The Federal Government has commended farmers across the country for their contribution toward exiting the country from recession.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the National Bureau of Statistics released a report indicating the exit of the country from recession with agriculture being one of the contributing factors.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, said that both small holders and big time farmers contributed immensely to the exit.
Ogbeh, however, appealed to farmers, middlemen and traders to avoid indiscriminate increase in the price of food items.
He said that Federal Government would not impose price control on food prices, noting that the only option was to improve food production.
According to him, agriculture is contributory and we will continue to contribute but government is not falling asleep.
“I also want to thank Nigerians, especially the farmers (big and small), who have yielded the call of Mr President to return to the farms. They have done amazing things.
Recession slide
“And if there are any new zeros in this country, they are the ones who contributed. I am also happy for them because they are now making money. For a long time, they didn’t make money which is why many of us ran away from agriculture.
“Few days ago, I appealed to middlemen and transporters to try and help us out because I have seen tactical examples of why food prices are so high.
“I am sorry that the food prices are still high but I am appealing to farmers and middlemen, let all of us enjoy the surplus so that no sector will put pressure on the other.
“We have tried in two years but we have to work even harder and keep moving because the danger is still ahead.
“We have to increase agriculture, export, processing and value addition and reduce imports,’’ the minister said.
On the high cost of locally produced rice, Ogbeh said the government was negotiating an arrangement with rice farmers to bring down the price of paddy from one N150, 000 to N120, 000 per tonne.
According to him, the drop will help millers sell a 50kg bag of rice at N13, 000 which would be affordable to citizens.
“In 2015, one tonne of rice was sold for N65, 000 but in 2016, it was sold for N150, 000.
“The millers said that as long as they were buying a tonne of paddy for N150, 000, they could not sell a bag of rice for less than N17, 000 after milling.
“I am begging the farmers to be reasonable. I can’t force them,’’ he said.
NAN recalls that agriculture continued its strong and positive growth which it had maintained throughout the recession, growing by 3.01 per cent in second quarter of 2017 from 3.39 per cent in Q1 2017 and 4.53 per cent in Q2 2016.
…Hails Obaseki’s effort at improving business environment
The Vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has inaugurated the Edo Fertilizer Plant and Chemical Company Limited, a public, private venture which has the capacity to produce about 60,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer per annum.
The Vice president who was accompanied by the ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh; and Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, commended the foresight of the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, for creating the enabling business environment which saw to the revitalization of the fertilizer plant which had been non-functional for about 14 years.
Osinbajo expressed delight at the 500 direct jobs that have been created by the investment, stressing that much more employment opportunities would result from the ancillary economic activities that would be generated by the fertilizer plant.
Commending the governor for having the right attitude to development, he called on leaders across the country in different areas to dedicate themselves to activities that will improve the lot of their people.
“The President Buhari administration is committed to making it easy for investors to do business in the country. We want to achieve this through the promotion of transparency and efficiency. We want every state to be involved in this drive and create the enabling environment for business to thrive in their domain,” Osinbajo said.
He said the revitalization of fertilizer blending plants across the country was the direct consequence of the presidential initiative to diversify the economy from crude oil, boost farming activities as well as develop the agriculture value chain.
He added that agricultural activities in the country could be enhanced significantly if there was improved access to inputs, hence the drive to make fertilizer which is a major farm input, easily available and accessible to farmers in Nigeria.
Osinbajo explained that the blending plant would also complement Governor Obaseki’s agricultural development initiative which is aimed at improving investment in agriculture via public, private partnership as well as creating jobs for youths across the three senatorial districts of the state.
In his remarks, Governor Obaseki said the commissioning of the fertilizer plant signified a milestone in his administration as the facility was never operated for a day after it was fraudulently launched by the opposition party about 14 years ago.
He said what the opposition could not do for nearly a decade, his government, with the support of Edo people, has done in only about nine months.
He said: “The aim of revitalizing this plant is to make the state self-sufficient in food production and enable farmers get fertilizer at affordable prices. We in Edo State are determined to make food available in the country.”
He added the facility would go a long way in providing fertilizer for neighbouring states such as Kogi, Delta, Ondo and Anambra among others as it was the only blending plant in the region.
Obaseki commended the leadership role played by the Federal Government in the execution of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative as well as the management of WACOT for partnering with the Edo State government in revamping the plant.
“This achievement is an open call to other investors to bring in new technology, create more jobs and expand our economic opportunities,” he said.
The governor called on the Otaru of Auchi, the community where the plant is located, to ensure the protection of the facility against vandalism as it creates a large range of opportunities for businesses in the community and the state.
Also speaking the Group Managing Director of WACOT, Mr. Rahul Savara, commended the Vice President for commissioning the plant and governor Godwin Obaseki for fostering the partnership between the state and his company.
He said the presidential Fertilizer initiative has made local production feasible and sustainable in the country, assuring that the Edo Fertilizer and Chemical Company would be made up of 95 per cent indigenous workers.
Speaking of the numerous benefits of having a fertilizer blending plant in the state, the Deputy Governor of Edo, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu said: “Many jobs will be created, it will boost business activities, farmers will no longer go through undue hardship before they get fertilizer to buy and productivity will increase. We are keying into the federal government policy to make fertilizer affordable and available in the country.”
In his remark, the Otaru of Auchi, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Aliru H. Momoh, Ikelebe the III, said the commissioning of the plant demonstrates Governor Obaseki’s zeal to improve the economy as well as industrialize the state.
