Before now, farmers in Edo State practised subsistence farming as there was no programme in place to practise mechanised farming. With Godwin Obaseki as the governor, things are looking up as his agripreneur programme is aimed at dealing with challenges confronting farmers as it relates to access to land, market and farm inputs,writes OSAGIE OTABOR
There appears to be a silver lining in the cloud for oil palm, poultry and maize farmers in Edo State. Rice farmers have received support from the Edo State government under its agriprenuer programme. Rice farmers had, in November, reported bumper harvest and expected returns of between N400, 000 and N500, 000 per farming season.
The agriprenuer programme was supported by N5 billion loan the Edo State government had secured from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the Commercial Agric Credit Scheme for rice and maize production across the three senatorial districts.
Governor Obaseki, however, decided to expand the programme to cover livestock, other grains and oil palm.
Last month, Governor Obaseki and the Managing Director of the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Mr. Aliu Abdulhamid were all smiles. They were in happy mood as a combined harvester harvested maize from 400 hectares of farm at Sobe Farm Settlement in Owan West Local Government Area. The 400 hectares was cultivated by 180 farmers. Each farmer got five hectares of land.
Governor Obaseki had every reason to be happy because he has been able to overcome difficulties initially experienced in his agriprenuer programme in Sobe unlike in 2017 when an attempt to cultivate 1, 000 hectares of land for maize failed due to herdsmen’s activities in the area and lack of commitment on the part of partners.
Farmers that participated in the programme at Sobe Maize Farm said they got four tons per hectare as against the targeted 1.8 tons. To ensure success of the expansion of the Edo Agripreneur Programme, Governor Obaseki entered an amended deal with NIRSAL.
With the amended deal, the target is to harvest 17,000 tons of maize per farming season and expected revenue of N2 billion.
Speaking at Sobe where they witnessed the harvesting of maize, Governor Obaseki stated that signing the amended deal with NIRSAL became imperative following the success of last year’s Agripreneur Programme. He said farming had become profitable under the programme and urged more residents, especially youths, to embrace the scheme.
Obaseki lambasted political opponents criticising several MoUs he has entered into, saying the MoUs are now yielding money to farmers. He said he was tagged ‘Governor MOU’ but that the MoU is now yielding money for farmers.
He further explained that his agripreneur programme was implemented to deal with challenges confronting farmers as it relates to access to land, market, farm inputs and the assistance from NIRSAL to de-risk the investment.
Obaseki said the success story of the programme was made possible because of President Mohammadu Buhari’s commitment to improve the living condition of rural farmers, even as he urged benefitting farmers to encourage more farmers to join the scheme.
He said: “We are going round communities to demand land. Anywhere there is land, we will go there and assist farmers to make sure they farm in large hectares. We have more money to give to them.
“They said I am Governor MoU. They should come and see how the MoU is turning into money. Besides grains, we are doing cassava starting with 1,000 hectares for Orhia women. We are doing poultry and we have taken delivery of over 20,000 birds to be distributed. We are doing fishery on a large scale.
“This land is owned by the state government. We don’t have any communal issues. We want to approach communities to give us land. Our model is to approach communities to voluntarily give us land for agricultural purposes.
“Nigeria’s problem can only be solved by good leadership. Buhari has shown good leadership. He wants to help you to be prosperous. To do it, the governance structure must be transparent.
“We are encouraging large commercial farms. We want more local government councils to give us more lands to extend our Agripreneur programme.
Managing Director of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, noted that the success recorded in the programme last year would encourage stakeholders in the value chain to provide more funding under the model.
Abdulhameed stated that the programme targeted to improving the livelihood of 880 farmers on 4,400 hectares of land across the 18 local government areas of the state, even as he assured the farmers that middlemen would not be allowed to shortchange them because they will be linked directly to the market price.
His words: “NIRSAL and Edo State government collaboration has enabled the flow of finance, linkage to market and utilisation of technologies for improved yields and guaranteed financial returns to 180 small holders’ farmers.
“This can be scaled up in the next farming season. Obaseki also had an idea on why we should extend irrigation to this area so that the farmers can grow crops three times a year. NIRSAL has deployed advanced technologies and the support of Edo State government. This product has experienced 100 per cent in yield.
“This is another win because the cultivation is done for the farmers. The entire 100 per cent is for the farmers. We are lifting them out of subsistence farming. We want to move them to an era where young people will be encouraged to embrace farming. We want rural people to feel money in their pocket.”
