The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Lagos reduces hunger, poverty, want

    The Programme Manager  and  Chief  Executive, Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (LSADA), Mr. Kayode Ashafa  has said  the  state is  repositioning  the  agriculture sector to  improve food security and reduce hunger by   encouraging  Nigerians  to invest in farming.

    Speaking during this year’s edition of farmers forum in Lagos, Ashafa said  the  government  has   taken up important new schemes to boost agricultural production.

    So far, he said, the state agricultural programmes are delivering results that are changing the face of poverty and hunger.

    According to him, the government has reached a lot of smallholder farmers with new technologies  aimed at increasing agricultural production.

    Present at the farmers’ forum are the Commissioner for Agriculture, Prince Gbolahan Lawal; the  Permanent  Secretary, Dr Yakub Basorun; the Project manager, Agriculture Development Authority, Mr Kayode Ashafa, the State project Cordinator, Commercial Agriculture Development Project, Mr Kehinde Ogunyinka, among others.

    As part of measures to boost the morale of the farmers in the state,  the Lagos State Agriculture Development Authority (ADA), Oko-Oba, Lagos  State gave out  a total of 14.8 million naira, as well as farming equipment worth eight million naira to farmers spread across the state.

    The cash was given to boost agricultural activities in four State Programme  for Food Security (SPFS) sites. The four SPFS sites that benefited from the cash gifts are; Igboye/Igbonla SPFS  site which went home with a cheque of N3million; while Ado/Badore SPFS site went home with a cheque of 1.8 million naira; Ayobo/Ipaja and Igbalu/Gberigbe SPFS sites went home with a cheque five million naira each.

    SPFS sites major in agriculture activities which include poultry, piggery, crop production, aqualculture processing, among others.

    Ashafa said:  “The cash is to assist the farmers in ensuring that there’s surplus food  for our teeming population, not only in Lagos, but across the country.

    ”We cannot afford to fail our people in feeding them.”

    Apart from the cash gifts, twenty groups spread across the state went home with farming equipment worth N8 million. The equipment are; 20 water pumps, 150 wheel barrow, 200 cutlasses, 200 J K files, 200 rain boots, 200 big hoes, 200 shovels/spades, 200 safety gadgets, 200 iron buckets, 150 big plastic bowls, among others.

    One of the beneficiaries who identified himself as Alhaji Hammed from Igboye/Igbonla SPFS site said: “Our site was one of those that benefited from the cash gifts.  The Lagos State government has indeed been helpful to the farmers, and the only way to pay back is to make good use of the money to ensure more production of foods to our teeming population.”

    Another beneficiary who spoke with our reporter on condition of anonymity said:

    “Our group be nefitted from the farm equipment distributed. We are so grateful, we promise to make good use of those equipment.”

  • Govt urged to reposition agro export to boost foreign earnings

    Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have urged the government to reposition agro export sector to promote economic growth and drive employment generation.

    In  a communiqué  issued at the end of a one-day workshop on  Agricultural Produce  Export organised  the Lagos State Agric Development Authority(LSADA), in Lagos, the stakeholders noted  that  there  are  increasing opportunities within agribusiness and  that  diversifying  of agro  commodities  would  generate export revenues.

    The stakeholders consist of  representatives of the Federal Ministry of  Agriculture and Rural Development, LSADA,Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), National  Agency for Food  and  Drugs Administration and Control(NAFDAC), Bank of Industry(BoI), Bank of Agriculture(BoA),Accion Micro  Finance Bank, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Company(NAIC),exporters  and  farmers.

    The workshop noted that  investment is vital for the development of agro-industry since such activities require high levels of technical capacity, links to markets and knowledge of market requirements.

    According to the workshop, increased investment in transportation and other infrastructure could help the sector diversify and to integrate their production vertically to encourage agro-industry. Any expansion in processing may have the effect of increasing the well-being of the people employed in the sector, providing higher wage jobs, and producing a higher-value product for exports.

    The  workshop  noted  that market integration is necessary   as there  opportunities for further development of  agro  exports and introduction of higher-value products.

    The  workshop reiterated  the natural  export  advantages that Lagos has and exporters  and farmers  can  utilise  them  to generate foreign exchange for  the country.

    The stakeholders also appreciated the determination of the Lagos State government to increase the production of higher value-added agricultural produce while continuing to produce popular commodities, fresh vegetables and fruits.

    The workshop recognised the efforts of the government through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) to bring back agriculture to its rightful position and the collaboration of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to facilitate agric export development.