“The governor brought in people to revamp this plant and told us at the palace that within three months, it will become functional, we taught it was a joke, but thanks to Allah that we are here to witness the commissioning of the plant,” the traditional ruler said.
The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the Federal Government will soon establish commodities’ certification centres across the six geo-political zones to aid certification and standardization.
Ogbeh made the disclosure in Kano on Monday during the flag-off of the nationwide advocacy on agricultural quality control and standardization.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was represented at the occasion by a Director in the Ministry, Dr. Aminu Babandi.
He said that the Federal Government received 48 notifications from European Union on aflatoxin and other contaminants in the last one year.
He said that the country received 48 notifications between July 2016 and June 2017 from EU on export goods due to aflatoxin and many other contaminants either biological or chemical.
“We will establish commodities certification centres across the zones to aid certification, standardization and traceability.
“The ban on dry beans from Nigerian origin by EU therefore geared our attention to what is an eye opener that we have actually been consuming poison unknowingly,” he said.
Ogbeh said that Nigerians deserved good, safe and quality agro outputs for consumption and should be globally accepted like their counterparts across the globe.
He added that quality control of commodities starts from the field operations, including land clearing, soil testing, seeds selection, chemical application and good agricultural practices.
“There is no time than now to mainstream food safety into agricultural production if we want to really diversify our economy using agriculture as veritable tool and also have our own share,” he said.
In his address, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, said that reverting to agriculture was the only antidote to the nation’s economic crisis.
“Agriculture must be productive. And we are happy that the present administration under Muhammadu Buhari had taken agriculture as a very important issue of economic development,” he said.
He urged the Federal Government to site one of the proposed zonal certification centres in Kano due to its potentials.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has raised alarm over impersonators defrauding the public through his name on Facebook social media.
Ogbeh denied ownership of any Facebook account opened in his name.
The Minister advised the public both local and international to disregard such account as impersonators had resorted to taking undue advantage of the innocent public using his pictures.
In a statement by his Adviser, Media and Communications, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, on Thursday in Abuja, Facebook had repeatedly shut down such fake accounts upon request by the Minister.
He stated that the fraudsters lured victims with deceptive offers of agricultural loans, grants and bogus or non-existent government programmes, aiming at defrauding the unsuspecting prospects.
It reads: “The public, both in Nigeria and outside, is hereby informed and advised to disregard any Facebook account attributed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh. This message is important as it has come to the attention of the Minister that some impersonators have been defrauding Facebook users with the name, photographs of the Minister.
“It has become imperative to emphasise that, despite several earlier public warnings, some online impersonators have continued to open fake Facebook accounts using his name and photographs in desperate attempts to defraud unsuspecting people.An earlier statement, issued on May 3rd, 2017, to warn the public about this scam is hereby re-emphasised, that Chief Ogbeh has no personal Facebook Account. Accordingly, all Facebook accounts in his name are fake.”
“An earlier statement, issued on May 3rd, 2017, to warn the public about this scam is hereby re-emphasised, that Chief Ogbeh has no personal Facebook Account. Accordingly, all Facebook accounts in his name are fake.”
However, he listed the verified twitterhandle of the Minister, @AuduOgbehas the only personal social media account Ogbeh currently keeps.
“It is a verified Twitter handle: @AuduOgbeh, this can be followed through the official verified Twitter account of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also, @FmardNg, can be followed thus: https://twitter.com/FmardNg.
“The official Facebook channel of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through which the Minister communicates, can be accessed by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/ fmardnig/ Those who have decided to be friends with counterfeit Facebook accounts purportedly bearing the Minister’s name are hereby advised to unfriend all of them,” he added.
The Special Assistant to the Minister on Social Media, Aishat Onusi had earlier issued same warning to the public to disregard the fake social media account.
The fast recovering Nigerian economy could fall into another deep trouble should the nation fail to realise a whopping $15 billion from agriculture by year 2020, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has warned.
The minister said it would be difficult for the nation to repay most of its debts in dollars, adding that the period falls within the maturity dates for most of the borrowing agreements signend by the country with various financial institutions and countries.
Ogbeh, who made the disclosure during an interview at the weekend in Abuja, noted that it was important for the country to start building capacity in the areas of agricultural exports, especially cash crops such as gum Arabic, cocoa among others to really boost foreign exchange.
He noted that the Indian government had indicated interest to import brown beans from Nigeria which has potential market value of $100 billion annually. He said, if the country can meet at least 25 per cent of the supply, it will boost the nation’s economy.
“Then sesames seeds, bananas and Gum Arabic. Those are things we don’t really consume here. They are for export. The argument is this, if by 2020 Nigeria doesn’t have capacity to earn at $10-$15 billion from agriculture, we will be in serious trouble.
“Because many of the debts we are taking now will be due for re-payment. And if you don’t have the Dollars, you can have all the Naira in the world, nobody wants your Naira. Then of course the Indians came here about six months ago with the Vice President of India. India wants us to grow beans for them, the black-eye pea, brown beans and all that.
“Do you know the market in India, $100 billion per annum? If we can tap up to 25 per cent of that, we will be quite happy. And we can do it. This is what is facing us and this is what we have to do to deal with them. Agric is the lowest hanging fruit,” Ogbeh stated.
Speaking on yam export in boosting our economy at a briefing on Zero Reject of Agricultural Exports organised by the National Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) at the weekend in Abuja, the Minister expressed concerns that almost 30 per cent of yams grown in the country rot away due to poor storage facilities.
He noted that the stock of old yam remaining in the country were very high while new yams are about to be harvested.
