The Nation Newspaper

Tag: agriculture

  • Students boost agriculture

    Agriculture is neither old fashioned nor for the unrefined – and some students and academics at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) are working hard to get this message across through the Face of Agriculture project.

    The initiative, a brainchild of Titilayo Femi Kings, a Masters Student of Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology, FUTA, metamorphosed into a full-blown banner signing and seminar event held at the Hilltop Auditorium, Akure, recently.

    The red carpet session of the event featured signing of such positive statements like: “I believe in Agriculture, I study and will practice Agriculture as a career, “Agriculture is life,” and “Agriculture is what I do” on a huge banner outside the venue of the event.

    Femi Kings said the programme tagged, “Transforming Face of Agriculture in Africa,” was designed to stimulate the interest of the youth and young children in agriculture and change their wrong perception about it being a profession for unsophisticated people.

    The programme featured talks by the chairperson, Ondo State Wealth Creation Agency (WECA), Bolanle Olafunmiloye, who talked about opportunities in agricultural businesses and processes to follow to access opportunities provided by the state government; and Mr Muyiwa Oladosu, who spoke of the untapped value chains waiting to be harnessed in agri-business.

    Two plenary sessions facilitated by seasoned practitioners in different fields of Agriculture enlightened the participants on Law and Agriculture (lawgronomy), job opportunities, challenges in agriculture and how to start an agri-business.

    One of the highlights of the event was the showcasing of Pelumi Fagbeja, a 300-Level student of Crop Soil and Pest Management who runs a small scale garri processing plant.

    In a Communiqué read by Femi-Kings, the participanats agreed that Agriculture remains the bedrock of any economy and for a nation to thrive, Agriculture must be given priority .They also said structures and incentives should be put in place to ensure that there is always a succeeding generation to take over the practice and profession of agriculture in the country.

  • ‘Agriculture remains goldmine for SMEs’

    ‘Agriculture remains goldmine for SMEs’

    Edobong Akpabio, Chief Executive, Visionage Agro Tech, is woman of many parts whose post-career experience cuts across banking, construction, logistics and consulting. But after putting over two decades in paid employment, she decided to set up shop as a mechanised farmer. She speaks with Yetunde Oladeinde on her passion for agriculture, challenges and prospects of start-ups, among others.

    What spurred you into agriculture?

    The company was incorporated on May 4th 2006. I can never forget the date because it was the anniversary of my mother’s death. I had so many personal goals. For instance, I had a personal goal that I should get married before I am 25 and I did this after my 24th birthday. I also had a personal goal that I would have all my children before I am 30 years old. I had my youngest a few months before my 30th birthday. I also had this personal vision that I should stop paid employment before I am forty. When it was closing in, I started to ask myself what I would do to make that goal.

    What were you doing just before this?

    I worked since I was 23 years. I worked at Flour Mills and when I got married we were living in Kaduna, then we left for Lagos to work in a construction company and from there I worked in a bank and later a logistics company. I was also with the National Sports Lottery before moving to a consulting firm. It was when I was in the logistics company that forty almost met me. Then I needed to ask myself what I could do. I did not have any commercial skill and my parents were salary earners. I did not have anyone to encourage me in that direction. My mother-in-law was the only one in business and she would always say that you won’t be able to do the business that we are doing. So just go and wear that skirt suit and do your hair.

    I started attending programmes and seminars and I devoted a lot of time and money to it. Then God was on my side because my employers supported me, not because they knew what I was doing but if I told my boss that I had meetings to attend  they would just allow me to go. It was at that time that President Obasanjo introduced the cassava revolution .Then I attended some seminars with International Institute Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and that was how I got fired up by agriculture. It was cassava that they were actually talking about. So I decided that I was going to get land and do cassava. That was what I had in mind but when we got the land, the same IITA people who came to do the soil test told us that cassava was good but there were so many other things that could be done on the land.

     What would you describe as the turning point for you?

