The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Fed Govt trains 50 leather dealers on preservation technique

    Fed Govt trains 50 leather dealers on preservation technique

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has trained 50 leather dealers in Bauchi State on hides and skin preservation.

    The Director, Bauchi State Green House of the ministry, Mallam Mohammed Yusuf, made this known when he declared open the training in Bauchi.

    He said the training was part of government efforts to strengthen leather business under the special leather value chain initiative of the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES).

    He said the scheme would soon roll out the distribution of 10 bags of 50 kg industrial salt at 50 per cent discount to 200 registered leather dealers in the state.

    “Each beneficiary was expected to pay N28, 000 for the 10 bags, while the Federal Government will pay 50 per cent,’’ he said.

    According to him, the industrial salt will enable the buyers preserve large quantity of leather before taking them to the tanneries for further processing.

    He said the training was designed to equip the beneficiaries with the needed techniques on how to efficiently and effectively apply the industrial salt to achieve maximum result.

    The director said the measure was to improve the quality and quantity of leather production, processing and exportation to attract more foreign exchange.

    “One of the goals of the leather value chain initiative was to increase the production of finished leather by 50 per cent from the current 30 million tonnes to 45 million tonnes by 2015.

    “It will also reduce importation of finished leather product by 10 per cent and encourage private sector investment in the sub-sector.

    “With effective leather and skin preservation techniques, processing, production and trading, the leather industry would experience a boost.

  • Ogun embarks on large-scale vegetable production

    Ogun embarks on large-scale vegetable production

    As part of its determination to increase food production, the Ogun State Government is set to embark on a large scale planting of tomatoes, green pepper and cucumber in Kotopo, Odeda Local Government Area of the State.

    The project is to be sited on a 10-hectare land with 25 green houses built to protect them from adverse climatic condition and allow them grow in a controlled environment.

    Speaking at the project site, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Agriculture, Mrs. Tinu Sopeju said work had already started with sinking of boreholes and land preparation affirming that other facilities would be moved to the site for the full commencement of the project .

    Mrs. Sopeju added that the project would not only increase food production but also provide job opportunities for hundreds of youths, noting that this is in line with the State Government’s mission to re-build through agriculture and youth empowerment.

    She expressed optimism that on harvest, the end-products would be available for both domestic and industrial consumptions, while some would be exported.

  • Growing rural food businesses

    Growing rural food businesses

    Many people living in cities depend on rural areas for food. About 80 per cent of food is produced on rural farms. For stakeholders, transforming the rural areas is crucial to economic growth given that agriculture employs over 70 per cent of the population. Daniel Essiet reports

    Itoikin, Idena Epe, in Epe Local Government area of Lagos State appeals to rice farmers. It is an ideal place for rice planting, offering earnings to peasant growers and protecting rice cultivation. Rice planting, control, harvesting and primary processing have given employment to residents.

    Mr Abdul-Ghaniyy Alabi-Ojolowo is a member of Rice 4 Job Commercial Cooperative in Lagos. He has a rice farm in Itoikin, Idena Epe. He is enthusiastic about the native rice called ofada. He has adopted practices that have contributed to raising productivity. He plants early, hiring young people to help him with planting and weeding in a timely manner, and he puts aside money to buy fertiliser.

    For him, his rice processing business has benefitted so many farmers living around it.

    Speaking on the importance of transforming the rural areas and increase productivity, Alabi-Ojolowo said he is a beneficiary of the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) in Lagos State.

    According to him, projects such as Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) has helped sustained rural communities and transform them into places where a new generation of farmers, fishers and small business owners want to live. He started with two hectares of farm land. He has extended to 10 hectares.

    He operates with a cluster of farmers around Itoikin, Ise, Igbogun. They do businesses under the umbrella known as Resofam. Through Lagos State government support, they have been able to buy equipment. He and other rice farmers have been able to expand their businesses, create jobs, and stimulate rural growth in Epe Local Government area.

    For watchers, the rural agricultural base provides the opportunity to produce dependable supplies of wholesome foods for families and a more stable lifestyle for thousands of Nigerians. A lot can be grown in the rural area ,including greens, peppers, onions, cabbage, pears, carrots, cucumbers, strawberries, garlic, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon and lettuce — both leaf and head.

    A rebound in rural food manufacturing also will bring a sense of hope and optimism to rebuilding rural manufacturing base.

    Alabi-Ojolowo urged the government to support rural agro enterprises .

    According to him, government projects should seek to improve farming techniques, build new roads, increase access to finance and revive the sector.

    All these, he said would help villagers rebuild their lives and pursue a more prosperous future.