     

  • ‘Cocoa farmers getting fairer share of international market’

    Mr Dimeji Owofemi is the Executive Vice Chairman, Multi Trex Integrated Foods Plc. In this interview with SINA FADARE, he says the cocoa industry is the only panacea to employment generation in the country. Excerpts.

    What is the implication of Nigeria exporting about 70-80 per cent of cocoa produced in the country?

    All the factories in Nigeria are not processing more than 20 per cent maximum and  about  80 per cent is been exported as raw beans. It is only in this country that people who export raw beans are the same foreigners who have setup factories in Cote Dovire, Cameroun, Ghana and Indonesia.  This is the area we are not clever as a country.

    Sad enough, government is again in its wisdom, paying grant to somebody taking raw materials out. Now in the countries where they are taking these raw materials to, they don’t charge them import duties but the little 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes that we are exporting as semi finished products to those countries, they are taxing it. Can you now see our dilemma as a processor?

    We are not competitive, we come back home; there is energy, road and  multiple taxation problem, there is government in ability to control lending rate for industry, so factories are borrowing money  the same way traders are borrowing money.

    The traders does not create jobs, it is the farmers and factories that create jobs. Traders is going to do his own business alone, but in factory like this you have at least 50 people for the smallest size, at a point we have about 116. Now if you have 10 factories,each with 300 people it means you have employed 3,000 people, those are the people that are directly involved. Aside this you still have those that are not involved in production such  casual workers and people who trades semi finish product that we do. So there is multiplier effect when you take things from farm land to factories, rather than from farm land to the port in the raw form.

    Therefore those are the people to pay attention to,   farmers and factories. If you take care of those two, all will be well.  But if we neglect those two sectors, we are shooting ourselves on the foot as a country.

    Aside this, what other areas did you think cocoa can be best utilised?

    Farming is a creator of employment.  Yoruba have a say that Igbe lowo wa, meaning there is money in the bush, it is better the government adopt a policy that will re direct and re focus our youths towards agriculture because that is the only sector that can accommodate all the army of youths we are producing in the university in droves without anywhere to secure or guarantee their future.

    There was a time you canvassed  the return of cocoa board. Can it better the fortune of the industry?

    I said government should create institution that would structure the value change and that is what Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is doing now. I don’t want us to go back to that era, but to create an institution that will regulate the operation of the industry so that it will not be an all comers affair. And is usually government operated. You can see what is happening in Ghana now. They are facing similar challenges as well.

    If I have my way, I will pray and fast for six months if God will answer my prayer to dry off our oil, so that we can face reality. This issue of going to Abuja every month to collect oil money has blindfolded us away from agro allied sector that can drive our economy.

    Do you think Nigeria can produce 500,000 tonnes of cocoa by next year with what is on ground?

    No, that 500,000 tonnes cannot manifest in one year with what is on the ground. Despite the distribution of new improved cocoa varieties to farmers a year ago, it is difficult to meet such a target. These crops will take about 18months to mature at the point of putting it in the soil. Meanwhile, it is a process. You get the seedlings within nurseries, put them there, nurture them, before you transplant them. I will say three years down the lines. Akwa Ibom and Rivers states are already producing massively.

    Some of the problems we have is a good data base that can guide our operational system. As of now there is no reliable statistics and most of the farmers cannot be identified talk less of monitoring their production for record purpose

    In the past, a tonne of cocoa was about N4,000, today it has raised to about N400,000, would you say cocoa farmers are enjoying?

    When I entered into this industry in 1987 it was not N4,000, it was N1,800, and so it jumped to N4,000 per tonne. Today it is about N 540,000, so you cannot say the farmers are not fully compensated.

    Against this backdrop will you say Nigerian cocoa farmers are adequately compensated?

    Nigerians cocoa farmers are getting the highest share of the international market. Between 65 and 75 per cent of the international value, much more than what the farmers in  Ghana are  getting and  more than what Ivory coast farmers are  getting, but they don’t get that, they are involved with the provision of all the things that farmers need. Whereas, we can’t pursue that in Nigeria here it is impracticable, it is too late.

    From your experience, will you say, agro allied industry can give us the lead way in employment generation?

    You don’t have any other industry that can give you that; oil industry can’t. The best way is to support Nigerians involve in agriculture so they can create more employment. This can be done by government in different ways. You  can help to get loans that attract little interest and propagate policies that are industries friendly.

