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Tag: Farmers

  • Firm plans multimillion naira tomato project to empower farmers

    Firm plans multimillion naira tomato project to empower farmers

    Vegefresh Group, a top agro business conglomerate is building multimillion naira tomato processing factory at Imeko, Ogun State to support farmers to grow more high-value crops.

    Speaking in Lagos after receiving a delegation of chiefs from Imeko, led by Oba Benjamin Oyeditan-Olantie, the Group Chaiman, Prince Samuel Johnson Samuel, said the project which will also involve tomato cultivation in 3000 hectares, noted that out of the amount, contract farmers will be engaged to farm on 2000 hectares.

    By engaging the farmers, Samson said the company will protect them from losses as tomato is vulnerable to price shifts and external market factors.

    The effects, according to him, are hard felt with farmers losing so much in earnings, affecting the employment of hundreds of thousand people involved in production as small-scale producers were unable to cover costs of production.

    Given the structural changes within the sector, he noted it is clear that large numbers of farmers will never be able to effectively compete in the transformed market, adding that the company needs to  work with them to identify opportunities that will provide a higher income.

    In addition, the projects being implemented specifically target rural development as it promote new opportunities for trade, investment and rural economic prosperity by promoting agricultural diversification and off-farm employment for the area’s inhabitants.

    The company, he said  is prepared to assist farmers with access to input, including seed, fertiliser and know-how.

    Farmers, according to him, are facing serious logistical problems, and crops are often unable to make it to the market in time.

    According to him, storage facilities are insufficient, so they lose their harvest.

    To address this, he said his organisation is establishing a crushing  plant to help farmers process their  produce.

    The other plan, according to him, is to increase the land area under irrigation using available water resources.

    The plan is to increase investment in water storage and secure water sources.

    Samuel said the company needs to expand irrigation to cover the whole farm area instead of depending on rain-fed agriculture.

    He said Vegefresh had a major tomato processing plant in Bauchi State, which has not been functioning because of the activities of Boko Haram.

    To this end, he said the company decided to implement its South West development plan, pending when the activities of the insurgents will be brought under control.

    The Onimeko of Imeko, Oba Oyeditan-Olantie said the community is ready to support Vegefresh to promote economic diversification and competitiveness of the area.

    According to him, increasing the overall competitiveness of the sector through the project run, the  monarch noted, would transform smallholder production and marketing systems to boost productivity and incomes.

    He thanked the group for embarking on the project as it will help to  develop profitable agricultural product value chains and make farms more attractive to agribusi-ness in the value chain.

    If it pulls through, the project would have unleashed its own agrarian revolution — as well a modest green revolution throughout the community.

    Together with locals, the project is organising tomato-growing farmers into groups and will   taught them the basics of cropping, farm economics, tomato and tomato seedling production, business planning, and marketing.

    With the project’s assistance, participating farmers could increase their tomato yield.

    The increase yield will result in additional income for the participating farmers.

    In addition to increasing profits, the project will facilitate large, group quantity purchases of fertiliser, seeds, and other inputs, thus resulting in a more than decrease in the price.

  • ‘Farmers lose 50% of harvest’

    Farmers in Sub-sahara Africa, lose between 30 per cent-to-50 per cent of fruits and vegetables due to inadequate storage, Harvest Protection Network (HPN), has said.

    To address the challenge, HPN has promised to introduce a program to reduce crop spoilage losses in the sub-region. It said its business model will test the premise that revenues from the sale of crops previously lost to spoilage will pay for the buildings.

    “While many programs focus on how to increase food production, HPN will focus on protecting what we already grow. In addition to providing waterproof and pest proof storage, these buildings can serve as a distribution center and/or an indoor market. This program also contemplates outright ownership of these buildings by smallholder farmers,” says HPN’s founder and owner, Ian Bennett.

    Bennett, a Wharton MBA graduate who has been involved in the business of agriculture in Africa for over 40 years, was quick to point out that this is not a “handout” program. He said while participating African countries are not being asked to provide any of the funds to deliver and assemble these buildings, they are being asked to remove any import duty and the participating farmers are being asked to provide the land on which these buildings will be erected.

    Preliminary talks with foundations have been characterized by surprise that HPN is not interested in grant funding. “Our immediate challenge is to confirm that these buildings are self-funding,” he said, adding that if this pilot program is successful, HPN will seek a renewable credit facility to make it possible to continue delivering these buildings to Africa’s farming communities.

