The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Rising cost of feeds affecting rations

    The high price of feed has forced livestock managers to redesign rations using cheaper options with the same nutritional quality.

    The Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr. Adedotun Agbojo, said poultry firms were adjusting their ration composition because of rising costs.

    He said the revised ration was likely to stay until the cost of commodities, such as corn and soyabeans, is stabilised.

    Agbojo said the high crop prices and input costs have created more capital challenges. This is because feed costs are the largest single expenditure items for livestock producers, accounting for a third of production costs for dairy and intensive beef producers and around 60 per cent of costs in the poultry sector.

    He said the increase was putting pressure on producers, adding that the price of a metric tonne of maize ranges between N57,000 to N60,000. He expressed fears that the profitability of poultry farming was being threatened.

    As a result, the low return on sales is having a negative impact on the investment in the industry. Potentially, he said it would slow the rate of development of the poultry industry.

    Vice President, Agriculture Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Mr. Stephen Oladipupo, said poultry farmers were opting for new nutritious, lower cost feed imputs.

    He said the high cost of feed has forced producers to carry out many feed trials, which examine the nutritional impact of various feed options. This, he added, has helped producers evaluate if and when to take advantage of abundant supplies of alternative feeds.

    Industry watchers said the poultry industry is in a difficult situation because of feed prices. They are concerned that government has not allocated funds to support the industry to stop further increase of feed prices.

    Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reported that feed prices are stunting poultry industry growth in the country.

    According to USDA: “The poultry industry in Nigeria had been rapidly expanding in past years, increasing from 185,300 metric tonnes(MT) in 2001 to 268,000 MT in 2011. However, high input costs in 2008 and 2010, caused flock expansion to cease in 2008 and in 2011.”

    Though an import ban on corn was lifted in 2008, most poultry producers are wary to import for fear that corn merchants with strong political connections will use Custom officials to frustrate such imports, according to a recent USDA report. Soybean meal is the dominant and preferred protein ingredient in poultry feed rations. Prices of soybean meal surged to $775 a ton in 2011, up from $485 the previous year.

    In ideal situations, poultry producers would prefer soybean meal inclusion rate of 30 per cent in compound their feed, but the scarcity and high cost of the product have forced them to reformulate in favour of low quality substitutes, such as peanut cake, cottonseed, and palm kernel meal.

    Nigeria banned the importation of live poultry (except day-old chicks) and poultry meat, including fresh, frozen, and cooked poultry meat, due to concerns over their ability to enforce SPS standards on imported animals and goods.

    In 2011, Nigeria’s hen egg production totalled 636,000 MT and was valued at $527.49 million, ranking 19th in world hen egg production and the top producer in Africa.

  • Hi-Nutrients marks 10th anniversary

    HI-Nutrients, one of the manufacturers of premixes, has rolled the drums to mark its 10th anniversary.

    The company not only celebrated, but also inaugurted its ultra-modern premix factory, which has the capacity to produce 25 metric tonnes of premixes daily.

    The company, which started as a family business with $1000 in 2004, with two staff, has blossomed to be one of the largest investors in the agricultural sector with a contribution of more than 45 per cent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP. Its investment base hit $5.3million at the beginning of the month.

    Its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Olabode Adetoyi, said it has brought in quality feed addictives, such as Vitamin C coated for fish and poultry farmers from Europe from its European ally to solve heat stress, broken head disease in catfish.

    It also produces other amino acids, such as Tryptophan, Threonine as well as single vitamins and minerals.

    On the factory, Adetoyi said it houses a multimillion naira premix raw materials kept under coldrooms.

    “This is equipped with conical and stainless paddle mixer premix machine and in months to come, farmers will have access to analyse their premixes from NIR machine and another new automated premix plant.

    As part of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS), it has assisted the Department of Animal Science at the University of Ibadan to train students on entrepreneurship as well as refurbish the University of Ilorin Faculty of Agriculture Library, among others.

    President, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, Abuja, Prof Placid Njoku, said with the resilience and doggedness of Hi-Nutrients products, animal husbandry and live stock farming would take a new dimension , the products having been kept under the best environmental conditions and raw materials.

  • Expert advises Fed Govt on crops’ genetic modification

    The Federal Government has been advised to intensify monitoring and researching of genetic modification to promote biological diversity and sustainable livelihoods.

    The President, Save Food and Feed Foundation, Prof Stephen Fapohunda, stressed the need to address issues dealing with the genetic engineering, privatisation, industrialisation and corporate control of the food systems.