    For instance, those who need energy could be assisted. For instance; the pipe gas is right in front of our factory. We signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigeria Company. It is  nearly 40 months, they haven’t turn up to do the project for us, which has potential to reduce the cost of energy consumption to a minimum of 60 per cent of what we are spending today.

    We are using 66,000 litres of diesel every week, if we can solve the energy crisis; we could have increased our capacity base by employing more workers. Most of the industries along this Lagos- Ibadan express way are facing similar problems.

     

  • HarvestPlus honours biofortified cassava expert

    HarvestPlus, the organisation leading global effort to end hidden hunger, has presented an award to Dr Alfred Dixon,  known by his peers as “Dr. Cassava,” in recognition of his outstanding performance  towards the rapid development of provitamin A cassava varieties in Nigeria.

    Dixon is currently the Project Leader for the Cassava Weed Management Project/Head, Project Coordination Office at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Oyo State.

    The award was given to  Dixon during the HarvestPlus- organised annual crop meeting held in Abuja. The organisation also honored its  Deputy Director (Operations), Dr Wolfgang Pfeiffer; IITA Cassava Breeder, Dr Peter Kulakow; and the Executive Director, National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, Dr. Josiah Okonkwo, were also given awards.

    In his career with IITA, Dixon led the development of over 300 improved cassava varieties most of which were introduced to over 30 countries in Africa and helped the continent to increase production. He  also pioneered the development of provitamin A cassava varieties. In reference to the contribution of Dr Dixon, Dr Pfeiffer referred to him  as “being instrumental to the development of yellow cassava varieties that are agrononomically superior.”

    In 2008, Dixon left IITA to serve as the pioneer Director General of the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI), Freetown, Sierra Leone.

    Dr Dixon is a team player and has trained, inspired, and mentored more than 300 national scientists and technicians to add value to the food security drive of governments to ensure food security. Most of his trainees are today in leadership positions. He is often referred to as the “Father of Cassava in Africa.”

    In recognition of his contribution to the development of the cassava sector in the country, he was awarded a traditional chieftaincy title in Nigeria.

  • Precision farming: New opportunities for agriculture?

    Precision farming: New opportunities for agriculture?

    The search for new methods of boosting agricultural production to enable the country meet her aspiration of achieving food security has led to precision farming, a high tech approach to  managing soils and crops and ensuring the most efficient use of resources.  Some experts have however expressed doubts about the applicability of this farming method to small-scale agriculture in the country, DANIEL ESSIET  reports.

    Small scale growers in Northern Nigeria are dynamic farmers. They dream of better ways of growing their millet, maize and soya beans. Because of this, they are continually searching for new farm management techniques and are prepared to try out any innovation that seems viable. Yet, because prices locally are low, their incomes continue to fall and no one seems able to help them secure niche markets with high returns.

    This is because commodities are harvested from fields with different exposures. The other issue is that farming has been rainfall-dependent. However, in most parts of the North, droughts and other climate change issues have deteriorated the environment over the last two decades. As a result, it is becoming quite difficult to predict the rainfall pattern. This is affecting farming because not many farmers have the capacity to irrigate their land and produce on large scale. Therefore, they are victims to the unpredictable rain for their crops.

    To tackle  these problems,  experts are  pushing  for  precision  agriculture, a high technology that  would enable extension officers and farmers address problems, using  appropriate crop management system that would not only  lead  to  better yields but higher   profits.  Through  precision farming, farmers stand to  benefit from more efficient farm management, fewer inputs, reduced leaching and, therefore, less damage to the environment.

    To  achieve this,  a national  workshop  was organised  in Kaduna  to  train  farmers  to  the use  of  precision farming  techniques.

    Addressing the  workshop n Kaduna, the National Project Coordinator, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP)Nigeria, Prof Damian Chikwendu said there  is  need  to address the  challenges of  farmers  planting on  fields that are not homogeneous.

    One  way  to  achieve this, Chikwendu noted, is through  precision agriculture, a farming  method capable  of   addressing the  challenge of unpredictable yields and poor resource management.

    Precision agriculture, he said is an integrated crop management system that attempts to determine the kind and amount of inputs which the actual crop needs for small areas within a farm.

    He said it is often referred to as either Global Position System (GPS) – based agriculture, variable-rate farming, precision farming or site-specific farming. Precision agriculture, he explained, is a farming management concept based on observing and responding to intra-field variations. Besides, it relies on new technologies such as satellite imagery, information technology, and geospatial tools.

