When Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State came on board in 2015, he came in with a businesslike style, which seemed strange, especially against the background that the state has always been tagged a civil service state. According to the governor, his aim was to free the state from reliance on the Federation Account, instead of waiting every month to go to Abuja for an ever-dwindling allocation, which barely takes care of the state’s wage bill.
In this regard the governor had pursued an aggressive industrialisation agenda by putting up structures across the state to enable him actualise this. One of such structures set up by the by the present administration is the hybrid rice seed and seedling factory located at the Ayade Industrial Estate in Calabar, the state capital.
Set up by the state government to the tune of about N3 billion the project also aims to drive the agricultural agenda of the Federal Government of supporting local production of rice to also boost economy.
Speaking recently during a test run of the project, Governor Ben Ayade said the project is expected to generate at least N70 billion annually with full federal government patronage, when fully operational.
“When I told Cross Riverians that my ambition was to restructure the state from over dependence on federal allocation, I truly meant it because with projects like this; we are going to generate more revenue for the state. We are partnering with the CBN through the Rice Anchor Borrowers Programme in ensuring that most of the seedlings are acquired from here. I am happy that Cross River is on the path of independence even after we lost our oil wells unjustifiably. We now have an investment that needs federal government patronage. If we are to have the federal government patronage in full, we are looking at a yearly turnover of 70 to 100 billion naira. The federal government should focus on the procurement of rice seedlings from Cross River. We should do between 40-60 per cent of the market sale because we will have no competitor,” Ayade had said.
Briefing newsmen in Calabar during a facility tour of the factory, Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof Anthony Eneji, said the factory would employ over 10, 000 persons directly and is expected to meet the hybrid seed demands of the entire South-South and South-East regions of the country.
Throwing light on how the factory would operate, Eneji said, “This was set up to improve the art and science of rice production from the mundane approach to some sort of technology driven production and so here is the facility for the seedling production, which was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari. There are many components here right from the seedling operation, which happens within the complex and then the nursery side for displaying the ceded trays where nursery seedlings are produced in a matter of two to three weeks for transplanting. There are also facilities for a level of automation of the seedling production. It is actually planned that from our own fields, where we produce the hybrid rice, they come into the complex here, the seed is dried to the required moisture contents and then housed in cooling room at 4 degree centigrade, so that when we need the seed, we take it out from and begin the seedling operation to raise then nursery. So in summary that is how it is
“We have transplanters that can handle three hectares in one hour. We have machines like normal tractors, rotovators, and standard laboratory to help us with analysis of soil, water and plant samples. We are attaching the molecular laboratory part to it to enable us actually screen our rice the way we want and enable select the best type for our ecology. This is a state owned project to which contract was given to the tune of about N3 billion to execute in terms of planning, design, constitutional and equipping it, the machines, the access and the outdoor situation, all the facilities together. It is a self-sustaining complex. For now it is solely government sponsored project. Going forward for sustainability, it would not harm to find a reliable private player to join with government.
“This facility is one meant to support of hybrid seeds that we would have in the three hybrid seed centres in the three senatorial zones of the state. Our main target is to be able to compete with seed producing companies in Nigeria. We spend a lot of money buying seeds from Kebbi State. We now put pen to paper to calculate how much we spent and how much we can gain if get a facility like this to produce our own hybrid seeds. Even if we are supplying to south-south states alone, you can imagine how much we can gain from that. And from the hybrid seeds, we should be able to compete as suppliers of improved rice seeds under the anchor borrowers programme.
“Hybrid seeds here mean that it is a seed gotten from two pairs. One could be high yielding and the other disease resistant. Here in our laboratories, it is our place to plan the crossing and the crossing would happen in the field from where hybrid seeds are supposed to be produced and processed and then brought here for storage. Right now, the seedlings are raised on demand basis. You know they have to be taken off within three weeks
“We would conservatively put the number of direct employment at 10, 000. But the indirect and other multiplier effects like those who would be farming rice at the various local government and the labour they are going to hire and everything, and then the processors and so on. It is quite enormous.
“For us to be able to meet the hybrid seed demands of the entire south-south zone, we are estimating to start with 1000 hectares of land and if we get 8 tonnes per hectare from each of this hectare, you multiply that by 1000 so you can know the yield from there. If you are selling one tonne of hybrid rice at N150, 000, then you can use your calculator and do the arithmetic. You will know we are talking in billions of naira. This is a totally self-sustaining project if we manage it the way we are going. It can pay back whatever we are putting into this investment in three to four years.
“For management reasons the state has created a special SUV called Cross River Rice Company and charged it with management responsibility. It is under the Ministry of Agriculture. Technically the state is prepared for the project.”