The Governor of Kwara State Government and a French company BRLI have signed a double Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the agriculture, agribusiness and culture sector of the state.
The MoU was signed today during a visit by the French Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships Mrs. Chrysoula Zacharopoulou to mark the growing cooperation of France with Kwara state in agriculture and culture.
Zacharopoulou who led the delegate from France to the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu on Monday was accompanied by the Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi.
This French official visit is the first one by a foreign Minister in Kwara State. The MoU seeks to upgrade the livestock value chain located at Lata grazing reserve dam in the Baruten Local Government Area of the state.
It also aims to transform Kwara into an economically viable and self-sustainable state via digital literacy, technology and culture through the repositioning of the Alliance Française space in Ilorin within the state Innovation Hub and the Visual Arts Centre.
In a statement signed by the Press Officer, Embassy of France in Abuja, Nigeria, Onyinye Madu, a EUR 500,000 for feasibility study of the livestock was granted by the French authorities while the Embassy of France and the French Ministry of Foreign affairs will also contribute to the relocation of the Alliance through an exceptional grant of €10,000, which complements the annual operating grant.
It also stated that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq gave a 120 m² space that will enable the cultural and linguistic center to attract its public in modern classrooms and facilities.
The Embassy of France and the French Ministry of Foreign affairs will also contribute to the relocation of the Alliance through an exceptional grant of €10,000, which complements the annual operating grant.
This partnership demonstrates the shared vision of giving younger generations’ access to quality education and skills that will enable them to thrive.
According to the statement, the French Minister of State who also visited the state Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), chosen by the French authorities as a pilot training center will implement a EUR 600,000 grant programme dedicated to the development of technical education of women in agriculture.
She also toured an exhibition of local agricultural products presented by women entrepreneurs.
While congratulating Abdulrazaq for his re-election and nomination as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Zacharopoulou declared that the projects illustrate the potential of the cooperation of France in Nigeria in the agriculture and agribusiness sector.
She said “Discussions with young entrepreneurs and artists have reaffirmed the need to foster partnership between our two countries. I am delighted that this partnership will also contribute to women’s continuous capacity development, to serve their needs, expectations and dreams.”
The government has been urged to support infrastructure-marginalised rural communities so youths who have interests in agriculture will be encouraged to guarantee food security.
A non-governmental organisation, Youths Enterprise Development and Innovation Society (YEDIS) through its Director, Olaore Akinpelu, stated this during an empowerment programme for 300 women in agric business at Obaagun community in Ifelodun Local Government Area, Osun State.
According to him: “Government and international agencies must support marginalized communities and introduce water and climate-smart farm practices to advance food security for sustainable employment, gender equality, and community development.”
Akinpelu added the United Nations interest in the agrifood transformation system is higher, urging youths to embrace promotion of agriculture in every community.
He informed 300 women were trained in the rustic community in palm oil and palm kernel seeds production to promote agric entrepreneurship, youth employment and community development, noting that ten iron drums and 200 plastics funnel and palm oil sievers were donated to them.
The facilitator at the workshop, chief technologist, Faculty of Science, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Mrs Alaje Oluwatosin, said insufficient clean water limits food production in marginalised communities and exposes people to health danger and unemployment, adding that every farm product requires water, including production, for economic development.
The fight against hunger is a top priority amid severe food insecurity. Inflation and restricted access to land have combined to make a bad situation worse. Against this backdrop, other stakeholders have taken an integrated approach to improve food and nutrition security. It involves encouraging increased food production through education, and demonstration of modern, sustainable farming techniques. DANIEL ESSIET reports
Despite the success story of the Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Samson Odedina, as one of the nation’s top cassava farmers, he has embraced integrated farming. In one fell swoop, he made more than N15 million from sale of cassava stems. This, notwithstanding, he has joined a good number of farmers who have turned to integrated farming.
Like smart market players, he is diversifying into integrated farms to provide him with more income sources.
His farm in Ogun State is gradually being expanded to serve as a learning centre for integrated farming technique.
He is eyeing to become the heart of agri-tourism with one of the growing and must-see agri-tourism spots.
He told The Nation he benefited from early training on integrated farming and had set an example by implementing an economic model that would become a role model for farmers in the state.
He said: “There is a need to use integrated farming approach now than ever to solve the problems of agriculture and food security. For example, the cost of chemical fertiliser is rising. The need for cleaner environment is also urgent. The need to produce crops, livestock and allied products along the value chain is there. The need for multiple products from a single farm is also high. Whether we like it or not, technology for farming or agriculture should be integrated for the sake of the environment.
“So, we are not only talking about agriculture now, we are talking about agriculture and the environment. It is integrated farming that can adequately take care of so many environmental issues. If crop residues are not burnt or thrown away, they will be used to feed the animals. Animals’ droplets can be used as fertiliser. The fertiliser will be applied to ensure we have higher crop yields. After harvesting the animals will feed on the crop residues.
“In largest integrated farms where you produce feeds, grow crops and raise livestock, you discover that the waste of one is actually the input required to grow another one. That is the beauty of integrated farming.”
He is a believer in enhancing productivity from available piece of land through integrated farming approach.
For him, it is one way to ensure farm owners have zero waste.
He continued: “It ensures we keep cost low and lift the efficiency levels. Those things that we consider waste can be used as raw materials to produce. If you are going out of the farm to buy those things, you will be spending more money.
“Above all, the biggest idea behind integrated arming is that it sits well in environmental protection and is a biological way of dealing with pests and diseases. Most of the time, you need large amount of money to buy herbicides, to deal with weeds. You discover that animals that graze on the fields clear the weeds. We wouldn’t need to look for huge amount of money to hire labour to do the weeds clearing. Not using chemicals to kill weeds saves the environment. When animals are grazing, they also drop their manure. So that is the benefit of integration.
“In modern agriculture, farms can be arranged in such a way that you have crops and livestock fitting into the production of each of the components. But integrated farming cannot be done without knowledge, technology and support. Green energy is part of integrated farming.
“In advanced countries, they use wind mills to produce electricity. That is integration. You can use animal waste to generate biogas for cooking and for running farming operations. Integrated farming has an element of technology. As we advance in our research on how to deploy technology to boost food production, we need to learn more about the technology of integration.”
To Odedina, integrated farming is best when combined with good agricultural practices. He has achieved this with masterly management of crops, soil, nutrients, water and pests.
He explained that there were huge opportunities in agriculture through production and value-added processing. He has invested in goats, crops, livestock and other very profitable options, using integrated models.