    The workshop, he said, was  aimed at acquainting participants with precision farming techniques using technologies such as GPS, geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and yield monitors guidance systems for various rate application.

    The overall results of precision farming, according to him,   are more efficient farm management, fewer inputs, reduced leaching and, therefore, less damage to the environment.

    Chikwendu said precision farming is,” doing the right thing, at the right place and at the right time”. Doing the right thing he said however, starts with good managers and good operators doing a good job of using common goods such as planters, harvesters, fertiliser applicators and whatever else that might be needed. According to  him,   precision agriculture technologies provide the information and systems that allow a farmer to optimise and customise the timing, amount, and placement of inputs (seed, fertiliser, pesticides, irrigation and others) for any given section of a field. This allows the farmer to produce the maximum yield from the entire field at the lowest possible cost.

    According to him, the uses of very accurate GPS-based equipment could eliminate overruns and reduce wasted seed and fertiliser. This growing awareness, coupled with the demographic shift to younger, technologically-savvy farmers, has many pundits predicting a dramatic increase in the rate of growth of precision agriculture.

    There are a growing number of companies offering precision agriculture products and services.

    One  of  them  is Clemence and Geoconsult.  Its  Lead Consultant, Dr Aminu Usman said  his  organisation is  ready  to  help  farmers  use  precision  farming to improve  profitability.

    In a bid to fast track its usage nationwide, his organisation and   WAAPP commenced a one week training workshop last month on  GPS to enhance precision farming.

    The first leg of the workshop took place in Kaduna, with 55 participants made up of WAAPP Coordinators and Assistant Coordinating Officers from several universities, research institutes and Agricultural Development Projects (ADP)in attendance.

    Usman lauded WAAPP for initiating the training programme. The global positioning system, he noted, will expose participants to unending possibilities and applications to everyday field operations.

    He urged participants to use the opportunities of the workshop organised by WAAPP to improve their knowledge to enable them join hands in the current drive to take the country to a level of sustainable agricultural development and food security.

    Experts have however said the implementation and use of precision agriculture will not succeed without addressing challenges of small farm holdings.  In this case, the way forward will be to take the technology to small farmers through government sponsored initiatives and continuous research.

    The message has to be taken to farmers that they need to get more involved in using emerging technologies while also providing training in the use of GPS equipment and GIS software for local technicians.   But there are obstacles to small farmers adopting precision farming techniques. These include the low levels of literacy among farmers and the lack of equipment. In addition, land tenure systems are mostly based on smallholdings  and this affects the extent to which precision farming technology could be applied. If the government is to introduce certain precision farming applications in small farms, it would be almost impossible to train the large numbers of barely literate farmers that would be involved.

    For this reason, fisheries expert, Prof Martins Antekhai wants the government to be realistic about the type of farms that could be targeted. He  suggested it should involve  large  farms especially  large ones  that  cover at least 100 hectares  because  of the  cost of  acquiring technologies.

    The whole industry, he explained would benefit in the long run from increased efficiency in management systems where funds to buy large amounts of external inputs are often in short supply. This is because the approach carries many clear messages, such as ‘do not waste fertilisers on soils that are constrained by other factors.’

    For experts, however, precision farming doesn’t need to be high-tech. For example,  farmers  who have  to decide where, when and how to apply the limited amount of manure they  have   on their   farms are  aware of the variability of the soil in their   fields and, in most cases, will not spread the manure equally throughout the farm.

    Antekhai who is of the Faculty of Science, Lagos State University (LASU), said it is unlikely that the rate of agro-technical innovation will slow down.

    He was  of the  opinion, however  that  as the technologies developed, they  become less expensive and more widely available, as bright agricultural minds will observe research and adapt them.

    Eventually, the small farmers will be able to acquire it  to improve farm efficiency.

    Precision farming, for instance, he added has become possible due to the convergence of three groups of modern technologies: information and (wireless) communication technologies, monitoring and measuring technologies (including remote sensing and GIS, yield monitoring and GPS), and automated process control technology.

    Once adapted to farm conditions, these technologies, according to him, will provide a completely new level of accuracy in measuring plant growth, in monitoring on farm growing conditions and in operating farm equipment.

    Many agricultural experts have argued that the use and maintenance of these technologies are beyond the capacity of small scale farmers. It is suggested that they do not have the right educational backgrounds to understand and operate the equipment, and that farms are too small and cropping practices too heterogeneous for them to be used effectively.