    Soon after my husband travelled to Israel for a conference and exhibition, he met someone who introduced some seeds for sale. He told them that our people were not used to the seeds and he gave my husband some to test. My husband came back and we tested the seeds that included cabbage, carrot, seedless watermelon, spring onions, tomatoes and pepper in all kinds of colours. They did very well. We had many packs but just opened a pack for testing and before we knew it, 10 acres of land were occupied. It was when they started growing, that we knew we were in trouble. We were giving it to friends, relatives and neighbours and it was so much.  I went to a friend who was a General Manager with UAC in charge of UAC restaurants and discussed with her. She took me to the Managing Director of NANDO’s which was a South African subsidiary of UAC. The South African man was very interested and he came to my farm and saw what I had there. He gave me a bill to supply them with vegetables. That was how I offloaded the vegetables. Someone also introduced me to Jades Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that had outlets in Ikeja GRA and Victoria Island. I started supplying to them and that was how I knew that this was serious business.

    The people who gave us the seeds were also using us to test the markets and the vegetables did very well. The seedless watermelon did very well, it grew very big but just before it gets ripe it would rotten. So we discovered that the planting season was different. It does not like water and when it grows and it is getting ripe, it would start having worm activity because it is still raining and the water remains under it. It was better for us to plant it in October but we didn’t know. We gave them the report and they gave us some instruments. Now, we have to buy the seeds and those seeds are expensive. We did a serious cost analysis and discovered that we could not afford the seeds. We were encouraged because we discovered that these things are possible and that we had very good soil.

    How did this experience affect your production?

    At that time, we had only 30 acres and we bought an additional 100 acres. We did palm oil and palm kernel .In fact, one of the Israelis we worked with said we could use the chaff from this as rickets for suya barbecue. There is also someone from South Africa and they are still asking us when we are going to start. This is to show you that there are lots of potentials in farming. I think that from that moment, I was fired up to remain in agriculture. I began to learn a lot more; I began to get more exposure and not so long after my son said he wanted to study Agriculture. He had always had a flair for that even in secondary school and so he studied what he wanted. We do not put pressure on our children to do anything. They are the ones that tell us what they want and our own is to support. The additional responsibility is that in order to support him I must know what he wants to do.

    So I had to open myself to so many opportunities and in doing that they started inviting me for speaking engagements at the Covenant University, Babcock, LASU and College of Education, some of which were in schools. I spoke with the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi  Adesina and he was really excited. It was through him that I got the speaking engagement at the Covenant University. It was in one of such speaking engagements that I discovered that the young ones do not want 10 or 50 acres of land to plant cassava. They are interested in processing and production to provide you with support. While we are rearing table size fish, one of the young ones is interested in only fingerlings. The largest capacity of the catfish for this pond cannot be more than 600 but you can have 50,000 fingerlings and you rear them every eight weeks. So you can imagine how much he can make in a year. He would make more money and that is what they want. So they would concentrate and develop it.

    Did anyone also influence you in this direction?

    I read English for first degree and also did a Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I have nothing to do with Agriculture except the garden that my mother had at the back of the house and any Ibibio woman had this while I was growing up. My mother actually raised piggery and poultry. We were many in the family, all seven children. I recalled my mum told my father that it was going to provide eggs for the house. That was how my father agreed but if she had said it was commercial, he would not have accepted it. His wife was a nurse. I believe very strongly that if he had supported her, she would have done better. It was that piggery and poultry that bought our socks, provisions and other needs when we were going back to school.

    My husband is not a farmer but he is interested in farming. He is ready to support me all the way. When he went to Israel it was for something else, only for him to discover that there was a conference on agriculture and he went there. He goes to the farm with me and that has made the difference in where I am today. When I tell people that I did not read Agriculture, they find it difficult to believe.  I had to develop myself consciously because there are a lot of people who are dependent on what I know.

  • Kogi, CBN sign N2b MoU for agriculture

    Kogi State government  has signed a N2 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for agriculture.

    Governor Idris Wada said this at the opening of a four-day-training for cashew farmers in Anyigba, Dekina Local Government Area.

    He said the government has provided the will for farmers to succeed, adding that the N2 billion would be spread across agricultural areas where the state had comparative advantage.