    Because of lack of infrastructure,rural communities have lost too many grocery stores, butchers, locker plants, bakeries, breweries, and every other imaginable type of local food processing. The diminished commerce in food and the consequent loss of jobs, income, and quality of life are starkest, ironically, in the very places where much of the nation’s agricultural production occurs.

    Many communities face many challenges, including abandoned farmhouses.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Head of the Department of Agriculture, University of Uyo, Prof Ini Akpabio said the country was still facing major challenges. These include deep poverty, particularly in rural areas, high levels of unemployment and inadequate infrastructure.

    According to him, funding the establishment of new rural enterprises will support the government’s priority of reducing poverty through agriculture and rural development.

    Transforming the rural areas, Akpabio said ,was crucial to the nation’s economic growth, given that agriculture employs over 70 per cent of the population.

    To this end, he said the government needs to empower farmers in rural area to increase their productivity.

    Akpabio said if the government made a priority of investing in rural farmers’ entrepreneurship and microenterprise assistance, it could help rebuild rural food systems, then there would be a lot more people in rural Nigeria.

    While emphasising that growing the local food system was the best path toward economic recovery, the don urged the government to turn rural areas into commercially viable zones.

    He said called on the government to facilitate the establishment of rural food industries to create vibrant, inclusive communities that are self-sustaining, with a range of self-starting options for decent employment.

    The President Lagos Apex Fadama Community Association, Abiodun Oyenekan, said FADAMA programme has created an example of how to bring life to rural areas, giving jobs to people and boosting the economy.

    He said farmers have benefited from learning better techniques for cultivation and land preparation.

    He said rural residents have been motivated to return to cultivating their land. Through extension help, they have gotten new seeds that have raised yields.

    According to him, it has created an economy where there was none, and now there are communities sustained by the impact of the project. The community-driven nature of the programme has been a key element in its success.

    Financing start-ups and newly formed agro businesses, he maintained, are a particularly important way of generating economic growth.

    He urged stakeholders in to find ways of providing tenure security for communal farmers, to increase support for emerging farmers, and to consider a new approach to land reform in the country.

    To achieve further success, Oyenekan said small farmers require a comprehensive agribusi-nesses support package, including favourable commodity pricing, access to finance, provision of technical expertise and mentorship, and contracted markets.

    He called on the government to support rural agro entrepreneurs to access technical assistance and business and financial services to help them develop profitable businesses that will also serve their communities.

  • Shortage of hands, loans threaten food security

    Shortage of hands, loans threaten food security

    Sustainable investment within the agric sector may be at risk as farmers cannot find enough hands to work on the farms.

    Acute shortage of labourers and farmers’ inability to raise loans from financial institutions to purchase agricultural input, are threatening food security.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Programme Coordinator, Farmers Development Union (FADU), Mr. Victor Olowe, said the farm workers were insufficient to meet the needs of the agricultural industry.

    With labour shortage becoming the most severe limiting factor in agricultural production, he said farmers have resorted to using herbicides to clear weeds before and after harvest.

    He said clearing farms of weeds was a burden, adding that it requires the deployment of labourers.

    Even as many farmers are opting for herbicides others have curtailed farming operations for want of labourers. There are many instances where farmers have postponed operations such as application of manure or harvesting due to shortage of farm hands.

    The Nation learnt that the industry was experiencing an acute labour shortage because fewer young people are willing to work in farms. Farmers believe that the reason for this is a perception among youths that farm work is very tough, with inconvenient working hours and low pay.

    Southwest Coordinator of Cassava Stakeholders Association of Nigeria Otunba Femi Oke said farmers said lack of workers was also having effect on their operations, leading to shift in schedules and the move to mechanisation. In a few cases, they lose crops when they don’t have enough people for harvest.

    Oke, who is the Lagos State chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), said farm labour has a key role to play in supporting the government’s drive for economic growth within the agri-food sector.

    He said insufficient workers represents a major threat to future production and investment plans.

    To watchers, low wages, non-payment of wages, and poor living and working conditions are accelerating the flight of farm labourers.

    To them, the sector is not able to attract and retain workers because seasonal agricultural work cannot pay good wages.

  • How to boost weather services for farmers

    The Federal Government has been urged to put in place measures to ensure proper weather forecasting for farmers.

    This, Prof. Ayodele Ogunlela said, will boost food productivity and achieve food security goals.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunlela of the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, said improving weather forecasting would help agriculture extension officers to make informed decisions about food production which would help farmers minimise losses and also know when to plant, fertilise and spray their crops.

    He called for measures to increase the coverage of the climate forecast initiative nationwide to cover most crops, livestock, fisheries, fruits and vegetable production.

    This will, in turn, enable farmers to plan more effectively and quicken the pace to commercialise their enterprises.