Across the country, integrated farming models, which combine rice cultivation and aquaculture, are being implemented in Ebonyi, Kebbi and Ibadan.
One of the interventions powered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish is introducing farmers to growing rice and fish in the same aquatic ecosystem. The project is led by Mississippi State University, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the University of Ibadan (UI) and University of Georgia (UGA).
Recently, farmers and villagers in the Kebbi State were exposed to an integrated rice-fish system by University of Georgia agriculture researchers.
Fish Innovation Lab research team provides entry-level training to smallholder rice farmers with little-to-no knowledge of aqua-culture, and how to implement rice-fish farming at the farm level.
One discovery made by the implementers, according to the research team, is the high rate of fish growth in the rice-fish co-culture.
The fish grew to eating-size within three to four months of production, and this was largely due to the feed formulation used, where rice bran and fish offal were sourced locally to replace the high-cost commercial fish feed ingredients, especially fish meal.
Following its massive impact, the project partners are discussing the next phases of the project, including developing local hatcheries to produce high-quality fish seed and working with local smallscale animal feed producers to help scale up and expand beyond pilot sites.
Earlier, the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, UI introduced a technology known as fish-rice-pig-poultry integrated aquaculture.
It involves the use of earthen ponds to raise fish and rice. It utilises the waste from poultry, piggery and agriculture for fish production. At the end, the farmer benefits from meat, eggs, rice, and fish.
The project occupies an expansive area. For farmers, students and researchers, it is a model integrated fish farm with rice grown inside a fish pond. It has been drawing local and international tourists who come to see a demonstration farm where fish is cultivated and integrated with some agricultural products such as rice, pigs and poultry to optimise yields.
Because of the success of the project, UI invites stakeholders and farmers to come and see the demonstration farm.
In recent times, agro entrepreneurs have been working to accelerate agricultural commercialisation through integrated farms to boost local household incomes.
One of the crusaders of modern integrated farming is India based entrepreneur and co-founder of Rise Hydroponics, Tusshar Aggarwal, and his partner, Vivek Shukla, has been riding on the crest of success as India’s fastest growing Agritech and Hydroponics Startup.
Rise Hydroponics promotes the use of hydroponics and other soil-less methods for agriculture across India. With a vision to make agriculture a sustainable business and India future-ready for 2030. His target is to support 500,000 farmers.
Responding to The Nation’s question, Aggarwal reiterated that integrated farming was one way to attract youths to agriculture.
In the future, he believes agriculture would be a critical factor in the attempts to decrease poverty and achieve economic growth worldwide.
At the moment, students in Lagos have got the chance to mingle fish, chickens and vegetables and learn about food production as part of an initiative to get young people interested in agriculture.
The government‘s goal is to cultivate an early interest in agriculture that will, hopefully, lead to a career.
Lagos, a vital agricultural and aquaculture hub, has it all. The government wants to leverage an extensive network of agric tech entrepreneurs working hand-in-hand with farmers to find new production models that best suit the state’s socio-economic challenges, and scale them up.
The government’s plan is to expose youths to technology-driven agriculture and help them access better seeds and technical training. They also receive the much-need support to boost yields and raise incomes.
Under the Lagos State Agric Scholar Programme, which supports integrated agriculture, schools have received smart aquaponics, aquaculture and poultry system units with hardware components.
The beneficiaries include Lagos City Senior College, Sabo, Yaba; Igbobi College, Yaba and Omole Senior Grammar School, Ikeja.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, stressed that agriculture was indeed a profession where people makeg huge money. She urged the students to embrace it.
“If food sector is negatively impacted, it will return to haunt the doctor, aeronautic engineer, chief executive officer, surgeon and multi billion dollars investment,” she said.
“Some of the biggest businesses in the world are into agriculture,” she said.
In collaboration with Agrisiti and Corporate Farms, the government is offering Agricultural Project-Sys units which are solar-powered modern, innovative and integrated farm technologies for rearing aquaculture, hydroponics and poultry.
Ms. Olusanya said the government would replicate the project in over 300 secondary and primary schools in the state.
She said extension officers and their partners would visit the farms every month to demonstrate new technology to the students. She, however, commended the team at the ministry for their contribution to the success of the project.
With the desire to create opportunities to change traditional farming practices, upscale production, raise incomes for farmers, and contribute to enhancing competitiveness, the government has flagged-off the distribution of agricultural inputs and production assets to fishing and farming clusters/communities.
The commissioner noted: “One of the challenges confronting agriculture in the state is an aging farmer and fishermen population and most youths who make up about 60 per cent of the population are not interested in agriculture as a profession because of drudgery in the system.
“It is in the wake of this, that the Ministry partnered innovative companies to introduce technology in agriculture, especially the upstream sector. This is evidenced by the recently launched Tractor-on-the-Go project which is a tractor-hailing service designed to facilitate easy and affordable access to mechanisation services through applications installed in mobile phones and integrated agricultural projects implemented in secondary schools tagged Lagos Agric Scholars Programme to stimulate the interest of school children in agriculture.”
For her, the long-term agricultural prospect in the state is strong but there is much room for improvement.
Overall, the government is determined to double the productivity of vital commodities.
As such its Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation and Farmers’ Support Programme, has been flagged off.
The government is providing agricultural inputs and production assets to 120 fishing and farming clusters/communities across the twenty (20) Local Governments of the State.
All in, over 20,000 fisher folks and farmers will benefit from the programme while budgetary provision has been made to accommodate a larger number of Value Chain Actors in the 2023 edition of the programme.
An agrictech expert Femi Adekoya has called on the government and other stakeholders to embrace technology in the advancement of agriculture sector.
Adekoya noted the place of technology in the transformation of agriculture sector cannot be over emphasised, saying that technology remains indispensable tool in enhancing food security and productivity
He made the appeal while delivering a lecture entitled: ‘Drones technology in agricultural development ‘ at special workshop at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti.
The drone specialist said that agriculture contributed 23 percent to the GDP of the country in third quarter of 2023, saying that when adequately harnessed with the technology, agriculture could become the backbone of the economy.
He stressed the impact of application of technologies in addressing the inherent challenges in the agriculture, added that digitization of the sector will guarantee food sufficiency and make farming more attractive to youths.
He said: “ Drone has become a technology that is transforming the agriculture sector and that is because of the great benefits it brings, don’t forget we already have low productivity ,we have food insecurity.
