The Nation Newspaper

Category: Agriculture

  • Encourage use of more fertiliser, Fed Govt urged

    Nigeria will boost its agriculture productivity if the government encourages the use of more fertiliser, the Managing Director, OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria Limited, Mr. Mohamed Hettiti has said.

    He urged the government to invest more in agriculture to boost growth and development.

    Addressing a Food and Agriculture Writers Association of Nigeria (FAWON) forum in Lagos, Hettiti said the fertiliser industry could help in tackling food insecurity.

    He observed, however, that fertiliser use in Nigeria was still below 10kg per hectare, compared to 200kg per hectare in the United States.

    Hettiti noted that there would be abundant food, if more farmers applied fertiliser. The challenge, according to him, is to improve fertiliser use, and the solution lies in applying ‘more knowledge per hectare’.

    He said the company was creating opportunities for a new generation of sustainable fertiliser products tailored towards increasing agricultural productivity.

    He said the company was preparing fertiliser products targeted at tspecific crops. The industry, Hettiti, observed was would be challenged by the demand for better fertiliser.

    According to him, agriculture investment is a tool for economic growth, job creation and sustainable livelihoods.

    He said the company introduced Agribooster, an initiative aimed at supporting smallholder farmers, to gain get access to good quality input and financial services, enhance market linkages, and help them benefit from training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

    He stated that the initiative works across the supply chain to connect farmers with quality input, financing and insurance, aside providing  training on proper input use that would increase crop yields and farmers’ income.

    Under the Agribooster programme, Hettiti said about 70,000 farmers were reached across the country and that the target was 100,00 farmers.

    This year, he said the company invested about $1 million on the programme, adding that the same amount would be spent next year.

  • How to meet US food export standards, by experts

    THE Institute of Export Operations and Management (IEOM) Executive Secretary, Mr. Ofon Udofia, has canvassed a  national campaign to increase the chances of Nigerian food products in the United States (US).

    Most African food products are rejected at US ports, because of failure to comply with sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), and other standards, including those relating to labelling and packaging.

    The  requirements are spelt out in the Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) implemented by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    Exporters consider such conditions described as non-tariff barriers challenging to trade.

    They identified rapid change in SPS measures, regulations and notifications of new regulations as another problem facing exporters.

    Speaking with The Nation, Udofia said the standards were easy to comply with, if the Federal Government and the private sector upgraded their processes.

    According to him, the problem with agribusiness firms is lack of technical capacity and knowledge of the requirements and lack of the resources to implement the systems as required.

    Since the early 2000s, the US has stipulated that foods entering their markets must have Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification.

    HACCP) certification is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level.

    While American food standards are among the most stringent in the world, Udofia said the government could create the regulatory environment to ensure products for export  were produced under applicable requirements.

    He said the government had to work on export certification and requests from the US government to ensure exporters meet them before the products leave the shores of the country.

    He said there were opportunities for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export more food products to American markets after working with his organisation.

    Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), he added, are trained in quality management, export packaging and in adapting their products to target markets.

  • ECA to African leaders: honour your word

    AfricaN leaders should honour their commitment to allocate 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture if the continent is to improve food security, reduce poverty and spur economic growth, Batanai Chikwene of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said.

    Speaking in Cairo, Egypt, Chikwene, a Programme Management Officer with African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), an ECA organ, said more resources were needed to support agriculture and smallholder farmers as the continent is  thriving under the  African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

    “The AfCFTA will be of immense help to smallscale farmers and start-ups on the continent. In addition to providing them with 97 percent market access and a framework for trade facilitation, it will eliminate barriers inhibiting their growth. But then access to finance is important, which is why I believe the time is ripe for us to urge our leaders to recommit themselves and build that capacity for farmers to increase productivity,” he said.

    Chikwene said under  AfCFTA, African  farmers must be ready  to feed people in their own countries, on  the  continent and also to penetrate international markets.

    He said the private sector could help to finance the sector, adding that Africa’s small scale farming is key to the continent’s economic success.

    In 2003 African leaders agreed in Maputo, Mozambique to focus on building agriculture. In the Maputo Declaration, they agreed to vote at least 10 percent of their budgets on the improvement of food security.

    “So far, just a few of our countries have kept their promise. Our farmers need the support if the AfCFTA is to make the huge difference that we expect it to make on the continent,” Chikwene said.

    The Head of Private Sector and Trade Finance, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Khalid Ahmed, said: “Smallholder farmers and SMEs are critical to the overall development of Africa and must be encouraged to grow. They contribute significantly to the economies of African nations and provide the basic needs of the people.”

