Category: Agriculture

A United States based International Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI) has urged the Federal Government to assist farmers in adapting to climate change by improving meteorological services and integrate indigenous knowledge of climate and early warning.

In a report done on agriculture and climate change,IFPRI said about half of the working population in Nigeria is engaged in agriculture. However, the report noted that the share that agriculture contributes to Gross Domestic Product(GDP) has declined from about 50 per cent in 2,000 to about 30 per cent.

The report said there is a likelihood of heavy rains and farmers may need to switch to new crops or varieties that are tolerant of the new rainfall patterns.

According to it, maize performs relatively better in the face of climate change.”

The estimated gain in yield is 5–25 per cent over large portions of the country, with a few areas where yields are projected to rise by more than 25 percent. The loss of harvested area is projected to be greater for sorghum than for maize. In addition to areas of yield gain, there are also significant areas where yield will decline.

The report noted that there was a decrease in harvested area in the northern Sahelian zone, which is already prone to desertification. ‘Except in pockets in Kebbi and some inland valleys, all predicted yield loss is within five –25 per cent, with a few areas showing even greater losses.”

In an interview with The Nation, Dr Kola Adebayo urged the government to improve climate alert preparedness to avoid hunger.

Adebayo, who is Reader and Deputy Director,Grants Management, Federal University of Agriculture,Abeokuta, said farmers need information and knowledge to help them innovate and adapt to climate change.

According to him, climate change and natural disasters are becoming a very serious contributing factor, affecting food security and creating challenge for farmers.

He expressed the need to develop climate information services, as farmers need reasons to change traditional farming methods.

He said climate change has become a real challenge for farmers across the country and urged extension officers to work closely with them on how to reduce its effects.

He urged “cultivating technology,” not just “transferring” technology, because transferring technology may just mean machines and tools that can reduce employment, which leads to other problems.

He said the government should work with the private sector to decrease poverty and to protect natural resources

Adebayo said it was important extension workers are able to interpret climate information to farmers for them to make sound decisions at the time of planting, the varieties to plant as well as probabilities of having dry mid seasons.

He said communities have indigenous knowledge that can be tapped to enhance the management climate change.

Adebayo also reiterated the need to improve irrigation and livestock farming in order to broaden the sector and help improve livelihoods for ordinary people.

He said the government needs to support farmers to produce more economically viable and short term crops and to enhance food security production in a more manageable manner.

Adebayo said there is a growing demand for food due to increasing population .He said the government should adopt action-oriented projects in addressing infrastructural bottlenecks, market access and resource limitations. He said strong performance of the agricultural sector would not only guarantee food security, but accelerate economic growth and sustainable development.

The Federal Government should promote a competitive market for the agricultural produce at the grassroots, an agriculture business expert, Dr Kola Adebayo , has said.

In an interview, Adebayo said agricultural development and marketing has been dependant on the value chains. For high value crops, he implored concerned officials to continuously improve the value chain — from research, production, postharvest, processing and marketing — and broaden the domestic and export potential.

He urged the upgrading of product standards and climate adaptation measures; the opening of in-roads to encourage prospective farmers, young farmers, and retirees to engage in agriculture, fishery and agribusiness enterprises; and improvement of technologies and expansion of knowledge pool.

Adebayo suggested developing market intelligence information system to assess the target areas in agriculture produce.

He harped on the need to plan a strategy to market agriculture produce with value addition by the farmers at the local government levels for the farmers’ benefit. He called on authorities and organisations at all levels to work together on issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers as well as the country’s industrialisation and modernisation.

He urged locals to produce on a large scale, experiment by applying high technology to agriculture.

According to him, the potential for the development of agricultural value chains is substantial and promising, both from local and international market.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government said it will soon establish staple crop processing zones in some parts of the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said this in Abuja at a meeting with private sector partners in the agriculture value chain convened to garner support for the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).

The minister explained that the idea was to enable processors to establish their processing plants in areas where food production was high.

He said the Federal Government would prioritise basic infrastructure in these zones.

‘’It is the duty of the government to provide all the basic amenities in these zones. We have identified these zones and we know what is needed to make things work, ‘’ he said.

Adesina urged the private sector to set up an advocacy group that would liaise with the government in terms of policy making.

He told them to focus on fiscal policy that would encourage local food production, saying that the private sector was crucial to the success of the transformation agenda.

Adesina promised to always interact with the private sector to ensure that agriculture was restored as the mainstay of the country’s economy.

The Executive Director of Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Prof Malachy Akoroda, has called on Cocoa Producers to take accuracy of data seriously. He made the call during the Cocoa Transformation Agenda Implementation Plan where the year’s progress report was presented for deliberation.