    Nevertheless, there have been reports of   many exciting examples of small-scale farmers, nomadic herders and fishermen who have experimented with new technologies, sometimes in projects supported by outside funding and expertise, but oft en on their own account.

    Farmers have adopted en masse the mobile phone, which has proven invaluable in enabling them to access market information and deal with everyday problems that threaten their crops and livestock.  At the same time, agricultural scientists are increasingly becoming interested in working with farmers and rural communities to explore the potential of technologies such as remote sensing, GIS and GPS for monitoring crop yields and quality, and automated process control technology.

     

     

  • Govt urged to reposition agro export to boost foreign earnings

    Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have urged the government to reposition agro export sector to promote economic growth and drive employment generation.

    In  a communiqué  issued at the end of a one-day workshop on  Agricultural Produce  Export organised  the Lagos State Agric Development Authority(LSADA), in Lagos, the stakeholders noted  that  there  are  increasing opportunities within agribusiness and  that  diversifying  of agro  commodities  would  generate export revenues.

    The stakeholders consist of  representatives of the Federal Ministry of  Agriculture and Rural Development, LSADA,Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), National  Agency for Food  and  Drugs Administration and Control(NAFDAC), Bank of Industry(BoI), Bank of Agriculture(BoA),Accion Micro  Finance Bank, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Company(NAIC),exporters  and  farmers.

    The workshop noted that  investment is vital for the development of agro-industry since such activities require high levels of technical capacity, links to markets and knowledge of market requirements.

    According to the workshop, increased investment in transportation and other infrastructure could help the sector diversify and to integrate their production vertically to encourage agro-industry. Any expansion in processing may have the effect of increasing the well-being of the people employed in the sector, providing higher wage jobs, and producing a higher-value product for exports.

    The  workshop  noted  that market integration is necessary   as there  opportunities for further development of  agro  exports and introduction of higher-value products.

    The  workshop reiterated  the natural  export  advantages that Lagos has and exporters  and farmers  can  utilise  them  to generate foreign exchange for  the country.

    The stakeholders also appreciated the determination of the Lagos State government to increase the production of higher value-added agricultural produce while continuing to produce popular commodities, fresh vegetables and fruits.

    The workshop recognised the efforts of the government through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) to bring back agriculture to its rightful position and the collaboration of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to facilitate agric export development.

     

  • ‘Cocoa farmers getting fairer share of international market’

    Mr Dimeji Owofemi is the Executive Vice Chairman, Multi Trex Integrated Foods Plc. In this interview with SINA FADARE, he says the cocoa industry is the only panacea to employment generation in the country. Excerpts.

    What is the implication of Nigeria exporting about 70-80 per cent of cocoa produced in the country?

    All the factories in Nigeria are not processing more than 20 per cent maximum and  about  80 per cent is been exported as raw beans. It is only in this country that people who export raw beans are the same foreigners who have setup factories in Cote Dovire, Cameroun, Ghana and Indonesia.  This is the area we are not clever as a country.

    Sad enough, government is again in its wisdom, paying grant to somebody taking raw materials out. Now in the countries where they are taking these raw materials to, they don’t charge them import duties but the little 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes that we are exporting as semi finished products to those countries, they are taxing it. Can you now see our dilemma as a processor?

    We are not competitive, we come back home; there is energy, road and  multiple taxation problem, there is government in ability to control lending rate for industry, so factories are borrowing money  the same way traders are borrowing money.

    The traders does not create jobs, it is the farmers and factories that create jobs. Traders is going to do his own business alone, but in factory like this you have at least 50 people for the smallest size, at a point we have about 116. Now if you have 10 factories,each with 300 people it means you have employed 3,000 people, those are the people that are directly involved. Aside this you still have those that are not involved in production such  casual workers and people who trades semi finish product that we do. So there is multiplier effect when you take things from farm land to factories, rather than from farm land to the port in the raw form.

    Therefore those are the people to pay attention to,   farmers and factories. If you take care of those two, all will be well.  But if we neglect those two sectors, we are shooting ourselves on the foot as a country.

    Aside this, what other areas did you think cocoa can be best utilised?

    Farming is a creator of employment.  Yoruba have a say that Igbe lowo wa, meaning there is money in the bush, it is better the government adopt a policy that will re direct and re focus our youths towards agriculture because that is the only sector that can accommodate all the army of youths we are producing in the university in droves without anywhere to secure or guarantee their future.

    There was a time you canvassed  the return of cocoa board. Can it better the fortune of the industry?

