The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Farmers

  • How Lamido resolved Fulani/farmers conflict in Jigawa

    How Lamido resolved Fulani/farmers conflict in Jigawa

    “The sad of Jigawa’s misfortune would finally come to an end. In line with our philosophy, we appear only when where there are challenges, but I must admit we are dumb-founded, more than shocked and astonished by the report, and of course we will take it as part of our dark history while putting up a mechanism to forestall all future occurances”
    — Sule Lamido

    Clashes between pastoralists and farmers are worsening in many parts of the country due to disputes over grazing reserves and water sources but the present administration in Jigawa state under Sule Lamido is far ahead of all others in tackling this social problem. The state government has established 400 grazing reserves, 50 of which have already been gazetted. Grazing reserves tend to be merely unattended bush in other places but in Jigawa State, Lamido has seen to it that they are equipped with facilities such as windmills, power pumps and boreholes as well as improved grass and resting facilities.

    The effort to establish and demarcate grazing reserves in Jigawa State was part of a multi-dimensional approach adopted by Lamido early in the day to address the perennial problem of clashes between pastoralists and farmers which claimed many lives in the state. Another aspect of the strategy was the setting up of security and sensitization committees to monitor the situation, as well as the payment of compensation to victims of past crises in order to discourage them from seeking revenge.

    Similarly, in its effort to encourage and enhance the pastoralists, Jigawa State Government launched the 2014/2015 animals vaccination exercise recently in Birnin-Kudu Local government area in the state in which the state government vaccinated 3,438,590 cattle against diseases in the past seven and-half-years 2007-2014. Also the state government had immunised 1, 611, 197 sheep and goats, while 53, 450 dogs were also vaccinated against rabies.

    Due to routine vaccination, the devastating diseases that often affected animals in the state had declined significantly. Also the government has included poultry in the programme to prevent Newcastle disease. Jigawa state government often purchases assorted veterinary drugs for farmers at subsidized prices and modern surgical equipment for nine veterinary clinics across the state. Lamido’s administration had invested a lot of resources on agriculture as the main stay of the economy.  Also, the economic and investment summit in the state in 2013 was convened by Lamido because of his commitment and efforts in the Agricultural sector, in which more than 80 per cent of the investors who participated at the summit expressed willingness to invest in agro-allied industries in the state.

    An accompanying aspect of this overall social policy also discourages allowing domestic animals to roam freely in towns and cities. Cattle, goats and sheep contribute in making towns dirty, and cause accidents, hence the new policy that makes their owners to tether them in their houses.

    This far-reaching social policy was not restricted to the animals and pastoralists alone. It also accommodates the children of the herdsmen. Jigawa state government has established many nomadic schools in the state to accommodate a large population of Fulani children. The governor approved that all nomadic schools in the state must be funded, equipped and staffed while ensuring that the children are taught both Islamic and western education respectively.

    Sule Lamido followed up his initiatives (administrative policies) with another project that facilitates easy access to him. He has a dedicated GSM phone line by which citizens can reach him in order to complain, offer advice, suggest and object or criticize his government’s policies and programs. The Talakawa’s leader, attends to everyone who texts or calls without intimidation, humiliation, victimization or deprivation. It is not for nothing that citizens of Jigawa State speak of the Lamido as a governor, mentor, leader, guardian, father and a messiah.

     

    Adamu is Special Adviser to Jigawa state governor on Media

  • Farmers not reaping from falling oil price, says don

    The fall in oil prices has not benefited farmers, a don has said. Prof  Ini  Akpabio, Dean, Faculty of  Agriculture, University of Uyo, (UNIUYO), blamed this on high cost of  production  and  middle-men.

    Akpabio  said  farmers were still suffering from high  cost of  transportation,  which  should have reduced if  there was a reduction  in fuel price.

    In most of the farming  areas, many small holders unaware of the falling crude oil price  and those who are informed are  at the mercy of agents that dominate the system.

    According to him, if fuel prices are falling, then it is possible farmers  will  see their  cost  of  production reduce.

    The   plight of farmers, he  noted,   is replicated across the  nation, since  the economy   relies on small farmers for 80 per cent of its food.

    According  to him, the  oil’s dramatic decline has not  been offset by currency weakness as  farmers  cannot  acquire  farming  machinery   and  could  cause  foreign investors to  retreat  from the  sector because  of fear of poor  return on investment.

    Also, while  the price of  agro export commodities,  such as   cocoa prices, had jumped by as much as 20 percent since October,  stakeholder said  cocoa farmers were  not  benefitting  as  most exporters are holding forward contracts entered into when a dollar exchanged for N160.  Nigeria is the fourth largest producer of cocoa in the world, after Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia.