  • Photo: Preparing for a farming season

    Photo: Preparing for a farming season

    A WOMAN AND MEN PLOUGHING FOR NEW CROPPING SEASON IN BAUCHI ON MONDAY
    A WOMAN AND MEN PLOUGHING FOR NEW CROPPING SEASON IN BAUCHI ON MONDAY

  • Our Girls; Remember  Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers War; Assets; Info Ministries/Media  save lives

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. President Buhari has promised to focus on their safe return and to relocate the Forward Command HQ of the Boko Haram War to Maiduguri, the embattled state capital and long sought prize of the insurgents which has again come under murderous attack along with Fika, Gamboru and Ngala since the President assumed office. Maiduguri must not fall.

    Let us congratulate the majority of the seriously over-estimated 160+ Nigerians, most likely nearer 120m, on surviving the ‘Political War of 2015’. There were deaths, murders, casualties and a massive nationwide trauma from the massive non-democratic assault on the democratic wishes of the citizens.  Add to that a huge war budget nationwide which has been a major contributor to the crippling of the finances of the country, including the fall of the naira, and we see the true cost of this ‘Political War of 2015’.

    We must congratulate President Buhari for being tenacious enough and politically savvy enough to cooperate with strange bedfellows to achieve the APC, a ‘fruit salad’ of good and evil to defeat the pot of stew, amalgamated evil, that PDP turned out to be with too few good pieces. In a fruit salad, the pieces still remain individual and separate and identifiable. The person we have put in charge, President Buhari, can use his opportunity and powers of investigation to choose between the sweet and sour pieces to present to the people the next group of leaders. He and the VP have set a good example by declaring their assets, hopefully publicly. Of course they can and will insist on obedience to the law and make ‘Assets Declaration’ accompany ‘Acceptance of Appointment Forms’ for Ministers and all advisers and appointees. The difficulty would be to get governors to follow suit with themselves and their commissioners and advisers. It is not a moral difficulty but a corruption perpetuation difficulty.

    However President Buhari must try to make Assets Declaration the first step to all such government appointments. Whether he can get assent from a current NASSty NASS remains to be seen. The NASS track record, for party members of all parties, in financial transparency is legend and abysmal. It is in serious doubt if the membership of NASS and even the state assemblies are willing to clean up their act or allow themselves to be cleaned up. Indeed the President referred to difficulty with getting the states and LGAs to cooperate. Only time will tell. The President was particularly silent on the second Nigerian War –The Fulani herdsmen- Farmers across 10 states War’ which claims between 30 and 100 citizens a day and over 5,000 to date. He will be expected to tell us his plan for the end of this war in the near future.

    While we give President Buhari the next few days to tell us his plans and reminds him that there are 1460-5= 1455 days  left, let us take a break from politics and remember to implement policies at home and at work that will save ourselves to enjoy the fruits of our 2015 democratic struggles.

    I have recently advised several groups on how to stay healthy and attended the funerals of too many acquaintances and friends. No one will live forever and no one knows the day of death, but there are a few things we can all pay attention to in order to even the odds. There are lessons to be learned from the maybe N1.5-2tillion naira political campaign even as we remove the posters and burn the newspaper adverts. If we paid as much attention to our health as we do to politics and gossip we will be a healthier happier people.  If we funded health posters and health adverts as much as we fund political posters and political messages we would all be healthier or and happier. If our 200 radio and TV stations carried as many life-saving and health information messages as political messages we would all be healthier and happier. If the ministries of information at federal and state and LGA level did their real job of informing the public every day about the 200 life-saving messages instead of what politicians’ daily antics we would all be healthier and happier. Nigeria’s media must educate. It must take responsibility for the medical and social ignorance of the citizens as it has 24/7 access to citizens who are often ignorant of life-saving skills and messages. This is the task before all government and private media organisations and executives – to educate the citizenry during the next 1455 days on staying alive before 2019 round of democracy and election education. There is more to media responsibility for citizens’ education than Ebola and Elections. There is life itself and people need life skill education daily as new ignorant citizens hear and see radio and TV for the first time every day.