    I said government should create institution that would structure the value change and that is what Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is doing now. I don’t want us to go back to that era, but to create an institution that will regulate the operation of the industry so that it will not be an all comers affair. And is usually government operated. You can see what is happening in Ghana now. They are facing similar challenges as well.

    If I have my way, I will pray and fast for six months if God will answer my prayer to dry off our oil, so that we can face reality. This issue of going to Abuja every month to collect oil money has blindfolded us away from agro allied sector that can drive our economy.

    Do you think Nigeria can produce 500,000 tonnes of cocoa by next year with what is on ground?

    No, that 500,000 tonnes cannot manifest in one year with what is on the ground. Despite the distribution of new improved cocoa varieties to farmers a year ago, it is difficult to meet such a target. These crops will take about 18months to mature at the point of putting it in the soil. Meanwhile, it is a process. You get the seedlings within nurseries, put them there, nurture them, before you transplant them. I will say three years down the lines. Akwa Ibom and Rivers states are already producing massively.

    Some of the problems we have is a good data base that can guide our operational system. As of now there is no reliable statistics and most of the farmers cannot be identified talk less of monitoring their production for record purpose

    In the past, a tonne of cocoa was about N4,000, today it has raised to about N400,000, would you say cocoa farmers are enjoying?

    When I entered into this industry in 1987 it was not N4,000, it was N1,800, and so it jumped to N4,000 per tonne. Today it is about N 540,000, so you cannot say the farmers are not fully compensated.

    Against this backdrop will you say Nigerian cocoa farmers are adequately compensated?

    Nigerians cocoa farmers are getting the highest share of the international market. Between 65 and 75 per cent of the international value, much more than what the farmers in  Ghana are  getting and  more than what Ivory coast farmers are  getting, but they don’t get that, they are involved with the provision of all the things that farmers need. Whereas, we can’t pursue that in Nigeria here it is impracticable, it is too late.

    From your experience, will you say, agro allied industry can give us the lead way in employment generation?

    You don’t have any other industry that can give you that; oil industry can’t. The best way is to support Nigerians involve in agriculture so they can create more employment. This can be done by government in different ways. You  can help to get loans that attract little interest and propagate policies that are industries friendly.

    For instance, those who need energy could be assisted. For instance; the pipe gas is right in front of our factory. We signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigeria Company. It is  nearly 40 months, they haven’t turn up to do the project for us, which has potential to reduce the cost of energy consumption to a minimum of 60 per cent of what we are spending today.

    We are using 66,000 litres of diesel every week, if we can solve the energy crisis; we could have increased our capacity base by employing more workers. Most of the industries along this Lagos- Ibadan express way are facing similar problems.

  • Precision farming: New opportunities for agriculture?

    Precision farming: New opportunities for agriculture?

    The search for new methods of boosting agricultural production to enable the country meet her aspiration of achieving food security has led to precision farming, a high tech approach to  managing soils and crops and ensuring the most efficient use of resources.  Some experts have however expressed doubts about the applicability of this farming method to small-scale agriculture in the country, DANIEL ESSIET  reports.

    Small scale growers in Northern Nigeria are dynamic farmers. They dream of better ways of growing their millet, maize and soya beans. Because of this, they are continually searching for new farm management techniques and are prepared to try out any innovation that seems viable. Yet, because prices locally are low, their incomes continue to fall and no one seems able to help them secure niche markets with high returns.

    This is because commodities are harvested from fields with different exposures. The other issue is that farming has been rainfall-dependent. However, in most parts of the North, droughts and other climate change issues have deteriorated the environment over the last two decades. As a result, it is becoming quite difficult to predict the rainfall pattern. This is affecting farming because not many farmers have the capacity to irrigate their land and produce on large scale. Therefore, they are victims to the unpredictable rain for their crops.

    To tackle  these problems,  experts are  pushing  for  precision  agriculture, a high technology that  would enable extension officers and farmers address problems, using  appropriate crop management system that would not only  lead  to  better yields but higher   profits.  Through  precision farming, farmers stand to  benefit from more efficient farm management, fewer inputs, reduced leaching and, therefore, less damage to the environment.

    To  achieve this,  a national  workshop  was organised  in Kaduna  to  train  farmers  to  the use  of  precision farming  techniques.

    Addressing the  workshop n Kaduna, the National Project Coordinator, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP)Nigeria, Prof Damian Chikwendu said there  is  need  to address the  challenges of  farmers  planting on  fields that are not homogeneous.