    Calling for enhanced weather stations to provide data for insurers planning to offer weather-based crop insurance, Ogunlela said the lack of adequate weather station facilities for agric forecasting could lead to less qualified data in calculating risk and premium.

    Accurate weather data, he emphasised, is vital for private insurers to help farmers, adding that guidelines should be drawn by the government and private parties to ensure farmer security in weather-based insurance products

    He said insurance companies will be able to pay out to farmers when weather stations show crops are likely to have been damaged by rain or drought, making it possible for small farmers to support their families and continue loan repayments even when crops fail.

    As well as insuring against crop failure, such programmes, he said will help farmers’ access larger loans to pay for seeds and equipment.

    According to him, weather-based insurance schemes will provide poor communities with education to help better protect themselves against the impact of droughts and weather-related disasters, such as flooding.

    If the weather stations are put in place, he said, the risks are spread effectively then it has the potential to deliver real benefits.

    He called on the government to roll out an integrated farmer security plan by reworking insurance schemes and consolidating all other risk management schemes to benefit farmers at large.

    He said standard weather stations would be required at the national level to service weather insurance.

  • Risks in agric summit holds in Ghana

    A global summit on risks in agriculture will take place from November 26 to27 in Accra, Ghana. The focus will be on agriculture in

    Africa with a specific emphasis on West Africa’s cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil and rubber industries.

    With the support from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Forestry of Sierra Leone, Ministry of Agriculture, Ivory Coast and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Burkina Faso, the organisers said the RIAEM Summit is set to be a crucial meeting aimed at the progress and development of agriculture in West Africa.

    The summit, the statement said, is specifically designed for producers, plantation owners, commodity trading houses, transportation companies, manufacturers and westafrican governmental officials.

    It will facilitate discussions and debate around risk management in agriculture. From plantation risk, currency and interest rate risks to geopolitical risk and supply chain risk, it will thoroughly examine best practices and specific regional case studies presented by senior-level risk management professionals and agriculture experts from the major plantation and trading companies globally to help all players involved in the supply chain assess where there is room for improvement and where value can be added.

    The speakers’ include experts from Olam, Armajaro, and ADM Cocoa.

  • Fishing made simple

    Fishing made simple

    After conducting a research on how fish farmers can increase their stock and profit, three youths have designed a continuous-water pond model to develop aquaculture business ,WALE AJETUNMOBI reports.

    They are young but have a passion for a job many youths don’t want todo. While many of their peers are looking for white-collar jobs, they are investing their energies in growing and creating business opportunities for others in fish farming.

    George Chagoury, Abdulsamad Edewor and Tobi Ashafa floated Ecopond, a company that is providing technological know how to help fish farmers maximise profits by helping them to increase fish production with the use of Ecoponds 0.5 technology.

    For three years, these young men conducted a research on how fish farmers could increase their stock every week as against two months by fish farmers using still-water ponds.

    They built a continuous-water tank model with five compartments to rear cat fish and tilapia. Each section of the tank has capacity for 8,000 seeds and their weights are not more than 10 grammes. Clear water flows continuously in all the compartments, which makes the model less vulnerable to diseases that can kill the fishes.

    Explaining the working of the model, Chagoury, an engineer, who conducted our correspondent round the facility in Ikorodu, noted that the technology was necessitated by the increasing demand for fishes in the market. He said consumers needed not to wait for months before they could buy fishes from a fish farmer. “There is no way a still-water model can produce stock for periodic sales because of lack of proper production plan,”he added.

    He said: “After the first five months, users of the Ecoponds 0.5 technology can start to produce fishes in an interval of two weeks because the model allows fishes to grow faster than any other model.”

    Given the fact that cat fishes of the same age and weight do not have the same growth rate in a given tank, Chagoury said this fact made the continuous-water ponds profitable because it makes production of adult fishes possible in two weeks interval while more fishes will grow two weeks after the mature ones are harvested.

    “This model is a new trend all over the world and we felt that Nigeria should not lag behind. Farmers that use still-water method have low tonnage of fishes for sale in the market compared to a process like this. Secondly, still-water pollutes the environment because the water being used is not treated and is discharged into the environment just that way,” he said.

    Chagoury explained that the beauty of the continuous-water model makes aquaculture business more profitable with its maintenance of a good management standard and sharing of water in the ponds from different sources to prevent diseases that can kill fishes.

    He identified challenges facing fish farming in the country to include lack of proper management standard, dearth of good seeds (hatchlings) and good feeds (right food formula for fishes). He noted that if aquaculture business could be managed well, and fish farmers had good seeds and feeds, the business would be more profitable.