    He said access to funds was important for them, adding financial institutions should be mandated to develop specific products targeted at assisting smallholder farmers and SMEs on the continent.

    Ahmed Elmekass, coordinator, AU-SAFGRAD and Sherine Sherin El-Sabag, an Industrial Development Advisor in Egypt’s Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform Ministry, also supported the call for more resources to be allocated to  agriculture.

    The IATF is a platform designed to help African firms ease into the huge market that will be created by the AfCFTA.

    Over 50,000 prominent deal makers, businesses, industries, investors, countries and suppliers attended  the IATF where up to $25-billion business deals, contracts and investment transactions were expected to be sealed.

  • ‘450m smallholder farmers support two billion people globally’

    NO fewer than 450 million smallholder farmers are supporting about two billion householders globally, Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) report has said.

    MIX is an intelligence platform for socially-responsible investors focused on inclusive finance in emerging markets.

    The report said smallholder farmers constitute one of the single largest market segments for financial inclusion, yet the finance available is small.

    The report said only $50 billion, which represents a quarter of the estimated total need of the population, is the supply of financing available to them.

    Part of the issue is that financial service providers face high resource constraints to develop and deploy financial products that meet the needs of smallholder farmers, the report added.

    The report noted that one of the key factors impeding the flow of funds to smallholder agricultural opportunities is the lack of information.

    It noted: “Not only does this clog the funding pipeline, it also constrains the development of financial products tailored to the unique needs of smallholder farmers.Therefore, providing the information required by lenders and financial service providers (FSPs) is critical to reducing the financing gap in the segment.‘’

    In 2016, the report said MIX worked  with the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) and One Acre Fund to analyse the lending of its nine member-organisations, identifying relative strengths and challenges of lending in major commodities, markets and types of borrowers.

    In 2015, it said CSAF members extended a combined U$ 597 million in short- and long-term credit to producer organisations and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in 66 countries, connecting more than 2.1 million smallholder farmers to domestic and international markets.

  • Lalong, farmers seek ways of improving agric yields

    PLATEaU State Governor Simon Bako Lalong has urged farmers to take advantage  of the Federal Government’s policy to boost agricultural production and facilitate the diversification of the economy.

    Lalong stated this at the Northern Agricultural Summit in Jos.

    He lauded the theme of the summit which was: “Harnessing the successes of the agricultural sector in Northern Nigeria and Plateau State.” He said it will definitely contribute towards sustainable agricultural production, not just in the North but the nation at large.

    Lalong said: “The theme of this year’s summit is apt and timely, especially when viewed against the backdrop of our commitment to addressing the critical issues of food security and economic diversification and the commercialisation of agriculture in Northern Nigeria and Nigeria in general.

    “It is delightful to also note that this conference has in attendance the academia, including crop and livestock farmers and technocrats from the various ministries of agriculture in the north. This hopefully underscores the significance of the summit, with a very strong belief that the quality of discussions will continue to assist us in attaining our set objectives of national food production, security and poverty alleviation.

    “Since we assumed office in May 2015, we have spent considerable time and energy reviewing the challenges that had in the past prevented the emergence of Nigeria as the bread basket of Africa, given our enormous resources. The immediate answer was that majority of our farmers were small holders with average holdings of one hectare or less.

    “However, further probe into these revealed that our agriculture is characterised by some critical issues, such as subsistence farming methods; poorly fertile soils due to low fertiliser usage per hectare; inadequate access to the right quality farm input; low technology application; bad agronomy practices; poor road rural network and other vital infrastructure; high prevalence of crop and livestock diseases; and inadequate research and low uptake or utilisation of research results, and so on.

    “This list is by no means exhaustive, but it provided us with the scenario on ground of which Plateau State is not an exception. The next challenge for us then was how far we could go in an effort to address these critical issues. With due sense of modesty, let me state that within the over three years of being in office, we have re-modelled, supported and enhanced some of our crucial agricultural projects and programmes. Currently, we are sustaining this through harnessing agro-enterprises, where we possess near absolute comparative advantage and collaboration with individuals, firms, and agencies that are professionally reputable.

    “It is necessary for me to reel out some of our laudable achievements in the agricultural sector which includes the Potato Seedling Multiplication Project.

    ‘’In view of the recent increased incidence in potato blight disease,  farmers have continued to record decline in yields, government sought the assistance of the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development in procuring 10 metric tons of a blight resistant variety of potato called the Mirabella from the Republic of Germany.

