The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Farmers

  • Subsidised grains for FCT farmers

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has sold grains to residents at a subsidised rate.

    The idea of the FCT buffer stock programme the administration says is geared towards reducing wastage and ultimately ensuring food security in the territory.

    To ensure that several residents benefit from the sale, 16,507 bags of maize, 1,880 bags of guinea corn, and 2,393 bags of millet all in 50kg packs were sold at 50 per cent subsidised rate as a bag of maize and guinea corn were sold for N2,200 while millet was sold for N3,000.

    Minister of State for the FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide said the event is a showcase for the giant strides the administration is making towards transforming agriculture from being a development intervention into a business enterprise.

    She said that the programme was designed to use agriculture as an engine for business and entrepreneurship rather than development intervention.

    She said: “By this intervention, government aims to increase the productivity of farmers as well as empower the youth and women through various forms of agric business. Consequently, the FCT Administration is championing value addition, sourcing for markets, enlightenment, sensitisation and education of farmers on the availability of new technologies and new ways of agriculture.

    “The FCTA therefore, is tearing its barns and expanding its walls to make room for the anticipated growth in harvest from the current buffer stock capacity of 1,250 metric tons to 3,250MT as a result of the boost.

    “For that reason, we are opening the floodgates of our storehouses to FCT farmers and residents in order to bridge the gap created by the intervening period, when all the crops would have gone into the ground. This is with a view to stabilising the prices of produce as we await yet another bumper harvest.”

  • 10,000 farmers benefit from GESS programme

    10,000 farmers benefit from GESS programme

    Over 10,000 farmers in Ebonyi State have so far redeemed various farm input in Ebonyi under the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) roll out programme this year.

    State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Anselm Opara, stated this in Abakaliki, the state capital.

    He noted that the redemption of the farm inputs which include: fertilizers, seeds, cuttings among others, commenced on May 20 this year and is expected to last for 10 weeks.

    He said: “We are targeting 120, 000 farmers out of the 200, 000 registered in the farmers’ database this year as efforts have been intensified to reach the rest within the stipulated period.”

    While noting that the redemption might be slow at present, the Director expressed optimism that the tempo would increase because people like to carry out activities at the last minute.

  • Rice farmers decry insecurity in Borno

    The Maisandari Rice Farmers Association in Borno said the Boko Haram insurgency has forced its members to abandon farming this year.

    The Chairman of the association, Malam Garba Ibrahim, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maisandari, Jere Local Government Area of the state.

    He said: “We are an association of big term rice farmers comprising about 200 members.

    “Each of us used to produce between 50 and 200 bags of rice per year.”

    He said the production had witnessed some decline due to the insurgency in the state.

    “We have witnessed steady decline in production in the last two years due to the insurgency.

    “Last year, most of our members were not able to produce for fear of attacks in the farm by suspected insurgents.”

    Ibrahim said the situation became worse this year as most of the farmers had abandoned the dry season farming due to insecurity.

    “This year, no farmer has been able to cultivate during the dry season due to the insecurity.

    “Although the state government has provided imported rice mills to our members in anticipation of massive production, insecurity had made it impossible for us to cultivate.”

    He appealed to the Federal Government to intensify its efforts in tackling the insurgency so that the farmers could go back to the farm.

    Meanwhile, the Jigawa chapter of the Rice Dealers Association of Nigeria, said it had concluded arrangements to establish six pilot rice trading centres in the state.

    The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Idris Ya’u, said in Hadejia, Jigawa, that the centres would be established in collaboration with the Federal Government.

    He said the government would spend about N12 million on each of the centres, while farmers’ association in each of the participating areas would contribute N600,000 to the project.

    “The Federal Government has also introduced a new 100-kg bag to ensure accuracy in the measurement of paddy rice,” he said.

    Ya’u explained that the gesture was to accelerate paddy rice production, enhance farmer enterprising skills and encourage competition.

    The chairman said that the trading centres would be sited at Auyo, Birninkudu, Hadejia, Kazaure, Kirikasamma and Ringim, all in Jigawa, and be equipped with processing and packaging equipment to add value to the produce.

    He added that officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture had already inspected the sites for the proposed trading centres.

    It would be recalled that the Federal Government, during the last dry season, distributed fertiliser, seeds and chemicals to 154,000 registered rice farmers under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) programme.

     

    The government had also distributed mini harvesters, tractors, water pumps, tube wells, thrashers and Knapp sack sprayers to farmers in the state.

  • Govt to disburse N22m to farmers

    Govt to disburse N22m to farmers

    The Delta government has earmarked N22 million for disbursement to rural farmers under the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS), MrMisanUkubeyinje, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, said.