    One  way  to  achieve this, Chikwendu noted, is through  precision agriculture, a farming  method capable  of   addressing the  challenge of unpredictable yields and poor resource management.

    Precision agriculture, he said is an integrated crop management system that attempts to determine the kind and amount of inputs which the actual crop needs for small areas within a farm.

    He said it is often referred to as either Global Position System (GPS) – based agriculture, variable-rate farming, precision farming or site-specific farming. Precision agriculture, he explained, is a farming management concept based on observing and responding to intra-field variations. Besides, it relies on new technologies such as satellite imagery, information technology, and geospatial tools.

    The workshop, he said, was  aimed at acquainting participants with precision farming techniques using technologies such as GPS, geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and yield monitors guidance systems for various rate application.

    The overall results of precision farming, according to him,   are more efficient farm management, fewer inputs, reduced leaching and, therefore, less damage to the environment.

    Chikwendu said precision farming is,” doing the right thing, at the right place and at the right time”. Doing the right thing he said however, starts with good managers and good operators doing a good job of using common goods such as planters, harvesters, fertiliser applicators and whatever else that might be needed. According to  him,   precision agriculture technologies provide the information and systems that allow a farmer to optimise and customise the timing, amount, and placement of inputs (seed, fertiliser, pesticides, irrigation and others) for any given section of a field. This allows the farmer to produce the maximum yield from the entire field at the lowest possible cost.

    According to him, the uses of very accurate GPS-based equipment could eliminate overruns and reduce wasted seed and fertiliser. This growing awareness, coupled with the demographic shift to younger, technologically-savvy farmers, has many pundits predicting a dramatic increase in the rate of growth of precision agriculture.

    There are a growing number of companies offering precision agriculture products and services.

    One  of  them  is Clemence and Geoconsult.  Its  Lead Consultant, Dr Aminu Usman said  his  organisation is  ready  to  help  farmers  use  precision  farming to improve  profitability.

    In a bid to fast track its usage nationwide, his organisation and   WAAPP commenced a one week training workshop last month on  GPS to enhance precision farming.

    The first leg of the workshop took place in Kaduna, with 55 participants made up of WAAPP Coordinators and Assistant Coordinating Officers from several universities, research institutes and Agricultural Development Projects (ADP)in attendance.

    Usman lauded WAAPP for initiating the training programme. The global positioning system, he noted, will expose participants to unending possibilities and applications to everyday field operations.

    He urged participants to use the opportunities of the workshop organised by WAAPP to improve their knowledge to enable them join hands in the current drive to take the country to a level of sustainable agricultural development and food security.

    Experts have however said the implementation and use of precision agriculture will not succeed without addressing challenges of small farm holdings.  In this case, the way forward will be to take the technology to small farmers through government sponsored initiatives and continuous research.

    The message has to be taken to farmers that they need to get more involved in using emerging technologies while also providing training in the use of GPS equipment and GIS software for local technicians.   But there are obstacles to small farmers adopting precision farming techniques. These include the low levels of literacy among farmers and the lack of equipment. In addition, land tenure systems are mostly based on smallholdings  and this affects the extent to which precision farming technology could be applied. If the government is to introduce certain precision farming applications in small farms, it would be almost impossible to train the large numbers of barely literate farmers that would be involved.

    For this reason, fisheries expert, Prof Martins Antekhai wants the government to be realistic about the type of farms that could be targeted. He  suggested it should involve  large  farms especially  large ones  that  cover at least 100 hectares  because  of the  cost of  acquiring technologies.

    The whole industry, he explained would benefit in the long run from increased efficiency in management systems where funds to buy large amounts of external inputs are often in short supply. This is because the approach carries many clear messages, such as ‘do not waste fertilisers on soils that are constrained by other factors.’

    For experts, however, precision farming doesn’t need to be high-tech. For example,  farmers  who have  to decide where, when and how to apply the limited amount of manure they  have   on their   farms are  aware of the variability of the soil in their   fields and, in most cases, will not spread the manure equally throughout the farm.

    Antekhai who is of the Faculty of Science, Lagos State University (LASU), said it is unlikely that the rate of agro-technical innovation will slow down.

    He was  of the  opinion, however  that  as the technologies developed, they  become less expensive and more widely available, as bright agricultural minds will observe research and adapt them.

    Eventually, the small farmers will be able to acquire it  to improve farm efficiency.