According to him, yams exported to the United States cost about $15 per 3 kilograms and 30 Pounds per carton in the United Kingdom, thus more competitive to export than to process in the country due to high processing cost.
The Minister further informed that the National Centre for Agriculture Mechanization has been tasked to locally produce machines that could help farmers make large ridges for yam production to boost both the farmers profit and the economy.
He said once the Centre develops the mini-tractor, the nation will be capable of supply yams worth $20 billion to the world.
He said: “We still have no facilities for preserving yams. At the time we started exporting yams; new yams have started coming out. There was a fight in Kwara, last week. It was reported that it was about the new yams festivals. So new yams are here.
“The stock of old yams is still heavy. So they are going to rot away if we don’t do anything.
I saw someone on TV in fact, he also tweeted that it was not a great achievement and that it would have been wiser if we converted the yams to yam starch so that pharmaceutical companies can buy it at a higher price.
In his argument he omitted something. He didn’t tell Nigerians the price of a 3kg tuber of yam in London or in the US. I was in the US last year. I went to North Carolina University and a group of Nigerians gave me lunch.
“A 3kg tuber of yam sells for $15. Multiply that by 350. They say these things and confuse people and say it is nonsense. He even said, oh, he was not sure that these yams will not be fed to animals. That is a very bad point but it is totally unrealistic. Totally illogical. And then there about 4 or 5 million Nigerians in the UK and they are looking for yams. There are Nigerians who are entitled to feed, to benefit from what their country produces.From Texas, from North Carolina from California, Nigerians have been calling, ‘why are you exporting only to the UK’. The World yam market is $10 billion worth. Why shouldn’t we be part of it?.”
He added that the Federal Government embarked on yam export because it has capacity to do so, “and because the demand for our products abroad is very high, other than oil and gas. We need to be bold in what we are trying to do. If there is such a huge demand, rather than bemoan the export, let us grow yams.
“We have 45 million hectares of land-a hectare is a football field- lying fallow. What are we afraid of? Let us grow the yams. The only challenge in the way of yam production is labour. If you are in Benue, you have to get young men to make the heaps and if you are in Ebonyi the yam heaps are very high. This is why Ebonyi yams are this high (gesticulates), very large because they are soft tubers. Ebonyi , Northern Delta, and Onitsha area- big yams.”
On rice, he said the country will be self-sufficient in rice production by end of the year.
He said about 5 million tons of rice paddy was harvested in 2015 only.
According to him, the federal government will soon commence distribution of 200 rice mills nationwide to complement it’s effort on rice sufficiency to improve the economy.
“Some 50 tons, 20, some 10 tons. We will not need to import a grain of rice into this country from December this year. From December this year, anybody talking of foreign rice is joking. We will have more than we need. In 2015, we harvested 5 million tons of paddy rice. This May, a report came out from the DFID -we grew 17 million tons of paddy. November 17 will be Rice Day in Nigeria.
“In another one year, the quantum of rice grown by farmers will be beyond what we can eat. So the next stage in our operation is the export programme,” which will in the end improve the economy he added.
Nigeria will on Thursday begin yam exports to the United Kingdom with 72 tons of yams in three containers, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh said.
He said the matter was tabled at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday as a major milestone in the export market and diversification process.
According to the minister, the country would strive to export more yams and other food commodities to other countries to earn more foreign exchange.
“We had cause to inform the council that last week we completed arrangements for the first formal export of Nigerian yams to the United Kingdom.
“I know that we have had reactions from the Nigerian public.
“Some people have asked if that is of any importance; others have asked if by exporting yams we are not going to subject Nigeria to hunger.
“I had to inform council today that that would certainly not arise.
“You would remember about Match or April this year some of you asked the same question: is Nigeria going to face famine? And I said it cannot happen. “Apart from the crisis in the North East we definitely are not short of food although prices are high in some areas; we are working on that.
“Tomorrow we will flag off this export in three container loads of 72 tons of Nigerian yams. “Two containers went out in February; one arrived in New York on June 16.’’
The minister stated that the information is important because everywhere yam was sold around the world as African food, consumers called it Ghana yam. According to him, Nigeria accounts for 61 per cent of total yam output in the world while the rest is shared between some countries in West Africa and the West Indies.
He said it was an embarrassment not to find Nigerian yams in foreign markets.
He said that the export was significant because as Ghana was targeting $4 billion from yams in the next three or four years Nigeria being the masters in yam business had no business lagging behind.
Ogbeh said most of the yams produced locally were lost to wastage because of poor technologies and preservation.
He, however, said the issue was being addressed by using solar coolers in markets and producing areas to keep the commodity at 14 degrees Celsius to last about two or three years.
Ogbeh said the point was made because of the FG’s diversification, economic recovery and growth adding that the country had to export what was needed by other countries to earn more foreign exchange.
He said labour was the only challenge the country might face, adding that mechanization was introduced to solve the problem.
He noted that a new plough was designed for tractors at the Nigerian Centre for Agriculture Mechanisation, Ilorin, to make yam heaps.
He said with the mechanization in place farmers would see yam cultivation and export as an economic opportunity.
The minister noted that food exports from the country had indeed gone up.
“Food exports have gone up in the last one year by 82 per cent; so they will increase.
“We want to make sure that what we send meets the finest standard in the world market.
“If people chose to use their money to import irregular, unnecessary items government will look into that and apply adequate regulations to rationalize importation.
“We are not banning anything, but if you must import things that are not necessary be prepared to pay the duty on them.