“We use drones to help farmers spray their farms in terms of crop protection and nutrients and also provide them with non-labour intensive needs ;these are some of the ways drones are changing in the sector.
“ Also in animal husbandry, we can use drones to broadcast grass seeds and fertilizers instead of exposing our farmers to danger. “
Eid el Adha for the Muslim Calendar 1444 AH (2023 AD) is expected to take place in the last week of June and with it comes the long-awaited world’s biggest Islamic festival to mark the end of the Holy pilgrimage, the fifth pillar of Islam.
In Nigeria, the celebration tagged “Ileya” in Yoruba meaning – “Homecoming” or Baban Sallah in Hausa meaning “Big Sallah” is one filled with loads of excitement whereby both Muslims and Christians celebrate together, throwing big feasts and spreading love to family and friends.
As the season approaches, Farm Zone, one of Nigeria’s most renowned livestock suppliers brings you a complete guide on how to choose your livestock.
Selecting Livestock for the Eid Ritual
As most Muslim faithful already know, animals to be slaughtered for Eid el Adha must meet certain criteria. The age and physical well-being of the animal constitute the topmost priorities. For instance, goats and rams must not be less than one year old, cows must not be less than two years old, while camels must not be less than five years old.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the animals must be in top shape. But beyond physical health, the animals must not suffer any impairment. For instance, blind or one-eyed animals are forbidden. Animals with broken horns or have a missing tail are also completely unacceptable. More so, animals that are either crippled, extremely malnourished or castrated are also forbidden.
There are no discriminations on the sex of animals that can be slaughtered, however, males are usually the first and preferred option for most believers.
Rules of Eid Adha
As a believer, you may know that the Holy Quran and the Hadiths do not mandate every believer to slaughter an animal. Those who cannot afford any animal can still celebrate and obtain the full blessing of the Eid. Therefore, it is advisable not to make some irrational financial decisions just to be able to slaughter an animal.
Meanwhile, for those who can afford to, as long as the livestock meets the minimum approved criteria, there is no limit to the size or number of animals for slaughter.
However, animals must be slaughtered the Halal way, and only after the congregational Eid prayer. Meat parts should be shared into three – home, family and friends, and the disadvantaged/needy Muslims.
It is also important to note that the sacrifice can always be performed on your behalf by trusted Halal meat companies, such as Farm Zone, if you are unable to perform it yourself for various reasons.
Why Choose Us for your Livestock
Farm Zone is one of Nigeria’s most experienced and reliable wholesale livestock suppliers. It is also highly sought after for its Halal meat sharing/processing and Outdoor Grill services.
Drawing from over a decade of experience, Farm Zone boasts a vast network of livestock breeders, merchants across Nigeria.
Below are some of the unique offerings from Farm Zone that separates it from the pack.
Rich Inventory: At Farm Zone’s different yards, you will find a rich inventory of livestock including goats, rams, cows, camels, etc., and they can supply any quantity to any part of Nigeria at a short notice. One of the major benefits of purchasing livestock from Farm Zone is that you are guaranteed healthy livestock and you do not have to pay any extra charges after buying from them. Some of these charges include laadah, rope for handling, animal feed, animal loading and ticket fees that are customary to traditional livestock supply value chains.
Competitive Pricing: By leveraging relationships built over the years with a large network of suppliers across Nigeria, especially in the north, Farm Zone is able to offer a more competitive pricing than any other supplier in the market. Farm Zone’s prices do not increase as Sallah draws near, and remains stable up until Eid Day. Farm Zone is also able to meet the demands of all types of clients ranging from budget purchases, special requests from high networth individuals, and nationwide distributions/gifting between both private and public sector companies/agencies as well as Nigerians living in the diaspora.
Flexible Payment Options: As part of its mission to serve all classes of its customer base, Farm Zone provides for flexible payment options. This allows customers to purchase livestock and spread payment over a period. However, subscribers must complete their payment at least five working days before the day they’ll need it/Eid day.
After-Purchases Care: Farm Zone is arguably the only company in Nigeria that offers the after-purchases care for animals they supply to their customers. At Farm Zone, you can buy livestock anytime and keep it at one of their yards up until three days before Eid at no extra cost. Should your purchase have any issue or get damaged while in their custody, (sickness, maiming, death etc.) they will inform you and provide you with options for replacement, still at no extra cost.
Free Delivery: Despite the recent increase in the cost of logistics, Farm Zone has managed to create a structure that allows it to deliver for free to a single location for any size of purchase. However, for delivery to multiple locations, customers will bear the cost for the additional locations.
• Farmers sell off remnants at cheap prices to recoup investment as food items rot away
• Farmers, Bank of Agriculture battle over N.1 billion controversial loan application funds
In the past few weeks, farmers across the country have helplessly watched their produce rot away as the challenge of cash scarcity bedeviling the land crippled the purchasing power of citizens. Not only are the farmers unable to sell their produce, they also lack access to cash to purchase materials and hire workers needed for further production. There are fears that the deplorable situation could spell doom for the country as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had earlier warned that about 25 million Nigerians risk hunger between June and August 2023 if urgent action is not taken, INNOCENT DURU reports.
Daramola Toluwalope, a poultry farmer based in Agege, Lagos State, early this year looked forward to taking her business to the next level. She was not frivolous about it. She had her plans perfectly laid out and looked forward to having a healthy balance sheet at the end of the year.
Shortly after the Menitos Deport Farms CEO started executing her plans, the challenge of naira scarcity occasioned by the CBN naira redesigning policy crept in and shattered her plans.
“The cash scarcity shut down our production. I cannot afford to produce. Where am I going to get funds from, especially with no sales? Chickens will not want to hear wait till tomorrow. They want to eat now. Knowing that I can’t sustain their feeding, I had to stop production,” she said as she vociferously decried the apex bank’s policy that has crippled many startups.
“We normally get credit facilities from the feed suppliers. When the cash scarcity problem started, many of them withdrew the credit facilities and started insisting that we must pay to pick up the feeds.
“A good number of the electronic transfers that were done to them did not go. When we finished the batch we had taken from them, we just stopped production completely.
“We don’t produce anymore. We only managed to finish the birds we had and that was basically at a loss,” she said.
She noted that it was not easy selling the ones “we processed because people were managing their money. A client that was buying a carton reduced it to half of a carton.
“There was a food vendor who used to patronise us. She stopped using chicken because the price went as high as N2,500 per kg.
“Now, when we process chicken, all the accessories like the legs, the neck will go, but people will not buy the full chicken. We can’t say that we are not selling but the sales are nothing like before.”