    Stakeholders  said   Nigeria  is    merely producing   and exporting   cocoa raw beans, without paying adequate attention to processing of cocoa to produce chocolates.

    For this reason, the exporters  receive three to six per cent of the final consumer price for a bar of chocolate.

    The  Executive  Director, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) said   Nigeria should be processing chocolate instead of exporting it as raw beans. This requires investments in chocolate manufacturing companies and transforming the Export Enhancement Grant (EEG) to value addition.

  • Biotechnology offers farmers hope

    The Co-ordinator, Open Forum on Agriculture Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB), Nigerian Chapter, Mrs. Rose Gidado, has said the country stands to gain from the adoption of biotechnology.

    The benefits of biotechnology, according to her, will be evenly spread among biotech companies, farmers and consumers, adding that it will immensely contribute to agricultural productivity.

    Speaking as a  panelist at the just-concluded AGRA Innovate conference in Lagos, Gidado said Genetic Modification Technology (GMT) is an important instrument for plant breeders.

    “GM Technology makes it easier for the breeder to transfer genes of desired traits from unrelated specie of crop to an unrelated specie solving problems that can’t be solved in conventional breeding.”

    While arguing that GM Technology will make quality seeds available to farmers, she said biotechnology creates opportunities; increases crop yields; reduces losses to insects, pests and diseases; post harvest storage problems and enhances the nutritional value of some  crops.

    She added that resistance to a biotic stress, such as drought and high soil salinity, resulting in increased crop production and empowerment of youths in rural areas are other accruable benefits from application of biotechnology.

    The OFAB coordinator said countries such as Burkina Faso and Brazil are already reaping the benefit of embracing biotechnology as their farmers are smiling to banks. “The income of Nigerian farmers will increase, like in Burkina Faso where BT cotton has been embraced, the income of farmers has increased by 51per cent, and the farmers make a lot of money. Burkina Faso makes $1.2billion yearly and Brazil $2billion yearly from biotechnology,” she said.

    She added that the hectares cultivated by farmers in those countries continue to increase yearly and more farmers are now beginning to adopt the technology.

     

  • Empowering farmers for food security

    Empowering farmers for food security

    Drawing from the plummeting supply of food stuffs from the northern part of the country as a result of insurgency, the Lagos State Government has taken steps to not only ensure food security but also to develop an agro-based economy. PRECIOUS IGBONWELUNDU reports

    For many years, people in the Southern part of Nigeria relied on food supply from the North to meet daily needs. But as insurgency continued to ravage some geo-political zones of the region unabated, the quantity of food stuffs that come to the South from the North nose-dived.

    For farmers in Lagos State, the limited supply of food stuffs from the North has become a blessing in disguise. The situation has become blessing of sorts to them as over 3,000 of them have benefitted from various empowerment programmes initiated by the state’s Ministry of Agriculture.

    Farmers in the various agricultural value chains across the state beamed with excitements as seedlings, feeds, fertilisers and other equipment were provided for them by the ministry in a bid to enhance their micro-businesses.

    Supervised by the Commissioner himself, the ministry recently visited the four distribution zones-Mowo, Badagry; Odogunyan in Ikorodu; Agege and Epe- where a total of 3, 149 people received fish and poultry feeds, outboard engines, fishing smoking kilns, cows and garri processing equipment, among others.

    The beneficiaries who included fisher men, horticulturists, animal husbandry, egg producers, feed millers and coconut cultivators expressed their joy as they praised Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) for bringing succour their way.

    For a fish farmer, Mrs. Victoria Ofinni who received 20 bags of fish feed at the Agege zone, life has never been so good.

    Dancing around with one of the freebies on her head, she said: “Today is one of my happiest days. I thank Governor Fashola and Prince Lawal for this assistance. Now, I can increase my modest fish farm and better take care of my children. There is no way we will starve.”

    Another beneficiary, Odegbami Ayodele, a 28-year-old graduate of Oyo State College of Education, Alanyande, said the pig feeds he received has relieved him of severe financial burden, adding that with the gesture, he would be able to adequately feed his pigs and thus move forward in life.

    The story was not different for butchers. Their representative, Mr Abiola Olusegun received the three cows, gears and apron on behalf of his team. Olesegun was particularly ecstatic because, he said, “this is the first time that we are being recognised and acknowledged as butchers by any government”.

    According to him, the empowerment would free them from unnecessary pressure and financial difficulty, thereby providing them with capital to continue on their own after generating sales from the free cows.