    Wada, who was represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Zacchaeus Atte, said N300 million would be voted for cashew farmers.

    The President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr. Tola Fasheru, urged  the  governments to provide incentives for cashew farmers.

    In  another  vein, Faseru, said   Nigerian cashew is becoming one of the best in the world as it  reached consistently 51Lbs and 52Lbs/ 80kg, with nut count around 180-185 per kg as the intensive training in good farming practices, harvest and post harvest handling practices  conducted for farmers and local buying agents and  produce inspection officers are beginning to pay off.

    According  to him,  efforts are also being put in place to provide infrastructure such  as storage facilities and drying platforms for  farmers.

    Faseru  noted  that  farmers are being trained on how they can conduct quality test for their cashew particularly with respect to moisture,out turn and the nut count. All of these, he  added,  are geared towards achieving increased cashew productivity and quality.

    Currently, he  noted   that  the  annual production for the raw cashew nuts is put at 125,000 metric tonnes valued at N24 billion  ($160,000,000).

    He  said the  sector has the potential for an annual output of about $2 billion  within the next five years.

    Already at the moment, he  said   the cashew industry  provides livelihood for over 300,000 families directly employing over 600,000 people.

    He  noted  that  efforts are ongoing to increase the level of processing and value addition to  cashew nuts and cashew apple for  local consumption and export to the international market.

    Faseru  said  an increase in the volume of the cashew being produced would impact directly on the jobs being created and this would in turn impact positively on the economy of the cashew producing states.

     

  • ‘Agriculture can reduce rural poverty’

    ‘Agriculture can reduce rural poverty’

    Improved agriculture  could   play a critical role in the economies of rural communities by   providing   a buffer against the skyrocketing unemployment rates experienced by most of the countries, the Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, has said.

    Its Deputy Director, Directorate of General Administration, Dr   Ademola  Adeyemo,   said a lot  of  communities   were    experiencing   increases in unemployment largely due to instability in the agriculture sector.

    According  to  him,  when  the  agric  sector   is  properly  repositioned , it  would  be  built around the goals of improving lives and livelihoods through collaboration, responsiveness to changing conditions, persistence and innovation.

    Through it, he said the government will be able to address the challenges of poverty and   hunger, seeking solutions that will change lives by improving   the earnings potential and standard of living of rural and urban households.

    To achieve it, he said a value chain approach is necessary which will   include improved input supply and higher farm productivity, reduction in postharvest losses, access to higher-value markets and shifting to high-value crops.

    Without a dramatic transformation, he said the current food production system seems  unlikely to feed a growing population.

    According to him, more efforts should be directed at diversification and intensification of rural production systems.

    An expanded agricultural market, he noted,   offers new jobs and export opportunities in agriculture, but technical assistance may be required for helping to meet quality and safety standards.

    With the Agricultural Transformation Agenda taking shape, he said rural areas in some regions were going to experience  job growth across the board.

    He  experienced  concerns  that  the  sector  was  losing  farm hands  with  the   average age of a farmer being   50  years old and the fastest growing demographic is 65 years and older.

    He said farming communities have been particularly affected by an aging population, which contributes to slower population growth.  This coupled with stagnant job growth in many rural areas has led to the decline in community resiliency.

    Not just that farmers are getting older, he   said communities   with primarily agriculture-based economies have continued to lose population as a whole with   increasing   job growth in other   industries in these same counties.

    He urged the government to place premium on investing in rural community economic development initiatives that back proven growth strategies such as micro-enterprise development, value-added agricultural businesses, and the growth of regional food markets.

  • ‘Pest arrivals a concern for agriculture’

    Hundreds of unwanted pests making it into the  country as a result of climate change could present an unacceptable risk to farming, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Prof  Abiodun Adeloye has said .

    According to him, the nation’s  agriculture could be  crawling with pests and diseases introduced from other countries.

    Approximately 500 insects are serious pests in crops and millions of naira are be lost annually, in part, from lost crop production and greater management expenses that  often follow pest  invasion.

    Recognising the risks posed  by pests, the don stressed the need for  stiff regulation of trade to limit new arrivals.

