The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Food

  • 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.

  • Oputu, others make case for vibrant fast food industry

    THE nation’s hitherto burgeoning fast food industry, now experiencing a lull, has the potential to expand if well harnessed. This was the submission of a cross-section of experts, who attempted a prognosis of the quick service industry.

    The occasion was at a public forum at the instance of the Association of Fast Food Confectioners of Nigeria (AFFCON) at its second annual national conference in Lagos.

    The conference tagged: ‘Food Industry in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities’, had the former Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Ms Evelyn Oputu, as guest speaker.

    Oputu, who spoke against the backdrop of the opportunities in the sector, challenged the fast food industry to take charge of affairs in their value chain, noting that waiting for the government to solve the problems in the system could be an endless effort.

    According to Oputu, AFFCON has to strengthen its value chain by putting the smallholders, who supply food, grains, vegetables, oil, spices, and other food ingredients into cooperatives, so that they can be more efficient, cost-effective and productive.

    She noted that the customers do not care about all the problems of high cost of materials and production facing the local entrepreneur. “The customer is only concerned about getting quality at the best price, on time and in the right place. Since the cost of production in Asia is low, it is usually very difficult competing, and the customer does not care the nationality of the brand that offers the best product at the best price,” she said.

    She, therefore, advised that the customer should be met at a deeper level that would offer him value and satisfaction.

    Twenty-five per cent of the fertile land, according to Oputu, is in Africa. “Yet we produce 10 per cent of the food needs of the world. That is unacceptable. The person, who will grow is the person who will grab the opportunities in the system. Agriculture has become a business. Nigeria is full of opportunities. We have the land, the people, and our people are lazy,” she said.

    “These three factors make our country a place to be tapped. Those who are outside see what we don’t see. While we grumble about the difficulties in the system, they see the opportunities and tap into them. How can one explain the fact of one seeing Ijebu garri in London imported from South America, or Nigerian yam imported from Ghana?” she asked.

    Earlier, in her welcome address, AFFCON President, Mrs Bose Ayeni, noted that Nigeria’s rebased economy in April this year, which saw her GDP leaped from $262 billion to $510 billion to become the biggest in Africa and the 26th in the world, is a testimony that in spite of the huge challenges Nigeria is grappling with, Nigeria’s economy is a goldmine waiting to be tapped.

    Ayeni explained the contribution of the fast food industry to the nation’s economy saying: “The Nigerian fast food industry is a significant contributor to the Nigerian economy, with estimated annual revenue of N200 billion and taxes in excess of a billion naira. It also collectively provides employment for over 500,000 people at the processing and retailing levels.”

    AFFCON, she said, is contributing to the reduction of unemployment, a focal point of the government. The figure, according to her, can grow significantly given the right environment for businesses to thrive.

    “Our food sector is dominated by some 150 small to medium-sized indigenous brands with over 800 outlets/restaurants spread across Nigeria.  Small and medium scale enterprises are the bedrock of economic growth. This has been demonstrated in developed and developing economies in the West and in Asia. Many of the small local players, who operate at the neighbourhood level, also have potentials to become big, given the right environment to thrive,” she said.

    Speaking on the growth in urbanisation and its effect, Ayeni noted: “Globally, we are living through the largest wave of urbanisation in history.  Urban population, being more prosperous, aided by the steady decline in poverty arising from economic growth, will give rise to a greatly expanded consumers group. We, as operators, must understand the nature of this expanding consumer group. In Nigeria, they are largely youthful and culturally diverse. We must understand the strategies required to reach them.”

    She also stressed the importance of the social media in today’s business, saying: “Between 2012 and 2013, total global social media audience increased from 1.47billion to 1.73billion. With 25 per cent of the population now online using social networks, we cannot be left out of the opportunities that abound in tapping into the use of social tools for business values.”

     

  • Govt to increase domestic food production

    Govt to increase domestic food production

    The Federal Government has said it will increase domestic food production by additional 20,000,000 metric tonnes and create about 3.5 million jobs next year.