    So the inadequate amount of airtime allocated to such life skill messages is a scandalous indictment on the media which happily awards itself accolades for branded commercial advertising while to population falls ill and dies from lack of life skills. Life skill messages needing dissemination include taking folic acid throughout reproductive life, checking Blood Pressure, examining your breast and abdomen for masses, knowing your genotype, low sugar-salt-fats-alcohol intake and regular exercise. ‘Life Skill Message Education’ is in and out of school time and worktime.

    ‘If our 200 radio and TV stations carried as many life-saving and health information messages as political messages we would all be healthier and happier. If the ministries of information at federal and state and LGA level did their real job of informing the public every day about the 200 life-saving messages instead of what politicians’ daily antics we would all be healthier and happier’

     

  • Our Girls; Better IDP care; ‘Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers War’- ‘Cow Meat Boycott’ and Mass Transit the answer?

    SIR: Our Girls are still missing since April15, 2014, what a tragedy for the families and our country. We often claim there are no jobs for our professionals and tell them to become entrepreneurs. With high unemployment of professionals will 100 psychologists now be recruited, employed and deployed by government, NEMA, the Red Cross and other agencies. They are needed for the mental and emotional care of those traumatised by the bullets, bombs, bestiality or bereavement of war. Available assistance appears stretched to the limit in caring for Internally Displaced Persons. Yet over N57billion was raised by the Victims Fund and more donated internationally. This is the time for IT-monitored, accountable, open-handed, quick action and red tape-cutting assistance with no corruption or bureaucratic bottlenecks leading to another monumental government failure to help Nigerians. If Nigerians fail to quickly rehabilitate our over two million victims, we do not deserve to be a country. We see no money collections and posters and media urging volunteers and donations towards the relief effort.  Who are the faces of Nigerian women leadership leading the support efforts for victims? This HUMANITARIAN WAR EFFORT is what Governors’ wives and the wife of the new President should be proud to do FROM DAY ONE in the new dispensation in association with the women of Nollywood, women professional bodies, wives of the armed forces, wives of bankers etc. I say ‘wives’ but men also need to support this war effort.

    The destruction in the Middle East should worry all of us. Here, the Boko Haram War will not go away. It keeps rearing its ugly explosive murderous ‘here today-gone tomorrow- back the next day’, guerrilla-style tactics so successfully used in the past by the Boko Haram war machine. The recurrent war events in Maiduguri and the recapture of Borno towns already retaken by Nigeria suggest the need for larger forces. Driving Boko Haram away is not the complete answer. The exits must be sealed and the enemy captured. Therefore we need the establishment of efficient commando counter-terrorism guerrilla-style Nigerian Special Forces units in the bush to encircle and cut off escape routes into the bush, forest and across borders. In the national interest and that of millions displaced and at daily risk of being blown up by an increasing number of forced and volunteer suicide female bombers, misplaced military pride must be replaced by cooperation and pragmatism.

    There is need for better Nigerian/ Nigerien/ Chadian military cooperation. The publicised, un-denied use of mercenaries is not without its huge financial cost. It seems the Nigerian Army has fallen foul of the ‘Consultants Disease’ infecting the federal and state civil service, parastatals like NNPC and even the private sector where at every point ‘Consultants’ are invited to do the ‘dirty’ work like raise taxes from the population, sack staff, conduct forensic audit of accounts and now even fight wars. Often if that cost was properly injected given to the organisation as motivation and material, the same result would have been achieved in the often badly demoralised primary organisation.

    Amidst the euphoria of ‘change’ come May 29 and with just 1460 days in control of Nigeria, there are some hard decisions needed. The political battle and war may have been won but there is also real ‘blood and dead bodies’ wars. Boko Haram has local and international, political and religious, poverty and financial, radical and rapist components. But there is another war, a local war which killed three Tiv farmers this last weekend. This ‘our war’ is rooted in Nigerian feudalism and the terrors of an expansionist history, religious and political, territorial and right of way/passage through farms and drive for conquest and humiliation of others. The recent deadly attacks in Taraba, Plateau and Benue resulting in 100 to 400 deaths and involving men in Nigerian army uniform, Fulani herdsmen and perhaps fatal differences between local tribal populations especially farmers. The cost is high and rising with reported tit-for-tat deadly attacks by Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the over 20+ year old Fulani herdsmen-farmers war. It has defied all the conflict resolution attempts of local and international expert mediators to date who must redouble their efforts in the coming months for success.