    According to him, pests such as insects, snakes, frogs and spiders made it through border checks each year.

    Adeloye said any lax security could potentially be disastrous to the agriculture industry.

    With climate change  and  insects  migration  across the  borders, the  don said Nigeria could become a breeding ground for invading pests, which could be disastrous for the ecosystem.

    He said staff at borders has   to   work hard to try to weed out unwanted pests, but passengers also needed to do their part by declaring risk items at borders.

    The problem of alien or exotic species, he noted, borders on their costs to agriculture, forestry, and industry. The price they exert on the nation’s forests, grasslands, and waterways, however, is at least as great.

    Containing these invasions, he  said, requires shared commitment and action,calling for prompt attention and action to safeguard nation’s agricultural sector.

    The potential impact of insects,   on native plants, animals, watersheds, and farmlands, according  to him, are enormous. He said the  ministry needs vigilant inspectors  to watch them before they escape into the wild.

    Raising public awareness and concern about the problem on plants and animals, he noted,  would help state and federal agencies to deal effectively with the issue.

    According to him, the sector  needs a good public service that uses education and social network research to ensure that farmers are supported to learn from an evidence-based source.

    He noted that it takes a long time for farmers to adopt new technologies and that they require complex changes to their farm systems, which requires understanding of the science behind them.

    He explained that extension officers are providers of advice to farmers.

    He said the way to improve the uptake of new technologies is to make use of extension officers to  ensure farmers access information that can make them better farmers.

    He said farmers must use up-to-date research to make the step-change and meet profitability targets set by the industry.

     

  • Kogi farmers get N750m loan

    About 3,800 farmers in Kogi State have benefited from a N750 million loan jointly facilitated by the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and the state government.

    Disbursing the loan yesterday, Governor Idris Wada urged the beneficiaries, who cut across 21 local government areas, to repay the loan promptly so that others can benefit from it.

    He said: “Agriculture used to be the main stay of the nation’s economy. With the credit facility and farmers’ commitment, in the near future, agriculture can again become the main stay of our economy.”

    Commissioner for Agriculture Zacchaeus Oluwagbotemi said his ministry would monitor the beneficiaries to ensure that the loans are used for the purpose they are meant for.

    BoA Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Babatunde Sediq said the bank has disbursed N1.3 million to farmers, adding: “Loan below N250 million are given without traditional collateral but with guarantee by the cooperative societies. This was done to assist peasant farmers, who have the intention to grow their farm business but lack the capital for expansion.”

     

  • ‘Road completion cardinal to Anambra agriculture revolution’

    The Anambra State Government has assured residents  of quick completion of the ongoing Atani-Ekwusigo road project.

    The Commissioner of Works, Mr Callistus Ilozumba, told  reporters in Atani, near Onitsha, that the road was vital to its Agricultural Transformation Scheme meant to generate employment and boost food production.

    Ilozumba said  the 12-km road would link many farming communities that would participate in the agriculture programme.

    Speaking after inspecting the ongoing project, the commissioner said  three bridges meant for the road had been completed while the work was going on at a good pace.

    “Atani-Ekwusigo road is a focal road for us, especially as it would support the Agricultural Transformation Scheme since in this axis of the state, we have very fertile arable land.

    “It would assist our farmers to get their produce to major markets in Onitsha in order to get good bargain for them as well as help those that would like to buy direct from the farms.

    “It would be a useless venture, if after producing these tonnes of food items there is no good means of transporting them out of here and getting them to the market. “Government would ensure speedy completion of the road which will provide a quicker passage in and out of Onitsha,’’  he said. The commissioner stressed that the road would act as a good alternative by-pass to ease traffic jam at the Upper Iweka axis of the Onitsha-Enugu road. “The road, when completed, would also bring considerable relief to commuters using the Onitsha-Owerri road, as they would easily connect the Niger Bridge to Delta State through the road, instead of contending with the usual traffic jam at Upper Iweka through the Onitsha-Enugu road,’’ he said.Ilozumba thanked the people of Ogbaru council for the support they had given to the state government as well as contractor handling the project.