    Precision farming, for instance, he added has become possible due to the convergence of three groups of modern technologies: information and (wireless) communication technologies, monitoring and measuring technologies (including remote sensing and GIS, yield monitoring and GPS), and automated process control technology.

    Once adapted to farm conditions, these technologies, according to him, will provide a completely new level of accuracy in measuring plant growth, in monitoring on farm growing conditions and in operating farm equipment.

    Many agricultural experts have argued that the use and maintenance of these technologies are beyond the capacity of small scale farmers. It is suggested that they do not have the right educational backgrounds to understand and operate the equipment, and that farms are too small and cropping practices too heterogeneous for them to be used effectively.

    Nevertheless, there have been reports of   many exciting examples of small-scale farmers, nomadic herders and fishermen who have experimented with new technologies, sometimes in projects supported by outside funding and expertise, but oft en on their own account.

    Farmers have adopted en masse the mobile phone, which has proven invaluable in enabling them to access market information and deal with everyday problems that threaten their crops and livestock.  At the same time, agricultural scientists are increasingly becoming interested in working with farmers and rural communities to explore the potential of technologies such as remote sensing, GIS and GPS for monitoring crop yields and quality, and automated process control technology.

  • Nigeria may not double cocoa output by next year, says expert

    Nigeria may not be on track to increase cocoa output to 500,000 tonnes next year,the   Chief  Executive, Centre for Cocoa Initiative, Mr Robo Adhuze, has said.

    This  follows  the inability of  farmers to receive enough higher-yielding seeds, low level of rejuvenation of old farms and poor improvements in agricultural practices.

    Though heavy rainfall and poor sunshine have been reported  across  cocoa-growing region of the  country, Adhuze said  this  may not  affect farmers.

    His concern, however is lack of  enough inputs to boost local production.

    Reports said earlier that farmers are getting increasingly worried about bean quality and black pod disease in the wake of heavier rains. Besides preventing mould, sunny weather is also needed for bigger bean size. Farmgate prices in Cross Rivers has fallen around eight per cent to 440,000 naira ($2,700) per tonne compared with 480,000 naira at the end of July due to mould with levels as high as 18-21 per cent, compared with the three per cent that is considered acceptable. The Cross River region produces about 75,000 tons of cocoa annually, out of a national output of 300,000 tonnes.

    The Cocoa Association of Nigeria noted that farmers had put off the harvest to September and that heavy rains had brought fungal black pod disease, because farmers were unable to spray their pods.

    No official figures for the 2013/2014 cocoa output have been released. The International Cocoa Organisation has estimated the 2013/14 crop at 250,000 tonnes. Cocoa exports from Nigeria rose 41 per cent to 8,990 tons in July compared with a month earlier, the nation’s Federal Produce Inspection Service, which certifies exports noted.

    The Cocoa Research Institute [CRI] said The Nation is on track to increase cocoa output to 500,000 tonnes next year after distribution of new, higher-yielding seeds, rejuvenation of old farms and improvements in agricultural practices. In 2012, the government announced plans to double output by 2015 from 250,000 tonnes in an effort to diversify exports away from oil.

  • Govt urged to support sugar producers to end import

    Consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale, has called on  the Federal Government to intensify efforts to implement the national sugar master plan to end importation of the commodity.

    Speaking with The Nation,  Ogunwale said, the sector is still under-performing in terms of meeting the needs of the country. Consequently, sugar is still imported into the country.

    According  to him, the development and performance of the sugar  sector is constrained by many factors, which include weak technical capacity, poor market mechanisms, insufficient capital investment and low utilisation of innovations.

    In response to these , he  said  the  government  has announced some interventions within the master  plan.

    According to him, the government needs to reform the incentives  regime and encourage Nigerians to get into sugar exports with  the  prospect of becoming an important hard currency earner.

    He said government support  would enable sugar industries  to expand their production by importing machinery and repair parts, which play a significant role in boosting production.

    As the nation is expected to up   sugar production, he called for  reforms to create a freer sugar market.

    The initiative, he stressed , should  be implemented to boost  capacity for community-based production of sugar cane.

    He called on the government  to   provide fund to to enhance its capacity to develop resources  for sugar  cane research and development.

    The solutions, he added should be multi-pronged to address poverty alleviation and private sector interests.

    Ogunwale urged government to reduce import to motivate local  farmers to increase the cultivation  of sugar cane and boost annual production volume.

    According  to  him, sugarcane  can  become a leading sector in terms of exports and share of gross domestic product (GDP) and that  Nigeria has the potential to grow  sugarcane tremendously.