    President Goodluck Jonathan spoke on his administration’s food agenda at the presidential flag off of the National Schools Agriculture Programme (NSAP) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    The President said this would be possible through the administration’s Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA), which is targeted at positive youth development.

    Also, in recognition of their contribution to agricultural development and food security, the Federal Government yesterday honoured some stakeholders in the sector.

    Those decorated by President Jonathan included the President of the Rice Millers and Importers of Nigeria (RiMIDAN), Dr. Tunji Owoeye.

    Others are: former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar; former Chief of General, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma; business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Transcorp chief, Tony Elumelu; Nigeria’s songstress Onyeka Owenu and Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Mrs. Bola Shagaya; Wilma Aguele and Senator Nimi Amange.

  • ‘Annual revenue from food valued at over N200billion’

    ‘Annual revenue from food valued at over N200billion’

    From the President of the Association of Fast Food Confectioners of Nigeria (AFFCON), Mrs Bose Ayeni, has come a clarion call: prospective investors should gird up theirs loins as they stand to benefit a lot from Nigeria’s economy because it’s a goldmine that is waiting to be tapped.

    Mrs. Ayeni made this call at the press conference held in Lagos to announce the second annual national conference of AFFCON in Lagos.

    She said: “In spite of the huge challenges Nigeria is grappling with, the size of our GDP shows that our economy is a goldmine waiting to be tapped. And food is essential to keep our large population of 170 million alive, nourished and going.”

    Ayeni also drew the public’s attention to the urbanization and rise in social media penetration as factors that would boost business. “Globally, we are living through the largest wave of urbanisation in history,” said the AFFCON President. “Urban population, being more prosperous, aided by the steady decline in poverty arising from economic growth, will give rise to a greatly expanded consumer group. We as operators must understand the nature of this expanding consumer group. In Nigeria, they are largely youthful and culturally diverse. We must understand the strategies required to reach them.

    “Between 2012 and 2013, total global social media audience increased from 1.47b to 1.73b. With 25% of the population now online using social networks, we cannot be left out of the opportunities that abound in tapping into the use of social tools for business values. It is against this trend that for this year’s conference, we have a sub-theme of how we can utilize Technology to improve our business effectiveness.”

  • Enhancing small-scale food processing

    Enhancing small-scale food processing

    There has been an interest in the future of agro food processing  and its role in generating employment. Experts say Nigeria’s agro-processing industry, if properly harnessed, could create  jobs and grow the agro-allied sector’s contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But the challenges  facing  small agro processors are numerous, but not insurmountable.  DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Why does Nigeria  exports raw cashew nuts and imports its processed form? Why do Nigerians import chocolate and other products made from cocoa when its beans are produced in the forests of Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, Cross River and other states?

    The reasons for these are not far-fetched. For one, there is no competitive agro-processing sector that has a comparative advantage in agriculture. The sector again had suffered a long period neglect by successive governments.

    The cashew nuts industry is one area where the country is losing  millions  of dollars  every year by exporting unprocessed cashew nuts. According to experts, one processed tonne of cashew nuts could fetch five-fold income after processing.

    Nigeria exports more than 70  per cent  of its cashew production in raw form. After the commodity has been shelled in India, the nuts are re-exported to the United States (US) and Europe where they are sold at good prices.

    The National  Cashew  Association of Nigeria(NCAN) President, Mr  Tola Faseru said exporting  unprocessed cashew  is  the  reason for farmers’ poverty.

    Faseru, who spoke with The Nation, said the food processing sub-sector  is  still dominated by small-scale food processors. “They cannot afford  machines capable of carrying out large processing of the commodity. This explains  the  reason  for the  underdevelopment of  the  sector,” he said.

    With this gloomy picture, he said, the overall potential of processing is huge as it could increase the value of the crops of poor farmers thus yielding higher returns.

    Several trends, he added,  indicated that the significance of  agro-processors in the food value chains is going to increase.

    He, however, lamented that the conditions for good integration are not favourable.

    He said in the last two years, there have been reports of  few investments in processing taking place in fresh fruit and vegetable products which are showing little success.