     

  • World Bank assists 600,000 on mechanised agric

    To encourage mechanised agriculture in the country, the World Bank is assisting about 600,000 farmers in scaling up their capacity, Project Coordinator, West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), Prof Damain Chikendu has said.

    Chikendu disclosed this in Idofian, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State at a demonstration and sensitisation workshop on agricultural technologies.

    The workshop was organised by WAAPP-Nigeria, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) in collaboration with National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM).

    The WAAPP Project Coordinator spoke further, saying, “We have seen what is available and useful to farmers. We want you to assist WAAPP to identify machines you can use and promote mechanised farming in the sub-region.”

    Participants were drawn from the academia, research institutes and farmers.

    In a remark, the Executive Director, NCAM Ike Izogu was confident that the country has the capacity to generate its own home grown technologies “if the appropriate strategies are developed and supported by all the stakeholders.”

    Said he: “During this workshop, different agricultural machines related land development, production, harvesting and processing of crops like cassava, maize, sorghum, rice and vegetables will be exhibited and demonstrated to confirm their capacities, efficacies and efficiencies.

    “The core objective of this programme is to demonstrate different NCAM mechanisation technologies to fabricators, farmers, national agricultural research institutions and other stakeholders. It is hoped that at the end of this programme awareness would have been created on the availability of these critical machines in the country.

    “NCAM is ready to provide training and technology transfer to interested partners we would also be willing to train research scientists and engineers to expand our national capacity in the production of agricultural machinery. The workshop in the end would add value to the innovative platform and integrated agricultural research for mechanisation development in Nigeria.

    “NCAM has over the years produced about 200 research results published in may international and national journals; produced about forty machines in the major crop specialisations, tested over 60 tractors, developed about seven standards, carried out training of fabricators, processors and youths in various agricultural mechanisation job creation modules etc.”

  • Ehingbeti 2014: Lagos lists priority areas for agriculture

    Lagos State government has identified some key agriculture value chains it hopes to leverage to achieve food sufficiency for the residents of the state as power again occupies the front burner at the seventh edition of the biennial Lagos Economic Summit, popularly called Ehingbeti.

    Speaking on how the state government intends to harness power for the development of the agriculture sector, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said the agriculture value chains being focused are poultry, rice production, cassava cultivation, aquaculture, vegetable, post-harvest as well as abattoir and lairage.

    Speaking on the theme of this year summit: “Powering the Lagos Economy: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities” which takes place at the Eko Hotel and Suites from April 8 to10, the commissioner said like every other sector of the economy, inadequacy of electric power has impacted negatively on the agriculture value chains; a development he noted was a threat to food sufficiency in the country as well as the African continent as a whole.

    The commissioner said for instance, absence of or inadequate power supply has been a major setback for farmers who engage in hatchery production, poultry processing, layer birds and broiler production as a result of high mortality of birds, increase in the cost of production and feed as well as post processing loss.

    He stated, however, that by attracting investors into the power sector of the state economy, the government was poised to reverse the ugly trend. ‘‘Electricity is very crucial in the hatchery sub sector of the poultry industry in Lagos State. It will reduce the cost of production of day-old chicks by about 50% which will invariably reduce the cost of producing broilers, cockerel as a result of economies of scale due to expansion of operations. The attendant market prices of these products will also reduce substantially’’, he declared.

    Lawal said that with improved power, there would be significant increase in capacity utilization and output, revealing that the state poultry facilities alone were expected to increase by 30% in the first year and over 75% in the third year aside the multiplier effect on farmers in the private sector.

    According to him, operations like feather plucking, digital scale weighing, chilling and cooling were 100% dependent on electricity but inadequate power has made most processing facilities in the state to be operating at less than 15% capacity due to high cost of diesel.

    On rice cultivation which requires irrigation, he informed that the high cost of powering irrigation facilities with generating sets has adversely affected the cost of production and milling thereby resulting in high cost of locally-produced rice in the market.

    He said the availability of power would not only enhance rice production twice in the year, it would also result in almost 100% yield and a further increase in production from the present two to three metric tonnes per hectare to between four and five metric tonnes per hectare in the first year of intervention.