Surprise package for 158 poultry farmers
About 158 poultry farmers also got surprise packages when Governor Obaseki, in fulfilment of his promise to empower them, distributed day-old chicks and vaccines to them. Each poultry farmer is to receive N1.2 million loan at single digit interest rate to produce 1, 000 birds. The loan is to be paid back after one year.
Leader of the Fems Cluster, Mr. Francis Udam, said they were shocked that the state government lived up to its promises.
“Our government has decided to encourage poultry farmers. This is one of the clusters. We just received 18,000 birds and feeds, necessary vaccines and medications. We are very happy.
“We have all the things to feed the birds till we take them to the market.”
Mr. Francis Orojiama, who has been rearing chicken for over 29 years, said it would stop people from consuming imported chicken.
“This is the first time we are having this experience in Edo State. I know it will help us to increase our production and at the end we will produce for our teeming population. Before now, we depend so much on imported frozen chicken which is not healthy. We are happy with this initiative of Obaseki. We take it in giant strides. With production of volume, it will be okay.
To Ugiagbe Erhunse, “it is a laudable one. It will make chicken available. This will boost our lives and help us to grow more birds. The interest rate is low and we will not regret it.
Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Prince Joe Okojie, who delivered the birds and vaccines, said it was one of the ways to boost food security in the country.
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Prince Okojie said the bumper harvest in its rice and cassava farms where farmers were supported with the CBN loan facility encouraged the need to support livestock beginning with poultry.
He said: “The Governor has done this with crop production. We have ventured into animal husbandry. Each farmer is having 1, 000 birds. We also brought supplies for them. We have other 10 locations.
“Instead of supporting import, we decided to produce here. It will not only provide food but create employment for the farmers.
…And N69b facility for oil palm farmers
Smallholder oil palm farmers in Edo State are gearing up to benefit from the N69 billion the CBN has committed to the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP).
The ESOPP aimed to cultivate over 120,000 hectares of land. Edo State earlier got over 80 per cent from the CBN’s N30 billion agriculture interventions for states.
Speaking at the launch of ESOPP, CBN Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele described Edo as the best place to invest if the country must revive its oil palm industry.
Emiefele stated that Governor Obaseki was the only governor in the Southsouth and Southeast that showed the required commitment and leadership to developing the oil palm sector in Nigeria by making 120,000 hectares of land available for the project.
“Edo State has the largest oil palm plantation in Nigeria and in reviving the oil palm industry in Nigeria; Edo State is the best place to start.
The CBN has disbursed about N30 billion to entrepreneurs in the oil sector in the last one year and out of that amount, about N25 billion has been channeled to support companies that are into oil palm plantation in Edo State.
“I will say equivocally that with the effort of Edo State government in cassava, oil palm, rice value chain and the support entrepreneurs in the state are receiving through CBN interventions, I have no doubt in my mind that Edo State will be economically viable in another three years.
“I advise those economic saboteurs who still think they will hide under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trade liberalisation scheme to sabotage the effort of the Federal Government.
We will do our best to revamp this sector, including directing all banks in Nigeria to close the account of any company, person, staff, owners, top management and supply chain enablers involved in smuggling.”
Obaseki said the project was part of his plans to harness the state’s rich human and natural endowments to achieve economic growth, diversifying the state’s economy, achieving economic prosperity, creating jobs and improving the lives of the people.
He said he wanted to remove the critical risk in the oil palm sector by solving the biggest hindrances to plantation farm in Nigeria and making land available to farmers.
“The focus on the oil palm sector alone can stimulate and drive the economy of any state as it has done to those of Malaysia and Indonesia.
This programme will enable us to move from complaining and talking about what we have lost to concrete action towards regaining what has been lost.
“Successful implementation of the programme will create over 600,000 more jobs as well as 25,000 hectares of forest cover. This programme will cost us about $600 million, which is approximately N200 billion. The money is there globally as money is not out of reach with investors on ground.
Mrs. Esosa Igbinoba, an oil palm farmer in Okada axis said the CBN intervention would allow a number of the plantation owners to expand their hectares of land and processing capacity.
She said: “We were excited when we heard that the CBN will be committing billions of naira for the development of the oil palm sector in Edo State
. We already have two heavyweights in Nigeria’s oil palm sector, namely Okomu Plc and Presco Plc, in the state. The investment further opens up the field for more players.
“Particularly, we want to thank Governor Obaseki for making the land available for the plantation owners and smallholder farmers to access the fund. We are very confident that the investment will transform the state for the better.”
Prince Okojie said Ovia North East would provide 25,329 hectares; Ovia South West 36, 759 hectares; while Orhionmwon and Uhunmwode provided 51,000 and 23, 000 hectares of land respectively.
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