The Nation Newspaper

Tag: production

  • Total Nigeria increases lube production capacity

    Total Nigeria increases lube production capacity

    TOTAL Nigeria Plc has inuagurated the second high-speed filling machine at its lubricant blending plant in Koko, Delta State.

    The first high-speed filling machine was inuagurated at its Lagos lubricant blending plant at Kirikiri, Lagos in 2015.

    The installation of high speed filling machines will increase Total’s capacity in the production of high quality lubricant for Nigerian and export markets.

    “Satisfying our unique customers’ needs is very important to Total, which is why it is dedicated to continuous investment in its Nigerian production plants in pursuit of developing the supply of products and services of the highest quality to best satisfy our clients’ requirements,” Managing Director, Jean-Philippe Torres, said.

  • AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025

    AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025

    The African Development Bank (AfDB)’s new initiative  Technologies for African Agriculture initiative will produce 513 million tonnes of additional food across Africa. It will also lift nearly 250 million Africans out of poverty by 2025.

    A statement from the bank said 25 African countries have written letters, confirming their interest and readiness to participate in TAAT, and help transform their agriculture.

    TAAT, according to the bank, will support its Feed Africa Strategy for the continent to eliminate the current massive importation of food and transform its economies by targeting agriculture as a major source of economic diversification and wealth, as well as a powerful engine for job creation.

    The commodities value chains to benefit from this initiative are rice, cassava, pearl millet, sorghum, groundnut, cowpea, livestock, maize, soya bean, yam, cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm oil, horticulture, beans, wheat and fish.

    AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, at a TAAT side event in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, said: “TAAT was born out of this major consultation and brings together global players in agriculture, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation and national and regional agricultural research systems.

    “It’s the biggest consolidation of efforts to accelerate agriculture technology uptake in Africa. Technology will address the variability and the new pests and diseases that will surely arise with climate change,” he said.

    Adesina explained that TAAT would help break down decades of national boundary-focused seed release systems. Seed companies will have regional business investments, not just national ones, he said. “That will be revolutionary and will open up regional seed industries and markets.”

    TAAT, he explained, is to be implemented through a collectively agreed central delivery platform, coordinated by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, with national, regional and international agricultural research centres.

    “TAAT is a transformative and landmark partnership effort. The African Development Bank, World Bank, AGRA, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation intend to mobilize US $1 billion to help scale up technologies across Africa.”

    The Director, External Communications, African Region, World Bank Group, Haleh Bridi, described TAAT as a regional technology delivery infrastructure for agriculture, linking countries across agro-ecological zones.

    Bridi stressed that Africa can learn from Asia, which had made “amazing strides” in its agricultural revolution. “This is why we are involved in the TAAT programme,” she said to resounding applause.

    The Director for Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nick Austin, said, “Technology obviously evolves the journey to prosperity, the way economies transform and the way small-holder farmers engage.

    “Locally, there are varieties. Locally, there are new technologies and solutions to small-holder farmers. We are in the position to play a key role in bringing the best technologies available and supporting new ways in delivering this to farmers. We are delighted and excited to be part of this initiative.”

    The President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Agnes Kalibata, stressed that African governments should drive technological development in agriculture.

    “What TAAT is going to have to do is work with the governments. We have lots of institutions that are ready for these technologies. We should work with governments to ensure that the technologies are not just ready to work, but become available to their country people. I think that ensuring that the farmers get all the technologies they need is going to be very important,” she said.

  • Nigeria saves N216b from local rice production

    Nigeria has saved over $600 million (about N216billion) from stoppage of rice importation through its domestic mass production  under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), has said.

    The figure represents a fraction of a staggering $22billion (N7.92trillion) spent on importation of foods into the country yearly before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    Its Executive Director, Risk Management and Finance, Dr Gabriel Akenzua disclosed this yesterday when he led a delegation of top officials of the bank on a courtesy visit to Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in his office, in Ibadan.

    He said it was worthy of commendation that the country had committed itself to diversifying from oil economy, with emphasis on revitalisation of agriculture.

    He said he had embarked on advocacy visit around the country to enlist the support and involvement of state governments in the ABP, which, he said, had freed the country from reliance on importation of rice.

    Akenzua said: “We enjoin Oyo State to participate in the ABP, as we have rejigged the programme to expand the scope of beneficiaries. The pilot scheme was so successful that $600million was saved from rice importation due to massive rice production in the country.