    Can Buhari stop this ‘The Other War’? Has he got the moral authority? Can the military be applied neutrally? As an interested party, after all he is Fulani, will he be able to be fair to all concerned, as Rotarians will say? Are the causes of this Fulani Herdsmen-Farmers War just difficulties over ‘grazing rights’ or ‘watering holes’ or deep ‘ethnic agendas’ like seizing farmlands and produce without due process or payment for village and farm produce consumed by herdsmen, their families and cattle? There has been historical animosity. Too often the incumbent federal government disarms one side, exposing it to attack or prosecutes one side for possession of weapons for defence as the government does nothing to protect them.  Nigerians must look for other meat that does not cost the lives of its wonderful farming families and gallant soldiers. Why eat meat costing lives or livelihoods of families- Blood Meat. Will a cow Meat Boycott bring sanity through trailer and train transport? Perhaps! In the 21st Century cattle can easily be fed, watered and fattened at source on large northern farms and moved by train or trailer nationwide eliminating the North-South cowherd routes.

     

  • BAT rewards 300 farmers

    BAT rewards 300 farmers

    THE British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited has rewarded 300 farmers in Oyo State for supplying raw materials worth N740 million in 2014 financial year.

    The beneficiaries, who were drawn from 30 farmers’association in the state, were given new motorcycles, water pumps with accessories, over –head-water tanks, including sprayers for their efforts in last year’s production.

    Speaking during the presentation of these items to the affected farmers at Iseyin, Head, Leaf, BAT Nigeria Limited, Thomas Omofoye, said the farmers supplied the company leaves worth N740 million which was higher than the N224 million in 2013 under the company’s leaf growing scheme.

    “The productivity awards ceremony is a kind of encouragement for them to appreciate them better. First, farmers don’t tend to appreciate what they are doing, perhaps they don’t know that farming is actually a business. So we thought of celebrating them, their activities, and their commitment and to ensure that they are actually earning a living from farming operation,” he said.

    The Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Director, BAT, Freddy Messanvi, added: “I will like to congratulate the farmers on the hard work done in the previous year. Despite the unforeseen acts of nature, they have defied the odds and delivered once again as always.

    “I urged the farmers to maximise the resources and technical know-how being offered by B AT to continue to improve their yield, increase their income and improve lives.’’

    The  Farmers  Productivity Awards Scheme is an initiative of the BAT Iseyin Agronomy,  a  subsidiary  of  BAT Nigeria, to train, advise and support the farmers  by  providing  farm  input and extension services on proven best practice yearly.

    A member of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Anthony Adeniyi, urged the recipients of the awards to reciprocate the kind gesture of the BATN/ Iseyin Agronomy by making use of the equipment given to them, to boost efficiency in production.

    He urged other private sector operators and non-governmental operators to take a cue from the efforts of BAT Iseyin Agronomy in the areas of food security and poverty reduction through the development of agriculture.

  • Kwara women farmers seek help

    Kwara women farmers seek help

    Women farmers in Kwara State have made clear their needs to the government. They said they needed such modern agricultural tools as tractors and soil-enriching inputs, even chemicals to fight crop-eating and other destructive pests, among other things.

    It was not a lonely outing for the women growers. A raft of Civil Society groups and non-governmental organisations backed them as they made their case. The farmers were drawn from 18 communities in the state.

    The civil society forum on women in agriculture is supported by other non-governmental organisations (NGO) such as Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE) and Actionaid Nigeria).

    The event was organised by the NGOs.

    The women farmers otherwise known as women in agriculture used the occasion to appeal to the state government to ensure adequate supply of fertilisers, herbicides and tractors to aid them.

    A representative of the farmer from Kaiama Local Government Area, Silifat Mohammed, who said she has been farming for 22 years, lamented dearth of original herbicides and other farm inputs.

    “We urge government to assist us with the provision of fertilizer, tractors and original herbicides. The last planting season I operated at a loss.  I expended about N85,000 for in planting beans but at the end I only harvested two bags. Insects invaded my farmland and ate them up,” she added.

    Another who gave her name as Taiye Ibrahim, from Budo-Ara, Asa Local Government Area corroborated her colleagues.

    She said: “We urge the state government to make fertiliser, herbicides and tractors available to aid our farming activities. We also want to feel the impact of agriculture extension services experts. We need funding too.”

