The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Plateau requires N2.5b to revive fish farm

    PLATEAU State Panyam Fish Farm is looking for N2.5 billion which can generate N1.7billion yearly.

    The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Steven Barko, said in Jos, the state capital that the farm could repay the loan in two years.

    He said the farm would have been in operation by now, if not for funds.

    The commissioner said the government had spent the past one year looking for partners to resuscitate the farm.

    ‘’I would have kicked-off the Panyam Fish Farm by now, but I am still looking for funds for the past one year. I have been going around, looking for investors to partner with and revive the farm.

    ‘’The visibility studies are completed and the farm’s revenue potential is great. With the projected N1.7 billion as annual revenue, the farm can pay off the N2.5 billion in two years.

    ‘’The farm, which spans 309 hectares, can produce 3,900 tonnes of fish annually and more than 10 million fingerlings could also be raised there.

    ‘’It also has the potential to generate employment as so many people would be engaged in different activities.

    ‘’Some could buy the adult fish and process it while others may engage in the marketing of the fingerlings,’’ he added.

    The commissioner explained that the state opted for investors in resuscitating the farm because the banks contacted offered a very high interest rate.

    He, however, expressed optimism that by this time next year, the farm would start operations and that it would be run as a company for effectiveness.

  • Ondo ADP tasks farmers

    The Programme Manager, Ondo State Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Mr Idowu Olabode, has urged farmers to add value to their produce to make agriculture more profitable.

    Olabode gave the advice in Akure at a training organised by the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS).

    The Programme Manager was represented on the occasion by Mr Babalola Adeniyan, the Director of Technical Service and Crop Facilitator for ADP.

    Olabode said the state was looking beyond subsistence farming so that farmers could have enough to eat and sell.

    He said the programme was committed to disseminating the latest technology on post-harvest activities, adding that the state was collaborating with the Federal Government to establish a processing facility.

    Olabode said the state government was ready to partner with farmers interested in the programme.

    The Training facilitator, Dr Emmanuel Moyinjesu, told the farmers that there was need for them to add value to their produce.

    He said over 70 per cent of their produce were lost to post-harvest wastage.

    “The marketers are reaping a lot of gains out of the efforts of the farmers in addition to the havoc being wrought by the post-harvest wastage.“Farmers are not getting the required results.“Their standard of living is not improving. What they have laboured for is at zero reverse; not making agriculture profitable,” he noted.

    Moyinjesu urged farmers to always do the right thing by following the recommendations of the state’s Ministry of Agriculture. He also advised residents in the state to use the available land at their disposal to engage in farming.

    A participant at the training, Mr Ambrose Akinfolarin, described the programme as “very encouraging, satisfactory and long overdue.’’

  • Cross River: From tourism to investors’ haven

    Cross River: From tourism to investors’ haven

    IN 2007, when the Tinapa Tourism and Leisure Resort was still at its inaugural state, the dominant factor in the Cross River State economy was plantations. This was in the late 60s and early 1970s during the Dr Michael Okpara administration in the Southeast.

    Rubber, palm and cocoa plantations, which were meant to serve as sources of raw materials for industries in the Southeast and South west, occupied thousands of acres of land in the three provinces of the state.

    Apart from occupying vast portions of land, economic trees in these plantations have aged with time and become unproductive, effectively making them a burden to the state than a dependable revenue yielding investment.

    Along with this, came the “civil service state” toga, which the state had become synonymous with, owing to the vast army of workers in the employ of the state. Senator Imoke, desirous of pulling the state away from this derisive label, brought ingenuity to bear, by creating ministries and departments on assumption of office. One of such departments, which has since become an invaluable asset in driving the state’s economy and generating massive employment, is the Department of Trade and Investment Bureau.

    Senator Imoke’s vision in establishing the Investment Promotion Bureau is with the aim of making it to function as a One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) dedicated to attracting and facilitating investments to Cross River State and providing support for in-coming investors. From inception in 2008 to date, with Mr Gerald Ada, a Regional Manager with Diamond Bank, brought in by the governor, the state’s investment portfolio has witnessed increased inflow in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), both quantitatively and qualitatively. This has consolidated the state’s position as the preferred investment destination in Nigeria.

    Business visitations to the OSIC are over 300 firms and those that have started work within the state have a combined investment portfolio in excess of $2 billion.