    “One or two rice millers in Thailand have closed down because Nigeria, which has always been their major importer, has stopped importing their rice.

    “We used to spend $22billion importing food into Nigeria and with our consciousness that every square meter in the country is arable land, we felt that it was not sustainable. Of course, the crash in crude oil price has forced us back to agriculture.”

    The ED said the state could choose a particular crop it wished to produce under the programme, with a promise to either co-fund or completely fund the production of such crop.

    Responding, Ajimobi commended the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, for what he called the positive changes he had brought into the agriculture sector since taking over the ministry.

    The governor stated that the fundamental problem besetting the country was attitudinal, stressing that the country was not bereft of knowledge, policies and programmes capable of boosting the economy.

    Ajimobi said the state was supposed to be the food basket of the nation if past leaders had seen agriculture as a major solution to hunger and economic driver, as well as a main source of employment for the youth.

    According to him, the state was in good stead to be a major agric hub, judging by the concentration of reputable research institutions in the state, its vast arable land, as well as location between Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country, and the North among other comparative advantages.

    He advised the new management of BoA to do all  humanly possible to sustain the momentum in its renewed drive to revitalise the agriculture sector.

    Ajimobi said: “You need to change the attitude of our people so they would know that there is money in agriculture. We are in this sorry state today because of bureaucracy and lack of sustenance of past agric policies. What has happened to Operation Feed the Nation?

    “The new management of BoA has started well. I hope you will maintain the zeal with which you have started. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the talk. In the past, some people will just give loans to themselves, which they knew they would not recover and this had crippled the bank.

    “Oyo State is ready to take advantage of all opportunities available in agriculture to promote the standard of living of our people. We believe that with the natural endowment in our state we should be the food basket of Nigeria.”

  • AfDB to guarantee food production

    AfDB to guarantee food production

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has developed a new initiative called the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative – a knowledge- and innovation-based response to the recognized need to scaling up proven technologies across Africa.

    Already, 25 African countries have written letters to the AfDB confirming their interest and readiness to participate in TAAT, and help transform their agriculture.

    It will support AfDB’s Feed Africa Strategy for the continent to eliminate the current massive importation of food and transform its economies by targeting agriculture as a major source of economic diversification and wealth, as well as a powerful engine for job creation.

    The initiative will implement 655 carefully considered actions that should result in almost 513 million tons of additional food production and lift nearly 250 million Africans out of poverty by 2025.

    TAAT will execute bold plans to contribute to a rapid agricultural transformation across Africa through raising agricultural productivity along eight Priority Intervention Areas (PIAs).

     

    “TAAT was born out of this major consultation and brings together global players in agriculture, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation and national and regional agricultural research systems, “ said AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina, at a TAAT side event at the 2017 World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.

  • Emem Isong inspired my movie production, says Moradeke Adegboyega

    Emem Isong inspired my movie production, says Moradeke Adegboyega

    Rising Nollywood producer, Moradeke Adegboyega, co-producer of ‘A Million Baby’, has said the delivery of a good production is the use of publicity, which can be used to get to the target audience.

    Speaking to The Nation, the actress, who became a movie producer, after working with Emem Isong as a welfare manager for three years which made her love for movie production grow said, “publicity is the major challenge of getting a good production to the target audience. This requires huge funding. It is not about the money used for production, but the money needed for getting the promotion of the movie to different cities is the major work.

    The actress who started producing in 2012, kicked off her career with the movie ‘Moberu’, starring alongside the likes of Ayo Adesanya and Ayo Mogaji. The movie was directed by Femi Ogedegbe.

    In 2013, she produced The Courier, starring Ramsay Nouah, Joseph Benjamin, and directed by Saidi Balogun. Also in 2015, she produced the ‘Catch Me If You Can’, co-produced with friend, who came in as an investor.

    “I didn’t get into the industry as an actress; I got into the industry as a producer. And as an actress, I had to play the role in the movie I wrote ‘Moberu’, because the person that was supposed to play the female lead role was not done at another location. After trying to get someone else, it proved abortive, so I had to play the role myself. Acting is not really easy’ it is funny when people criticise actors, but it is a great job,” she said.

  • NDE trains Ekiti youths on feeds production

    The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has restated its commitment to reducing unemployment by giving jobs to school leavers.

    Its Deputy Director for Rural Employment Promotion Department, Mr. Olayinka Olaitan, spoke in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, at the end of a training programme on production of fish and poultry feeds for 50 youths.