Following the unexpected setback, she said she has had to go back to the business of web designing.
Toluwalope said: “I am a US-trained web designer. Because of the cash crunch, I am back fully into IT to sustain myself, because the sales from chicken are barely sustaining the shop itself. I have had to rely on my job, web designing, and others to get by. If I am to rely on the sales from the produce, may it not happen that somebody will just collapse on the road.”
Speaking on why she didn’t resort to buying cash to fund her business, she said: “I refused to buy naira to fund my business. If I buy money to buy feeds for the chicken, it is still a loss. We are talking about a business that was having issues because of the price of feeds and transportation; if I now have to buy money to buy the feeds again, I am already running at a loss.”
“Sometimes,” she said, “it is better not to do anything than to do something at all, and this is one of those situations. If I buy money to buy the feeds when already at this price people are complaining it is expensive, how much will it come to if I now have to use bought money?
“Let’s say for N100,000 I will buy for N120,000, I can’t afford to do that. I went to bank around 8:30 and left a few minutes to 12, and all I was able to get was N20,000. What will that do in a business?
“If I were still producing, it means I would have to spend about four hours every day in the bank to get N20,000 to buy feed and attend to other things.
“The government has sabotaged everything they said they have done for farmers by their own policy because I don’t see how this one will work.”
The challenge of naira scarcity has also robbed Tanimu, an Abuja based crop farmer and his colleagues of the usual vivacity they used to savour among themselves.
They had invested hard earned money and laboured on their farms with expectations of good harvest, but all that appeared to have been a wasted effort.
“Last week,” Taminu said, “we harvested 10 bags of garden eggs but none was sold. Later, some people came to offer us N1, 000 for a bag because they said the garden eggs were already spoiling. We couldn’t argue with them because we saw it with our eyes that the garden eggs were rotting away. “A bag of garden egg will ordinarily go for between N6,000 and N7,000, but we had to collect N1000 because people didn’t buy and they were spoiling. It was a big loss for me and my people.”
Continuing, he said: “Many of our colleagues have had their produce they wanted to sell rot away. If you go round our markets, you will see how the produce that farmers laboured very hard to plant and harvest are rotting away.
“I have a friend who has a big vegetable farm. He couldn’t sell anything from it. Even if he had taken it to the market, he would not be able to recoup the money he would have spent on transportation.
“It has affected us terribly. It has caused untold setbacks for our business. Most of our members don’t have bank accounts. When they take produce to the market, some buyers will request to pay through electronic transfer. How can someone who does not have a bank account accept electronic transfer?”
In the face of the demoralising challenges, he is worried that there is no way of getting help to raise funds to go back to the farm.
“Now if you want to hire workers on our farm, they will ask for cash. And when you have things to sell you will not be able to sell them because people don’t have cash.
“Those of us who are into irrigation farming are worse hit by this unpleasant development because we don’t have cash to buy the things we need to take care of our farms.
“As irrigation farmers, we have to water our farms every three days. We have to buy chemicals and other things, but there is no cash to do that.
“Our people cannot do or accept electronic transfer because they don’t have bank accounts.
“I have a bank account. I gave my produce to people for them to transfer money to me. Out of five people only two transfers came in. The other three didn’t come and I don’t know those people. I gave it to them because there were no sales and I needed to get the goods off my hands.”
His kinsman, Mohammed, said the challenge of cash scarcity affected his farm badly as he could not buy fuel and fertilizer to work on his farm.
“I was moving from one place to another begging for money to buy fertilser to sustain my crops. With the way things are, we can only put our hope in God concerning what the harvest will look like. The situation is too bad.
“There is one of our friends who has a large farm of maize. To sell it is a problem and he needs to sell them now that they are fresh in order to get his money back and start planting afresh. The corns are drying up. Those who used buy in large quantities are not buying because they are complaining that their customers are not also buying from them.
“People who used to buy five bags struggle to buy a bag. If the corns he planted using irrigation method dry up, he will not recoup half of what he spent on the business. If he manages to sell them now that they are fresh, he will get his money back.”
More farmers lament
The President of Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria, Chief Dan Okafor, said with what the farmers have gone through, “we don’t know where we are going.
“We harvested and sent our produce to Lagos, the people we sent couldn’t sell them because of cash scarcity. They are spoiling.
“Many of our members are having their goods not just rotting away but they have no money to convey them to the market to sell. They are spoiling there on the farms.
“In our potato and vegetable section, if you don’t remove the produce this week, by next week it will spoil.”
Following the inconsistency of the government on withdrawal of old notes from circulation, Chief Okafor said: “The only notes that our members are collecting now is N20, N50, N100, N200 and the new notes.
“They said even if the government asks them to take the old notes that they will not take it because tomorrow they can stop using it and the money will become useless. We are suffering a great deal.
“Many of them are living in rural areas where there are no banks. Many of them don’t have bank accounts.
“There was a place I went to in Zamfara State. There is no bank in that area. You must come to Gusau to open an account, and that means you will have to drive for three hours to cover the distance.
“There is no money for our members to buy inputs. There is no money to transport goods to where they will be sold. We are all crying.
“When they are making any policy, they should let us know so that we can inform the farmers on time.”
Former Chairman Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries (LCCI), Agric and agriculturist, Wale Oyekoya, told our correspondent that the cash crunch caused by the CBN policy “made it impossible for me to pay my farm workers with cash or transfer.
“No cash to pay for raw materials. No cash to pay for petrol and diesel. It erodes our profit and reduces productivity.
“The cash crunch affected so many things including businesses, especially the small business that did not have access to our cashless policy system.
“Farmers were hard hit because of the nature of their perishable food stuff. Visiting some markets will show how lack of cash affects both the sellers and buyers as some of the farm produce got rotten because of the scarcity of cash.
“At the farms, farmers cannot pay the farm workers as it is difficult to get cash and some of them don’t have bank accounts. The few that have accounts cannot get paid because of bad network to transfer money.
“Buying inputs or raw materials is a big problem, and this affects farmers in a negative way. It is also difficult to pay back bank loans by the farmers as the cash crunch adversely affects income.
“To buy petrol or diesel is a big challenge for the farmers as most of our operations depend on these essential products as most farms don’t have access to electricity and to bring farm produce to the markets needs vehicles to transport them.
“Post- harvest loss is on a high side for lack of storage facilities. This has compounded this problem as most of this produce get spoilt and damaged.”