    Governor Imoke’s vision of building a private sector-driven economy is without doubt crystallising right before everyone’s eyes, both critics and supporters alike. Major private investors, such as General Electric (GE), Dangote Cement, OCICI Ltd, Essar Power, Project Master, Brentex Petroleum Services, Dado Oil and Gas, Artee Group, Oando GAS and Power, Genesis Electricity Limited, Flour Mills Integrated Foods, Premiers Feeds, Godilogo Farms, South Gate Cocoa, Southern Fried Chickens, among others, have entered the state’s investment space in a short time.These are swelling the state’s profile by the day. The spin-off effects these investments are bringing is job creation in excess of over 50,000 direct and indirect jobs for the people and the creation of over 10,000 small scale enterprises as well as an increase in internally generated revenue (IGR) to the state.

    Wilmar, Asia’s leading agribusiness group, has taken over the CALARO and Ibiaye Palm Plantations, and is investing S400 million in agro-cultivation and processing with an expected returns worth N1.375 billion in internally generated revenue. Twenty-thousand jobs would be created for the people from this investment.

    Wilmar is the largest global processor and merchandiser of palm and lauric oils and a major oil palm plantation owner. In China, it is the leading consumer pack edible oil producer, oilseeds crusher, edible oil refiner, specialty fats and oleo chemicals manufacturer. In India, it is one of the largest edible oil refiners and leading producer of consumer pack edible oils.

    “Wilmar also has extensive investments in other economic cash crops, such as rice and sugar as well as fertiliser plants. The company has capacity to cultivate 7,500 hectres yearly and has entered into a joint venture agreement with PZ Cussons for its refining operations. Wilmar is a signatory to the International Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which means that it is involved in sustainable palm oil production that is eco-friendly and socially responsible,” Ada said.

    Another investment in that magnitude is that of the United States General Electric, which has since acquired land at the Export Processing Zones Authority. With an investment portfolio of $1 billion in a manufacturing and assembly plant, it would generate internal revenue of N500 million for the state.

    In the same light, Orientals Energy Resources Limited has acquired land for a factory to manufacture pipe mills and is investing $300 million and over 1,000 jobs would accrue from this investment alongside generating internal revenue to the state projected to hit $120 million yearly.

    Nigeria’s major industrial conglomerate, Dangote Group, is also investing in the state through the establishment of a cement manufacturing plant worth $800 million, while Essar Power has concluded arrangement for establishing an energy and power plant with a capacity to generate 250 megawatts of electricity.

    Energy and gas companies, such as Oriental Energy Resources Limited and Brentex Petroleum, are poised to set up plants valued at $300 million and each to manufacture pipe mills, which would cumulatively yield $50 million in IGR to the economy of the state. Major retail outlets, such as Artee Group and Southern Fried Chicken, have enthusiastically acquired spaces in the state and have set up their chain of shops.

    Obviously, Cross River State, with low crime rate, serene environment and hospital people remains a safe and conducive haven to do business. There are huge opportunities in the over 18,000 sq km of arable land for other crops, abundant solid mineral deposits including huge limestone deposits, beautiful mountains and vast rain forests for which investors are attracted to.

    Information Minister, Mr Labaran Maku, during the Good Governance Tour to the state in February this year, after going through the investment portfolio of the state, was amazed at the progress made by the state. He described it as the emerging Nigeria’s manufacturing hub, given the level of investment inflows into the state.

    Inspecting the land acquired by GE for its factory at the Free Trade Zone in Calabar, firms are opening shops in Calabar, the state may soon become the manufacturing hub in West Africa.

    In his reckoning, with 69 firms functioning in the Free Trade Zone alone and over 43 into the manufacturing of goods, the inflow of investments into the state is unsurpassable and attributed it majorly to the state’s focused and visionary leadership. “I congratulate Cross River State government on winning the General Electric project. Cross River is not only known for tourism, but is gradually becoming a manufacturing hub for the country and West Africa sub region.

    “We have Tinapa, International Convention Centre, Free Trade Zone and now General Electric. It means what Cross River has done for itself from Obudu to Calabar is a clear indication of visionary leadership.

    “For us, this type of investment is an announcement that Nigeria is moving forward and good governance can be seen everywhere. We are not only winning in football, we are also winning clearly in the economic transformation.”