    With 75 per cent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops estimated to have been lost due to proliferation of commercial uniform varieties replacing native land races, Fapohunda said. Erosion of crop genetic diversity poses a serious threat to food supplies as it reduces resistance to pests, diseases and changing weather patterns.

    Contending that the genetic diversity within crops is also decreasing, Fapohunda urged the government to shown concern with the conservation of agricultural biodiversity for livelihood security and food sovereignty.

    He said the food and agriculture sector needS to work at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

    He stressed the need for the government to encourage sustainable use of natural resources in the areas of water and energy, as well as for the sustainable future of communities.

    On Genetically modified foods, he said they were associated with heart diseases, fibroid, diabetes, and cancers, among others, and as such, they were not good for human consumption.

    He raised concerns about the economic implications for farmers, adding that the countries were likely to face difficulttimes if the crops were allowed into the country.

  • How to boost cassava development

    The Federal Government is making efforts to increase the production of cassava, a staple crop for many farmers, to make it an export product. This was the focus of a train-the-trainer workshop on mechanised cassava farming at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye in Ogun State. Daniel Essiet reports.

    By 2020, global cassava trade could increase by 30 per cent, reflecting growth in export demand for cassava feed used for chicken, pigs, cattle, fish, cassava food products, such as instant meals, snacks, and ingredients for sweeteners and prepared foods, and non-food products as starch and flour for textiles and papers.

    This means greater opportunities for Asian countries, which through the application of new technologies in breeding and new ways of cassava cultivation, have brought more cash to farmers.

    On account of these achievements, the Federal Government sees Asia as a model for food security progress from which Nigeria should learn.

    One of the institutions of innovation in cassava research and development that contributed to the success of cassava in Thailand and other parts of Asia and Latin America is the Columbia-based Centro Internacional de Agri-cultura Tropical (CIAT).

    Dr. Reinhardt Howeler, acclaimed agronomist and soil scientist, who has worked for 39 years at CIAT and was instrumental to the increase in cassava production in Asia, was in Nigeria to assist the Federal Government in the implementation of its cassava transformation agenda.

    Addressing a train-the-trainer workshop on mechanised cassava farming at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Howeler said cassava has a major role to play in rural development in Asia.

    This role continues to evolve, driven by the globalisation of markets, long-term income growth, increasing population, and new technology for cassava and alternative energy sources.

    Howeler noted that cassava is a money spinner in Asia because the people made the fastest progress in the application of new technologies in breeding and its new propagation, resulting in yields due to the planting of new high-yielding cassava varieties.

    In Asia, he said cassava production is growing on marginal lands where rice cannot be cultivated. The main market growth is for industrial products – native or modified starch and their derivatives.

    He stressed that Nigerian farmers need to grow improved varieties of cassava, for the nation to position the crop as an important source of income and that the wide range of products make it a flexible component in a strategy for development.

    At the moment, he said, the government is supporting research to help develop and distribute new resistant varieties to farmers to boost cassava production.

    The resistant varieties, he noted, are higher yielding, allowing farmers to increase their productivity and process excess production. Another advantage is that the resistant cassava varieties can be replicated on the ground by local farmers and the crop is sustainable.

    Along with increased cassava production, he said research has yielded an important and high-impact technologies. He explained that cassava has unique characteristics that help subsistence farmers.

    Howeler said cassava has also the potential to be a profitable cash crop, adding that in Thailand cassava proved that it can become a profitable crop with international breeding partnerships, a national commitment and marketing.

    The potential of cassava is high compared to rice, he said, adding that the usefulness of cassava as a supplier of high-quality and inexpensive industrial starch and animal feed, seemed not to be appreciated here as in Thailand, where the crop is an export product.

    In countries, where the commercialisation of cassava has reached an advanced stage, he said such technologies had been developed in recent years that make planting, harvesting, and post-harvest processing more efficient and less time-consuming.

    The efforts to make cassava production more cost-effective may explain the revival of global cassava production designed for animal feed over the last decade.

    The Project Leader, Cassava Transformation Team, Dr Martin Fregene, listed the various products for the future: fresh roots and leaves, home or village processing, starch, flour and animal feed.

    Each of these was analysed in terms of growth source – innovation, competition, or concentration, potential, and challenges.

    He stressed the importance of researchers, extension workers and farmers trained in cassava research and cultivation.

