The Nation Newspaper

Tag: harvest

  • Harvest of praise

    Harvest of praise

    The Cherubim and Seraphim Unification of Nigeria, Olorunsogo Parish, Ese-Ofin, Lagos held its Adult Harvest and Thanksgiving Service penultimate Sunday.

    For the people of Ese-Ofin Village in Lagos, it was jubilation. It didn’t seem like every other day because what has been a serene environment was thrown into singing and dancing.

    It is the hometown of the Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Hon Cornelius Ojelabi, and host of the Cherubim and Seraphim, Olorunshogo Parish which held its Adult Harvest in grand style. It was themed Harvest of Dominion 2012.

    Though a small community, it was a crowd puller on Sunday, October 7.

    That Sunday, it rolled out the drums in celebration, leaving no stone unturned to make the ceremony an elaborate one.

    The boat riders, tricycle and motorcycle operators, popularly known as okada riders had a field day making more money than usual, conveying guests to and fro the church. Guests parked their posh cars and crossed the water to the village, which was a beehive of activities.

    The elderly ones and children stood by the road side and watched as well dressed guests made their way to the church. They lined the road greeting passers-by. Some simply stood and watched in awe. Others whispered that they had not seen such an an array of guests trouping into the towne.

    The drumming and music from the small church echoed through the town. The community bubbled.

    As is the tradition of the C and S, they were dressed in their white robes. The women sang, the men danced. Even the elderly ones couldn’t resist the music, despite their ages. They bent to dance. The women wriggled their waists. It was an exciting harvest and their laughter depicted their joy. They had a swell time; the even sang some Igbo worship songs.

    Ojelabi brought his friends and professional colleagues to make the occasion worth-while. He wasn’t left out as he was dressed in his white robe, too.

    Those in attendance were royal fathers: Olumegbon of Lagos Chief Fatai Lawal; the Ovori of Ibeshe Kingdom, Oba Gausu Rasaki, and the Asiwaju of Festac, High Chief Kole Oboh.

    Others were former member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Sodiq Abayomi; Chairman, Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area, Hon Kayode Robert, and the Women leader, Alhaja Amota Sanni; a Director of Finance and Administration in the Lagos State Ministry, Mrs Elizabeth Ashiru; Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Rural Matters, Mr Babatunde Humpe; State Co-dinator, Neighbourhood Watch, Alhaji Kolawale Sanni, and Chairman, Community Development Advisory Council, Prince Gabriel Awomodu.

    When the Spiritual Head, C and S Society Worldwide, Prophet Bola Adeuja, mounted the podium, the worshipers went wiild as they jumped and clapped as if intoxicated.

    Giving the dictionary meaning of dominion, he congratulated them on harvesting their dominion.

    According to the cleric, the blessing is what is the extra icing on the cake.

    “Though it isn’t easy to worship, God wants you and needs you. You have planted and now you are reaping. Do your work consistently and you will eat the fruit of your labour. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” he added.

  • The harvest after

    The harvest after

    •After the flood, what does Nigeria do to ensure food security?

    BEYOND the immediate sorrow and biting anguish of the flood that has plagued the country, the full impact of the disaster would dawn at the time to harvest crops. Is Nigeria then likely to face dire food shortage next year?

    With farmlands washed away, and many farmers ruined in parts of the country mostly affected by the flood, that possibility is real; and the likely dire food situation daunting. But if Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture is to be believed, the Federal Government is already thinking of ways of tackling the problem; and he promises the damage would be reduced to the barest minimum.

    What are the minister’s plans? During a tour of affected places in Kwara and Niger states, Dr. Akinwunmi said the government had decided to embark on irrigation-driven massive cultivation of crops during the coming dry season. This programme of accelerated production of food, he added, had as part of its components, giving farmers high-yielding varieties of rice, cassava and yam seedlings, as well as early-maturing maize seedlings, to be ready for harvesting within two months of planting. That is not all: the plan, which the minister dubbed “Flood Recovery Food Production Plan” is complete with fertiliser supply. Both the fertiliser and seedling would be given free to farmers.

    This policy, if well implemented, is a good one. Aside from showing the Federal Government as caring, it has the potential of helping the victims rebuild their businesses; and getting over the acute pain of the present disaster. On the macro-level, it would help the country avert a very likely food crisis and, if the government can move from the template of an ad hoc response to tackle a disaster to deliberate and sustainable programming to massively improve agricultural yields, it would really be salutary for the Nigerian economy, particularly if storage and processing are factored into the mix.

    It is in this distinction between ad hoc response to disaster and deliberate and sustainable policy that the minister’s plan is self-impeachable. Make no mistake: the minister’s plan – again, if well implemented – is commendable. Still, it need not be that only a sweeping disaster like this would bring forth such plan – except of course, the plan had always been there; and it took the disaster to publicise and market it. That however would push credibility beyond reasonable elasticity.

    Still, it is better late than ever. The Federal Government would therefore do well to use the opportunity of this tragedy to institutionalise a vibrant agricultural policy, under which the emergency plan would be a subset. Otherwise, the experiment would be no better than a knee-jerk emergency response doomed to gradually fade as the anguish of the tragedy ebbs.

    Then there is the implementation question. The Federal Government has no land of its own, except the parcel in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. So, for the rescue plan to succeed, the states must be fully integrated. It is not clear how well integrated the states are into the plan, but certainly the minister cannot say it is given. It is a programme like this that shows the inappropriateness of a central ministry of agriculture in a federal state. With the approving authorities so far away from implementers, it is no surprise the central agriculture ministry’s projects often end up as scams. This food rescue project must not end up that way.

    The minister did not mention anything about dykes to keep flooding at bay. True, dykes are big capital projects. But if prevention is better than cure, the Federal Government, in concert with the states, should think along that line as possible antidotes to the floods next time. At least that would reduce the number of farmlands that will be washed away.