxin contamination. He said businesses must heed more attention to improving it for the industry to develop sustainably over the long term.
    Business Advisory Manager, African Cashew Alliance, Mr Sunil Dahiya, said while Africa currently produces 40 per cent of the world’s supply of cashew nuts, it operates just a handful of processing facilities. He said cashew farmers and processors face difficulties complying with market requirements and lack the technical and financial means to produce cost-effective goods inz sufficient quantity and required high quality. As a result, when profitable new market opportunities arise, they are unable to be accepted as suppliers. This, he noted has given the alliance great concern. To end, he said ACA is focusing on building the capacities of cashew farmers and exporters to meet international quality standards through training on good agricultural practices to increase yields and quality. He said ACA has developed a capacity building programme to enables suppliers to meet the internationally recognised requirements in terms of food safety and quality. Through a combination of strategies, he said the alliance has been able to reach thousand s of farmers and processors, leading to the creation of new jobs in cashew nut processing, with 70 per cent of them for women. He said ACA has implemented sustainable pilot projects in several countries, where suppliers have achieved considerable improvement in their performance and compliance with food safety standards and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). As a result, the quality and volume of marketable products has improved. At the same time, consumers have benefited from better and safer products and can expect more stable food prices.
    He said start-up processors are provided with a range of advice on how to grow their business, keep up with current market developments, improve their use of technology and expand processing of cashew by-products.
    The Managing Director, KD Food Processing Company Limited,Mr Garba Dikko said the lack of adequate knowledge on cashew financing by officials of banking institutions and farmers seriously affected fund raising to support agriculture in the country. He said the lack of knowledge about the specific financial needs of cashew farmers made the financial institutions to offer the same financial package to all farmers which often led to the disadvantage of many. He called for the development of different financial packages for different farmers groups engaged in different types of agriculture to meet their specific needs. With high cost of infrastructure, maintenance and electricity, he called on the government to protect local cashew processors and producers. Dikko said so much is required to establish a functional cashew processing plant. Dikko called for support for cashew processers to bring down production costs. Urging the government to offer assistance to farmers to improve production, he said poor productivity of cashew plantations is one of the major reasons behind the cashew nut processing sector performing at below capacity.
    The President,National Cashew Association of Nigeria(NCAN),Mr Tola Faseru said the nation’s cashew sector has enormous potential for businesses seeking to invest in the crop. He disclosed,however, that the sector is however suffering from declining productivity and dwindling export earnings because of structural problems. As a result, Nigerian cashew is less competitive in the international market . He called on the government to establish a N50 billion cashew development fund to support the industry . With such fund, he said it would be possible for the industry to achieve the target of 500,000 metric tonnes per annum. Faseru said the association is sensitising farmers across the country on quality control to enable them to enhance their product quality. Faseru called for more support for farmers and for government’s assistance for to develop more cashew plantations. The NCAN chief said if the cashew crop was processed locally, new direct jobs would be created by more than 1,000 businesses that would arise from the industry and millions of naira would be realised. This possible outcome is what is driving the campaign of the association to boost cashew production nationwide.
    The Director, Real Sector Department ,Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC),Mr Reuben Kifasi said the cashew sector has many gaps and challenges, thereby providing opportunities at different levels for foreign investors to explore. He said there are some incentives and tax holidays for investors seeking to take advantage of investment opportunities which abounds across the agric sector. The need for high capacity processing plants, warehousing facilities, he said, are just some of the opportunities that investors can look at. He said NIPC is supporting sector players in developing coordinated efforts to mobilize domestic and foreign direct investment and enhance private sector development.
    The Director,Cluster Development Department,Raw Materials and Development Council,Mrs Haraja Tanko said cashew is a big business and that the government is supporting it because the potential of the industry has not been fully harnessed. Mrs Tanko said raw materials council is working towards boosting cashew nut production by the establishing three- processing plants and giving improved seeds to support farmers . The Acting Chief of Party, COP Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport (NEXTT) ,Engr Isaac Adegun said the development of the industry would not only help diversify the agriculture sector and enhance the national economy but would also be a good way of tackling poverty. To this end, he said the project is aimed at improving and expanding Nigeria’s trade efficiency domestically, within the region and beyond, so that trade, particularly in agricultural products, supports inclusive economic growth and the development. With improved support of USAID|NIGERIA through the NEXTT project, he said assistance to the cashew sub-sector has been scaled up to the level of offering technical assistance at both the organisational and firm level.
    He reiterated that NEXTT is more committed to improving the processing arm of the sub- sector owing to its enormous potential of creating thousands of jobs and also contributing to macroeconomic stability through increased export earnings.
    He said USAID has concluded a study on the Nigerian cashew industry, adding that steps will taken based on it to improve cashew business competiveness and environmental sustainability.
    The SEAL Coordinator, ACA, Mrs Dorcas Amoh, said more demand for cashew, combined with buyer demand for product that is Seal-certified, is increasing sales. The certification, she said ensures quality for buyers, recognition for processors, and stability for farmers.
    According to her, ACA Seal offers returns for all cashew stakeholders. Mrs Amos said without adequate waste collection services, she said cashew waste can carry health risks for workers at processing facilities and local communities. She said the plan of the alliance is to assist farmers to use waste materials for their businesses and communities in other ways.