    “The project has since been inaugurated in Kwall, Bassa Local Government Area and foundation seeds distributed to farmers by the supervising consultant. The yield from the multiplication units have been sold to farmers for planting. The government had initially targeted 2,500 farmers and all have benefited from this improved variety.’’

  • Don seeks investment in dairy production

    A former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Prof Abiodun Adeloye is seeking increased investment in the diary sector, saying it will support jobs in rural communities.

    He said supporting the industry would ensure that dairy farmers find new ways to improve productivity and efficiency in their operations.

    He said the market opportunity presented by the conversion of raw milk consumption into processed milk was huge, adding that the farmers needed support of best practices to increase yields, boost output quality, and, ultimately, raise incomes.

    According to him, the decline in volumes have impacted investments in the sector and marred the initiatives taken to develop milk farming communities and a cool chain infrastructure.

    While supply has not been able to keep up with demand, Adeloye noted that for many years, the dairy sector has fallen short of its promise.

    He explained that dairy farmers were not sure whether their milk produce will be bought or not because of lack of enough processing facilities and infrastructure.

    He said the government should empower Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make dairy products.

    In most of the rural areas, farmers face the challenge of feeder roads to ease transportation to milk collection centres and dairies.

  • Boosting capacity for sustainable food production

    The Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure, Ondo State is working with farmers and students to boost productivity and improve livelihoods and nutrition, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    A team of researchers, led by  the Provost,  Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure, Ondo State, Dr  Samson Odedina, is  empowering  farmers  and students to produce bio-fortified food through good agricultural practices.

    He said the college was working with some farmers to train them in the production of fortified crops for processing into nutritious products. The partnership, according to him, is designed to increase profits for local smallholders as well as help to combat high levels of malnutrition. He  said the college has trained farmers on how to process High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) and other cassava products.

    Odedina said through various programmes, the college is training farmers in the rural areas on how to address low yields, which has contributed to chronic food and nutrition insecurity.

    To overcome this, he said FECA is promoting sustainable intensification technologies, practices and policies that foster production of nutritious and marketable food.

    Odedina said farmers need up-to-date knowledge about growing methods, innovative business models, and best practices to thrive and remain sustainable.

    As farming continues to grow, he said agric colleges, such as FECA needs to step up to support urban farmers’needs.

    Through its vocational courses, Odedina said FECAprovides technical expertise, networking, and business development programmes for people wanting to venture into farming.

    He said prospective agriculture entrepreneurs participated in farm business courses.

    At the rural areas, the Provost said rural farmers are exposed to field schools, were they are taught basic farming, including land preparation, seedsplanting irrigationand harvesting.

    Also, the college facilitated distribution of initial seed stock of improved varieties to smallholder farmers for multiplication.

    This year, the college, in collaboration with the Ondo State government, started a training programme for about 18,000 unemployed graduates across the 18 local government areas of the state.

    The training programme, tagged: ‘Youths on the Ridges’, covered some aspects of agriculture, including poultry, snail rearing, piggery, fishery and cassava processing. The participants comprised 1000 youths from each of the 18 local government areas of the state.

    Odedina said the institution offered the free training to the beneficiaries as its contribution to the government’s effort to reduce the unemployment rate in Ondo.

    According to him, each participant will be expected to choose any area of agriculture.

    The FECA boss also said the college had been training youths, especially unemployed graduates, in many aspects of agriculture.

    He said: “We will teach the participants in any area of their choice and they will become agro-millionaires after the training because the demands are there for their products. Some of our graduates are doing fine in their businesses. We hope to train more so as to bring our youths out of unemployment through agriculture.”

  • Niger Assembly okays N1.5b loan

    The Niger State House of Assembly has granted the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello’s request to access a N1.5 billion loan for the implementation of the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS).

    The request was granted after the presentation of the report of joint committees on finance and agriculture.

    The Joint Committee’s Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Mammagi, said the request was granted because the repayment cost was manageable and it would not be too much burden on the monthly cash flow of the state.

    “The CBN, through Zenith Bank, has offered to provide this term loan of N1.5billion. The facility is offered for a period of 60 months at an interest rate of nine per cent per annum and two flat for all other transactions. This is deemed to be highly competitive in terms of what obtains in the banking industry.

    “Niger State has keyed into the programme as its implementation would stimulate and support socio-economic development of the state.”