    Ukubeyinje said in Asaba that the fund disbursement had already commenced.

    He said “I recently disbursed cheque to three benefiting groups from Ugbenu in Ethiop West Local Government Area, Ayokoromo and Abigborodo in Warri North and each of these groups received N3 million to support their farms.’’

    The commissioner added that the disbursement, which had been on since 2002, was being sustained through a counterpart fund between the state and the federal government.

    He noted that the state government recently paid its counterpart fund for the year, thereby creating an opportunity for participating farmers group to draw down on demand for the amount needed to boost food production in the state.

    The programme is being managed by the state’s Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) in Ibusa, to ensure effective disbursement and efficient utilisation of the funds by participating groups.

    According to Ukubeyinje, there are nine participating groups in the programme representing three communities from each of the three senatorial districts of the state.

    “Graciously, the Delta Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, paid the state counterpart fund this year to enable farmers who met the obligations to have access to the loan.

    “These funding is to uplift the poorest of the poor farmers across the three senatorial districts and it has impacted positively on the lives of the people in those communities.

  • BATNF trains women farmers

    BATNF trains women farmers

    British America Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) has trained 33 women vegetable farmers for better performance and increased productivity.

    Its General Manager,  Ms Abimbola Okoya, said the training will empower the farmers with in-depth knowledge of how, when and where to plant their crops; how to access loans, and apply fertilisers, among others, for better yield.

    Okoya said BATNF invited agriculturalists from the National Horticultural Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, to train the women.

    She said: “From our research, we found out that the women needed expert knowledge on vegetable farming. This is why we brought in experts from NIHORT to conduct the training. It is also in line with our mandate of contributing to sustainable agricultural development in the country.”

    Head of the NIHORT’s six-man team that trained the farmers, Dr Oluyemisi Adebisi-Adelani, said the training was aimed at “building the capacity of the women farmers on improved production technique of vegetables such as ‘ugu’ (fluted pumpkin), tomatoes and pepper.”

    A participant and head of the Oshodi Women Vegetable Farmers, Mrs. Veronica Daniel, said participants have benefitted immensely from the training and would begin to put into practice all that they have been taught by the experts.

    She enjoined other organisations to emulate BATNF in empowering women farmers in the country, “so that our lot can be better.”

    At the end of the training, the women were each awarded Certificate of Participation jointly endorsed

  • Farmers lament drop in sales

    The activities of the Boko Haram Islamic sect in the Northeastern part of Nigeria is impacting negatively on the output of poultry farmers across Nigeria as the lingering activities of insurgents have resulted in a drop in sales of poultry products.

    The National President of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, revealed this during the group’s Second Poultry Summit held at the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Alausa.

    While lamenting the situation, Oduntan said the activities of Boko Haram are seriously affecting members of the association who are into poultry farming, as the drop in sales is due to non-availability of some raw materials, usually sourced from the affected states.

    He said exportation of raw materials to neighbouring countries had become impossible while access to raw materials like maize and groundnuts was threatening the poultry business.

    Oduntan added that the insurgency has paralysed retail sales in the North as a result of a non-existent nightlife during which northerners usually sell eggs in very large quantities to tea sellers.

    He called on the Federal Government to provide maximum support for the poultry business as it currently cannot meet the volume of demand for poultry products in the entire country.

    Oduntan said the association decided to chart a new course by coming up with a poultry development plan that covers 10 years (2013-2023) because “poultry is a multi-billion Naira business within the agricultural sub-sector.

    “We need to take our destiny in our hands because it is obvious we can be exporting eggs to the whole of West African sub-region.

    “We have come up with the strategic framework for the Egg and Chicken Promotion Board. The main focus shall be market development for chicken and eggs. Other core responsibility of this body shall include research, trade promotion and education,” he said.

    He called on the Federal Government to give poultry farmers special status.

    “We need to be treated especially as it was done in developed countries. Government has to solve the problem of multiple taxations. We demand allocation of maize by the Strategic Grain Reserve at discounted prices for our farmers,” he said.

    Head, Poultry Transformation Team of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Prof.  Funsho Shonaiya said standards have been set in five areas for operators in the poultry business to ensure professionalism and top-level industry best practices.

    He listed the five areas as breeder farming, feed mill operations, hatcheries, slaughter house operations, and safe usage of poultry drugs and vaccines.

    Shonaiya, who represented the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina said the ministry has made progress in poultry commercial production.

    The minister explained that the challenges the ministry experienced is the need for standard and what made good system of production in poultry.

    He said: “What we are advocating is voluntary implementation of standard,” adding that the ministry will soon embark on categorisation and certification of poultry industry in the country.”

