Over Dependence On Oil Threat To National Stability, Agric Development

Nigeria’s over-dependence on oil is a threat to national stability and constitutes a hindrance to agriculture development, says Dr Olatunde Agbato, the Chief Executive Officer, Animal Care Services Konsult.

Agbato made the assertion during a lecture he delivered at Landmark University’s 2nd convocation ceremony in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara.

FoodFarmNews reports that Agbato spoke on the topic:“Inclusive Agriculture, a Catalytic Trigger for Non-Oil Dependent Economy”.

Agbato recalled that the country’ economy was predominantly agrarian and extractive in its formative years before the major oil exploration and exploitation which led to the neglect of agriculture.

According to him, the country’s landscape is the most fertile in the world with more than 14 million farming families capable of growing almost all crops.

“Regrettably, with less attention paid to harness these potential, the country currently has over 40 per cent arable land which remains uncultivated.

“The over-dependence on oil earnings to finance governance and the development of public infrastructure is clearly an unsustainable approach to national development,” he said.

He said that over-dependence on oil to develop the economy had exposed the nation to the vagaries associated with oil volatility, which often throws its public finance into disarray.

“Currently, governments at all levels are in distress, with many states owing salaries for several months because oil prices crashed and exports dwindled since last year.”

Agbato said agriculture, if technologically driven, had the potential to lift the nation out of its present predicament and enable it to meet its socio-economic aspirations.

He suggested the adoption of inclusive growth, to ensure wider access to sustainable socio-economic opportunities for the majority with adequate protection of the vulnerable in the society.
“In other words, inclusive growth initiatives avoid creating situations of the “rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,” he said.

In his speech, the Vice-chancellor, Prof. Joseph Afolayan, reiterated the institution’s commitment to agrarian revolution drive to solve the nation’s poverty and food insufficiency challenges.

“We had since inception a few years ago, adopted agriculture as a veritable platform in building capacities to develop the nation’s economy and reduce poverty, unemployment and food scarcity challenges,” he said.

AgroPractice: Up-scaling Soyabean Cultivation In Nigeria

Soya bean is a leguminous tropical plant cultivated for its seeds which is rich in high quality protein. When compared with other grains, soya bean is fortified with the highest level of protein as it contains all the essential amino acid required for human development. It is also rich in mineral, vitamins and fiber.

Soya bean is one of the cheapest forms of protein available to man globally; the amount of protein contained in soya bean purchased at a particular price is more than that obtainable in animal protein of equivalent price. Hence, soya bean is an essential tool for combating malnutrition especially protein deficiency in developing countries where animal protein is not readily available or is quite expensive for the average citizen.

Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of soya bean in sub-Saharan Africa. Production has not been able to achieve its full potentials because the production of the crop is still being operated largely by small farm holders who grow the crop as a minor crop amongst other major crops like maize in crude ways, and all that is produced in the country is consumed locally and the country has to resort to importation of soya bean seeds and soya bean products to satisfy the demand for the product in the country.

REQUIREMENT
The growth of the plant is largely dependent on the climate and soil condition of the site of cultivation. Our country Nigeria has a very favorable climate that is ideal for soya bean to thrive. Most areas in the country receive well over 700mm of rainfall annually and that is the water requirement for the crop.

The crop can also be raised in areas that receive lesser amount of rainfall through irrigation agriculture which is a trend on the rise in the nation. In terms of soil, the plant can also survive in almost all types of soils available in the nation but the farmer should endeavor not to plant the crop on sandy soil. A well-drained soil with a slightly acidic, neutral or alkaline pH is essential for the crop to thrive as the crop cannot survive in a waterlogged environment.

VARIETY
There are numerous varieties of soya bean ideal for different climates and vegetation belt but the most common varieties are TGX 1448-2E, TGX 1485-ID and TGX 1835-10E. These varieties can be purchased from seed companies or from the Ministry of Agriculture where its viability, freedom from disease and pest is guaranteed.
Before sowing, the seeds should be treated with captan to keep them safe from soil borne diseases.

SOWING
After the land has been cleared and a seed bed has been prepared for planting, the next thing to be done is sowing. Ensure that sowing is done at the right time of the year to prevent damage of the crop due to drought and pest attack.