An agripreneur, Opeyemi Adeyanju, noted that most local farmers were badly affected because they don’t have accounts. Many of them lost their perishable goods. Besides, they didn’t have access to cash to buy things that they needed to grow the farms.
Most of them depend mainly on daily income. They do this five market days and because people didn’t have cash, they didn’t go to markets to buy things. The farmers took their goods to the markets and returned home with them.
Because some of them wanted to sell, they had to bring down their prices. The goods they could not sell spoilt in their hands.”
To assist some of the farmers, he said, “we were able to innovate and adjust our business a bit. I am an agripreneur. I deal with farmers and consumers in the city.
“What we have been able to do is to help the farmers within our community with cash from the city in a little way.
“We have been affected in the area of having to buy cash at higher rates to give to the farmers. Some of the farmers had to release their goods for us to take to Lagos to sell and return money to them.”
Farmers wary of taking loans
With the losses that farmers have suffered, it is expected that they would be open to taking loans to resuscitate their business, but checks among them showed that is not in their thinking.
President of Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria, Chief Dan Okafor, said he had earlier advised his members not to take loans because it doesn’t work for them here in Nigeria.
“Before you take the loan, the bankers will steal your money. The rate they will give you loan is not the rate the government asked them to give them.
“I have decreed that nobody should take loans from the government or bank because it doesn’t work. They are wicked, very, very wicked set of people. I have told them to save money through contribution.
“There is a case I have with one bank here in Abuja. I arranged about 50 groups to take loan from Bank of Agriculture. They asked our people to pay N1000 each for form. After doing all the necessary things, they didn’t give out the loan, and they had collected about N1 million from the sales of forms.
“This thing happened throughout the federation. There was a meeting we had and I said at that meeting that Bank of Agriculture should be scrapped.
“President Buhari should listen to us. All this policy they are making is not to our benefit. Many of our members are ageing so what does the government want them to do?
Bank of Agriculture reacts
Reacting to the allegation, the spokesman of BOA, Akile Bologo, said the organisation does not take money from people to apply for loans.
Bologo said: “We don’t collect money to give loans. We don’t collect money for forms. What an applicant does is to open an account with us, put his money in the account, and if there is any charge we want to do, it goes to the account.
“To say that money was collected by BOA, I don’t think that is part of what we do.”
Asked why the farmers didn’t get the loan they claimed they applied for, he said it is not automatic for applications to be approved. “Even as an individual, if you come to me for a loan, I have conditions you must meet. I have to be sure you will pay back and there should be a purpose for which you want to take the loan, and it must be verifiable.
“We have our conditions too. So, loans cannot be automatic. Even to an individual you cannot go and expect that you will get it.”
Way out
Proffering solution to the farmers’ predicament, Wale Oyekoya, said: “The government needs to wake up from their slumber as our nation’s fragile economy is in a shambles and needs immediate surgical repair before things start falling apart in the country because we are not ripe for this junta approach of cashless policy.
This policy is anti-people, anti-progress, anti-good economy. The government deceived its citizens to deposit their old currency notes and the same government shut its door for the same citizens not to withdraw the same cash or new one as speculated. Economy does not grow on sentiments or political interference.”
Also giving possible ways out for the farmers, Opeyemi Adeyanju advised the government to look into the policy very well because the country is not yet ripe for it.
“Technologically, our system is not yet prepared for it. It is a good policy no doubt, but the system is not yet prepared for it. We still have a lot of work to do especially in the rural areas. “They need to enlighten the rural farmers because most of them don’t have bank accounts to even receive electronic transfers.
“The rural areas believe they can’t operate the transfer by themselves and that they can be easily cheated or have their account hacked. The USSD codes need to be well activated. If the rural farmers can’t use apps they should be able to use USSD code for transactions.”
He added: “From time we have always agitated for support for farmers. Some of the state governments have been doing it before but they need to look at the process that will make the little support they want to give to farmers to get to the right hands.
“Some of these things have been there before but they don’t get to the right hands. They need to look at the process and make sure that what they have lost can be recouped.
“They should give grants to farmers through their associations and not just through people who are just sitting in the office and reallocating the money to friends and families.
“If you go to major markets in the big markets in Lagos, like Mushin, you will see plantains rotting away. I had some farmers crying to me and I was forced to take their plantains off them and provide them with cash. They are really frustrated and government should find a way of supporting them.”
The food processing industry is an important subsector. It provides employment and supports growth. However, it faces a lot of challenges. Analysts believe that entrepreneurs, if supported, could contribute more to its development, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
The Chief Executive Officer, DIFL Foods, Bosun Solarin, is a food processor. She has been driving the campaign for more women inclusion in farming and food processing.
She owns 36 plots of land in Ogun State, where she plies her trade. But she has delved into the processing of plantain, banana, pawpaw flour, ginger, and turmeric. Despite the initial challenges, the business has continued to grow. The company supplies a variety of processed food items.
Export trading has given her a better understanding of market requirements in terms of quality, quantity, and other specifications.
She has been developing and improving her products, linking up with new business partners and markets.
When she took on value addition, she enrolled in various training programmes, where she learnt more about processing techniques, post-harvest handling, and product packaging and branding.
This equipped her to improve production standards, value-addition, and supply chain management.
At the end, she not only raised income, but also guaranteed that the end product lasts for a long time.
She has got the licence, which enables her to export food products to the United States.
Mrs. Solarin has been working with trade groups to ensure that more food products meet the criteria to provide quality products to the U.S. market. Foreigners are testing our products and certifying them regularly.
There is an ongoing liaison with the U.S Department of Agriculture on export products. But she is not the only entrepreneur exploring opportunities in food processing. The Chief Executive, Ady’s Agro Processing Limited (Nigeria), Adanne Uche, is another visionary who has built a profitable business from processing food.
Mrs. Uche has been focused on providing families with healthier cooking ingredients. She founded the company in 2016 from her kitchen. Ady’s Food Mart came to being with a N30,000 loan from her brother.
With that, she traded in palm oil, and made gains. Today, the business is a brand with packaged spices, palm oil, crayfish, and seasoning blends processed and distributed in and outside Nigeria. She has been exporting spices to the United Kingdom and US.
An international non-profit organisation, TechnoServe, operating in 29 countries, including Nigeria, has been lifting people out of poverty. The lead implementer of the Prosper Cashew, the project assists aspiring farmers and producers in transforming agricultural produce into food products.
Prosper Cashew, launched in October 2020, seeks to enhance cashew processing capacity to 50 per cent of its production.