  • Kebbi farmers to get fertilisers

    Farmers in Kebbi State are in for an enhanced farming season this year as the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, has scheduled 2784,408 growers for fertiliser distribution in the wet season. The input comes under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES).

    The GES programme which is an important component of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda started in 2012 across the country and Kebbi has fully participated in it. The state Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Keven Tekpat said this at the flag-off of the 2014 wet season GES programme in Ambursa, Kebbi State.

    He said in 2012, a total of 46,488 farmers benefitted from wet season GES, while 46,680 farmers benefited from dry season paddy production, 173,499, 19,080 for generic wing and special GES in 4 crop Value chain commodities ie cassava, soya, cotton and sorghum farmers benefited during the 2013 wet season. The director called on state government to revive the extension apparatus of the ministry so that it will function effectively.

    The Kebbi State Commissioner of Agriculture, Alhaji Isah Mohammed Mera said, “The state has never relented in embracing Federal Government policies on agriculture as the stronghold of the state’s majority; the state has today a total of 226,056 captured small-scale farmers that will benefit from the programme this year,” he said.

    In his remarks, the Kebbi State Deputy Governor Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu expressed the determination of the state government to continue to give the agric sector greater priority and hope that the Federal Government would cover more farmers in the state in the GES programme.

  • Kwara farmers get N214m loan

    Kwara farmers get N214m loan

    The Kwara State government has disbursed N214, 709,490 to no fewer than 172 farmers in loans to boost their farming in the state.
    The aim is to strengthen agri-business and enhance the welfare of the people. Governonor Abdulfatah Ahmed said this in Ilorin, the state capital, during the disbursement of the funds.
    “Our 172 lead farmers are at the core of our model of 10 out-grower farmers per local government  who, having demonstrated their capacity for agribusiness and whose farms have been verified, are receiving funds to expand their businesses,” teh governor said.
    “The Off-taker Demand Driven Scheme ensures farmers growth by creating partnerships with large farming concerns that will guarantee a steady demand for crops planted by the lead Farmers even before they are harvested.
    Speaking further, Abdulfatah said, “Each of these farmers is attached to an off-taker commercial farming concern with which they have signed memoranda of understanding to ensure a ready market for their produce.
    “These funds are therefore provided to enhance the capacity of these lead farmers to expand their businesses to meet their obligations to the off-taker farmers under the MOU arrangement while significantly boosting their earnings.
    “This administration’s approach to agriculture views it as a business that requires meticulous planning especially through facilitating private sector investment along the value chain of crops in which we have comparative advantage.
    “About eight years ago, the benefits of this approach were demonstrated when we initiated bold commercial agriculture reform in the state with the establishment of Shonga Farms.
    “In the process, we have not only put our state on the global map, but also started a gradual transformation in the nation’s agricultural sector with 13 pioneering Zimbabwean farmers as the nucleus of our plans to supplant subsistence farming with planned agribusiness.”
    The governor admitted that the journey has been challenging, but that the determination of his team has kept them going.

    He said: “As we empower a new set of commercial farmers using the lessons learnt from that experience, the business case for that innovative intervention by the previous administration in the state remains as strong as it was eight years ago.”
    Governor Ahmed added that: “Our aim is to extend agribusiness to other parts of the state by empowering a new generation of commercial farmers to ensure our people are food secure while establishing agribusiness as the pivot of our economy and regenerate agro-allied industrial development.
    “You are expected to be change agents that will train the next generation of commercial farmers in the state in your various communities. I urge you to judiciously apply the funds that have been made available to you and contribute towards establishing agriculture as the pivot of our economic prosperity.
    “Let me remind you that this programme is semi-cashless. To avoid the lapses of previous interventions in the country, only a small proportion of the funds are provided to the farmers in the form of cash.
    “The rest will be paid directly to identified suppliers who will then provide goods and services such as farm inputs, chemicals, equipment, extension and other services to the farmers when and where required.
    “The benefits of this approach are numerous. Apart from reducing leakages and ensuring proper utilisation of funds, the off taker- demand driven approach enables farmers to make concrete plans for their businesses by creating a ready market for their produce.
    “With this approach, the problems of post-harvest loss or wastage will be minimized if not eradicated as the farmers have concrete arrangements to sell their produce.
    “The approach also expands the opportunities along the crop value chain such as storage, processing, packaging, haulage, marketing and distribution leading to the creation of allied business opportunities and jobs for our youths.
    “Finally, the process is transparent because it allows the farmers to promptly repay the loan as the funds and the farmers’ proceeds are channelled through the same bank.
    It is my hope that the success of this scheme will translate into greater prosperity for the farmers, our state and its people, thereby attracting others into agribusiness, especially our youths.”