    The   President, Association of Micro-Entrepreneurs Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour  Iche is concerned about this development. According to him, the  agric  sector faces many problems emanating from various negative aspects of the economy. Some of them are the uncertainties that exist in access to finance, advice, information and reliable markets.

    He  urged the government  to take urgent measures to  upgrade small-scale processing, adding  that  the current level of  agro processing  was not  helping agriculture sector’s growth.

    To  achieve this, encouraging  investment in the agriculture and food processing sector, he said, will go a long way in establishing an efficient supply chain that links farmers and small manufacturers directly with retailers, and maximise value for all stakeholders.

    He called for the establishment of infrastructure, arguing that it will minimise wastage especially, in fresh perishable foods and vegetables, increase farmers’expectations, encourage best practices in crop management and improve food safety and hygiene.

    He reiterated that the agro-processing industry has the potential to meet the local requirements and that medium-scale enterprises have potential to create employment opportunities.

    The  cassava  industry is an example.  Farmers  are  increasing  cultivation of neglected cassava after chipping machines introduced by  the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi(FIIRO)  has  opened up market opportunities. The machines  allow for quicker processing of raw cassava, which is chipped, dried and ready for sale within days.

    Cassava, according to experts, perishes within 72 hours after  harvest, making it unfit for for human and livestock consumption. Farmers, who cultivate the crop are being left with losses as poor market has limited its sale. The  surplus, which is supposed to translate to joy to farmers, becomes their loss. This has forced them to limit production, leaving the crop to its  nondescript backyard subsistence crop, even as farmers from other developing countries such as  India continue to make millions from value added to the crop.

    However, FIIRO’s new processing machine is  changing the face of cassava production.

    Its  Director-General, Dr Gloria Elemo told a forum in Lagos that  the  institute is working  on  cassava processing  machine.  Through selective breeding, scientists from major research institutes have managed to increase cassava  yields six-fold and as a result expanded the average area farmers can plant with cassava almost 10-fold. While this has increased food security, there is  a real threat of cassava  getting  spoilt before  harvest. This eventually undermines the  local market prices and farmers’  income.

    To prevent this, Mrs Elemo   said  FIIRO is helping local processors  to get processing machines that could   produce chipped cassava and flour.

    Aside, she said,  the Institute has done extensive  research   on cassava apart from its high quality flour. These include de-odorised fufu; glucose syrup production; using cassava wastes in animal feeds; production of adhesives; ethanol; custard; biogas and enzymes  among  others.

    Another area  where FIIRO is  producing machines  for  is fruit juice processing. High demand for processed fruit juices is seeing new entrants in a market model that is also benefiting small hold farmers, who are earning from the demand for raw materials from these companies.

    She said fruits and vegetable processing and preservation offer a new viable opportunity, adding that though more effort needs to be put into promotion and marketing.

    The institute, Mrs  Elemo said,    is  empowering  small and medium agro-processing entrepreneurs to manufacture processed produce, adding that  increasing  the level of  agro-processing would have a significant impact on the economy. This is due to the scale of output generation, employment creation and impact on rural economy.

    While FIIRO has made  efforts to  develop machines for medium-scale grain milling, bread-making enterprises, livestock feeds manufacturing and vegetable oil processing to facilitate  entry of more  entrepreneurs increase, Dr Elemo said  the institute  aims to increase the competitiveness and growth of agro-processing enterprises by helping  them  translating research  results into improved products.

    She said it is the vision  of the institute to commercialise its developed technologies. This, according to her, is being done through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as evidenced by the number of Memoranda-of-Understanding (MoUs) the Institute has signed in the last few months.

    Notable among the private sector organisations that have signed the MoU are Honeywell Group Limited, Bio-organics Nutrients Systems Limited and Ladmok Nigeria Limited.

    According to her, some small-medium scale enterprises have also signed MoUs with the institute in  cassava processing and fortification of food products developed from the institute’s research  activities.

    The  institute, Mrs Elemo said, held  a forum  with equipment prototype fabricators  to  enable them produce equipment of higher quality and durability.