The project focuses on propelling processing capacity across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. It supports cashew processors to develop a robust supply chain, from sourcing of raw nuts to the sale of processed kernels.
So far, the project has boosted the capacity of processors who source cashews from farmers, facilitate $61 million of investment in the cashew sector, and help processors sell more than $200 million of processed cashew products into domestic, regional and international markets.
Across the value chains, TechnoServe has trained over 1,000 food processing companies in six African countries, giving technical assistance to 300 high-potential processors.The training helps the processors enhance the quality and quantity of their products, as well as improve the operations and profitability of their businesses.
In particular, TechnoServe’s specialised support of the 300 processors led to improved investments of $14 million.
One of the beneficiaries of TechnoServe empowerment programmes for farmers and agro producers is the founder of Nafarm Foods, Abdullateef Olaosebikan.
Nafarm Foods processes and preserves fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and onions. The company converts them into pastes. This helps to combat scarcity, high cost, and wastage during harvest season.
He has done a lot to curtail tomato waste through processing.
In 2016, a Tuta Absoluta moth pest attacked tomato leaves, destroying crops in 80 per cent of farms in Kaduna, a year after Nafarmfoods was founded. Then, the company had a few partners to learn from.
Techno Serve provided the technical support, which helped the company source information on the tomatoes value chain. The following year, it partnered the Rockefeller Foundation and Syngenta Foundation on the YieldWise programme to increase the income of tomato and rice farmers.
By training them in best agricultural and post-harvest practices and connecting them with the input and networks they need to make their farming businesses thrive, the programme works to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and reduce food waste.
TechnoServe provides training on best practices that help farmers to improve their production, decrease post-harvest losses, and increase their income. The programme also amplified the impact of these yields by training farmers in business skills, organising them, and facilitating direct market connections with buyers who can pay a premium price for their rice and tomato crops. During the project, over 6,600 farmers were trained on good agricultural practices, including Abdullateef. He is one of the 37,566 farmers who benefited from the YieldWise programme.
Since working with TechnoServe, Nafarmfoods’ staff members have gone from six to 16.
Similarly, the food processing industry has been on the rise. The sector could record more growth if the government increases assistance to genuine entrepreneurs to acquire processing machines to produce quality food items.
Already, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has highlighted the potential in the industry. It said the food processing sub-sector is responsible for at least half of the manufacturing jobs in Nigeria. In a report, the FAO stated that many of the jobs, which are in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, are in the informal economy.
The report entitled: “The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets”, stated that in West Africa, the food processing sector is the largest manufacturing subsector in terms of employment.
“It accounts for only five per cent of employment in the total agri-food economy but represents an average of 30 per cent of total secondary sector employment,” it said.
Multi-discipline practice firm PWC has been positive about the potential of the food industry for financial and employment benefits.
At present, Nigeria is processing less than 40 per cent of its agricultural output; thus, presenting immense opportunities to boost processing levels and attract investments in the sector. Indeed, the demand for packaged food products has steadily increased over the years.
This follows increasing in response to busier lifestyles and the perception that there are producers offering safe-packaged food products.
To this end, the Lagos State Government is spearheading efforts to boost small and large scale food processing initiatives as the population grows and demand for food rises.
For Lagos Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, the food processing sector has opportunities. She said the government’s programmes focused not only on large enterprises, but also small and medium-sized processing establishments.
According to her, theLagos State Government prioritised the food processing sector and promotes investments in the sector. In addition, it is establishing food hubs projects to develop the food processing supply chain.
The commissioner said the government was ready to work with producers to foster the exports of agricultural products.
She said the government was driving a framework to increase the competitiveness of its agricultural sector by increasing processing storage, distribution and marketing capacity.
To drive higher margins across the agrifood value chain, she said the government is supporting innovators to help producers achieve significant reductions in food loss and waste.
President, Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour Iche is in support of the repositioning of the food processing sector, which he said, is of significance to development.
He spoke on the various aspects of the industry, including local and international markets for processed food, its competitiveness in the market, and challenges on raw materials.
According to Iche, some processed foods have immense export potential. What the producers required was financial assistance to acquire machines to process raw materials to meet specific quality standards, he said.
His words: “We have at least 180 of our members who are involved in small-scale food processing ventures. We have entrepreneurs processing rice, beans and plantains into flour. So many varieties of food products.”
According to Iche, demand for processed food is on the rise. Against this backdrop, he said many people were going into the business.
At present, Iche added, the sector is contributing hugely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Notwithstanding, one of the biggest challenges for the food processing industry, according to him, is the spiral cost of high-quality raw material.
“Since 2015, however, the sector has been bedevilled with problems. In fact, some of them have closed shops, following the impact of harsh macro-economic challenges. The prices of raw materials used for processing have been on a steady rise. Before 2015, a bag of rice sold for about N7,000. Today, it goes for about N45,000. There has been a tremendous price spike affecting foodstuffs used in processing garri, plantains etc.”
Small food processing business owners grapple with a tough operating environment, erratic power supply and finding buyers and markets for their products.
Iche added: “A few of them who are trying to explore opportunities in the export markets find it difficult to obtain the necessary documents.”
Despite this, the industry is growing. A booming food processing industry would have a huge impact on the economy.
Iche went on: “Talk about creating employment opportunities. As you are aware, local small scale businesses are responsible for providing a large percentage of employment opportunities. This is because most of their operations are semi-automated. They use mainly manual labour. If the industry is thriving, it will benefit the economy, reduce crime rate. Most of the people involved in crime and other vices do so because they are jobless.”
Former Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security in Ekiti State, Dr Olabode Adetoyi, has urged Federal and State Governments to key into agricultural revolution by making it attractive to the teeming youths.
The Agricpreneur, who is an investor in Agribusiness in crops, livestock feed mill and feed additives, stated this while addressing some cassava cooperative farmers who visited his Cassava Farm in Ekiti yesterday.
Adetoyi explained that 60 percent of the nation’s population is made up of youths, stating their potentials can be harnessed by creating agricultural processing zones and support the initiatives of African Development Bank.
The Former Commissioner, while citing the advantage of cassava farm, explained that it is very good in Nigeria and it can be grown in nearly all the states in Nigeria, adding that Nigeria still produce 59 metric tonnes of cassava.
According to him, we can have cassava flour, ethanol, Starch, garri, Fufu,cassava chips as by-product derived from cassava
“Both Federal and State Governments should key into Agricultural revolution by making agriculture attractive to our teeming youth.
“60 percent of Nigerian population is made up of our teeming youth. How can we harness their potentials?