    In the same vein, the commissioner added that electricity was a key factor for rice parboiling, drying, de-stoning, milling, processing and packaging, hence adequate power was capable of guaranteeing all-year availability of quality locally-produced rice. ‘‘It will trigger the cultivation of rice from the present figure of about 1000 Ha to over 3000 Ha in the next few years of intervention. More jobs will be also created’’, he stressed.

  • Edo boosts 10,000 jobs with agriculture

    Edo boosts 10,000 jobs with agriculture

    More than 5000 youths in Edo State may soon be taken-off the unemployment market if four companies that recently got over 100 hectares of land to grow different crops commenced operation. Two of the four companies have also indicated interest to establish ethanol refineries at Ehor and Orhionmwon local governments.

    The four companies- Ekha Bio-Chemical Nigeria Limited, Industrial Development Group, Obax Worldwide and Wilbahi Investment Limited last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government and they are to invest over $500m in the agricultural sector of the state.

    Ekha Bio-Chemical applied for 10,000 hectares to grow cassava with a view to producing cassava bye-products such as chips and sweetners at Ehor in Uhunmwode, Industrial Development Group got 20,000 hectares to grow sugar-cane for ethanol production in Owan East, Obax Worldwide also got 20,000 hectares to cassava at Orhionmwon for its ethanol refinery to be built at Ologbo in Ikpoba-Okha while Wilbahi Investment applied for 50,000 hectares to grow rice, oil palms and cassava at different parts of the state.

    To avoid food shortage especially the popular stable garri which is gotten from cassava, the state government has prepared land for over 5000 outgrowers farmers to grow cassava for the ethanol refineries.

    Commissioner of Agriculture, Abdul Oroh who spoke shortly after signing of the MOU said the state government planned to open up over 300,000 hectares of land within the next three years for cultivation on different areas of agriculture.

    Oroh said the droves with which investors showed interest in the state was part of the gains of the Agribusiness Summit organised by the state government last year adding that the contents ot the MOU provided a win-win situation for the state government, communities and investors.

    The commissioner who warned the investors against land grabbing stated thatbthe benefiting communities ceded the lands to the government and not the investors to prevent a conflict between the companies and the communities.

    According to him, “We are considering giving additional land to existing agro-companies like Okomu and others. We are treating 12 applications from different investors. We are on the verge of signing a MOU with Dangote group because we have identified about 50,000 hectares for rice cultivation in Estako Central. We believe that if some of those new ventures are concluded, Edo State will become one of the richest state in the country and we will contribute over 25% to food export. We import a lot of ethanol from Brasil. We are also going to bridge some gaps there.

    “The MOU we just signed gave a time limit for the investors to develop a substantial part of the land or the investor faces forfeiture on any undeveloped part of the land. We don’t want land grabbers. If we discover the company does not have the capacity or has not done what we agreed. We will revoke the unused land. We want an inclusive process based on free and inform consent of the various communities. We already have the consent of the communities.”

    “One of the things we intend to attach to it is that we want to include out-growers scheme to all these transactions. The company will guarantee a market for the produce. They will also assist the outgrowers in terms of provision of quality seedlings. We are going to do another agreement because we don’t want them having problems with the communities.”

    “There will be a land use charge which will be paid subsequently. We are looking at N2000 per hectare per annum. We have not finalised it but we are working on it and we will now have an agreement to work out method of paying. The state government will collect it and pay part of it to the communities or provide infrastructures for the communities. We have met with the communities and discuss with them. Communities are already worried that the investors are yet to commence. It is based on their willingness to cede the land to the government and not the investor.”

    Chairman of Obax Worldwide, Patrick Obasuyi said they choose Nigeria because the country is the largest producer of cassava. He said over 350 permanent jobs would be created and 2000 jobs during construction of te ethanol refineries.

    He said they would grow cassava to be used by their ethanol refineries to avoid taking food from the existing market adding that the refinery would be completed in 2016.

    Managing Director of Wilbahi Investment, Wilma Aguele said they planned to make the state the food hub of the nation.