“After the flag off (inauguration) tomorrow we will know the kind of volumes that the European market is looking for.
“We are now testing the market; we find they are accepting the yams; they rejected them before because we didn’t handle them well.
“Then in the next comment I will make to you in about a month or two I will tell you exactly what we expect, both from the U.S. and UK and possibly other parts of the world, including China.’’
Ogbe added that good news was the request for roast cashew nuts by Wallmart, the biggest retail shop in the U.S., worth about 130,000 tons of processed cashew nuts per annum valued at $7 billion.
He said Nigerian cashew was hitherto shipped raw to Vietnam, which processed and exported same to U.S.
According to him, the Federal Government will in 2017 create six cashew processing factories in Enugu, Imo, Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Oyo the existing cashew belt.
He said that Nasarawa and Kaduna also grew cashew in quantum adding that the increase was because of the focus on non-oil exports.
He said government was also targeting industrial starch for textile industry and export to China adding that India was also asking for all sorts of beans for their $100 billion beans market.
He said the possibilities in agriculture were limitless.
The Federal Government has threatened to shut some land borders if the smuggling of rice continues from neighbouring countries.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, gave the warning while speaking to newsmen on some of the Federal Government’s achievements in the agriculture sector in the last two years in Abuja.
Ogbeh said the decision had become necessary to encourage local rice farmers and to enable the country achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2018.
“We believe they are determined to sabotage the efforts that we are making to guarantee self-sufficiency in rice and to save foreign exchange which we don’t have.
“They insist on bringing in rice through the land borders, avoiding the duties and the levies we put on them and they are definitely bent on sabotaging our efforts and we are getting increasingly unhappy with them.
“And I must say that very soon, if they persist, we will take very nasty measures against them.
“We will like to advise our neighbours, who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.
“We have no such plans, destroying our own economy to make any neighbour happy.
“The ECOWAS treaty number two does not suggest that any country can be an avenue of smuggling foreign goods not produced in that country for dumping in his neighbours territory.
“If they insist, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near us and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not,’’ Ogbeh warned.
The minister said that the importation of rice reduced from 580,000 tonnes in 2015 to 58,000 tonnes by 2016.
According to him, by the end of this year, we will eliminate the difference because more people are growing rice in the country.
He said the Federal Government would distribute no fewer than 200 rice mills to millers across the states of the federation to encourage fresh milling of locally produced rice in order to make them more palatable than the imported ones.
Ogbeh said the move would save about five million dollars for the country daily when achieved.
According to the minister, about three months ago, there was this cry about Nigeria going to starve and we told them that there will be such thing.
“We have never produced as much grains as we did in the last two years in this country’s’ history.
“We have fed not only Nigeria, we have fed West Africa and there are still thousands of tonnes in people’s warehouses.
“Those who bought grains and stored believing that starvation was near and they will make a killing they are now begging us to take off the grains from them because they are getting stock.
“The only shortfall we have is maize because of the disease called the armyworm.
“We are dealing with that and this planting season, we are going to support farmers to make sure that we bring that disease under control.
“We have done amazing things in agriculture in two years, we are still going,’’ Ogbeh said.
The minister said the government was working toward achieving self sufficiency in staples within the next two years excluding wheat.
He said that government’s ambition was that in five to six years from now, Nigeria should be able to earn between N10 to N30 billion from exportation of agricultural produce annually to service the country’s debts and build a robust foreign reserves.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has stated that Indorama fertilizer is very important to achieve the Federal Government’s agricultural transformation agenda, aimed at boosting food production across Nigeria.
Ogbeh, who visited Indorama’s world-class fertilizer plant in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, assured that the Federal Government would help to tackle whatever challenge the company was facing, to ensure that it supplies the products to farmers across the country, without delay.
In a statement Friday in Port Harcourt by Indorama’s Head of Corporate Communications, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, the agric minister was quoted as lauding the Indorama Eleme Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited for keying into the Federal Gocwenment’s Presidential Initiative on Fertilizer, aimed at bringing down the cost of fertilizers across the country.
Ogbeh noted that the success of Indorama fertilizer company was the success of the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria..
The minister said: “The Federal Government wants to make sure that Nigerians have enough food to eat. We can only achieve the objective with enough fertilizer in the country.
“That’s why we consider Indorama as a partner in progress in achieving food sufficiency in the country.”
Ogbeh and members of his entourage were conducted round the fertilizer plant, which has capacity to produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of Urea per annum, but now produces only 1.1 million metric tonnes due to short supply of feedstock (gas).
The team also visited the state-of-the-art control room, the Ammonia and Urea units of the plant, as well as the bagging section.
The Managing Director of Indorama-Nigeria, Mr. Manish Mundra, informed the minister of agriculture, who was accompanied by the minister of state for agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, that the firm was committed to supply 360,000 metric tonnes of Urea to blending plants, which they use in producing NPK fertilizers.
Mundra stated that the company was committed to its vision of building Africa’s largest petrochemicals and fertilizer hub in Nigeria; and investing a total of over $5.8 billion by the year 2022.
The Federal Government says it will hold a national conference to discuss and proffer solutions to farmers/herdsmen clashes currently ravaging the country.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, disclosed this when a joint dialogue to analyse the root causes of the crisis submitted its report in Abuja on Monday.
Ogbeh said the government would engage all stakeholders involved in cattle breeding, as well as farmers to discuss and analyse the situation with a view to finding the solution to the crisis.
The minister listed other stakeholders to be involved in the conference to include policy makers, the security agencies, Ministry of Interior and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).