    Mrs. Ibrahim said she grew groundnuts, maize and yam.

    Director, Agriculture Services, in the state Ministry of Agriculture, Abifarin Olawuyi, said the state government is not unaware of the women farmers’ contribution for the food sufficiency in the state.

    Olawuyi said that the state government has always factored in the women farmers in its annual budget.

    He added that the paltry amount allocated to the sector in the 2015 budget recently passed by the state House of Assembly was due to dwindling allocations from the federation account.

    The director informed the gathering that the state government would make up for that in the supplementary budget.

    State Director, Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Alhaji Abdulazeez Oyelowo aligned with his colleague.

    Chief Executive Officer, CCPE in the state, Kareem Suleiman said that the annual allocation to agriculture by successive governments in Nigeria is not enough to galvanise expected growth and development in the country.

    Mr. Suleiman urged the state government “to endeavour to subsequently allocate an amount not less than 5 per cent of the total state budget to agricultural sector and progressively increase it to meet up with the 10 percent Maputo declaration commitment.”

    He continued “since women participation in agricultural development cannot be overemphasized, considering their significant contribution in the agriculture value chain and food production, we recommend that women farmers be accorded a pride of place in subsequent budgeting which could reflect in at least 30 percent budget allocation to direct line items aimed at supporting smallholder women farmers.

    “While noting that allocation to extension services in the previous years and 2015 agriculture budget has been non-existent, which has consistently being discouraging effective agriculture transfer technology by extension officer, we hereby recommend adequate funding for extension services which could reflect in at least 10 percent of the overall agriculture budget to bring about a more vibrant agriculture sector in our fledging agrarian state.

    “That a forum should be created by the state ministry of agriculture and natural resources for the participation of smallholder farmers, especially women and civil society organizations in the budgetary processes for ownership.

    “Finally, on agriculture financing and credit, we recommend that the state government should proactively engage the federal government to open up the Central Bank of Nigeria initiated ‘Nigerian incentive-based risk sharing system for agricultural lending’ (NIRSAL) for access by smallholder farmers, especially women.”

  • Enriching lives of small rice farmers

    Enriching lives of small rice farmers

    As a result of government and donor-supported development programmes, Nigeria is making efforts to grow more rice than ever before. However, there are challenges facing farmers in their quest to perform at optimum level. As a way out, experts have called for partnership between farmers and researchers in developing locally suitable farming practices, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Musa Basa (not real name) lives in the North with his wife and children. They grow rice and other crops. But they have to contend with a harsh soil type.

    Typically, when Basa and other farmers prepare their land at the start of the rains, they hope that the rains would be abundant and evenly spread throughout the season.

    When the rains start, he plants seeds. The challenge however is that when the rains stop, the farms return to degraded lands.

    While  rainfall may  be  short and intense,  sometimes ,  the challenge  is minimising run-off and increasing infiltration which  are crucial.  Since they are not achieving this, many farming families don’t plant more rice on and around their fields.

    There are   situations where farmers have suffered   huge losses in quantity and quality of rice after harvest. This is also because dry soils don’t help rice growth and so producing enough is an enormous task. While  this is  an  example  of  what   some farmers suffer  in  the North, the case of Abdul Ganiyu Alabi Ojolowo,  a  rice  farmer  in Lagos  is different.

    An accountant by training, Ojolowo sells locally milled rice (ofada) that is of high quality. But the same cannot be said of few of his colleagues. There are circumstances were bags of rice were fraught with stones and debris.

    Added to this, he said, is  consumer’s perception of local rice as inferior, making it less competitive against imported varieties.

    Another constraint he highlighted, is the long distance between the villages where  the rice  farms are located,   and the supply  towns. The  towns  are  filled with  good  suppliers of  imported rice than  locally grown  ones.

    If the  government  must  change  the situation,  Ojolowo said, there is a need to  improve  infrastructure such as irrigation, milling and processing facilities and farm-to-market roads to boost rice  production.

    To some stakeholders, while  that is the  reality on ground,  researchers  and the government are  making    efforts  to boost   crop yields and improve  the soil.

    A Professor at the Department of Crop Protection, University of Maiduguri,Daniel Gwary, said  there are  tremendous  efforts  to   improve  food security with focus on rice production. The measures include improving harvesting and postharvest practices and equipment to achieve high-quality grain.