  • Concerns over use of antibiotics, pesticides in livestock, crops

    Concerns over use of antibiotics, pesticides in livestock, crops

    There are growing concerns over the use of antibiotics to promote livestock growth. Speaking with The Nation, a don, Dr Ademola Adeyemo of Department of General Administration, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute(ARMTI), Ilorin, said the concerns followed a build-up of antibiotic resistance in humans to some pathogens being passed on through residues of the antibiotics in meat, fish, eggs and dairy produce.

    Urging the government to take steps to control their use, Adeyemo said there was need to protect public health and promote the use of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals.

    He urged farmers to tell consumers through their label,the antibiotics that used in rearing animals.

    There is also an outcry on the use of pesticides. Some countries have called for the stoppage of neonicotinoids because of reports linking their use to the decline in honey bees.

    A consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale told The Nation that irresponsible use of pesticides is a threat to health and the environment.

    He called for safe use of the herbicides,saying pesticides wrongly used could cause soil erosion.

    He said their proper use would prevent soil degradation.

    A crop protection expert, Prof Daniel Gwary, urged farmers to use Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which encompasses using biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools to manage pests.

    Gwary, of University of Maidugari, said pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and fungicides could control weed species, harmful insects and numerous plant diseases that afflict crops.

    Without these important crop protection and pest control technologies, he said food production would decline, many fruits and vegetables would be in short supply, and the price of food would rise.

    According to him, crop protection technologies allow producers to increase yields and improve efficiency of the food production processes.

    Though they have negative effects, Gwary said pesticides were vital to crop health.

    He said farmers should use them safely to maximise their benefit and limit risk.

  • Govt urged to save fish industry from collapse

    The Federal Government has been asked to support the fisheries industry to prevent it from imminent collapse.

    During an interview with The Nation, the Chairman , Southsouth Chamber of Commerce, Dr Hyde Ochia, called for some mitigation measures to help fishermen out of their difficulties.

    He said the seafood sector has the potential to contribute to food security, employment and economic development.

    According to him, fishery is an important source of income and animal protein for the domestic population.

    Ochia said many products, such as shrimps have a large commercial potential in high value markets .

    To reach its full potential, he said many constraints at the production and export level need to be overcome.

    Ochia said the government should support the private sector to invest in fishing technologies and fishing vessels to develop more deep-sea fishing capacity.

    The future of the fisheries industry, he said, rests on the establishment of sustainable fisheries practices.

    Fisheries expert, Prof Martins Antekhai recommended efficient investment to improve the incomes and livelihood security of the fishers.

    Antekhai of the Department of Fisheries,Lagos State University (LASU), said fishermen among others, in the fish value chain need livelihood assets including capacity building, physical assets and strong social networks.

    The industry, he maintained, needs support to acquire advanced fishing technology, vessels and experience in research and production management.

    Antekhai said an investment support was needed to enable fishermen acquire and maintain boats. He said the investment would aid in equipping local workers with necessary skills in the high seas and other fishing techniques.

    He added that the industry required infrastructure to enable to process high value-added fish products for export purposes to markets in Europe, Australia, United States and Far East.

    He, however, lamented that the environment was difficult for those operating deep sea fishing as a result of piracy.

    To this end, he said the government has continued to strengthen the services it provides to the fishing industry.

  • How to restore Cocoa’s fame

    How to restore Cocoa’s fame

    A cocoa processing firm, the Cocoa Products (Ile-Oluji) Limited has begun educating the public on the health benefits of cocoa.

    The firm produces cocoa beverage branded: Oluji Pure Cocoa Powder.

    Its Managing Director, Mr Akin Olusuyi, while unveiling the product in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said the fame of cocoa would be restored if Nigerians start to take it.

    According to him, Nigeria is underutilising cocoa by only exporting it to those who determine the price they buy from Nigeria.

    He said: “For Nigeria to return the great fortune of the crop in ways that will boost the economy and bring great profit to consumers, farmers and the government, Nigerians must shift focus to consumption of cocoa beans in addition to exporting to Western nations that consume the beans, which boost their own health.

    “For a long time as a nation, we have not had it right with harnessing the potential of cocoa on the national economy and I believe we should start to consider new ways of maximising the benefits of this commodity that God has graciously given to us.”