    He said the government would promote the sector to make it attractive and profitable for investors.

    “Agriculture should be seen as a business and the government should continue to promote the sector to make it profitable for operators along the production chain,” he said.

    With the government’s objective of attracting more participation in the sector, he said some initiatives and incentives had been developed to motivate people and firms.

    In view of the strategic importance of the sector, he said the government had taken various measures to facilitate its transformation.

    He stressed the importance of partnership with the private sector, saying agric-business could not thrive without the support of the private sector.

    One of the scientists, who worked on the varieties of Pro-Vitamin A cassava, launched by the Federal Government on March 16, 2012, Dr. Chiedozie Egesi, said efforts had been made to disseminate the cassava varieties to rural households to tackle vitamin A deficiency.

    Egesi, who is of the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, said the institute would ensure that farmers have access to Vitamin A cassava stems for planting in some states.

    He said NRCRI is partnering the government and the private sector to ensure that farmers in the local government areas produce and market vitamin A cassava products.

    Besides improving the health and nutrition of the people, the cultivation of the varieties can provide jobs, improve incomes and lift poor households out of poverty.

    Consumers like the varieties because of their nutritional qualities.

    While the workshop brought together, local farmers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) representatives, delegates from the government to share knowledge on cassava, identify new challenges in research, improve farmer adoption and marketing of cassava, and set up new research collaborations that are focused not primarily on research, but on the development of new products for cassava farmers, the ministry conveyed a meeting in Abuja to show the way forward for cassava bread.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Adewumi Adesina, has said there is need for sustainability of the High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) inclusion in bread; therefore, stakeholders have to work together to ensure the passage of the Cassava Bread Bill into law.

    Informing participants of the Draft Cassava Flour Bill, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, who represented the Agriculture minister, said it had become necessary to push for the bill to allay fears that the government had abandoned the cassava bread project.

    Despite the hitches in the past few months, there is silver lining in the sky for cassava and sorghum.

    Mrs. Odusote said many bakers were adopting cassava/wheat composite flour.

    The stakeholders met in Abuja not only to get updates on the state of the N10 billion Cassava Development Fund, but also to fine-tune the Draft Bill on Cassava Inclusion in bread for transmission to the National Assembly for passage into law.

    The Permanent Secretary said President Goodluck Jonathan approved N10billion Cassava Bread Fund and set up an Oversight Committee to oversee the fund.

    The committee members, according to Mrs. Odusote, were drawn from such organisations as the Nigerian Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (NCAPMA), National Association of Master Bakers and Confectioners of Nigeria, National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisations of Nigeria (SON), Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry (BoI), Federal Institute of Industrail Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), National Institute of Food Science and Technology, among others.

    It was observed that the BoI oversees the primary production in which small-scale farmers would be supported to cultivate 29,500hectares of cassava for the production of 590,000 metric tonnes of tubers for HQCF.

    Towards this, she said a list of farmers cultivating between two and four hectares each is being compiled by the NCGA to ensure sustainable supply of roots to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

    For BoI, the equipment support to the Master bakers and SMEs is its domain. It will ensure low interest loans for their working capital. For now, according to the Permanent Secretary, letters of offer are being distributed to beneficiaries.

    It expected that the actualisation of 20 per cent cassava flour inclusion in wheat for bread would save about N127 billion and create 1.3 million jobs in the sector.

    Meanwhile, the draft bill is yet to be completed and the time of submission to the National Assembly Committees on Agriculture is yet to be determined, according to a member of the Legal Committee at the technical session during the forum.

  • Invest in commodities, pension funds firm urged

    IDLE pension funds can be invested in commodities trading, the Director, Africa Region, Cassava Adding Value for Africa (CAVA), Dr Kola Adebayo, has advised.

    Adebayo said there was the need to allow consumers to access commodities effortlessly.

    With the government showing determination to transform agriculture, Adebayo said international funds are important if the government is to strengthen sustainable farming and improve traceability in its supply chains.

    He noted that agriculture has not been the easiest place for small investors to access, explaining that it is a difficult class, reserved for investors who own farms or agricultural traders on one of the exchanges. But there are predictable outcomes that make the sector safe for pension investments, he added.

    But in recent years, he said investment houses and fund providers have launched vehicles to satisfy investors’ appetite for food-related portfolios.

    With the state of the market, he said there are opportunities for venture and pension funds, adding that there is enough money to contribute to rising prices, even if supply/demand fundamentals for some commodities, such as food items, do not justify the rise.