“Both states and federal can do this by creating Agric processing zones and support the initiative of African Development Bank.
“This is the only way to key into Agric value chain. This is a cassava farm. Cassava is very good in Nigeria and it can be grown in nearly all the states in Nigeria.
“Nigeria still produce 59 million metric tonnes of cassava. From cassava, we can have cassava flour which is 10 percent added to our flour to make bread which will reduce our importation of wheat.
“Also, we can get ethanol, an industrial chemical to make pharnaceuticals. We can get cassava seeds which will be used for ethanol” He said.
The economy has continued to rebound with marginal growth. One area bringing foreign exchange (forex) is agro exports. Nigerians are seeking to tap export potential of food and other agriculture-related products in United States and Europe. However, the sector has been dampened by global commodity price shocks. Also, the industry is suffering from the impact of exchange rate volatility. Operators are advocating functional exchange rate policies to support the growth of agro export business. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Since the agricultural industry contributes approximately 25 per cent to total gross domestic product (GDP), according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), an international professional services giant, unlocking the potential of exports is key.
Despite the steady growth in the value of Nigeria’s agricultural exports over the country’s agriculture exports, total exports remain below 10 per cent.
In 2021, agricultural exports from Nigeria stood at nearly N504.9 billion, Statista, an international business intelligence group, reported.
Consequently, Nigeria is seeking to tap into a larger share of the global food and other agriculture-related products market put at $13,398.79 billion.
Nigeria’s top food exports include cashew, cocoa, sesame seeds, cashew nuts, shrimps, soya beans, flowers, hibiscus, cotton, ginger, and food preparations.
According to Oba Dokun Thompson Gureje IV, the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Osun State, the nation’s topography and climate are very conducive to agricultural production.
The monarch, who is one of the most successful cocoa farmers in the area, has been helping farmers to get seedlings. He has been on the campaign to get more Nigerians to farm cocoa.
Also, the king, who is the Chairman, Eti-Oni Development Group, the organisers of The Cocoa Festival in Nigeria, has been working to transform the rural community of Eti-Oni into a sustainable model smart town.
In addition, he is ensuring that the farmers get trained on essential techniques for cocoa cultivation and development, including harvest and post-harvest practices. After many years, some of the beneficiaries have recorded enhanced income from cultivation of cocoa and other crops.
His entrepreneurial pursuits are backed by his philosophy that cocoa can be a means for social good.
To him, good cocoa business could boost domestic revenue and exports.
As Osun is one of the biggest producers of cocoa beans, he wants to support farmers to improve the quality and quantity of their cash crop production by increasing their knowledge and skills in good farming practices.
He believes that international markets play a major role in enabling cocoa farmers to make huge income from exports.
Over the last three decades, there have been big changes in the cocoa market.The industry has experienced tremendous economic volatility making it difficult for exporters to respond to shocks and uncertainties.
Specifically, the monarch expressed concern over increasing exchange rate uncertainty and its impact on the agricultural exports’ growth.
He said the exchange rate could upset business competitiveness as it affects produce prices and, ultimately, exports’ profits.
His words: “Agro exports can either be based on current or fixed prices in regards to a contract and the worst nightmare of an exporter is the volatility of the foreign exchange rate as we have with the Naira.
“The impact is very negative as you either lose money or give up the business altogether to protect yourself. This, then, questions the government’s talk about the very importance of boosting non-oil export.
“I must say the government urgently needs to find ways and make it number one priority to stabilise the exchange rate, if we are to make anything of increasing our foreign reserves through agro products exports.
“At the moment, we are talking about a contract and the terms are based on a period of one year. Since we started the discussion, the exchange rate has changed several times and we are finding it difficult to accommodate so that we do not to lose the opportunity because we do not have exclusivity and other suppliers from other parts of West Africa who have a more stable rate also want the business.”
One significance of foreign currency to the Nigeria’s agri exports business is the United States’dollars. This is because a large percentage of agri-food exports are priced in dollars. Sometimes because of severe shortage of foreign exchange, exporters have to rethink plans to send shipments with high freight-on-board value.
The plunge in naira exchange rate, the Director-General, African Centre for Supply Chain, Dr. Obiora Madu, noted could pull down the export turnover of the agro sector.
With the prevalent situation, Madu said exporters have to rethink how to stay afloat amid the deepening economic crisis.
Madu explained in an interview: “People who do not understand trade will be wondering how an increase in exchange rate affects exports? Export commodities are stocked locally and sent abroad. Under normal circumstances, if your currency goes down and dollar goes up, that means you earn more dollars.
“You should be feeling like somebody who has robbed the bank because of the expected returns from export earnings. In the past, naira depreciation would work in favour of the exporter. But now, everybody is on the internet. Even the local farmer knows the international price of cocoa. So, everybody in the export value chain is looking at international commodities prices and they are fixing produce prices based on the dollar rate. This means those selling commodities locally are dollarising their prices when offering them to local buying agents.
“In compliance with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) convention, there are warehouses in Nigeria, where you supply commodities to and they pay you in dollars. So, everything has been dollarised and nobody has been left, not even at the farm gate.That is why there are commodities selling locally whose prices are higher than that of the international market.This is occasioned by logistics challenges.
“The transportation costs are very, very high.The dollar exchange rate volatility affects the exporter. You gain some margin, you vomit some margins at the local market. Since we don’t have a functional commodity exchange, anybody can go anywhere to buy commodities. You find Indians going to Ogbomosho to buy cashew and other produce. Indians go into the farms to buy sesame. They visit farmers and give them dollars ahead to supply them cashew when they harvest. The absence of a functional commodities exchange is combining with other factors to compound the situation for exporters.”
Still, Chief Executive, Ope Farms, Ms Sola Sowemimo, is optimistic about Nigeria exporting more agro produce if the government works with the private sector to tackle the issue, raising quality and focusing on top-grade varieties that meet the world’s demand.
Her concern is that a lot of exports compete with Nigeria’s products. So, the increase in Naira exchange rates will result in a competitive disadvantage for exports.
As a large amount of farm input, such as machinery and pesticides are imported, she added that exchange rates would affect those costs.
But she lamented: “Probably 80 per cent of farm input such as tools, equipment, machinery and pesticides are imported and so we are highly dependent on the foreign exchange rates, which have been unstable, especially in the parallel market.
“When I started my agribusiness, the exchange rate was N160 to the dollar. Now it is over N600 in the parallel market, which is the more accessible option.