He said that the government had earlier appealed to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to analyse the root causes of the clashes in the country, hence the submission of the report.
“The issue of herdsmen and farmers clashes and the big question of grazing reserves and ranches done by the committee is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
“The committee has been working on this matter for two weeks and they brought the summary of their report today.
“We have looked at it to see how we can finally deal with this problem. We don’t like the conflicts and we do not want them to continue.
“We also want to make sure that cattle breeding is not a nuisance but a viable industry.
“We are targeting June 2017 for a major national conference on this matter and at that conference we will bring in all stakeholders.
‘‘We have to solve the problem and we will solve the problem,’’ Ogbeh said.
Dr Rabe Mani, the Assistant FAO Representative in Nigeria, Programme, said that access to land, capital, market, infrastructure, inputs and manpower were needed to improve the livestock production in the country.
He said the committee recommended at least a 10-year national livestock or ranch development plan to establish milestones and targets.
According to him, the reason for the plan is to aid entrenchment for implementation.
“We facilitated this team. We engaged a cross section of stakeholders ranging from state commissioners, traditional producers, practicing ranchers, people directly in the marketing of livestock products across the country.’’
Mr Baba Ngalzarma, the National Secretary of MACBAN, applauded the recommendation saying it would help to solve the problems being faced by its members if implemented.
On 15th of August 2016 when the Federal Government launched the Green Alternative Policy under the leadership of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh with his counterpart, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the vision was mainly to diversify the nation’s economy from oil.
The policy also known as the Agriculture Promotion Policy (2016 – 2020) was part of deliberate moves to make agriculture the mainstay of the economy, contributing majorly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and improving on gaps which existed in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the past administration.
The federal government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, rolled out policies to check the alarming, continuous food imports and increase local production of staple foods including rice, wheat, and dairy products among others. The four-year development plan mapped out strategies to realise four major goals in partnership with the State governments. The thematic focus includes food security, import substitution, job creation and economic diversification.
In the area of food security, rice cultivation got a special attention. The method of rice production among farmers across the states took a different dimension. It mapped out strategies to ensure rice is being cultivated in most states across the country. The rationale is due to the fact that rice remained major staple food Nigerians consume daily but with an outstanding deficit of 6.3 million tonnes and local production of about 2.3 million tonnes as at 2015. The wheat deficit was about 4.7 million tonnes with a supply 0.06 million while Soya beans was 0.75 million and local capacity was 0.06 million. The gaps were huge.
In order to meet these demands, the ministry sought supports of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through the Anchor Borrowers Scheme (ABS) to provide finance for the rural farmers from 2015 dry season farming and wet season rice and wheat farming in 2016. Anchor Borrowers’ programme is an intervention aimed to fast-track access of rural farmers to finance for better productivity. This entails the provision of agricultural credit to finance the production of rice, wheat, ginger, maize and soybeans in Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Benue, Zamfara, Anambra and Kwara States.
It is important to note that state governments took advantage of the intervention to maximise production on the basic farm co mmodities. Lagos State for instance, went as far as signing a partnership agreement with the Kebbi State government to produce the popular LaKe Rice. Within a short time, rice imports declined, especially with the support of policies that discouraged its importation and smuggling while local production also soared higher from 2015 till date. These interventions were aimed to meet national requirements of paddy and milled rice set at 2018.
One of the rice farms in Watari, Kano State
The FMARD further established 40 large scale rice processing plants and 18 High Quality Cassava Flour plants with a stake commitment of China EXIM (85 per cent) and Nigeria Bank of Industry (BOI) (15 per cent) through concessional credit facilities of US$383,140,375.60 for the rice mills and US$143,722,202.40 for the HQCF Plants. The locations are Abia (Abriba), Kogi (Agbadu), Akwa-Ibom (Uyo), Kwara (Sare), Anambra (Ihiala), Lagos (Epe), Benue (Makurdi), Nassarawa (Gbude), Cross-River (Obubra), Ogun (Ijebu-Igbo), Delta (Mbiri), Ondo (Ore), Edo (Iraoko), Osun (Iwo), Ekiti (Itapaji), Oyo (Oke-Ogun), Enugu (Ebenebe), Oyo (Iseyin). Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is on-going for the ultimate private sector–driven initiative.
FMARD is now embarking on a programme of distribution of rice mills, of ten tonnes per day capacity, 20 tonnes a day, 40 tonnes a day, 50 tonnes and a few 100 tonnes. Collectively, between them, the capacity for rice milling will be close to 3,000 tonnes a day nationwide. That is expected to close the gap between paddy availability and mills to process it.
From available records, there is ongoing plan to also establish 10 large scale rice processing plants and 6 High-Quality Cassava Flour plants to be owned and operated by the private sector. According to the Ministry, the mills would be funded by the Special Rice Processing Intervention Fund and the World Bank Assisted Agricultural Development Policy Operation [AgDPO] Funds. Necessary approvals were obtained for an “original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contract” process via the “Flourtech Engineer PVT Ltd, – Rice Mills” and the “Haiyang Union Machine & Equipment Ltd, China &Korat SW Group 2007, Thailand – HQCF Plants.” The rice plants locations are Argungu (Kebbi), Yargeda (Zamfara), Permabiri (Bayelsa), Badeggi (Niger), KatsinaAla (Benue), Idah (Kogi), Kubau (Kaduna), GidanMaiwa (Bauchi), Imope (Ogun), and Ezira (Anambra), HQCF plants locations are Ore (Ondo), Ojoowo (Ogun), Abriba (Abia), Abraka(Delta), Obubra (C/River) and PakaLafia (Nasarawa).