    She stressed the need for government at both federal and state levels to re-orientate the youths to embrace technical and vocational skills development by reviving the technical colleges and trade centres.

    According to her, the institute’s engineers will facilitate the assessment of the equipment available in technical colleges and polytechnics especially, in Lagos State and there after train personnel to operate the machines to ensure optimal use.

    To  assist  small  scale  entrepreneurs,  FIIRO’s   management  met  with  the  Bank of Industry (BoI) on ways to provide innovative interventions geared towards boosting the economy’s transformation from farming to developing small-scale enterprises, food processing and industrialised agro-industries.

    BoI’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, said the collaboration became  necessary   in order to boost the 6.8 per cent contribution of the real sector to the nation’s GDP, through encouraging the development of localised solutions to the industrialisation gaps identified.

    He said the mandates of both organisations are the same, adding that  stakeholders especially, SMEs in the area of agro-processing, would benefit   if both organisations aligned their strategies to work together.

    He, therefore, promised FIIRO of BoI’s support, especially in the area of promoting the low-cost technologies developed by the Institute, which could help SMEs compete favourably through exhibitions and other avenues.

     

  • FUTA, others collaborate on food security

    The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), is joining the University of Alicante, Spain and four other universities in Africa to collaborate on Capacity for Food Research Project.

    The European Union-sponsored project titled, Integrated Soil Fertility Management for Food Security:  Matching Capacities in Anglophone West African Nations with local needs, is aimed at fostering capacity building and regional integration in Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) for food security in Anglophone West African Universities.

    Other collaborating universities in the project to be coordinated by the University of Alicante, are: University of Ghana, Accra; University of D Schang, Cameroon; Njala University, Sierra Leone; and University of The Gambia, Gambia.

    The project which has its Nigerian office in the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT) building in FUTA, is also to develop targeted activities in ISFM for food security at local levels with a view to increasing capacity building towards sustainable food production.

    The FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola, said the research collaboration is in tandem with the drive by the university to continue to contribute meaningfully to evolving solutions to pressing societal problems.

    “We already have a lot of international collaborations through our centres like WASCAL, CEGIST, CERAD, CENT and others.  We also have a Centre of Excellence in Food Security.  And the team, led by Professor Mathew Oyun, which is driving this collaboration, comes highly recommended with a lot of research experiences”, Daramola said.

  • Food, key to national security

    Food, key to national security

    One of the greatest challenges to our country’s general wellbeing,as shown by the recent ill-fated Nigerian Immigration Service’s employment fiasco, is youth unemployment. Many have appropriately described it as a time bomb. Clearly, the greatest tragic consequence of unemployment is hunger. And as the cliché goes, a hungry man is an angry man. In local parlance, we say, man must wak. So, unless something is urgently done about unemployment, especially at the youth level, our country is staring at its own Armageddon. Discussing this national emergency with a friend, who has invested in chicken farming, he lectured me on the immense potentials and challenges of that sector.

    According to him, if only the Ministry for Agriculture, the Bank of Industry, the Bank of Agriculture and other key interest groups could put their thinking cap, that sector is enough to dwarf the touted 1.5 million employments that the present federal government claims to have generated. My friend gave a clinical comparison of the chicken value chain in a country like Brazil and compared it with his practical experience in Nigeria. From his analysis, while there is standardization in the production chain of chicken in developed countries, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. He gave a practical example, that while the drum-stick eaten in restaurants across cities of Europe and America are substantially similar, you find different sizes, and of course lower quality, in the ones eaten in Nigeria. He said that the landing cost of an imported chicken parts, is about half of the cost of the locally produced, despite the added cost of transport. He ticked off the extra costs that make local production uncompetitive, and proffered solutions to those challenges.

    No doubt, I was impressed with his analysis of the challenges and potentials of an improved chicken value chain, and I told him so. In fact, I told my friend that he has a patriotic responsibility to our country seething in angst of youth unemployment and the nihilistic insurgency, to share his ideas with the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and possibly other key drivers of the agricultural sector. Well, that is if the Honourable Minister is not already satiated with his well advertised, but truly impressive award as Forbes African Person of the Year? But why should he, considering that President Jonathan’s administration is faced with perhaps the greatest security challenge in the history of our country, since our last unfortunate civil war.