    On why many fish farmers still cannot switch to the continuous-water model despite its profitability, Chagoury said inability of farmers to access funds from retail banks to do business left the sector in the doldrums.

    “People running still-water model cannot grow their businesses any more than the level because diseases kill fishes they could have sold to make more profit. Although, the continuous-water is expensive but it is something fish farmers can afford if they have access to loan. But no bank wants to make funds available to develop this sector. This is why government must help these farmers by setting up aquacultural bank to inject funds into the sector,” he explained.

    He also urged the government to regulate fish farming sector, saying market had been awash with fishes that carry several diseases.

  • Agric lending below 14% unhealthy, says bank chief

    Bank of Agriculture (BoA) Managing Director, Dr Mohammed Santuraki, has warned against going below the 14 per cent agricultural lending to avoid king the bank.

    Speaking in Abuja, he said lending below that rate would amount to losing money.

    “For us a development finance institution, we see it as part of our contribution to the society, but government needs to find a way of compensating us for the serice”.

    The bank, he said, had provided six million jobs and disbursed N46 billion since its inception in 2000.

    He said although the bank encountered many constraints “we still disburse an average of N500 million quarterly, adding that the disbursement will be a continuous exercise.”

    The bank, he said, was going to increase its lending by N10 billion before the end of the year, with special focus on small-scale farmers.

    Santuraki said: “With all the new things coming up in agriculture development, we need to scale that up and we are planning to spend N10 billion this year on mainly small holder farmers.

    “This is because we think they are the most productive sub-sectorof the agricultural value chain”.

    The bank, he said, had introduced a new scheme tagged “Credit, which includes credit and extension services to all the loan beneficiaries” to assist small scale farmers.

    “Commercial agriculture farmers are also important and they have various schemes supporting them.

    “We are giving loans at subsidised rate of eight per cent for the small holder farmers but the challenge is that there is subsidyin the loan we give and the government does not compensate us systematically”, he said.

    He said the breakeven point for agricultural lending was 14 per cent “and if you lend below that, you are losing money. “For us as a development finance institution, we see it as part of our contribution to the society, but government needs to find a way of compensating us for the service’’.

  • Cocoa, cashew farmers decry multiple taxation

    Multiple taxes and levies by state and local governments are taking a toll on cashew and cocoa farmers, making it difficult for them to meet the cost of farm inputs.

    Stakeholders have appealed to the government to overhaul the tax system to enable farmers to overcome the challenges of climate change, spiralling input prices and the cost of energy.

    Rising from a meeting in Lagos to review the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan they urged him to ignore calls to ban cocoa beans export.

    At the meeting, were the National President, Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Sayina Riman and his counterpart in National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) , Mr. Tola Faseru, Cocoa Exporters Nigeria Group, Chief Olu Ogini and National Publicity Secretary of NCAN, Mr. Sotonye Anga, among others.

    They demanded that the suspension of Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC) by the Customs be lifted and multiple taxes and levies by state and local governments be abolished.

    They urged government at all levels to promote local consumption and utilisation of cocoa and cashew products, create an enabling environment for value addition and partner with CAN and NCAN in stimulating growth across the value chain.

    “We agree with the policy of the Federal Government towards stimulating growth in the sector by the involvement of true stakeholders.The policy should be consistent and structured and government should acknowledge the huge investments and contributions to the economy by all stakeholders in the value chain which directly benefit over five million families.

    “Government should support the data collation of tree crop farmers given its peculiarities and the need for proper planning.

    “The government should collaborate with the associations in enforcing ground rules within the trade structure and should ensure that Export Expansion Grant (EEG) policy is sustained,” the group said in a communiqué.

  • IFAD-assisted project creates 20,000 jobs

    The Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRMP) has so far created 20,000 jobs, according to National Programme Coordinator Mrs Irene Jumbo-Ibeakuzie.

    The programme, which is being financed with a loan from IFAD, is being implemented in the nine Niger Delta states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.

    Making a presentation during the working visit of Dr Kanayo Nwanze, president of International fund for Agricultural Development IFAD) to Delta State, Mrs Jumbo-Ibeakuzie said the jobs were created in the rice, cassava, palm oil, fisheries and livestock value chains in addition to vocational schemes.

    According to her, 1,277 enterprises have been established by women and youths through the programme’s capacity building efforts, technical assistance, mentorship, starter-kit provision and service market linkage, leading to the creation of 20,000 jobs.

    “Success recorded by the programme also reflects in the overwhelming influx of women and as seen in the ownership of the various crops, livestock, fisheries and processing enterprises, to increase their income and improve their standard of living.’’

    The programme, she said, also recorded “tremendous’’ increase in the production of commodities such as rice and cassava.