    Olayinka said the scheme, which was pilot-tested in the state, was a success and would be replicated in 35 other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The NDE director said the training was meant to make the participants stand on their own because of the non-availability of white-collar jobs.

    He described the training as the initiative of NDE’s Director General, Dr. Nasir Ladan Mohammed.

    Olayinka said beneficiaries discovered that fish and poultry feeds could be multiplied at a reduced cost, adding that many of them are eager to set up their feed mills.

    The NDE chief added that the cost of setting up a feedmill is not too high, with raw materials available locally.

  • Firm reiterates commitment to food production

    Firm reiterates commitment to food production

    Elephant Group Plc, one of the leading agro-allied companies, has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring adequate food production and sufficiency, in line with the Federal Government’s mission of self sufficiency in food.

    The group restated that it was determined to support the agriculture sector and boost incomes and job-led growth.

    Its Group Managing Director, Mr. Tunji Owoeye,  said, in a statement, signed by the company’s Media Consultant, Mr. Babatunde Ajibola,  that:  “Our mission is to offer the best of our experience in agriculture , garnered over the years into planting and producing adequate food for the people in order for the nation to be self-sufficient in food production, since as we all know, the goverment is striving to make agriculture the main stay of the economy; we are all out in ensuring this becomes a reality.”

    Its Executive Director, Mr. Akin Ogunbiyi, restated the group’s commitment to making food sufficiency a reality within the shortest time. He enjoined the people to join hands with the government to make the vision a reality.

  • Enhancing commercial cassava production

    Enhancing commercial cassava production

    Over 70 per cent of small-holder farmers are engaged in cassava production.  A non-governmental organisation, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), is striving to ensure that commercial cassava farming is enhanced with mechanisation, DANIEL ESSIET writes.

    Cassava is used for many things: Food, feed, ethanol and other industrial uses.

    Besides, it has a lot of derivatives.

    It is, particularly, valuable for rural small-holder farmers, breweries, pharmaceuticals, distilleries and ethanol-producing companies, which use  cassava flour and starch as raw materials. In most cases, these firms rely on imports for their raw materials.

     

    Initiative

    It is for this reason that a non-governmental organisation (NGO), African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), has taken the initiative to make cassava business attractive in Nigeria. It is working through Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project (CAMAP).

    CAMAP, funded  by United Kingdom Agency for International Development( UKAid), seeks  to  transform  the  cassava  sector  in  sub-Saharan Africa by enhancing  commercial  production,  processing and market linkages based on business models that engender sustainability.

    It also aims to address key constraints to cassava production,  improved varieties, poor agronomy, and lack of mechanisation and processing.

    One of the goals of the project is to reduce rural poverty by using cassava value-chain to generate employment and income. The other is to train and empower cassava farmers to run an hectare of cassava to yield between 30 and 45 tonnes. Stakeholders say the national average yield is about 20  tonnes per hectare.

    CAMAP Project Coordinator, AATF, Ayodele Omowumi, said the project  had opened a new vista for many cassava farmers in Ogun, Kogi, Oyo, Osun and Kwara states.

    The vision, according to him, is to build a sub-sector that creates a future where cassava farmers are economically bouyant, with enhanced livelihoods, and bring about food security.

    His job includes demonstrating to fellow farmers how to plant cassava crop profitably.

    He said cassava, a highly nutritious crop, can be time consuming to plant, maintain and harvest. This has caused many farmers to shun planting the crop and those who plant cassava neglect its maintenance leading to below optimum yields.

    He said CAMAP aims to reduce drudgery and increase productivity and incomes for farmers.

    With an evidence-based demonstration, he   said a 35 man-hour labour used to  cultivate an  hectare of land  can be reduced  to  45 minutes, using the appropriate technology.

    Also, the yield increase is more than 200  percent  in some cases.

    Through such efforts, Omowumi said many farmers have produced high-quality cassava and strong stems that are in the market.

    CAMAP, Omowumi said, targets youths and provide them training on farming as a business.

    The youths, according to him, have to be  organised in groups. Each group must acquire some hectares for cassava farming.

    To support  farmers, he  said  the project  has trained  tractor   operators,  project    coordinators and extension officers on   various  topics  including  agronomy,  tractor  operation,  repairs  and  maintenance;     land  clearing techniques and  selection  of machines for field operation.

