Category: Agriculture

he National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) plans to improve the quality of cashew nuts leaving the country, by 70 per cent.

Addressing a stakeholders forum in Lagos, its President, Pastor Tola Faseru, gave the yearly production figure of raw cashew nuts as 120,000 metric tonnes valued at N23 billion.

With the government’s support, Faseru said the association hoped to increase the volume from 120,000 tonnes to 240,000 tonnes in the next six years.

He said the cashew industry provides livelihood for over 300,000 families and has created over 600,000 jobs.

Faseru said Nigeria was home to 15 cashew processing factories whose combined production capacity was not enough to meet local demand.

With a population of over 160 million, Faseru said the market for edible cashew kernel is very huge, hence, the need to grow the business.

He said over 90 per cent of raw cashew nuts are exported to India, Vietnam and other countries.

In the last 13 months, Faseru said the executive committee of the association has worked at ensuring that cashew takes its rightful place in the economy. He said the efforts had yielded positive results and attention.

He said the association has stopped the use of polypropylene bags while farmers are encouraged to use jute bags in packaging cashew nuts. He added that producers are advised to dry the nut properly.

According to him, the association has taken some initiatives to develop the industry. These include the memorandum of understanding for the Nigerian Cashew Cluster Finance Scheme (NCCFS) signed with Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Ecobank Plc, Abod Success Investment Limited, ACET Limited, KD Foods Limited, National Cashew Association of Nigeria, African Cashew Alliance, West African Trade Hub and AIMS Limited. The MoU is to facilitate access to over $2 million in financing to three Nigerian Cashew processing Firms to enable them increase cashew kernel production.

Other initiatives of NCAN are: Special Cashew Production (SCP) Scheme, Kogi Cashew Corridor (KCC) and N10 billion Cashew Intervention Fund.

A former apiculture expert with the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, Mr Victor Obi, has cautioned against the use of pesticides to halt the dwindling honeybee colonies.

In an interview, Obi, now Chief Executive, Obi-de-bee Farms, said farming was becoming highly dependent on the use of chemicals to control insects pests and weeds.

According to him, honey bees are killed by insecticides.

Besides, he said dangerous pesticides posed “high acute risks” to pollinators. Where spraying is done, he advised that it should be on the field and not on plants.

He said indiscriminate spraying of field chemicals have wiped out bee farms. Obi said herbicides destroy the flora, depriving the bees of natural source of feed.

He said: “Use of sophisticated equipment, such as aircraft, in spraying chemicals, has not helped matters as such chemicals expand their impact beyond a given environment.”

According to him, the government must ensure that farmers use only pesticides that are approved whose use would not have a detrimental effect on bees.

His words: ”Use of biological rather than pest control should be encouraged. I advocated a legislation against indiscriminate use of chemicals and continued education of farmers. Honeybee colonies have disappeared in most parts of the country. Insects such as honey bees and wild bees help pollinate crop species and vegetable varieties, contributing to food production growth.”

He expressed concern about bee health and investing in research to minimise the impact of crop protection products on bees and supporting the responsible and proper use of pesticides.

Agric expert, Mr Abiodun Adedeji, also alerted that fraudulent pesticides are threatening farmers, land and produce. He said there are illegal pesticides and insecticides, which pose a potential threat to public health.

According to him, many counterfeit pesticides sold in the market violate safety standards.

Illicit suppliers fraudulently use packaging and trademarks from agribusiness and chemicals companies that include Syngenta, BASF, DuPont and Dow to mask sales of fraudulent agricultural products.

Should the Federal Government buy mobile phones for farmers? Two experts answered the question differently. Dr Kola Adebayo, the Project Manager of Cassava: Adding Value for Africa(C:AVA) says the government should not but Chairman, Ondo State Fadama Farmers Association, Mr Akin Olotu answered in the affirmative.

Adebayo said the provision of phones was not a sustainable way of building capacities of rural farmers. Justifying the government’s stance, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina said the government would not commit itself to direct purchase of the cell phones for farmers but would only subsidise the phones through a partnership that would involve telephone service operators, Ministry of Communications Technology and other stakeholders.

According to him, the decision by government to subsidise the purchase of cell phones for farmers is tied to the distribution of fertilisers directly to the farmers without the involvement of third parties who had allegedly been ripping them off.

He said: “Government policy must always be based on evidence and well analysed data. We carried out an analysis of our GES work based on a large sample of 426,000 farmers from various local government areas in 13 states.

Though, Adebayo agreed that expanding production of staple and high-value crops would require communicating knowledge of improved technologies to rural farmers to increase yields and productivity and regular release of weather alerts to enable them improve resilience and reduce risks of climate changes, he explained, however, that in many countries where the extension services are equipped to provide such services, farmers bought their phones register them with local service centres to enjoy such services.

Beyond this, Adebayo said the government will achieve more if the extension systems are strengthened and give incentives to provide short text messages to farmers registered at the different local government areas.