Akoroda wondered how any meaningful cocoa business can be done without statistics. “Not every local government in every state will produce cocoa. We have information from Geographic Information System (GIS) telling us the local government areas that can produce cocoa in Nigeria. We are told that 22 states are potentially capable and can produce cocoa but 14 states have traditionally been producing,” he stressed.

It is not just any fertiliser that is suitable for cocoa soil enrichment, he said. Making clarification on cocoa fertiliser, he indicated that the NPK formula is 5-12-17, while Calcium and Magnesium are added at ratio of four to two. “If nutrient contents are used as basis of calculation, farmers will record gains after use, therefore, get this equation right,” he advised.

He said states don’t have to wait for the Federal Government for everything. He said: “Your governments must help cocoa farmers in your states. What the Federal Government is doing should be a bonus, after doing your own. If a farmer does not keep record, the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) will not profit him. If tree crop unit officers don’t understand the details of GES, it will be a failure. Farmers need to keep record if they want to take cocoa as a business. Once I see a farmer with no record, I don’t discuss further. There is nothing to discuss,” he said.

According to Akoroda, the Federal Government is working on rehabilitation of cocoa farms and has sent four Nigerians to train in Indonesia on rehabilitation of old cocoa farms. The trainees will in turn train Nigerians on best practices they have learnt. The training will be in CRIN on February 2013. He said there are early fruiting and early maturing varieties of cocoa that can be planted to replace the old, ageing cocoa trees.

“What is the use of eight varieties of cocoa sitting in CRIN without getting to the farmers?” he asked? After research, there must be development, using the result; otherwise it will be a waste of time. States he said need to transfer the technology to farmers. States without reliable data should go back and get their figures right “so we can make preparation to serve the farmers,” he added.

He said any state that does not know the number of people they want to serve is not serious.

The expert drew attention to the need to plan for provision of pods and seedlings, stating, however, that, rather than wait for too long, the government officials should “turn (their) pods to seedlings to avoid wastage. He also alluded to the use of grafting for old farms.

The executive director warned farmers not to buy fake cocoa chemicals, stating that the process of selecting agrochemicals is scientific, rigorous and has standards. “Do not let anybody tell you that without a process of science we can go to any manufacturer and tell him that this chemical is good, we want to buy it, he said. According to him, CRIN is mandated to decide on the choice of chemicals.

The don explained that there are three varieties of improved cocoa seedlings: F1 Amazon, TC 1 – 8, WACRI and that they are good depending on agro-ecology.

He said CRIN took a contract to distribute 1,200,000 pods (divided into yearly phases), starting this year with 95,000 pods to be delivered. “We have a table on how to deliver those pods. We should be working with numbers: when, where, what, who, why?

The number of cocoa pods to be given to Mr Blue Shirt on, so and so date, and so forth,” he explained.

Noting that CRIN is a government institution, he said : “You don’t need a permit to come to CRIN. The Federal Government is ready to pay us when they see evidence of supply.”

The Federal Government has been urged to create a database of fishermen to facilitate efficient and targeted delivery of assistance to the agriculture and fisheries sector.

A Professor of Fisheries at Lagos State University(LASU), Martins Agenuma Anetekhai, said the database would contain information such as names, addresses, farm locations, poverty level, calamity incidence, and vulnerability to climate change.

According to him, since the country is highly reliant on agriculture for livelihood and sustenance, and the fisheries sector has always been greatly affected,there is the need for a dependable database to enable the government to administer rehabilitation programmes and other assistance for fishermen.

The national registry of farmers and fishermen, he noted, would aid the government in carrying out specific proactive programmes to increase the protection of the agriculture and fisheries sector and to elevate their level of preparedness against various hazards.

Anetekhai urged the government to make the fisheries sector a revenue earner and jobs supplier,adding that programmes should help establish these hopes and sustain the sector in reaching revenue targets.

He explained that financial needs are particularly acute for fisher men , who can rarely access sufficient amount of finance to operate their businesses profitably.

According to him, there are many fishermen that can increase profitability through technological upgrading, but also find it difficult to access finance for this.

Value addition is the solution to boost the value of Nigeria’s agricultural products in the global markets, the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Sam Ortom, has said.

He spoke at the Second International conference on Africa’s Indigenous Stimulants in Lagos.

Ortom,who was represented by the Assistant Director, Commodities Division,Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Mrs Omololu Opeewe, urged the industry to pursue a strategy to increase added value of agricultural products to boost the nation’s annual export earnings, as most farm products are coarsely processed and sold at low prices.

He listed stimulants, such as kola nuts,bitter kola, alligator pepper,moringa among others as key produce in the campaign to promote non-oil export.