    Gwary advised however,  that  farmers  should  be  assisted  with inputs such as improved seeds, fertiliser, agrochemicals and  to benefit  from extension services.

    He said improving   rice production under rain-fed lowland and irrigated lowland should be  a priority, while  attention should  be  paid to rain-fed upland rice in some key states, adding that Nigeria  has huge potential, to not only achieve rice self-sufficiency but also to  become the rice granary of the continent.

    From  what  experts  have  observed ,  addressing the challenge in  rice  production  is crucial considering   that Nigeria spends billions of naira annually on the importation of rice

    This, they warned is not in the interest of the economy.

    According to Africa Rice Center, reliance on imported rice and limited efforts in increasing domestic production is costing sub-Saharan Africa almost $5billion annually, its new appointed Director-General, Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, has  said.

    “Africa is losing about five billion dollars in the consumption of imported rice due to the high demand for the produce. However, even with the limited supply regionally, there are high chances for African countries to close that gap if the crop is given a lot of priority by the governments and scientists who play big roles in developing solutions for the challenges hindering massive rice production in Africa.”    Roy-Macauley said Africa’s rice growing countries must invest more resources to support more production of the cereal crop.

    To this end, scientists from the center are developing climate-smart rice varieties and   intends  to   field-test a number of flood-tolerant varieties in Nigeria. The center has been collaborating with local and international partners to develop improved rice varieties and technologies to increase rice productivity across the continent.

    A major partner of the centre in Nigeria is the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), Badeggi, Niger State.

    NCRI has the national mandate for the genetic improvement, production of breeders’ seeds and development of production, processing and utilisation technologies of six crops which include rice, soybeans, beniseed, sugar cane acha and castor. The institute had been able to develop 62 varieties of rice since inception.

    Supporting the institute is the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), a World Bank assisted programme.

    WAAPP Nigeria has entered into collaboration with National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI), Baddegi to boost rice production. Niger State is among the few states selected for the programme.

    Speaking at  an event recently, the  National Project Coordinator, WAAPP, Nigeria , Professor Damian Okey Chikwendu,  said that WAAPP is targeting root crops in the state.

    Chikwendu who was represented by the Environmental Focal Point Officer, Shitu Hussaini, listed its collaboration role with NCRI  to include  production of breeder and foundation seeds, as well as  implementing  System for Rice Intensification Initiative (SRI) in the state.

    According to the Coordinator, the seeds being targeted for production by WAAPP are the high yielding and drought resistant varieties.

    WAAPP-Nigeria in collaboration with some research institutes, has produced and released a total of 434 metric tonnes of rice.

    Chikwendu reiterated that the objective of WAAPP is to produce enough genetic materials in form of certified and foundation seeds in the priority agricultural commodities of rice, maize sorghum, yam and cassava to enable farmers increase their productivity.

    He said seeds would be provided to farmers through States’ Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs), the research institutes and colleges of agriculture, as well as universities collaborating with WAAPP, which are the immediate hosts to the farmers in the adopted villages and the agricultural innovation platforms.

    He said the project is interested in producing certified seeds to go round to farmers.

    The project is currently targeting 1.5 million farmers.

    On SRI, he  said the programme is  sponsoring the promotion of an integrated menu of agronomic and soil management practices known respectively as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) in Ebonyi, Niger and Jigawa states.

    The project involves sponsoring 20 Demonstration Rice Plots in each state, and an additional 10 plots in Jigawa State under the management of a partner-NGO called Green Sahel Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative (GSARDI).  The project which  involves the provision of training, utilise both theoretical presentations and practical sessions at the  demonstrations plots.

    Recently, to boost rice production, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development demonstrated the use of locally fabricated rice threshing machine to farmers in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger.

    The Director, Rice Value Chain, Dr Victor Onyeneke, who introduced and demonstrated the machine to over 100 farmers, said the idea was to remove impurity associated with paddy rice.

    Represented by Mrs. Ihecherem Nneka, an Assistant Chief Agricultural Officer, Onyeneke said the machine saves time compared to using manual method of processing the paddy rice. “Most of our processed local rice cannot compete favourably with foreign rice because of impurities such as stones and others from the farms. “The introduction of thresher cleaner machine will ensure that our local rice compete favourably with any foreign rice,’’ he said.