One of other remarkable initiatives developed by the ministry was the national soil map. There had not been evidence to show that the use of the generic NPK fertiliser everywhere has necessarily improved farm production significantly to justify its continued application as one-size-fits-all soil fertility remedy. So, the map basically is to determine the right fertiliser that is applicable in a particular state with the promotion of the use of soil-specific fertiliser formulations. Unlike previous years where the same fertiliser is applied by farmers across the country, the map was designed to guide farmers on what fertiliser to adopt in order to get the maximum yield.
Prior to the launched green alternative, Nigeria was importing foods to the tune of $22 billion annually, including fruits. As a result, the country cannot be classified as food-secured. The limited harvests produced by the local farmers mostly got rotten due to lack of storage facilities.
The net impact of these was limited job growth across the agricultural value-chain from inputs production to market system. Ironically, as these problems persist, the country was exporting jobs abroad.
Fertiliser supply
A resurrected interest in agriculture has brought in its wake growing interest in smallholders. Nigeria’s fertiliser market is growing. Baring the restriction placed on the transportation of urea for security reasons, Nigeria is launching into a new realm of responding to local fertiliser needs by promoting the blending of fertiliser locally to suit specific soil on the basis of findings in the national soil map. Field reports on the use of micronutrient inclusion in fertiliser in some parts of Nigeria have justified the need for a widespread and nationwide use.
Replacing the unbalanced NPK 15-15-15 with other formulations as a basal application in the Urea Deep Placement Technology has been reported to have led to increased yields by between 30 per cent and 80 per cent in a number of cases in rice, maize and sorghum. These results have inspired the Federal Government’s policy directive to use fertiliser blends recommended from soil maps, beginning from this cropping season. Nigeria has 108 balanced fertiliser recommendations for all crops and for all 36 States and the FCT, and the Government has signed an agreement with the Government of Morocco for the supply of fertiliser raw materials on concessionary terms to boost local blending to facilitate making soil and crop-specific fertiliser blends available and accessible to smallholder farmers.
In 2016, price of fertiliser especially NPK, rose to as high as N11, 000 contributing largely to hike in price of staple foods in the market. Urea which is an additional input after the application of the NPK sold at about N7, 500. Local farmers clearly were not finding it easy until the federal government came up with an initiative that encouraged local blending.
As a result of the several bottlenecks, the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative came into existence having Fertiliser Producer and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) and the FMARD as the implementing partner. The target was to produce One Million Metric Tonnes of fertiliser for local farmers across the country for the 2017 wet season and 500, 000 metric tonnes for dry season farming. It was the outcome of President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with the King of Morocco. The deliberation among others was to facilitate the export of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), through OCP Group, Morocco to ensure a steady supply of the raw material for local production of fertiliser.
The other raw materials include the Muriate of Potash (MOP), sourced from Europe and Russia while Limestone Granules (LSG) was locally sourced from the West African Fertilizer Company limited, Okpella, Edo State. This deliberate effort was to meet fertiliser deficit in the country and ensure the nation locally blend the input.
Remarkably, the fertilisers are mixed in about 11 blending plants which were initially working at lower capacity across the country. Local fertiliser blending plants took ownership of the project, engaged labour and produced the farm input at a reasonable cost of N5, 000.
“From that 14th of December, 2016 to 14th February, 2017, we gave farmers free gift. They started to receive fertiliser at N5, 500. Agro-dealers also got theirs, when they come to a plant like this, they will pay N5, 000, and sell for N5, 500,” said FEPSAN President, Mr Thomas Etuh while responding to an inquiry.
Donor Support Interventions
Aside from the commitment to increase food production and create jobs across the value-chain, the federal government enjoyed interventions from the international development partners. The foreign organisations such as RUFIN, IFAD VCDP, World Bank Fadama project, RAMP among others have in no small measure contributed towards the realisation of the objectives of the green alternative initiative.
A number of states with high potential in the production of selected staple crops are being supported to increase farm yields, engage the youths, help rural families, provide finance and ultimately create markets to boost their returns. While some development partners focus on rice and cassava, others give more attention to sorghum, millet and wheat.
VCDP
Mr Peter Okonkwo is a member of the all-male Great Minds Multipurpose Cooperative Society. He cultivates 1 hectare from 3,850 hectares of land rice farm allocated to his group. Okonkwo harvested a yield of 7 tonnes from his one hectare rice farm in the last season, unlike his usual 2.3 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare yields. He is one of 20 other members in one cooperative group setup by the VCDP Lower Anambra Irrigation Project (LAIP) in Anyamelum local government area of Anambra state. All thanks to the IFAD-funded Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) programme which made the fete a reality, working to support rural farmers in form of inputs and training on good agronomic practices.
Peter Okonkwo showing off the tillers (48) of a sampled clump of his rice
The IFAD- funded VCDP works to improve the income and food security of poor rural households with particular attention to women and youths engaged in production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava. It focused on enhancing rice and cassava value-chains in Nigeria.
In 2016 alone, production figure showed that VCDP made a significant contribution of 55,513 MT of rice and 184,377.6 MT of cassava to the national food basket. This represents a contribution of $36 million (N11 billion) to the country’s GDP in 2016. The income-investment analysis indicates that for every $1 invested by VCDP in 2016, $1.2 was realised from sales of produce alone.