Ortom urged farmers and other stakeholders involved in the processing of kola nuts to see it as a national challenge and do all in their capacity to scale up the cultivation, and processing of these stimulants to international standards.

He called on the agric industry to invest more in renewing technology and abide by international production standards to raise the added value of export products.

He also called on stakeholders to maximise the economic benefits and potentials of kola nuts and bitter nuts by applying new and improved techniques in the cultivation, processing, storage, marketing and export of these crops so that Nigeria can generate job opportunities to reduce poverty and raise incomes for the farmers and the country.

The Minister recognised the economic importance of the crop as a strategic commodity that will add to wealth creation and reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.

He acknowledged the contribution of agencies, such as United States Agency for International Development, (USAID), Food and Agricultural Organisation, (FAO), Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) and United Nation’s Industrial development Organisation (UNIDO), who have all contributed to the overall development of the industry.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said the objective of organising the conference was to promote various stimulants.

Lawal said the ministry is focusing on promoting agric trade, highlighting the merits of stimulants, such as kolanuts, bitter kola, alligator pepper and other produce. The Minisry, he added, is also strengthening production capacity of domestic enterprises.

The Commissioner,who was represented by the Director Agric Services, Dr Olayiwole Onasanya, said African indigenous stimulants, especially kola nuts and bitter nuts are sources of wealth creation.

He called for concerted efforts to ensure the stable supply of stimulants for the export market.

He said the stimulants industry possesses numerous favourable conditions to develop into a key industry.

He recognised the importance of the crop as strategic commodity that will add to wealth creation and reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.

The Managing Director, Vertical Inspirations Limited, Ms Heather Akanni, called for the active participation of industrial leaders to help stimulants continue to grow and gain more recognition in the international market.

She said there is a lucrative market for African stimulant products and urged local businesses to secure a firm foothold in the demanding market.

To enter the market, she suggested that businesses should not only make high quality produce, but also seek to increase value for the market.

With a total land area of 34,600 square kilometres and annual rainfall of 1,500mm, Kwara State is richly endowed in agricultural terms.

The state has leadership in production and export of a number of agricultural commodities. The principal cash crops are cotton, cocoa, coffee, kolanuts, tobacco leaves, beniseed and palm produce.

There is potential for further large increases in productivity from known technologies. Agriculture is diversified and its exports are successful internationally. Exports of industrially processed foods are on the rise. The government of Kwara State has identified agriculture as an essential tool for fighting the problems of poverty and unemployment and ensuring food security. Agriculture also has the capacity to effectively bring about sustainable rural transformation and improvement in the general well-being of the people.

The government sees developments in the agriculture sector as necessary for industrialisation and exports in order to keep domestic prices low and raise revenue for investment in other areas of the economy. The state is investing in education, irrigation and rural roads. The result is that agriculture continued to grow, but also that the sector now only provides half of rural jobs but that farmers take advantage of the investment to diversify. Gradually, agricultural development is facilitating its transformation into an urbanised economy based around manufacturing.

There have been two phases: rapid agricultural growth based on utilisation of underused land and labour; and, as farming began to shed land and labour, slower but continued growth through higher productivity. Much has been achieved through private initiative. The state has played an essential role in setting the investment climate and supporting agricultural credit to small farmers. The launch of the State’s agricultural master plan promises to significantly turn around the state’s economy. The government is working towards producing highly competitive exports, based on increasingly diversified and specialised farming.

In collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, the state has tried to build up cassava yield and also develop processing capacity. This has been aided by the Cassava Resource and Technology Transfer Centre (CRTTC) in Ilorin, where the state has set up a large cassava processing factory for the production of high-quality cassava flour and cassava chips.

The administration has also made available substantial funds to tackle the problem of inadequate funding and poor infrastructure. Some 22 new tractors and 22 sets of Baldan implements were purchased to help with the cultivation of 711.14 hectares of land for the production of cassava, maize, rice and soya beans, as well as land cultivation subsidised. The government also established a cashew processing industry in Ogbondoroko in Asa Local Government Area in partnership with a private company.

So the state boasts the OLAM cashew processing factory.

The plant has over 1,500 workers on its payroll, all of whom are provided with free accommodation and a subsidised transport system. At full capacity, the factory is capable of processing 13,000 metric tons of cashew nuts every year and the state is now seeking more investors in this sector. Managed by an Indian company, it is exporting processed cashew nuts to Europe.