  • Enabling farmers to improve prosperity

    Promoting rural prosperity is key to Nigeria’s future.The World Bank is working with states to drive rural development using agriculture, DANIEL ESSIET writes.

    The World Bank’s partnership with Nigeria is geared towards creating jobs and promoting prosperity for all, including those who live and work in the rural communities.

    Through its programmes, the bank has sought to open new economic opportunities for rural communities.

    One programme the bank is achieving this is through Agriculture Productivity Processing Enhancement and Livelihood Scheme Projects(APPEALS).

    A six-year project developed by the World Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the collaborating states,APPEALSis designed to enhance agricultural productivity of small and medium scale farmers and improve value addition along priority value chains in the participating states.

    The bank earmarked $200 million for the project; 60,000 farmers will benefit the project.

    The project has the following components: production and productivity enhancement, primary processing, value addition, post-harvest management and women and youth empowerment, infrastructure support to agri-business clusters; technical assistance, knowledge management and communication  and project management and coordination.

    Speaking during its second project implementation support mission  held in Lagos, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, (FMARD) Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu  said the Federal Government is committed to the project, which aims to develop all the value chains of the smallholder farmers who represent the predominant number in food production, adding that the APPEALS programme has the potential to help tackle food insecurity, poverty and unemployment.

    Mu’azu charged participating states to commit to the success of the project, pointing out: “We can change the face of agriculture using those value chains, if we all work hard.”

    The World Bank Task Team Leader for the APPEALS project, Dr. Sheu Salau called on the State Coordinating Offices (SCOs) to bring in innovations and expertise in the project implementation.

    He stressed the need not to create unnecessary bottle-neck/bureaucracy into the implementation to fasttrack timely implementation. He also urged the need to collaborate with relevant on-going projects at the nation and state levels, Non-Govermental Organisations (NGOs), private sector initiatives and donor agencies to ensure the beneficiaries get value for their involvement in the project.

    He said: “You were all appointed to your various positions based on your requisite competence and experiences to deliver on the project development objectives. You are, therefore, expected to bring innovation and work hard as a team.”

    The National Project Coordinator, APPEALS and Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Dr. Amin Babandi, said: “This project is not about the mission team members. It is about the beneficiaries, our farmers who are not in this room.

    Represented by National Operations Officer, APPEALS, Salisu Garba, Mr Babandi said  the project is not about meetings or sitting to talk. It is about strategising to effectively translate the development objectives of the project to concrete results.”

     

    Babandi hinted that the project will be implemented bottom – up with the farmers/beneficiaries as the major player determining the implementation direction so as to ensure project sustainability.

    He implored that all hands must be on deck stressing the need for team work and free flow of information to ensure successful implementation of the project in the participating States of Lagos, Cross-River, Kano, Kaduna, Kogi and Enugu.

    The  Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau told the gathering that the State is looking forward in earnest to the implementation of APPEALS so that the farmers in the selected value chains in Lagos State can start recording increase in production, productivity, improvement in processing techniques and marketing skills.

    He  said: “We are indeed excited about the Women and Youth Empowerment aspect of the project which is supporting one of the major focuses of the present administration of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode in the State.”

    One unique feature of APPEALS project, is the inclusion and mainstreaming of persons with disability in all relevant agric value chains under the project. Teams from the World Bank, FMARD, relevant agencies and Partners, State Project Coordinators and key stakeholders werein attendance.

  • Group mulls task force on pesticides use

    The National President of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama, said the organisation had set up a task force to ensure safe and responsible use of pesticides.

    He said this is to prevent more accidents, protect farmers’ health, and improve efforts in the field.

    A considerable number of accidents occur each year as a result of pesticide mistakes, causing eye, skin, and respiratory infections.

    Iyama said the move has become necessary with the reported abuse of the use of Spiner in beans preservation. The task force, according to him, is targeting farmers and producers.

    The task force, he added, aims at reducing the risks and consequences of the use of pesticides, including a reduction of the use and placement in the market of the products.

    At farm, he said the association will ensure balanced information will be available to farmers about the risks of the use of plant protection products, proper storage conditions, as well as about alternative solutions that entail a smaller risk.

    According to him, it has become clear that farmers were relying on chemical pesticides too much and using any pesticides they could buy without proper guidance.

    Although most farmers use agricultural chemicals to control pest and disease attacks these days, he said many haven’t been properly trained on application practices.

    As a result, the chemicals have a high chance of contaminating crops.   He said the association is determined to teach farmers about pesticide safety.