    Onyeneke said the programme was part of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government introducing the mobile rice thresher to rice farmers across the country, adding that the idea behind the fabrication of the machine with local content was in collaboration with  the Ministry, Africa Rice and the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAM), Ilorin.

    He said the machine which would be put into use by the farmers for one month, would be sold to rice producing communities in the state at between N300, 000 and N700, 000 each.

    The State’s Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bello Salihu, said  the machine is capable of threshing one tonne of paddy rice per hour.

    Salihu said the manual labour would have taken between eight hours for the same processing.

    He said that the introduction of the machine was to address the challenges of production and processing faced by rice farmers in the country.

  • BATN empowers small farmers

    BATN empowers small farmers

    The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) has reiterated its commitment to supporting the government’s poverty alleviation schemes with its strategic investments  targeted at  empowering small farmers, to improve productivity and earn decent incomes from their agricultural activities.

    Its General Manager, Abimbola Okoya, while speaking at an interactive session organised by the foundation for its key stakeholders to map out new strategies to boost agricultural productivity with a focus on better ways of enriching smallholder famers, said  their activities are focused on where they could achieve the most impact in the agriculture value chain.

    “The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation has recorded remarkable milestones through the deployment of strategic intervention schemes focusing on provision of potable water supply, vocational skills development, agricultural development, and environmental protection since its establishment in 2002,” said Ms Okoya, while addressing stakeholders at the conference which held in Ibadan, Oyo State. “These interventions have transformed the lives of beneficiaries through capacity building initiatives and creation of enabling environment for smallholder farmers to effectively distribute their agricultural produce,” she added.

    The conferees discussed proactive approaches to increasing crop yield and enhancing natural resource through capacity building, technical assistance from reputable enterprise-based organisations as well as paving ways for easy access for the distribution of agricultural produce.

    Okoya said: “This strategic meeting with the technical partners becomes necessary due to BATN Foundation’s yearning for sustainable agricultural development, enriching lives of smallholder farmers, providing periodic information on agricultural development, and sharing learning on agriculture-related matters. The BATN Foundation is particularly concerned about the impact of the interventions on the lives of smallholder farmers and other beneficiaries within the value chain.”

    She said the organisation recognises the pivotal role of its partners in implementing the foundation’s corporate social investments. “All the stakeholders must adopt the BATNF’s new ways of working, one of which is ensuring that the interventions’ impact on the beneficiaries are easily measurable with respect to variables such as changes in average household, adequacy of level and stability of food supply and access, proportion of smallholder farmers and agro –entrepreneurs adopting new practices among many others,”  Okoya said.

  • Farmers laud Ogun govt’s programmes

    Farmers laud Ogun govt’s programmes

    Ogun State government has been lauded for its commendable agricultural programmes which have improved the fortunes of farmers in the state.

    The State’s Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Olusegun Dasaolu, gave the commendation during an interactive session between  farmers and Governor Ibikunle Amosun on how best to further improve the quality of service delivery in the sector.

    Chief Dasaolu said he was impressed with government’s rice cultivation in Eggua in Yewa North, 50-hectare Cocoa farm and a plantain farm in Alagbagba in Odeda Local Government, 50- hectare oil palm farm in ImekoAfon and the establishment of Green House in Kotopo, which has started to produce high-yield tomatoes, pepper to the citizens as well as various cassava farms in the state.

    The AFAN chairman also praised the state government for paying its counterpart fund regularly, saying it has allowed farmers to  get their input, such as fertiliser, ands seedlings, among others.

    He urged the state government not to relent in agriculture, saying more is still needed to be done, so that the state agricultural programmes can lead to industrialisation as seen by more irms opening shops in th state as well as the establishment of an ethanol factory the first in Sub-Sahara Africa in Agbara.

    The Chairman, Ogun State Poultry Farmers Association, Dr. Odunsi, urged the state government to look at the possibility of acquiring broiler processing machines as well as egg processing machines, which will turn egg into powder, which can be used by top companies such as Cadbury.

    This, he said, would improve the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    Governor Amosun thanked the farmers for their unflinching support to his government in the last 46 months,adding that agriculture will be given more priority in his second term.

    He urged them not to relent in their support as his government means well for them and their families especially now that all attention must be focused on agriculture as oil prices has fallen on the international markets

    Also speaking, Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun urged farmers to have faith in Governor IbikunleAmosun’s administration as they stand to gain more if he is re-elected in next month governorship election.