    One of the beneficiaries under CAMAP is a young farmers’ cooperative group, Path-P Agricultural Enterprises. A fifteen-member group, led by a young estate surveyor, Abdul Waheed,  farms cocoa, palmoil, cowpea and cashew on a 35-acre farm in Imeri, Ondo State. This, they did using hoes and cutlasses. The practice, he explained, was tedious and tasking.

    One tubercrop, they had not explored, according to Waheed, is cassava, which they considered “hidden gold” with the potential to transform their lives. They saw an enormous potential to fill an unmet need in cassava. They got in touch with CAMAP. They were advised to acquire some land. Consequently, the group acquired 40 hectares on lease to grow the crop. They were  selected to  participate in the project after satisfying the  criteria, which included ownership of  hectares, willingness to contribute to the weeding and any other activity, such as stopping fire outbreak.

    Encouraged by their passion, the project assisted the young entrepreneurs. They  were  provided  the inputs, including quality stem cuttings, fertiliser and herbicide.

    Waheed feels CAMAP could not have come at a better time. He expressed joy with the advances they have made on the 40-hectare farm, using a transplanter to plant cassava.

    Hence, the new project has  become the group’s primary focus.  Their  plan is to use their wives  to process the cassava, sell  the products as  well as stems, and increase the land under cultivation to 150 hectares.

    Another group, Ibukun Oluwa Ayetoro (Yewa) FUG CMS Limited, has  a similar story.The 25-member group has 28-hectare farm  in Isa Ope, Yewa North in Ogun State.  Its Chairman, Mr Idowu Friday, said he  and the other farmers had  a challenge planting cassava, using  hoes at the time – which he confessed was  a tedious affair –before they received the project’s planting equipment.

    According  to him, they were  taught new farming practices, including adopting a higher yielding and disease-resistant cassava. They were advised on one square metre spacing and the use of fertiliser.To him, these were new methods.

    The CAMAP Project Coordinator noted that the benefits of assisting ambitious entrepreneurs such as Abdul Waheed and his  Path-P cooperative is clear: “That passion and pure entrepreneurial spirit to attempt changes like this, I believe will make an incredible impact.”

    According to him, it was  exciting working with the team.

    The Communications and Partnerships Officer, West Africa, African Agricultural Technology Foundation ( AATF ), Umaru Abu, said  CAMAP’s goal is to enhance cassava production and processing technologies to improve food security, farmers, processors, and marketers income.

    According to Abu, CAMAP  assists farmers to find markets. Buyers partnering with the project  to uptake from farmers,include Allied Atlantic Distillers Limited and Thai Farms.

    With the project’s  potential to drive significant agricultural innovation, Abu  said cassava business is poised to make an impact.

    One of the tools, the project offers  farmers is the  transplanter. According to him, the transplanter makes  cassava  planting a fun.  With a  ride-on transplanter, Abu  explained that  a  farmers can  plant  hectare of  cassava   in about one  hour.  If people will do the manual transplanting, he said it will take four people between one to two weeks to plant one hectare. This could be very costly because each planter could be paid per day.

    He said CAMAP will continue to change small scale farmers’lives by helping them to plant cassava on larger tracts by providing machines at a subsidised rate. The subsidised payments are used to build a revolving fund that ensures the sustainability of the project.

    He said, the project is being  carried  out in five states – Kogi, Kwara, Ogun, Osun and Oyo.

    According to Abu, AATF is committed to meeting Africa’s food security challenge in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda through the application of appropriate technology and improved seedlings.

    He said AATF receives its core financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID),  Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    The project links farmers to mechanisation service providers, processors and, in turn, builds their capacity to engage in farming as a business based on best cassava agronomic practice.

    As  business model, the farmers are identified, linked to high yielding, disease resistant cassava varieties and supported with best agronomic practices (herbicide application, weeding, fertiliser application).

    Projects that AATF participates in include: striga-control in maize, development of insect-resistant cowpea, improvement of banana for resistance to banana bacterial wilt, biological control of aflatoxin, development of drought tolerance in maize, nitrogen-use and  water-use efficiency and salt-tolerant rice varieties for small scale farmers.

  • Firm, Kebbi partner on rice production

    To achieve rice sufficiency, Kebbi State is partnering WACOT Rice Limited on the commodity production.

    WACOT Rice, a member of TGI Group, is helping Nigeria to regain its status as a top rice producer. It has invested in rice processing plants. To this end, the company is supporting the Kebbi government to roll out sustainable agricultural standards and practices throughout its rice-production value chain.