    An egg seller, Mrs Sanni Alimo-Shaddiya received 50 crates of egg; Mrs Patricia Akpezi went home with a kiln for fish processing; a fisherman, Juwon Owoade with his Ayegbami Fishermen Co-operatives members received 40 HP waterman outboard engines.

    Aside those who received equipment to better their trades, others had access to loans to the tune of N90 million to actualise their dreams of producing foods in order to meet the food need of the state.

    Among this group is a 30-year-old Mohammed Sakai, a member of the Diamond Agric-YES Co-operative Society. Sakai was trained under this programme. Provided a free two-bedroom apartment inside the Lagos State Agric Training Institute in Araga, Epe and his team obtained the loan of about N90 million.

    “The scheme has truly impacted positively on my life. It has given meaning to my study and a means of livelihood for my family. My group produces 200 crates of eggs daily and about three to four tons of fish monthly.

    “There are about 400 settlers here, all living in their two-bedroom apartments provided by the scheme.  The commissioner and the ministry have done very well, and we implore them to sustain this scheme,” Sakai said.

    While expressing satisfaction for the success of the scheme, Lawal said government’s wish is to truly empower people across the different agricultural value chains.

    Lawal, who was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Yakub Bashorun, said the idea was to enhance the productivity of the beneficiaries and create more jobs.

    “Our target is to ensure inclusive growth in the state. It is geared towards taking people out of the poverty trap. We want to reduce the number of people on the bottom of the economic pyramid. We acknowledge that any growth that is not inclusive of the grassroots may not be sustainable,” he said.

    According to the Commissioner, the programme would provide a social safety net for the vulnerable, even as he noted that the multiplier effect of the gesture is far-reaching.

    “This is one empowerment programme with a multiplier effect. For example, we empower the people with inputs and at the end of their production; we buy the output from them.

    “So, not only have you given people jobs, you have also created a ready market for them. In a nutshell, the programme has created jobs and markets; liberating people as well as bridging the gap between farmers and capital for inputs.

    “With the capital support we give them, we have been able to demonstrate that this government is concerned about its citizens’ welfare. Beyond this, the scheme also had tackled the challenge of egg glut for those in that value chain, provided opportunity for cassava growers to sell their produce through the Eko Cassava processing factory, aside those who got equipment or gears depending on their occupations.

    “We have said it and we are serious at ensuring food self-sufficiency in the state. With two poultry estates, two fishery estates, eight farm estates, six farm settlements, two piggery farms spread across the state, this would not be difficult a target for the government of Lagos State to achieve,” Lawal said.

  • Farmers receive N151 billion worth of fertiliser

    Farmers receive N151 billion worth of fertiliser

    Nigerian  farmers have redeemed a total 1.37 million metric tonnes of fertiliser worth N151 billion ($915 million), the  Minister  of  Agriculture  and Rural  Development, Dr Akinwumi  Adesina  has  said.

    In  addition , he   said  farmers  also  received   102,703 metric tonnes of improved rice seeds and 67,991 metric tons of improved maize seeds valued at N43 billion ($260 million).

    Speaking  at the   flag-off    of the Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises Programme in Zamfara State, Adesina  said   between 2012 and this year, Nigeria produced an additional 21 million metric tonnes of food, exceeding the   target of 20 million metric tonnes  set for next  year.  He  announced  also  that  over  three million farm jobs have been created.

    Acoording to him,  the government  has   improved food security of 40 million persons in rural farm households.

    Following  this  success, the  minister   said  the  government  is  determined  to     mechanise agriculture and free  farmers from reliance on hoes and cutlasses. This, he   said  will  be  achieved  through   Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHE).

    For  this reason, he   said  the  government  has   directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to set aside N50 billion Agricultural Mechanisation Fund for the roll out of the AEHE the country. The initiate, he explained is a purely Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) strategy that will set up agricultural equipment hiring enterprises in strategic locations to provide mechanised farm services to farming communities.

    The  hiring  centres, he   noted  would  provide   leasing/hiring of agricultural equipment for land preparation, harvesting and post-harvest operations, repair and maintenance of such equipments.

    The centres will also serve as an incubator for human capital development within farming communities.

    Between now and 2016, he  said  the Agricultural Mechanisation Fund will establish a minimum of 1,200 Agricultural AEHEs across the nation. The  centres  will provide 6,000 units of tractors and their implements, 15,000 power tillers and over 20,000 planting, harvest and post harvest equipments. Through  them ,he   said  the  government  would  be  able  to  mechanise four million hectares of farm land and expand food production by an additional 20 million metric tonnes.