    As a matter of fact, there is little doubt that the greatest inducement to the armed challenge that our country is facing in the North Eastern states and increasingly now in the Middle Belt states is poverty. The poverty index in the affected states is abysmally higher than the equally high poverty index in other parts of the country. This critical state of affairs is daily made worse by the exponential youth unemployment, from where the armed bearing militants are easily recruited.  And according to the Honourable Minister who has shown impressive excitement in the discharge of his duties, despite criticism from the press, agriculture is the key to the unemployment challenges facing our country, and I add, the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the menace of the Fulani herdsmen in the North Central.

    The United Nations, World Bank and other multinational development agencies have confirmed inexorably the connection between poverty and insurgency. In a recent interview with this paper, the Bornu state Governor, Kashima Shetima was sport on this connection, when he said: “there is a lot of correlation between the poverty that has engulfed the North Eastern region of Nigeria and the Boko Haram insurgency. Because the World Bank described the Northeast portion of Nigeria, the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Niger, and the Darfur region of Sudan as one of the poorest places on Earth. Hence the emergence of militant organisations like the Janjaweed militia and the Boko Haram in the Northeast. And I believe once we engage the youth, once we create jobs, this madness, this nihilism will evaporate”.

    Those who try to play down this connection are merely playing the ostrich. And unless we act very urgently, the entire country may soon be engulfed in an insurrection by the youths, whose patrimony has been criminally wasted by decades of irresponsible leadership. Of course, the quickest and the only realistic way to go, is agriculture. Otherwise we will continue to suffer our country’s peculiar contradictions of national economic growth, without corresponding impact on the populace. Indeed, according to Goldman Sachs, Nigeria ranks amongst the next 11 emerging markets group, even when it also acknowledges that about 100 million of its population is living on less that $1.25 a day. Also, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, 60.9 percent of Nigerians in 2010 were living in absolute poverty, up from 54.7 percent in 2004. This staggering increase in the poor, regrettably amidst ‘plenty’, may explain the unlimited supply of canon fodders to the Boko Haram madness.

    Speaking to a Financial Times Publications Limited publication, Dr. Adesina put his enthusiasm in historic perspective thus: “We were not looking at Agriculture through the right lens. We were looking at Agriculture as a development activity, like a social sector, in which you manage poor people in rural areas. But Agriculture is not a social sector. Agriculture is business. Seed is business, fertilizer is business, storage, value added, logistics and transport – it is all about business.” He added that “Agriculture is the future of Nigeria”. After listening to my friend, speak on the potentials of the chicken business and how and why the stakeholders must come together to improve the value chain, I have become an enthusiast.

     

    •This article was first published on March 26, 2013.

     

  • ‘Increasing wages demand stifling food production’

    The envisaged growth in food production could be hampered by increasing demand for wages by farm workers, an expert, Prof Abel Ogunwale has said.

    While he was not against improved wages for farm workers, Ogunwale, a consultant for the World Bank, noted that inadequate funding was not helping farmers to broaden the production structure which could help them earn more from their farms to pay better wages.

    He explained that many farmers were operating from few acres of lands, warning that this does not support the application of science and technology to upgrade agricultural processes to raise productivity.

    At the small scale level of farming operated by most farmers, Ogunwale reiterated that there no way they will be able to pay living wages, adding that most of them will be forced to reduce acreage to be able to meet increasing demand for better wages currently the trend in the industry.

    This, according to him, is affect food production with few aging farmers willing to receive small wages and younger workers leaving the industry because of poor remuneration to take up commercial motor cycle riding in the cities.

    He noted that farmers would have to grapple with high cost of production caused by increasing wages demand and other challenges  Calling for improved funding of agriculture, Ogunwale noted that the government can only achieve economic transformation through the sector, based on higher investment, faster productivity growth and production processes to become increasingly competi

  • Healthy food, healthy life

    Healthy food, healthy life

    Nigerians have been told to move away from pills and procedures that treat symptoms to the healing power of foods.