    The group has established a modern ricemill in Argungu, Kebbi State, which will produce 120,000 metric tons yearly and 400 metric tonnes of rice daily.

    TGI Group Group Managing Director,  Mr. Rahul Savara, said WACOT rice mill was recently inaugurated by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. He said the firm would help farmers conform to agricultural standards and practice, promote resource efficiency and sustainability, both on-farm and throughout the rice value-chain.

    According to him, his organisation is bringing significant global experience delivering knowledge and expertise in  rice  production  through quality control and strict inspection throughout the entire value chain.

    Savara said the quality of rice being produced at the mill is comparable to the best in the world. The mill, he said, has a production capacity of 120,000 metric tons per year and fully automated silos that have the capacity to store raw materials for up to six months of production.

    The state-of-the-art rice mill with a capital outlay of over N10billion and is expected to provide employment for 3,500 people and its procurement of rice paddy will reach at least 50,000 farmers, as the capacity grows.

    He appreciated the Federal Government for its various initiatives in support of agriculture through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other mediums, which has impacted the growth of the sector positively, and has also served as a motivation for private sector players in the sector.

    “Therefore, for us this is just the beginning. We have plans to invest over N100 billion over the next years in various agricultural value chains.

    ”It is worthy of note that the rice processing plant is the first rice mill to be conceptualised, executed and commissioned during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.’’

    The construction of the mill was first announced by the  governor in November 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Programme in Birnin-Kebbi.

    “One of the critical things that we are seeing today, especially the development of agriculture, is that this is growth with jobs. Several thousands of our people are farmers and are engaged in farming”.

    On how Kebbi has been able to achieve this feat, the governor disclosed recently that on assuming office and discovering the huge rice potentials in his state, he immediately partnered with the Bank of Industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria and to show his commitment, he put down a princely sum of N4 billion as financial assistance and inputs to rice farmers in the state to go into commercial farming.

  • NNPC, firm collaborate to boost oil production

    The Research & Development Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC R&D) and Cypher Crescent Limited have sealed a strategic technical partnership to enhance oil and gas production using innovative technologies and optimised workflows.

    The deal is focused on petroleum engineering research and development, hydrocarbon fluid characterisation and production improvement through well and reservoir management (WRM) data democratisation.

    CypherCrescent is an indigenous petroleum engineering research, software development and asset management support company with a global reach.

    The partnership came on the heels of the application of SEPAL Software suite, a highly innovative end-to-end well and reservoir management (WRM) software in E&P companies for production enhancement.

    SEPAL is the first software in the global E&P industry, designed to integrate data, enhance engineering analyses and optimise workflows in five core WRM disciplines (Reservoir Engineering, Production Technology, Petrophysics, Production Geology and Asset Well Engineering).

    It enables E&P companies optimise production from existing assets by systemically identifying hidden intervention opportunities and improve on the success rates of well intervention activities. Also, with the robust data analytics capability of SEPAL, engineers can proactively manage well integrity challenges. SEPAL as an integrated software improves general asset management efficiency and therefore helps companies remain competitive, especially in times of dwindling oil prices. Reliant on its capability, the SEPAL software has been adopted as a solution, in the NNPC project for the classification of Nigeria’s natural gas liquids (NGLs) and gas condensates.

    In addition, the CypherCrescent-NNPC (R&D) partnership aims to achieve national technical capacity development through engineering research and delivery of value adding services to solve challenges in exploration & production (E&P) companies. It also aims to encourage increased local content participation in core upstream projects and subsequently, export technical expertise to the international E&P market space to boost foreign earnings.

    According to the Group General Manager (GGM) of the NNPC R&D Division, Dr. Bola Afolabi, a former Shell senior executive, “With minimal cost, remarkable additional production potential was discovered. We are talking about a digital approach to well and  reservoir management. We are applying a first of its kind technology to easily reveal hidden opportunities and propose realistic well intervention programmes. We are seeking to improve the success rate of exploration and production well intervention activities, reduce operations and improve asset integrity, among others.”

    Cypher-Crescent Managing Director Mr. ThankGod Egbe said by harnessing the expertise of world-class professionals in petroleum engineering, geosciences, computing and applied mathematics, Cypher-Crescent is poised to add values to the global oil and gas industry through creative and unconventional solutions.