     

     

  • Women farmers demand grants, capacity building, others

    Women farmers have   advocated for funds tailored for them for extensive capacity building programmes and resuscitation of dilapidated infrastructure at the grassroots.

    They made the demand at the ongoing Agricultural Show organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    The women listed challenges confronting them to include lack of funds, poor market access, inadequate storage facilities and undue processes in accessing credits.

    The National President, Nigerian Women Agro Allied Farmers Association, Mrs Lizzy Igbine, while commenting on the needs of women farmers, said adequate funds were needed for field trials, land preparation, planting and harvest.

    “For women, the budgetary funds cannot be accessed and we have problems with undue procedures in accessing bank loans; many banks don’t even grant loans to rural farmers.

    “Our lands to them have no value; we cannot use them as collateral and especially as women, land papers were not handed over from our forefathers.

    “We, therefore, want President Goodluck Jonathan to give grants, especially to women farmers and  help reduce the bottlenecks associated with securing loans in banks,’’ she said.

    Other women farmers, who listed poor linkages to appropriate markets, urged government agencies to utilise the current farmers’ data through the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to ensure adequate markets.

    They urged government to buy back farm produce direct from farmers to encourage valuable income for them, while creating definite rural famers markets to decrease glut and wastage.

    Echoing similar views, Chairman, ActionAid Nigeria, Prof. Patricia Donli, while speaking on “Agriculture Investment and Nutrition Security”, noted that the sector’s budget was decreasing annually.

    Donli further disagreed the claim by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that Nigeria had already met the MDG Goal 1of halving the number of poor and hungry people in Nigeria.

    “I think Nigeria has not met the MDG Goal 1. We have a lot of poor and hungry people in Nigeria, although the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is a step in the direction.

    “Nigeria’s budgetary allocation has fallen below the target recommended by the Maputo Declaration; we need at least 10 per cent of the national budget, showing we are not yet serious about investment in agriculture.”

    The chairman said low cultivation of arable land in Nigeria, continuous land grabbing issues and the exclusion of women in agricultural financing, discouraged good income for women farmers.

    She, therefore, called for the resuscitation of extension services, restoration of rural infrastructure, climate change mitigation and adaptation measures for an improved agriculture sector.

  • Boost farmers’ disaster resilience, govt urged

    The Federal Government has been   urged to focus on building farmers’ resilience to mitigate the shock when disasters strike.

    An  international  Consultant, Dr  David Etta,  said events associated with climate change and climate variability have become more pronounced in  recent years, thereby adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers He said the current vulnerability of  farmers   to climate change, stems not just from increasingly uncertain rainfall patterns, explaining that climate change is an additional stress that compounds persistent development challenges, such as a swelling population, land fragmentation, the migration of people into sparser and drier lowland areas, and inadequate infrastructure and provision of social services. These factors, he  added,  combine to contribute to the nation’s   vulnerability to climate variability and long-term climate change.

    As such,he   said the  efforts to increase the capacity farmers to cope with and adapt to a greater prevalence of drought due to climate change requires a holistic approach that addresses their need for information, access to technology, capacity building, new livelihood opportunities and a supportive policy regime.

    In response, he said measures should be taken  to provide  downscaled weather forecasts, improved agricultural practices and  increased access to reliable water sources to  farmers .

    According to him, the agric sector needs   interventions that would contribute to improved and diversified livelihoods as well as facilitating the integration of adaptation to climate change into policies related to disaster management and sustainable development of affected areas.

    As such, he urged the government to set machinery to improve damage assessments to provide policy makers with a basis for seeking disaster assistance as the agricultural industry can experience multiple impacts,such as crop failures, yield reductions, or liquidation of livestock.

    Given the direct nature of these impacts, he noted, that the government should give thought to developing a strategic plan for addressing more complex issues.

    One way to address this, he said, would require diversifying crops in rural areas.

    This, he maintained, would help   farmers immediately become more resilient to natural disasters and shifts in weather.

    He stressed  that   government and  farmers   need to move toward more critical thinking, and that means considering local conditions, risks, and opportunities to integrate resilience-building into market-based activities.

     

  • We‘re accessing N10b Cassava Fund, say farmers

    Farmers have started accessing the N10billion Cassava Bread Fund approved by the Federal Government, the President, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association? (NCGA), Pastor Segun Adewumi, has said.

    He said N2.4 billion was given to farmers to grow cassava.

    Adewumi, who spoke with The Nation in Abuja  said farmers would be blamed if the recent new policy on cassava flour fails.