  • Afe Babalola Foundation to give N5 million to outstanding farmers in Ekiti

    Legal icon wins Man of the Year Award in Food Security

    With effect from May 1, 2015, the Afe Babalola Foundation (ABF), in conjunction with the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) will be organising an annual agricultural exhibition where deserving, innovative and successful farmers will go home with N5 million each year.

    The legal icon and foremost educationist,  Afe Babalola (SAN) said the annual event which will start from his native Ekiti State would see the Best Farmer at the state level getting N1 million while other outstanding farmers in each of the state’s 16 local government areas will be presented with N250,000 each.

    Babalola spoke during his investiture as Africa Man of the Year in Food Security 2014 by the Forum for International Green Sustainability (FIGS) a not-for-profit body at the weekend.

    Winners at the state and local government levels must have at least two hectares of farmland, one for annual crops and the other for permanent crops or in the alternative excel in animal production, Babalola said, while explaining the prerequisites for the award.

    This way, Babalola believes the country will retrace her steps to the pre-oil era in Nigeria when there was abundance of food, gainful employment and reduction in criminality.

    His words: “In the pre-oil era in Nigeria, there was abundance of food items. No one lacked food. Many people were gainfully employed. But with the advent of oil which some people cynically dubbed oil doom, scarcity of food, poverty and unemployment as well as inclination towards crime crept into the fabrics of the Nigerian nation to the disadvantage and consternation of all.

    “Because of this condemnable abandonment of agriculture, the groundnut pyramids of the North, the cocoa and perm kernel of the West, the rubber of the Mid-West and the coal and palm oil of the East have gone into oblivion, at best into obscurity,” he added.

    The frontline lawyer therefore called on all Nigerians, no matter their callings, to return to the farm to checkmate the prevalence of hunger, unemployment and insecurity in the country.

    Babalola said though they may not produce in commercial quantity; yet it is incumbent on all professionals to at least produce what their families would eat.

    The elder statesman equally advised the nation’s universities to look in the direction of impacting their host communities in character and functional education in addition to their excelling in learning and research.

    He stressed that it was his fervent belief in reformatory education that prompted his establishment ABUAD in 2010, with ABUAD Agricultural Enterprise Centre sitting on an 1,000-hectres which boasts an array of tree such as mango, teak, gmelina, and a Moringa Factory worth over N1 billion, in addition to banana, cassava and Mushroom farm, as well as arable crops among others.

    Speaking earlier, FIGS’ National Programme Coordinator and Regional Representative of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Caleb Osasona, said Babalola was considered worthy of the award because of his exploits in food security, job creation, and other investment over the years into his ABUAD Enterprise Farm.

    Osasona said Babalola was picked for the Award after satisfying the seven key criteria namely:  Integrity, project & asset transparency, infrastructure & deployment of technology, job creation window with emphasis on host community, use of local content, domestic, export potential index and lastly, long term sustainability.

    FIGS is a non-governmental organisation with Tax Exempt Status in the United Kingdom, with a mandate to bridge the gap of extreme hunger and poverty in every home in Africa by preaching the gospel of ‘one crop at a time’. It was inaugurated in Nigeria as a Regional Chapter Abuja in 2006 with 52 mentors and over 1,000 volunteers in the nation’s six geo-political zones.

  • WEF hosting: $3.5b coming to farmers

    WEF hosting: $3.5b coming to farmers

    Nigeria will earn  $3.5 billion by hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa which begins tomorrow in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.

    She said the foreign capital will give a boost to agriculture and assist small farm holders across the country.

    Addressing journalists ahead the Forum in Abuja yesterday, Okonjo-Iweala said: “There are several things that will be of benefit to Nigeria; some these are the several initiatives of the forum like the Grow Africa Initiative which is supposed to help agriculture and small (farm) holders across the continent and it has been able to raise about $7 billion in investments and about half or more than half of which will be coming to Nigeria.”

    Another benefit of hosting the forum is in the health sector. She said: “There is the healthcare initiative designed to strengthen access to healthcare and Nigeria will benefit from that. Participants will highlight a vision for the Nigerian health system by 2030 aiming to provide universal health coverage by building on the National Health Bill 2014.”

    Participants “will elaborate a package of high-impact ‘leapfrogging’ initiatives and align stakeholders to cooperate in delivering this vision.

    Nigeria currently has approximately just 14 per cent of the number of doctors per capita of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. To catch up, Nigeria would need approximately 12 times as many doctors by 2030 at a cost of $ 51 billion, she added.