“Our cost of production is high and many farmers need to watch their costs. What you bought yesterday has increased. There is no doubt that the changes in foreign exchange rate have a direct impact on production and also on the cost of investing in agriculture.The profit margin for exporters is unpredictable.
“Agriculture in Nigeria needs to be more attractive to be competitive in the global market and this can only be so, when farmers get their input, tools, machines and many more at cheaper rates.
“The export of agro products should be attractive. But when you produce on foreign exchange based on the parallel market and the government expects you to earn your returns on bank rate, the deal becomes unrealistic.”
For her, a stable economy with a policy to make agriculture cheaper would make a difference to exports.
Executive Secretary, Agricultural Fresh Produce Growers and Exporters Association of Nigeria(AFGEAN), Adetiloye Aiyeola, wants exports to grow faster imports.
He stressed that the improvement in economic performance would increase exports.
Aiyeola, also Chief Executive, Awesome Fresh, noted: “Exchange rate uncertainty has become a significant factor that is influencing our agricultural export sector. As the Naira fluctuates against major currencies like the US dollar and the Euro, it creates uncertainty for most exporters, who may experience reduced profits or increased losses due to these changes. In some instances, this may discourage investment in the sector, as potential investors seek more stable returns elsewhere.”
Mr. Akin Sawyerr, a former Executive Secretary, AFGEAN, has a long-standing diversified fresh vegetable export trades to Europe. He has been empowering many Nigerians to export chillies, and other commodities to up-market hotels, restaurants, and department stores. With him, a lot of Nigerians are involved in off-season’ and specialty vegetable trade, retaining a very strong competitive position in the markets for certain high-quality, high-value commodities, servicing niche markets.
Despite this, he indicated that the exchange rate was affecting the international competitiveness and profitability of Nigeria’s fresh produce exports. His words: “The exchange rate uncertainty has some impact on agro exports. On the positive side, forex fluctuation is helpful as is it negatively affecting imports of agricultural produce making local more acceptable.”
The Group Managing Director/Chairman Highhill Group, Ambassador Adeniyi Sola Bunmi, has been taking advantage of the booming demand for agricultural products from Nigeria in Europe and the United States. He has brokered successful export of avocados to Europe.
Bunmi believes Nigeria has considerable potential to grow avocados and other major cash crops thanks to its fertile soils, climate, competitive labour costs, and plenty of available water. But like other exporters, he complained about exchange rate uncertainty. He said: “Nigeria is a major exporter of agricultural products, including cash crops such as cocoa, sesame, and cashew nuts, as well as other agricultural commodities like rice and maize. However, the agro export business in Nigeria is susceptible to the impact of exchange rate uncertainty. When Naira, depreciates against foreign currencies, it can reduce the value of export earnings in Naira terms.This can result in lower revenue and profit margins for agro exporters, affecting their overall business performance.”
He explained that there is a correlation between the falling value of the naira and cash prices paid for farm goods and export volume.
He is not alone. The Export Group Chairman, Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mrs Bosun Solarin, posited that changes in naira exchange rate would affect the competitiveness of agro exports in the international market. She has been gathering stakeholders – farmers, agripreneurs, wholesalers – of the agric value chain to achieve commercial success on the export market. So far, the growth in the agribusiness sector has also opened up new opportunities in support services. She also observed that exchange rate volatility has affected everything.
“For instance, if I have sold for X naira, and it suddenly goes up, then I get more naira, but if it goes down, then it can put one in very serious state.Worse still is if the contract has been signed and it suddenly comes down, it affects every projection, because one would have benchmarked on a certain rate.That’s why it is better to give some margins when quoting for a supply. It is safer to use the official rate when quoting, one won’t be in a very bad shape, if volatility occurs. The local cost that one has to bear in dollars also may be very worrisome when it goes up, and one has already quoted and awaiting movement of the goods. Generally, export and import suffer a lot under this problems. A lot of investment has been wiped away as a result of this.”
The National Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NACCIMA) and the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) have stressed the need for the government to eliminate barriers to increasing the nation’s revenue.
Chief Executive, CPPE, Muda Yusuf, said: “The foreign exchange policy regime is a disincentive to export business.There is a problem with the CBN policy, which prescribed that export proceeds should be offered to the importers and exporters window at an exchange rate of about N460 per dollar.
“Whereas the parallel market of foreign exchange would offer to buy the dollars at over N700 per dollar. This means a loss of about N240 per dollar. The foreign exchange policy is a major disincentive to non oil export.”
Multiple brands of foreign rice from countries including Thailand and India have returned to markets in Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina States.
Agricultural experts, rice dealers and farmers say the development has greatly affected local production while lamenting the porous borders.
The Federal Government in August 2019 directed the closure of all land borders to stop the importation of rice.
On December 16, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the reopening of four: Seme in Lagos, Illela in Sokoto, Maigatari in Jigawa, and Mfum in Cross River.
In April 2022, Buhari, through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), approved the reopening of four more: Idiroko in Ogun, Jibiya in Katsina, Kamba in Kebbi and Ikom in Cross River.
However, a new report by Economic Confidential, titled “How illicit rice importation threatens FG’s agricultural sector interventions”, shows foreign rice is back in circulation.
It was supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
The report said on demand, foreign rice is presented to intending buyers at Singer and Kura Rice Market in Kano, Central Market in Katsina, and Ultra Modern Market in Jigawa.
Local rice sighted were Umza, Al-Hamad rice, Gerawa rice, Labana Rice, Mighty Pure Rice, Tiamin, Fursa and Tomato King. Thailand rice is sold between N34,000 to N37,000.
In the Southern part of the country, it was found that the market price for illegally imported rice is cheaper than the locally-produced ones.
A processor in Lagos, Chief Kingsley Muoneke, hinted foreign rice is less costly because smugglers don’t pay levies or taxes to the government.
Kingsley said the cost varies and is pegged according to the proximity of the markets to borders through which the staple food is smuggled.
“At the warehouse, rice trades between N27,000-N28,000. But when moved from Alaba Rago, Sango Otta or Ijebu Ode, they add N1000-N1500 depending on transportation and security personnel they settle before reaching the market.”
The dealer added that smuggled rice is mostly sold between N30,000-N31,500, while those produced in the country goes for about N33,000.
Mr. Kingsley further revealed how made-in-Nigeria rice is sometimes cloned through repackaging and sold to consumers as foreign .
“The only way to get out of this is for the Nigeria Customs Service to step up and do their job diligently,” he charged the government.