The programme, largely funded by IFAD had a total budget of $104.4 million. IFAD provided $74.4 million funding, the federal government supported with $9.9 million, state governments contributed $10.4 million, local government councils $4.3 million, complementary financing amounted to $2.8 million and beneficiaries $2.1 million.
Basically, the federal government is implementing the IFAD-VCDP project in six (6) States, namely: Niger, Ogun, Taraba, Benue, Ebonyi and Anambra. VCDP became effective in August 2014 and disbursement effective in March 2015. While the programme is expected to wind-up on June, 2020, its goal was to reduce poverty in 53, 480 households and enhance accelerated economic growth sustainably.
The programme is also targeted to sustainably create about 6, 000 jobs through production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in the six states. So, between January to November 2016, about 4, 000 jobs have been created and N418.9million worth of farm inputs have been distributed to 20, 879 farmers working on 1,067.2 hectares.
Within the last two years, VCDP made good progress of effectively implementing the programme objective on the two crops. Through group and cluster development, it encouraged working with the private sector to facilitate service delivery to smallholder farmers; identified viable business opportunities within the commodity chains for youth; developed arable land to increase women and youth access to land; shared innovative agronomic practices with farmers to enhance their productivity; and engaged youths in agriculture.
A unique model which so far has helped the rural farmers was the ability of IFAD-VCDP to arrange major off-takers such as Olam, Onyx and Popular Farms, who provide co-funding in the form of cashless credit services to enable farmers, have access to agri-inputs and enhance their productivity. This has luckily helped cut down the incident of post-harvest losses. Farmers do not have to wait or search for the market to sell their produce as the off-takers are readily available to buy the harvests, having knowledge of the fact that there is increasing buy-in by the state governments.
The programme facilitated an innovative Commodity Alliance Forum (CAF), which empowers smallholder farmers to engage and transact businesses with major private sector players in each state. The platform involved key stakeholders in input delivery, bulk purchase of farm produce such as factory raw materials, financial institutions with credible credit delivery services and farmer groups.
In Benue state, for instance, Olam a major player in the nation’s rice sub-sector is working with 3,000 rice farmers under the alliance.
Farmers with support from off-takers receive agro inputs
As of date, 30, 100 verified farmers with names and locations are benefiting from various services of VCDP to increase their production and productivity and enhance their income. Out of this figure, 21,245 farmers (13,456 for rice and 7,789 for cassava) who produced a credible business plan were provided with 50 percent of the input requirements in line with design. About 2,328 FOs, 103 per cent of the Life of Project (LoP) target are using bulk purchase method to procure their inputs, and 2,135 FOs, representing 95 per cent of the LoP target are registered with the Department of Cooperatives.
So far, the programme has trained 925 group leaders, representing 14 per cent of the LoP target, to strengthen groups’ engagement with the private sector players and provide effective services for their members. It has developed a number of knowledge products, including women inclusion strategy, youth involvement in agribusiness strategy, and package of best agronomic practices. It has so far increased their sales, generate more income and improve their living standard.
Mr. Mbon Sumaka, a rice farmer in Benue, one of the states participating in VCDP is excited with the market linkage facilitated by the programme. “I am grateful to VCDP for linking me and other group members to Olam. We are happy as we know all our produce will be bought by Olam after harvesting. We are ready to go into farming on large scales with this arrangement and this will go a long way to boost the economy”.
So far, 667 MoUs have been signed with off-takers in the six programme states while 143 contractual agreements have been formalised and 30, 100 farmers linked to off-takers.
Farmers at Igbaran, Anambra State
FADAMA
FADAMA, as popularly known among stakeholders, is a World Bank project usually in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) targeted to support small holder farmers to increase productivity and access to finance. The success story of this project has been outstanding right from the FADAMA I, II, III and recently FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF).
Within a short period, the number states participating in the World Bank intervention project has increased considering its immense impacts at the grassroots.
Between 21st and 22nd March, 2017, the FADAMA office flagged-off dry season irrigation rice production in Plateau state as part of measures to ensure all year round production of rice. Even though the event witnessed the presence of the Senior Technical Adviser (STA) to the minister on International Donor, Engr. Auta Appeh, Plateau State Governor, Bar. Simon Lalong, Task Team Leader (TTL) World Bank country office Abuja chief Dr Adetunji Oredipe including FADAMA National Project Coordinator, Tayo Adewunmi the immediate beneficiaries of the project were not left out.
For the dry season rice farming, about 100, 000 hectares of land have been cleared by the state government. So far, a total of 11 production clusters (PCs) have been prepared consisting of 57 production groups, with a benefiting population of 570, comprising 381 males and 189 females. The state is rich in terms of vegetation for both dry and rain season farming.
The National Project Coordinator, Mr. Tayo Adewumi, in his message, gave a brief on the implementation of Fadama III-AF in Plateau state. About 27 Tomato production clusters made up 222 production groups have been funded through a well-developed business plan. Also, funded were 11 rain-fed rice PCs with 222 PGs.
Speaking on the Fadama Farmers Micro Finance Bank (FFMFB) Limited, a fresh initiative by the FADAMA III-AF Office, It was designed in December, 2015 to support 570 farmers comprising 381 males and 189 females.
Lalong, in his remark at the event disclosed that the state through the Fadama project has supported about 55% of rice farmers in the state, with an increased yield from 2.8 tonnes per hectare to 4.5 tonnes per hectare representing 60.14% increase. “About 1,395 permanent jobs for rain-fed and 13,950 indirect jobs were created for youths and women during harvest. During dry season implementation, 570 permanent jobs were created and 2, 850 indirect jobs.