    A trado-medicine practitioner, Dr Segun Fahuwa, said chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and pain, among others, are on the rise and no orthodox cures are in sight. The focus for these diseases should, now be healing through food.

    Dr Fahuwa, a.k.a Mister Guarantee said: “Some 2400 years ago Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, stated, ‘Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food’. Today the use of prescription drugs and medical procedures that only manage symptoms is favoured over healing with food. By eating a healthy diet, the body will not be deprived of its natural immune boosters, which can ward off diseases.”

    According to him: “A healthy diet is probably going to cause you to lose excess weight; your blood pressure and cholesterol to go down; you will feel better and look better; have more energy; your cells will be happy; your immune system will get stronger; you will eliminate most or all of your medications and your God given healing process will have the ability to reverse sickness.”

    He said even if you do not go completely on a plant based diet, small changes can bring positive results. “When you eliminate most of the foods that are making you sick and replace them with the right fuel, live nutrient dense foods along with fresh juices, you will begin to see a healthier diet by making positive changes in your life.

    “Most of us are aware of the benefits of a balanced diet and healthy eating. But being aware of the benefits is only half of the solution. You also need to know how to choose the foods that will be best for your health. Depending on your daily routine, you may or may not eat at home most of the time. But whatever you choose to start your day off  with must be healthy.”

    Dr Fahuwas said: “Start your day with a healthy and well balanced breakfast. Studies have shown that people who don’t eat a full breakfast tend to seek carbohydrate snacks all throughout the day, and are more prone to gaining weight. Eating at home usually involves more meal preparation time, this is important because preparing a good meal takes a lot more time than simply eating some junk food. If you can afford to prepare your meals at home, this can dramatically increase the quality of your meals, not only can you choose exactly what you eat, but you can choose how it is prepared and pick out the quality of the items yourself.

    “Any meal you eat, whether at home or while out should consist of all the basic food groups, balancing proteins, starches, greens and vegetables is a key factor to a healthy diet. Your body needs all the different food groups in order to function properly, by balancing your meals you are ensuring your health and the quality of your life.”

    He spoke further on foods in super markets: “Choosing the food you eat based simply on the label at the supermarket is not always the best choice. A low fat or diet version of a favorite snack, treat or dessert may be a better option than the regular version, but is it the best option? Look for healthier alternatives for snacking in between meals, go for low fat cereal bars and natural products, fruit and juice. It is not so much the amount you eat but rather what you eat that makes the difference. Avoiding fatty foods and food with high quantities of sugar is also very important. Choose baked food instead of fried food, and adopt this healthier alternative when cooking at home as well,” he added.

    Dr Fahuwas said when away from home and eating out, look for healthy alternatives. “Fast food offers speedy advantages but often has no real nutritional value. Stuffing yourself with useless calories will fill you up momentarily, but you will soon find you are hungry again, and this can often lead to a vicious cycle, leading to high levels of junk food intake per day. Choose full meals whenever possible; look for whole wheat and organic products whenever you can. If you are on the run and need to eat as quickly as possible, look for the healthier alternatives to hotdogs, sawarma and burgers. Try natural sandwiches made on the spot, there are many natural fast foods that can be just as quick as the conventional ones, while providing much better quality to your diet,” he added.

  • Six die of food poisoning

    Six die of food poisoning

    Six members of a family have died of food poisoning in Awilkiti, Gudu Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the victims include two women and four children.

    They have been buried according to Islamic rites.

    A delegation of the state government, led by the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Alhaji Nasiru Dantsoho, paid a condolence visit to the family.

    The Caretaker Chairman of the council, Alhaji Musa Bachaka, donated N20,000 and two bags of rice and millet to them.

    Chief Imam of Kutufare in the same local government Alhaji Muhammadu Nadande drowned in a river last Thursday.

    He has been buried according to Islamic rites.

    Dantsoho and Bachaka commiserated with his family.