He said regional extension service can be empowered to issue early warning systems to mitigate agricultural risks and safeguard agricultural incomes.

He said local weather forecasts will be transmitted through SMS to provide very timely warnings of impending adverse weather conditions.

Adebayo, has said giving farmers easy access to the information through cell phones will help increase farmers’ productivity and generate higher returns on the money they invest in production inputs.

He said farmers need forecasts to help them make decisions related to timing, such as choosing the best planting dates and deciding when to apply fertiliser.

Adebayo stressed the importance of getting the seasonal forecast in advance to enable farmers make good pre-season decisions.

For decisions to be effective, he said farmers need complementary agricultural services, such as a good supply of appropriate seed varieties, soil tests to help in managing soil fertility, plus training on how to collect and use local climate data.

Olotu said access to seasonal weather forecasts will help farmers facing threats from extreme weather to make informed cropping decisions. Olotu said choosing the best seeds and planting dates for the likely conditions, based on weather information would boost yields and secure farmers’ livelihoods.

he Ogun State government will support 360,000 farmers with seeds and improved technology, to enhance their productivity. Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Mr Ibikunle Onasanya, said the programme would focus on six priority crops, including cassava, rice, cotton, oil palm and cocoa.

He said the government had procured heavy equipment such as tractors, which had been a major challenge to increased production.

Onasanya said the agency would encourage a shift from the old method of rice production from the up land to the low land variety.

He said the farmers have been focusing on up land rice production, but in the year, the agency would encourage a paradigm shift to low land rice production that would yield four times the yield of upland rice varieties.

Onasanya also said the state government would focus on the promotion of improved technology in livestock production, fish farming and agro forestry.

He ,however, advised farmers in the state to register and be captured in the national farmer’s database. He said this will enable the farmers to benefit from the government and move agricultural production forward.

he Kogi Deputy Governor, Mr YomiAwoniyi, has said agriculture is the fulcrum that will drive the industrial development of the state.

Awoniyi spoke at the presentation of 10 tractors purchased by the government for rice farmers as part of its flood recovery programme.

He said the government was resolute to tap into the Federal Government’s agenda for rice farming.

He said 10,000 hectares of land had been cleared for rice farming while another had been set aside for cassava.

Awoniyi said the concentration of the government on agriculture had become imperative to ensure that farmers affected by flood in the state got back on their feet.

He stated that the Korean Government had helped the state in establishing rice mills, while an approval for the purchase and erection of four cassava mills was in progress.

Earlier, Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Femi Abolarin, praised the administration for its determination to reposition the sector.

He noted that the result of the efforts would ensure self-sustenance and improved economy.

GCO, an American tractor company, set to invest massively in the agro business sector in Nigeria has held its Second annual AGCO Africa Summit in Berlin.

The summit gathers politicians, chief executives and industry experts to help Africa move in the right direction by developing a new vision for agriculture and sustainable investments.

The summit is an initiative of AGCO, Bayer CropScience, DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and Rabobank.

Speaking during the ceremony, AGCO Chairman,Martin Richenhagen, said “Africa’s population is set to rise to two billion by 2050.” “But food security in Africa is by no means where it needs to be to face this challenge. It is a global responsibility to develop agriculture in Africa to meet the growing demand for food security and better nutrition.”

To meet the growing needs of Africa’s rapidly growing population, he said farm productivity must increase.

According to him, Africa is estimated to hold more than 60 per cent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land. This untapped reserve of farmland holds the key to ensuring a sustainable food supply.

“Large areas across Africa have suitable soil and climate for farming, but are not used,” explained Richenhagen. “We need to support agricultural mechanisation in Africa to create better food security.”

A firm, Da-all Green Seeds, Zaria, will produce 5,000 tonnes of seeds annually before the winding down of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), Mr Steven Attah, Chief Executive Officer of the company, has said.

Attah disclosed this in Abuja in an interview. He praised the Federal Government’s ATA policy, noting that it was capable of improving agricultural production.

Da-all Green seeds’ chief executive, said his company produced 1,200 tonnes of seeds during the ATA’s first year as against the 500 tonnes it used to produce. He said the company would produce 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes of seeds this year. He futher said the ATA had built the confidence of the company in the area of trade channels and relationship with agro-dealers. ‘’We have been able to also increase our farmers’ population and our employees have been increased.

‘’We now have agro-dealers that we can trust to some extent because we know that they are under check and we also believe that only credible people will be sustained under this agenda. ‘’Before the winding down of the agenda, we are targeting the production of 5,000 tonnes of seeds per annum, which is 10 times our production level two years ago.’’

Attah explained that even though the mobile phones might not be the ultimate thing the farmers need, it would be a platform to ensure that the government’s fertiliser reached them on time.

“The mobile phones for farmers is not a luxury, it is a platform being developed to yield billions in the future.’’‘’It should not be looked at as if the seeds and fertiliser are more important because these things cannot get to the farmers without the e-wallet.’’