“As at baseline, indicators showed that farmers’ income increased from N108, 501.76 to N390, 220.65 per annum representing 20% of farmers surpassing poverty threshold.” According to him, the arrangement has been made for a 16.9KM Fadama feeder road in Shendam, Langtang South, Kanke, Mangu, Bassa and Jos East Local Government Areas. This is expected to ease transportation challenges faced by rural farmers. Some of the civil service workers and pensioners were as well encouraged to improve their livelihood by engaging in agricultural related activities while they are still in service.”
RUFIN
Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) is a $27.2 million initiative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Federal Government of Nigeria. It was a project coordinated by the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development in 12 States and 36 local governments to help realise the set objective of alleviating poverty with particular emphasis on women, youth and the physically challenged. Some of the benefitted states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Katsina, Zamfara ( North Zone), Benue, Nasarawa, Oyo, Lagos (Middlebelt/South West zone) and Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Imo, Edo in the Southern Zone.
Purpose of the initiative ultimately was to enhance access of rural population to viable and sustainable rural financial system in order to expand production, improve on-farm productivity and micro small rural enterprises. “Our group-Nneoma Union Group heard that FAME MFB was giving out loans to people. We went there and were informed by the bank that they have accessed the MSMEDF. We applied and got a loan from FAME MFB. I received N70, 000 which I invested in my business. My business is doing well and I can now support my husband all thanks to RUFIN,” said Mrs. Adaoma Timothy, Member Nneoma Union Group, Itu-Ezinihite LGA, Imo state. Incidentally, the programme will be completed on 31st March, 2017.
However, about $5,616, 000 has so far been disbursed by the implementing agencies and government institutions. They are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Federal Department of Cooperatives (FDC) and the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP).
Omolara is one of the beneficiaries of the intervention in Lagos.
Access to soft loans and other finances by farmers had been a serious challenge to boost productivity. It is often difficult for the commercial institutions to lend to farmers at a considerate interest rate. Rural farmers are either given loans at a 2-digit interest rate which is almost impossible to repay or never given. So with the initiative, RUFIN promoted good policies that created satisfactory working environment for grassroots financial institutions to benefit. It improved the lending environment, funds flow and sustainability support to the microfinance sector. It engaged in training and capacity building to improve their services in order to facilitate easy access to credits.
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) were strengthened and the programme eventually established linkage between these institutions and formal financing institutions and down to the rural dwellers. “As a result of the capacity building we received from RUFIN, we developed rural business plan and have started implementing it. Our customer base has increased; we have been able to spread our tentacles. We are doing business with 27 women groups mentored by RUFIN. More rural people are accessing credit facility from us and zero default rate. RUFIN groups don’t default, they are highly responsible.
“Aside from capacity building, RUFIN also provided us with ICT equipment such as laptops, printers, accounting software which has helped us in keeping records. We now have improved financial reporting. It has been a wonderful working relationship with RUFIN. The impact we see today is as a result of this technical support by RUFIN,” said Mr. Ayodele Odufowokan, Head, Group Micro loan/Rural Finance, Excel Microfinance Bank, Eruwa, Oyo state. Credit flow from MFIs to the rural communities has cumulative figure of N30.983 billion till date. This is a huge jump from N47.1 million as measured in May 2011.The number of loan beneficiaries totalled over 714, 000 farmers.
As a result, at the community level, group members have developed savings habit and financial discipline. Capital base of farmers which was as low as N5, 000 – N6, 000 increased to N1-2 million and over 20,000 rural groups were formed and strengthened. They were eventually linked to financial services with about 40 per cent of them already lifted out of poverty.
Within two years, RUFIN’s sustained follow-up finally unlocked the MSMEDF to the financial suppliers in 2014 and N78.77 billion disbursed. RUFIN’s contribution of $1.5 million to the NIRSAL guarantee facility also eased Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) R-MFIs access to the MSMEDF by reducing collateral requirements to only 5 per cent.
“About N8, 747,015,234 credit was accessed by over 80 MFIs including Non-Governmental Organsiations and Financial Cooperatives from MSMDF, NAPEP, BOA and other state government micro-credit initiatives. Household level lending to low income and poor rural dwellers has improved in contrast to the start of the programme. Number of MFBs rendering online returns to CBN increased from 20% in 2010 to 85% in 2015.”
“RUFIN’s support is immeasurable. Our capacity has been built on so many issues related to business management, record keeping, business plans and financial management. These training have helped us successfully manage our business. Before now, we were not doing internal savings but after receiving training on this from RUFIN, we started saving. Now we give internal credit to our members. In 2013, our group was linked to Bauchi Microfinance Bank and we got a loan of N140, 000 naira which was shared among group members. Each member received N20, 000 naira. We have repaid the loan and RUFIN is working to link us with Bank of Agriculture to access more credit. We are very happy, our business is growing. Now we can support our husbands to take care of family needs. May Allah bless RUFIN,” Hajia Aisha’tu Musa, Chairperson, Zumunta Durum Women Group from Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi state, made the assertions on the impacts of the interventions to supporting their livelihood.
According to available records, over 710,770 individual farmers and rural dwellers that benefited from RUFIN loan facilities, voluntarily saved about N16.149 billion as refund.
In conclusion, since some of these initiatives are tailored towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, especially Goal 1 which centres on ending poverty in every form and Goal 2 targeted to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition as well as promoting sustainable agriculture, it is imperative to build partnership to realise the Green Alternative and attain food sufficiency.