The state is well-known with Shonga Farms, involving 13 Zimbabwean farmers who have now relocated and settled in the Shonga area. Each farmer was given 1,000 hectares of land with a long commercial farming lease. In view of the huge capital outlay required to fund an agricultural project of this magnitude, Shonga Farms Holding Limited was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle to facilitate the funding and working capital needed to mobilize the public- private partnership. The project was centred on three different farming activities: dairy, poultry and mixed.

By providing subsidised inputs and guaranteed credit facilities to small-scale farmers, crop production has also grown dramatically.

The government has unfolded an ambitious plan to make the state the agricultural capital of West Africa and attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the sector.

Investors have Kwara as an immediate market for their produce . The state shares a border with Benin Republic. There are already some cross border business activities taking place, especially in cattle and meat.he state government is committed to provide favourable conditions for investors. serious investor are provided suitable land within a few weeks.

The administration is to assist investors with infrastructure, such as roads, electricity and water. The sector has many investment opportunities. With vast areas of arable land and enough manpower the conditions are really favourable. One can invest in direct production, processing, transport, the provision of agricultural inputs and even marketing.

There are orchards that produce many fruits such as oranges pineapple, cashew and mango for processing investors. Processing is one area that holds much promise for investors.There are numerous opportunities in cattle, poultry and fish farming.

The Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Solomon Bamidele, has urged African nations to embrace modern biotechnology application to achieve food security.

He made the call at a workshop by the African Bio-safety Network of Expertise (ABNE), under the auspices of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency and the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja.

He stressed the need to modify genes as well as transfer them to enhance agricultural productivity, adding that the technology would address the challenge of food security in Africa.

He said: “Other continents have been adopting genetic modifications and transfer of genes to address their immediate problems.

“We are required to also develop genes that will serve African demands and that will portray our technological advancement in food production.’’

Bamidele appealed to the Presidency to pass the Bio-safety bill into law, adding that the enactment would engender regulation in biotechnology.

He noted that the delay in the passage of the bill would affect biotechnology development in the country.

According to him, the delay in the enactment of the law will lead to “efforts in futility’’and will neglect the potential of the biotechnological practice in Nigeria.

The Director of ABNE, Planning and Coordinating Agency in NEPAD, Dr Diran Makinde, urged the President to give accent to the Bio-safety Bill, to enable Nigerians to benefit from the new technology.

He lamented that the delay in the enactment of the law was an obstacle to agricultural productivity in Nigeria, adding that the new technology was capable of enhancing food production and adding value to the economy of the nation.

He said that NEPAD was ready to support biotechnological development in Nigeria.

He said the Bill Gates Foundation had proposed a special grant to achieve biotechnology development in the country.

“Ours is partnership and we are ready to partner with organisations and develop their existing structures.

“Other African countries have enacted their bio-safety laws since 2006 and Nigeria is yet to enact the laws to ensure adequate regulation of the biotechnology application.

Also speaking, the Desk Officer of the Bio-safety Office in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Mr Rufus Ebegba, expressed the readiness of the Ministry of Environment to regulate bio-safety practices in the country.

He assured of the inter-agency’s cooperation to achieve biotechnology development in the country.

The Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN) has called on the Federal Government to resist the call for massive importation of rice to mitigate the impact of the recent flood disaster in the country.

Chairman of the association, Mohammed Abubakar, who made the call in Abuja at a news briefing, said there was no need to entertain any fear as “there are adequate stocks of rice in the country to meet immediate demands.

“It is our view that there exists 600,000 tonnes in the country and with rice harvest starting in November, additional stock of up to half a million tonnes will be added to the national food stock.’’

While urging the government to avoid orchestrated panic and doomsday projection, he said government should carefully consider appropriate measures and response that would not “damage our national interest,’’ adding that from preliminary investigations in the flood affected areas, it is estimated that about 40 per cent of the rice crop may have been lost, particularly in the lowlands and swampy areas near the major rivers.

“This may create a supply shortage of about 1.5 million tonness in the local availability of paddy, translating to milled rice shortfall of about one million tonnes.

“This should not create a major food crisis or food shortage to the level being touted by rice merchants and speculators, who are advocating massive rice importation.’’

Applauding the government’s policy on rice production, the association said investment in rice processing had exceeded N200 billion in the past four years.

Noting that the Federal Government was working on the establishment of 40 new rice mills in 2013 in addition to the existing 15, the association expressed belief that the country would in the next two years stop importation of rice.

It, therefore, called on the government not to allow the efforts put in place to be jeopardised by saboteurs of the economy.

It also called for the establishment of a minimum producer price for paddy harvested to enable farmers to survive and rise from the adversity.

“If it becomes inevitable to meet the shortfall from local capacity, then it can be done through importation, and the import permits should be issued to bona fide local investors in the relevant sub-sector.’