    He said: “The farmers have started working with the funds. N2.4 billion was given  to grow cassava. The fund is divided between, cassava growers, the processors and the master bakers. Both processors and the master bakers have fund to upgrade their equipment, cassava growers have fund to provide affordable and adequate cassava for the programme.

    He explained that the banks now have confidence to give out money to farmers because they know that the market is waiting with  multiplied patronage. He said  government has given the cassava growers free hand to drive the 20 per cent cassava flour inclusion in bread baking.

    He said: “We have tried it before but it didn’t work because the implementation had a problem, but right now, the minister has given farmers a free hand. He said if anybody is to be blamed for its failure, it’s the farmers, because it’s no longer the government that is controlling it; gvernment has given the controlling powers to farmers and we are very happy.

    “As at now, we are supposed to do 29, 500 hectares which by this month end, we must have completed. So work is going on all over the country around the high quality cassava flour production centres.”

  • Women farmers urge govt on funding

    Women farmers  have  urged the Federal Government to provide  funds for women, extensive capacity building programmes and resuscitation of dilapidated infrastructure at the grassroots.

    A cross-section of women made these demands at the ongoing National Agricultural Show organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    The women listed challenges confronting them to include lack of funds, poor market access, inadequate storage facilities and undue processes in accessing credits.

    The National President, Nigerian Women Agro Allied Farmers Association, Mrs Lizzy Igbine,  while commenting on the needs of women farmers, said adequate funds were needed for field trials, land preparation, planting and harvest.

    “For women, the budgetary funds cannot be accessed and we have problems with undue procedures in accessing bank loans; many banks don’t even grant loans to rural farmers.

    “Our lands to them have no value; we cannot use them as collateral and especially as women, land papers were not handed over from our forefathers.

    “We, therefore, want President Goodluck Jonathan to give grants, especially to women farmers and help reduce the bottlenecks associated with securing loans in banks.’’

    Other women farmers, who listed poor linkages to appropriate markets, urged government agencies to utilise the current farmers’ data through the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme to ensure adequate markets.

    They urged the government to buy back farm produce direct from farmers to encourage valuable income for them, while creating definite rural famers markets to decrease glut and wastage.

    Echoing similar views, Chairman, ActionAid Nigeria, Prof. Patricia Donli,  while speaking on “Agriculture Investment and Nutrition Security”, noted that the sector’s budget was decreasing annually.

    Donli further disagreed with the the claim by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that Nigeria had already met the MDG Goal 1of halving the number of poor and hungry people in Nigeria.

    “I think Nigeria has not met the MDG Goal 1; we have a lot of poor and hungry people in Nigeria, although the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is a step in the direction.

    “Nigeria’s budgetary allocation has fallen below the target recommended by the Maputo Declaration; we need at least 10 per cent of the national budget, showing we are not yet serious about investment in agriculture.”

  • Fertiliser: Govt targets 20m farmers

    The Acting Director-General, National Agricultural Seed Councils (NASC),   Dr Philips Olusegun-Ojo, has said the Federal Government was targeting 20 million farmers in the  fertiliser distribution for the next year’s farming season.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Olusegun-Ojo revealed this when he declared open a three-day training on seed certification and quality control held at the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The  training, organised by the council, had corps members, NASC certification officers, internal quality control and seed production officers of seed companies as participants.

    According to Olusegun-Ojo,  the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme of the government got to over 90 per cent of Nigerian farmers, saying that this had never happened in the past.

    He said: “Before the introduction of GES, only 11 per cent of Nigerian farmers got fertilisers; but now, over 90 per cent receive the commodity from their redemption centres.

    “In view of the enormous success recorded by GES in Nigeria, countries like China, Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania came to borrow a leave from us.”

    Olusegun-Ojo applauded the government’s initiative in introducing the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) aimed at creating jobs for Nigerians apart from facilitating the attainment of national food security.

    The director-general noted that ATA had succeeded in encouraging farmers to view farming as a business and not as an inherited traditional profession with bleak future.

    He said all tiers of government, cooperative societies, private organisations and individuals are partners in progress as far as agricultural transformation is concerned.

    He, however, observed that some state governments were reluctant in extending the necessary support to enhance the success of ATA in their respective states.

    The director-general said the task of making high quality seeds available to the farming population was enormous.

    Earlier in an address, the NASC Regional Head, North-West Zone, Malam Mohammed Ubandoma, said the training was one of the ways to augment the efforts of ATA.

    According to him, sensitisation and training of stakeholders are part of government’s efforts to ensure food security.

    He explained that it was necessary to acquaint stakeholders with seed production and quality control techniques.

    He said the training was a collective responsibility towards ensuring quality seed production for consumption as well as agro-industries through the value chain approach.