    Describing cocoa as “a rare and wonderful gift of nature packed with minerals and supplements,” Olusuyi said cocoa contains over 300 health compounds and “stands on top of other foods associated with Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) values.”

    He added: “This high potency in Antioxidant makes cocoa one of the best gifts of God to mankind for healthy living.

    “Unfortunately, very few Nigerians, and indeed Africans in general, are aware of these immense health benefits packed into cocoa.

    “Since the cultivation of cocoa as an agricultural produce began in 1910 and the commencement of commercial export of beans in 1930, Nigeria, like most of the other African cocoa producing countries, has remained mere exporters of this commodity in its raw form.T hough Africa now produces about 70 percent of world cocoa output every year, it consumes just about three percent.”

    Researchers from the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan, also highlighted some of the health benefits to include reduction of malaria attacks, fighting stress, preventing diabetes, fatigue, hypertension, cancer and obesity. Other benefits include boosting brain power, libido and calming nerves.

  • Plateau gets N1.6m animal vaccines

    The Federal Government has donated vaccines worth more than N1.6 million to Plateau government under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.

    They are meant for the treatment and control of catarrh and pneumonia in sheep and goats.

    Acting Director, Veterinary Services of Plateau Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Doris Bitrus, disclosed this to reporters while presenting the vaccines to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Steven Barko in Jos.

    Bitrus said the vaccines comprised 6,000 vile of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) against catarrh and 100 vile of Contagious Bovine Pleuro Pneumonia (CBPP) vaccines against pneumonia.

    She said the 6,000 vile of the PPR were equivalent to 300,000 doses of vaccine and would take care of 300,000 sheep and goats against catarrh.

    Bitrus also said the 100 vile of the CBPP were equivalent to 10,000 doses of vaccine, which would take care of 10, 000 cattle against pneumonia.

    “This intervention by the Federal Department of Livestock of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will go a long way in helping the ministry to control these diseases in the state,” he said.

    According to Bitrus, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) ranked Nigeria fifth among the top 10 countries in the production of sheep and goats.

    “We have been ranked fifth among the top 10 courtiers in the production of sheep and goats by FAO, but sadly, we have not been exporting live animals or even their products because we have not met the minimum standard of disease-free flock in the country.”

  • Lagos raises agric vote from N50m to N2b

    Lagos raises agric vote from N50m to N2b

    THE Lagos State government has increased its budget for agriculture from N50 million to N2 billion to ravamp the sector, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, has said.

    Lawal,who spoke through the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Dr Nuruni Funsho, at the launch of the Lagos Business School(LBS) Agribusiness Management Programme(AgMP), said the hike showed government’s commitment to promoting production in the non-traditional sectors.

    Lawal said the government voted the amount for agriculture in order to achieve food security .

    He said there was also enhanced funding for ongoing programmes, such as the World Bank assisted Commercial Agriculture Development Project and the National Fadama 111 development project.

    The state, he said, focused on food security with agriculture, poultry and fisheries as the core areas.

    Lawal said there are also plans to cultivate more rice, and expand aquaculture.

    On the fisheries, he said there were plans to develop large-scale, commercial fish farms and enhance the quality of meat for the domestic market.

    A senior faculty member at LBS, Prof Chantal Epie, advocated strengthening the capacities of managers of agric businesses to enhance wealth creation potential of the sector.

    The programme,she said, sought to provide high quality business, management and leadership education to stakeholders.

    The keynote speaker, Mr Kola Masha, said unemployment would not be eradicated without according priority to agriculture.

    Masha, Managing Director of Doreo Partners, said with a growing population Lagos should increase volumes of agricultural commodites.

    Masha said supporting capacities in agri business would lead to improvements in crop yields, adding that significant additional farmland would be needed

    The Head, AgricFinance, FirstBank, Mr Ndubuishi Ihedigbo, urged entrepreneurs to commit more human and financial resources to food security challenges.

    He said investment plans, supported by adequate financing would enhance the participation of small farmers in food production.

    Ihedigbo challenged agro entrepreneurs to ensure the operational effectiveness – and consequently the viability –of agroindustrial micro-enterprises.

    Director, AfricaRegion, Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), Dr Kola Adebayo said, the sector requires efforts of the government and the private sector to provide Nigerians with high-value agricultural products .