    The premise, he added, was that investors would seek to buy commodities on ideas that a growing population will need to eat, adding that interest in commodities is part of a move to diversify.

    Explaining the reasons for rise in food prices, Adebayo attributed it to bad weather and increasing demand.

    From a supply perspective, he said lack-lustre harvests as a result of bad weather, coupled with depleting production growth has meant that demand is not being met.

    Demand, he added, is affected by some long-term trends, a rising population and a change in consumption patterns.

    He advised pension funds to step up investments in commodity assets, such as commodity exchanges and some more diversification in growth assets, means more alternatives coming through.

    He suggested that pension funds make allocations to commodities that are forecast to show long-term growth based on rises in one population and in per capita commodities demand in emerging markets to the higher levels in the developed world.

  • How to empower women, youths in agric

    How to empower women, youths in agric

    For young men and women, finding opportunities in the tough economic climate is a challenge.

    Mrs Eka Esu (not real name), a farmer, in the South had a nasty experience.

    She has been trying to access a piece of land to boost her meagre crop output. But it has been easy for her because she is a woman. In her part of the country, is tradition forbids her from owning land.

    All over the country, attitude to land ownership makes it difficult for women to access land. Most people with vast acres of land are men; there are hardly any woman who own land. The village land ownership procedure gives men the upper hand. Most women, who have access to land, do so through male relatives. The single ladies, widows and divorcees are often “bullied” by their male relatives.

    Presenting a paper titled: Gender inclusion and youth empowerment for agricultural transformation in Nigeria, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Nigeria, Dr Louise Setshwaelo, said securing women’s land and property rights are crucial to alleviating poverty and improving food security.

    According to her, women make up 65 per cent of Nigeria’s population who live below poverty line.

    She added that women provide over 50 per cent of the agricultural labour.

    As producers, Mrs Setshwaelo said women have weak property and contractual rights to land, water, forests and other natural resources.

    She said gender gaps in rights to land have negative consequences for household food security and nutrition, contribute to differences in productivity between male and female farmers, and it is a major cause for poverty among female producers.

    On the youth, she said the young labour force (15 -35 years) presents an untapped resource and opportunity that if properly harnessed, can move the agriculture sector forward.

    She said: “About 69 per cent of this young labour force resides in the rural areas where unemployment is close 26 per cent according to 2011 statistics.”

    For her, securing decent and productive employment for millions of young people in rural areas isn’t just important, it’s indispensable.

    She said rural youths have enormous potential as “engines of development,” but their potential can be unleashed only if they find attractive opportunities for a decent livelihood in agriculture.

    She reiterated the fundamental challenge at hand: how to keep young people in rural areas and make careers in agriculture and other rural industries attractive to them.

    Therefore, Mrs Setshwaelo said a lot of work had to be done, as unemployment and underemployment are among the main barriers to development. Not only does the exclusion of young people from the labour force perpetuate poverty, it breaks social cohesion, adding that it can be associated with higher levels of crime and violence among idle youths.

    According to her, a decent and productive job not only contributes to attaining fundamental individual and family well-being, but also spills over, contributing to society’s broader objectives, such as poverty reduction, economy-wide productivity growth and social cohesion.

    She said millions of productive jobs in the sector need to be created to include youths who are expected to join the labour market yearly.

    According to her, Nigeria and other African countries have registered high rates of economic growth in recent years, but this has not translated into new jobs.

    She said FAO was ready to partner with the government to promote decent and productive work for youths living in rural areas.

    According to her, boosting employment creation and enterprise development in the agric sector calls for support to production based on local resources, access to land, funding, materials and, and technical/legal support for self-employment and local enterprise development.

    A rural sociology expert, Prof Janice Olawoye said much of food security depends on women realising their untapped potential.

    According to her, rural women are an important part of this, not just as farmers, but also in processing and preparing food, and local markets.

    Mrs Olawoye said redressing the gender gap in assets is key to improving agricultural productivity.

    She said policies and programmes that strengthen women’s assets are likely to have long-term effects because they not only increase women’s ability to adopt improved technologies or engage in more remunerative livelihood strategies, but also contribute to women’s empowerment in the household and the community.

    According to Mrs Olawoye, changing attitudes and culture at village levels is difficult, but the formation of a women’s group provides an opportunity for women to bond socially and help each other in times of difficulty and also to make their voices and concerns heard. Instead of being isolated at home, the women now have a view of the world that extends beyond their village.