    The government, he said, must understand the constraints that traders, agro-businesses and processing firms face and, see how policies can be adjusted to create an enabling environment for growth.

    A faculty member at LBS, Dr Larry Osa-Afiana, said a crucial element in the development of the sector was access to finance, particularly bank loans.

    He said credit guarantee schemes and other forms of subsidised financing play a major role in agric financing and compensate for the low level of personal funding sources available to agric business operators.

    Osa-Afiana said banks still considered the lack of adequate information the most important deterrent to their involvement in agri businesses.

    Former President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria(ICAN,Mr Emmanuel Ijewere, urged the financial industry to invest in the agric sector.

    Ijewere,who is also the Chairman, Agric and Food Security Commission, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, said many farmers were still feeling the economic woes of past years.

    Finance, he said, was the major constraint of farmers,adding that many farmers were turned down by their banks for loans they needed to keep their farms running.

    According to him, banks are still giving loans to farmers on high interest rates.

  • Research institutes urged to be innovative for farmers

    Executive Directors of the Agricultural Research Institutes and Provosts of Colleges of Agriculture in the country have been urged to embrace a more comprehensive research management approach for attaining the organisational change to enhance client-orientation.

    The National Project Coordinator, West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), Prof. Damian Okey Chikwendu, made the call at a workshop on Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D), at the Kakanfo-Inn Conference Centre in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    He urged the participants to develop their IAR4D implementation strategies to enable them to meet up with global paradigm shift in agricultural research for development.

    Chikwendu described the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development as participatory and capable of promoting natural research management and market relationship. These, he said, are in conformity with the global paradigm shift in Agricultural Research for Development.

    He thus charged them and other key stakeholders at the workshop to take a more holistic approach to enable them to address the interactions between natural resources management, production systems, agricultural markets and policies. Such approach, he said, should also enable them to conduct research for development that squarely addresses the complexity and heterogeneity of farming systems.

    It should also ensure institutional changes that can forge new partnership as well as involve stakeholders in addressing the problem of food production, agro-industrial raw materials and the maintenance of the resource base of agriculture for the future generation, he added.

     

  • ‘Nigeria spends $500m on fish importation yearly’

    Nigeria spends about $500 million annually on fish importation, the Federal Director of Agriculture in Abia State, Ebere Oziri, has said.

    This amount, he said, should have been channelled into other areas of the economy, such as the fish industry.

    Speaking in Umuahia, the state capital, during the inauguration of the leadership of Catfish Framers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN), Oziri said there was need to boost fish production.

    He said the government was ready to support local fish production, but that the operators need to belong to registered associations to attract help from the government.

    Oziri said when farmers come together, the cost of feeds will be reduced as the government will be ready and willing to sell at a subsidised rate, pointing out that the Federal Government is desirous to reduce the importation of fish.

    He called on fish farmers to register with the association, stressing that only registered ones will benefit from the subsidized fish feeds. “We are determined to make fish available for all which do not have any health hazard.”

    In his speech, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof Ike Onyeweaku, said the state government has keyed into the agricultural transformation agenda of the Federal Government, by actively participating in both livestock and produce farming.

    Onyeweaku said the state would provide the aquaculture action plan baseline data for farmers, train them along the value chains in aquaculture and also provide them with fish seeds and other needed inputs.

    The commissioner said the state government is willing to provide land and infrastructure for the establishment of fish market/processing centres in all the 17 local government areas of the state as an avenue for them to evacuate their products.

    Onyeweaku regretted that the country spends billions of naira yearly on the importation of fish and fish products, adding that local fish production will not only preserve the country’s foreign earnings, “but also provide employment for jobless Nigerians and raise the protein content of local food.”

    The Abia State Chairman of CAFAN, Prince George Akomas, said the inauguration of the state chapter of the association will be a bridge that will convey government intentions to the people.

    Akomas said fish farmers in the state were poised to make fish importation a thing of the past, adding that given the right environment, fish farmers have the potential to do well and help to provide protein at a cheaper rate for Nigerians.

    Performing the inauguration, the National President of CAFAN, TayoAkingbolagun, said by the inauguration of the association the Abia farmers stand the chance of benefiting like their counterparts in other parts of the country.