    She urged the government to support microfinance institutes to make loans available to poor women

    She said the government should improve on women’s access to resources, their status and rights.

    She said the land tenure continues to shut women out of land ownership. Despite strong laws prohibiting the practice, women farmers still face discrimination.

    Traditionally, ownership of land is granted only to men. This means that a married or divorced woman, a widow or single woman heading a household has no effective independent rights to land.

    The Acting Executive Director, ARMTI, Dr Comfort Jolayemi, expressed concern over increasing the number of youths roaming the streets for jobs.

    According to her, youth unemployment poses a major threat to the economy and will lead to crime if it is not tackled.

    She said there is ‘an urgent need to address long-simmering economic problems’, such as long-term unemployment.

    According to her, “People, particularly the youth, need to be productively employed, or we will witness rising crime rates, stagnating economies and the deterioration of the social fabric”.

    She said no solution to hunger and rural poverty can be found without providing secure and gainful employment to young people, whether on farm, off-farm.

    Dr Jolayemi said the lecture is one of institute’s ways of contributing to enhance better and effective management of agriculture and rural development.

    She said these are tough times for youths searching for jobs, as about 70 per cent are said to be unemployed even after obtaining relevant qualifications.

    “We are all living witnesses to how youths roam the streets in search of what to do to survive.The recent recruitment of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) is a case in print.”

    According to her, the frustration of unemployment has led many youths into various vices that threaten peace and development.

    One way of addressing this, she said, was getting youths to acquire and develop practical skills and knowledge to make them employable or self-reliant.

    She said ARMTI had taken the responsibility to train produce youths for agricultural development.

    A key requirement for any escape from poverty and hunger, she stressed, is access to productive resources.

    For the women, she said, land and financial resources are of importance. However, technology, seeds and fertiliser, livestock and fisheries, irrigation, marketing opportunities, and off-farm employment are also essential, she added.

     

  • ‘Cassava is cash cow’

    For years, some farmers only cultivated cassava as a staple food. Recent events have, however, repositioned the food crop as one of Nigeria’s major cash crops. In this interview with BUKOLA FASUYI, National President, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Pastor Segun Adewunmi, says cassava, if fully developed, is a money spinner.

    WE grew up knowing cassava and a lot about its by products. Why the sudden fuzz around the crop and the enormous attention your organisation seems to be getting?

    I thank you very much for the observation. As you rightly pointed out, the sudden fuzz and attention is the by product of the new consciousness that our organisation is spreading across Nigeria. Over the years as you said, many of us knew cassava for its staple capacity and the knowledge did not transcend that level, but today, we have surpassed that initial ignorance in bounds and that is why we are rapidly spreading the gospel of cassava farming and processing.

    What is special about the cassava awareness that your organisation is taking so seriously?

    Let me start by saying that cassava is one of the most productive crops in the world today. I am sure you know that most African countries have various staple foods made from cassava. In Nigeria alone, almost all the tribes have one staple food or the other that is a by product of cassava, such as Kpupuru popular among the Ekiti and Ondo; cassava flour, which is well loved by the Oyo, Egba, and Ibadan; of course, there is fufu and tapioca, which are universal in the West African sub-region.

    You will agree with me that with the proper management of the crop as a food crop, we can effectively push food insecurity into the dustbin of economic history. On the other hand, recent researches have shown an unprecedented growth in cassava research, which has greatly enhanced the usefulness of the crop. We can derive highly sought ethanol and industrial starch from the crop. So, basically, that is why we are encouraging more people to imbibe the cassava consciousness.

    Aside from these uses that you have highlighted, what other benefits can we derive from cassava?

    As I have said, cassava can single- handedly battle the food insecurity that has suddenly become a global menace and Nigeria can be a major stakeholder in the new trend. Aside from providing the various foodstuffs and more that I have not mentioned, it can provide about four million jobs for Nigerian youths from the various geo-political zones without any bias.

    More so, the opportunities for investments are numerous and open to all. You can invest in various aspects of the trade with your little capital and still smile to the bank regularly. So for me, like death is the social leveller, cassava is the ultimate economic leveller.

    You mentioned investment opportunities and I am sure many people will want to hear about that. How and where can one put his money and be guaranteed return on investment?

    Across the world, people require industrial starch and ethanol, two globally recognised by products of cassava and people with the requisite technology buy cassava chips for creating both; so, the investment opportunity starts with a farmer who can provide large quantities of cassava regularly. There is also the opportunity for those who have the capacity to produce cassava chips for those who require it for their processing and there is also the opportunity for those who are into processing for the production of ethanol and Industrial starch. And that is on the face value alone, not to talk of the many other areas which time will not permit us to discuss here. Let me also say here clearly that the government can reduce drastically the reliance on oil revenue as the tax and other revenues accruable from the internal and international activity around the crop can solve the problem of dependence on oil revenue, which has been a blessing and our major problem. Nigerian spends close to N350 billion on the products that can be derived from cassava.

    Your proposal on cassava farming and processing looks so beautiful and one would expect Nigerians to have embraced it. What are the challenges and why the low acceptance?

    There is no doubt that things can get better as times go on, but I am not in doubt that the slow acceptance has been due to the poor availability of information on the latent capacity of cassava. However, about the challenges, I will say that the main challenge is mechanising our farming in Nigeria, which applies to all forms of agricultural practices. Cassava planting can get better, if government can provide adequate support in terms of infrastructural development, such as good rural roads, rural telephony, electricity and other social amenities and mainly a specialised loan scheme for farmers with a special credit line management for cassava farmers. You will agree with me that with the banking system and its credit extension system, agriculture cannot grow.

    Another issue that has hindered agriculture in Nigeria is that of nomadic herdsmen and their herds. How has this affected the growth of cassava production and its by products?

    Today, what we have is an itinerant farming system, which has no room for the multi-culture that agriculture is. You will agree with me that animal husbandry is an important arm of agriculture. Although nomadic practices are archaic, but have we created the requisite alternatives? Certainly no, so what we need to do is the creation of blocks of between five and ten hectares of demarcation and the creation of fire tracing which will prevent fire incidents and protect farmers from the menace of the cattle rarers.

    Sometimes ago, the government expressed some enthusiasm about the development of cassava and its by products, but there seems to have been a lull. What has happened so far?

    Permit me to disagree with you that there has been a lull. What we only need to do is to move to the next stage, which is public response. Today, how many of us bother or care to know if our bakers are meeting the demand for the infusion of 10 per cent cassava flour in the bread we eat. You will recall that some years ago, President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the cassava flour concept and mandated all flour mills to install 10 units millers with the capacity to mill 240 metric tonnes per day between now and 2015, which I learnt most of them complied with. The government is also collaborating with various stakeholders to install about 30/240 metric tonnes capacity, but have we all played our own part of the bargain? So, it is not just about the government, there are rolls bestowed upon us as individual members of the society, we need to up our game if we want to move forward.

    What do you think Nigerians, both in and out of government, should do to improve the cassava revolution?

    Well, I strongly believe that government should diversify the economy to rely less on oil revenues, which over the years has brought us so much acrimony stemming from its uneven distribution and you will agree with me that almost every nation has become oil producing in one way or the other, while alternative fuels is one of the most researched topics across the globe. We can make more revenue from cassava like Malaysia is making from palm trees and even go one notch further. The people also have to embrace government initiatives where the intentions are good or we can redirect the benefits to ourselves. We really need to up the cassava game if we don’t want to be dependent on other nations for our survival in the next few years and the key to unlocking this potential is our youths, who are busy chasing unavailable white collar jobs.

    Finally, I wish to emphatically say that cassava is the new crude oil of the world and as a nation blessed with the necessary resources to take charge of the market; we must not miss the opportunity like we did with palm trees.

     

  • ‘Meteorological early warnings vital to farming’

    THE government has been urged to improve on weather warnings for farmers, if it is to stem the losses caused by climate change.

    Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, Mr Robo Adhuze, said hectares of farmlands lost to land erosion and floods, could have prevented if there were early warnings to farmers and the local authorities.

    With the likelihood of poor weather conditions hitting farm businesses, Adhuze said farmers need to be informed to prepare for poor harvest, adding that exceptional climatic challenges could affect performance.

    He attributed the destruction of agricultural farms to poor information and communication, adding that timely information can help farmers to make crop-saving decisions, such as planting weather-appropriate crops and early harvesting.

    He said: “If the farmers had received information on time, they could have saved their crops and harvested beforehand.

    “We cannot avert natural disasters but we can make the farmers better prepared with the help of timely information through an efficient communication system.”

    The sector, he reiterated, is dependent on the climate.

    In recent times, he said climate change has threatened food security of rural population, with yields declining and crop losses increasing due to extreme weather.

    To reduce the vulnerability of small-hold farmers, who are mostly affected, Adhuse urged the government to facilitate rural access to agro-meteorological forecasts and advice by establishing an early warning and agro meteorological information system.

    He called on the government to create an agricultural information management system tailored towards farmers.

    This, he explained, would assist government agricultural extension workers to provide information to farmers about the forecasts and instruct them on how to save their land.

     

  • Cocoa Foundation to train 70,000 farmers

    Cocoa Foundation to train 70,000 farmers

    World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to train 70, 000 cocoa farmers and 100 groups in 10 cocoa producing states. The states are Ondo, Cross River, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Ogun, Abia, Oyo, Kogi and Akwa-Ibom. Socodevi Nigeria, a Canadian non-governmental organisation (NGO), is managing the programme for WCF.

    The Country Representative for WCF, Mr. Neil Abang, said the programme is geared towards increasing cocoa production from 450 kilogramme (kg) per hectare to about 800 kg per hectare. Addressing a train-the trainers farmers business school workshop in Akure, Ondo State, Abang said the training had become necessary because many farmers have limited access to information and education on improved farming techniques that could enhance their yield.

    Abang said for the nation to achieve its goal of food sufficiency, farmers must have access to quality inputs such as sowing seeds, herbicides and pesticides, or to critical information such as accurate weather forecasts that could help them improve the quality of their crops. Such inefficiencies, he said, increase transaction costs and slash potential profits for farmers. He said the farmers business school (FBS) is a channel for the dissemination of management knowledge among farmers.

    The success of the programme in improving farmers’ income through increased yield and savings on production costs has stimulated an upsurge of demand for more programmes in other communities.

    On the workshop, he said trainers are drawn from Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) offices across the country and department of cooperatives of states involved in the programme. At the end, he said 100 cocoa farmers’ groups would be banded into viable cooperatives, linking them with partners for sales of their products. This will lead to certifying the cooperatives.

    Cocoa farmers under this programme will be paid premium by chocolate firms of WCF. He said using the FBS model, 70, 000 cocoa farmers would be trained as entrepreneurs, thereby increasing their capacities to effectively manage their farms as businesses.

    The Ondo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo, commended Socodevi Nigeria for introducing the business school, adding that the initiative will help promote agricultural growth.

  • Shrimp export facing certification challenge

    Shrimp export facing certification challenge

    Export of shrimps is facing certification challenge, the Programme Manager, Developing World Fisheries, Marine Stewardship Council, United Kingdom, Oluyemisi Oloruntuyi, has said.

    Speaking with The Nation on the sidelines of the first regional workshop on shrimp fisheries management plans for Cameroon, Gabon and Nigeria in Lagos, Oloruntuyi said foreign buyers require imported shrimps that meet ecological and fair trade certification.

    She said the programme was intended to educate farmers on best practices, and that the government had taken the problem seriously.

    According to him, the programme would help businesses in Nigeria, Gabon and Cameroon export shrimps to foreign markets. The shrimp industry, according to experts, is worth over $18 billion annually.

    To be eligible for export, shipments must have certificates of origin, such as the name of the fishing vessel and the area. This regulation may pose a big challenge to fisheries’ businesses. But the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, said at the workshop that Nigerian shrimps have been recertified by the United States. This was after its State Department determined that the country’s commercial shrimp fishermen have taking measures to protect the endangered sea turtle during harvesting.

    Mrs. Odusote, who was represented by a Director of Fisheries, Federal Department of Fisheries (FDF), Foluke Areola, said the US State Department recertified Nigeria last year after the government enforced measures to ensure that fishermen were using sea turtle excluder devices (TEDs) during fishing. The TEDs prevent the accidental drowning of the turtles in the trawlers’ nets.

    She said the contributions of the fisheries sub-sector was significant in terms of increased food security, employment creation, income generation and poverty alleviation, among others. The sub-sector contributes five per cent to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), she said, adding that government endorsed the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAF) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to assist African countries prepare their fisheries management plans.

    Odusote explained that the approach was developed in response to the need to implement the sustainability principles embodied in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Nigeria, she said, is collaborating with Cameroon and Gabon to implement the management of shrimp fisheries, adding that the government had taken steps to promote sustainability of marine fisheries and the ecosystems where they occur.

    To foster the development of the industry, Odusote said government was focusing on promoting a conducive business environment for operators.