In Nigeria, cultivation begins in May/June when the rains begin and harvesting takes place in October/November depending on the time of sowing. Sowing can be done manually by placing 3 or more seeds in a hole in the soil and covering them with earth. Sowing can also be done using machines such as a seed drill or a planter for efficient and more uniform planting. Soya bean seed is usually planted on a seed bed or in a ridge with a conventional spacing distance of 70cm between rows and 5cm between stands.




SEED RATE
The normal soya bean seed requirement for a hectare of land is usually placed at 50kg to 60kg.

FERTILIZER APPLICATION
As a leguminous crop, it requires less amount of fertilizer when cultivated as the plant has the ability of providing its own Nitrogen to the soil through Nitrogen fixation by the nodules of the plant root. Hence, farmers need to pay less attention to nitrogen supply for the crop, as the need is supplied naturally in the right quantity.

Fertilizer containing other primary nutrients should be applied after a proper soil test has been conducted to ascertain nutrients that are deficient. The crop requires ample supply of phosphorus to enable proper root development. Phosphorus is usually applied at 30kg per hectare or an NPK 15:15:15.

WEED CONTROL
Both annual and perennial weeds attack soya bean farms necessitating farmers to carry out routine weeding. Weeding can be done manually using hoes and other crude tools or can be achieved using chemicals (herbicides). Efficient weed control has a tendency of increasing the general output of the farm.

PEST AND DISEASE
Some of the major pests that attack soya bean crop include bean flies, pod suckers, bugs, caterpillars, nematodes, silverleaf whitefly,etc. They can be controlled by using insecticides such as cypermethrin + Dimethoate 10EC at 100ml in 15 litres of water.

In term of diseases, the most destructive disease that infects soya bean crops is soya bean crop rust. Others include soya bean mosaic virus, frog eye leaf, bacteria blight, etc. In the case of disease, it is advised to destroy sick plants to control its spread. Disease occurrence can be controlled by using resistant varieties, treating of seeds before planting and practicing crop rotation.

HARVESTING
Depending on the variety, the time of planting and other factors, soya bean plant is usually harvested about 100 to 160 days post sowing. At this time, the plant should have attained complete maturity. This is usually determined when about 90% of the pods on the plant have turned brown. Harvesting is usually carried out manually using a sickle or a cutlass to cut the matured plant at the ground level leaving the root still buried in the soil. The harvested plants are then heaped on a tarpaulin and allowed to dry under direct sunlight before they are threshed.

POST HARVEST PROCESSING
Once the desired level of dryness has been achieved, the harvested plant is threshed. This can be done manually or through the use of a thresher. Once threshing has been completed, winnowing is carried out to separate the soya bean seeds from their chaff. Winnowing can be carried out using a winnower or using the power of wind.

The seeds obtained after winnowing are then stored in bags or in silos. Storage sites should be cool, dry, well ventilated and free from storage pests.

Climate Change: Environmental Hazards Undermining National Agricultural and Economic Development

Over N10.5 billion is being lost yearly to environmental challenges, which has endangered the livelihood of about 46.4 million people living in the eleven (11) northern frontline states.

This was disclosed by the Director-General, National Agency for the Great Green Wall (GGW), Goni Ahmed at the launch of the GGW school club/tree planting campaign at Government Girls Secondary School Dutse, Abuja.

According to the Ahmed, these challenges among which were deforestation, drought and desertification, had undermined Nigeria’s efforts in ensuring a stable and sustainable future for our resources and the country’s economy at large.

He therefore called for collaboration effort to tackle desertification in the north, adding that the agency has taken the tree planting campaign to the schools in order to create awareness among school children on the need to plant trees to combat the problem of land degradation and climate change.

“Desertification is a major constraint to economic and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” he said, adding that the World Bank estimated over N10.5 billion as annual loss through desertification, deforestation and drought.

Furthermore, he noted that the people living in this region are heavily dependent on land, water and vegetation resources for their livelihood which is fast deteriorating as a result of desertification.

“If we can collectively take action against deforestation and other related environmental issues, we will not only improve land productivity, but will provide the bedrock for agriculture growth, create employment leading to a positive cycle of economic growth,” he concluded.

The Federal Government through the Great Green Wall programme is fighting desertification in Kebbi, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states.

Advocacy Group Makes Case For Women Farmers, Gender Budgeting

In a bid to improve the lot of women farmers in the state, the Civil Society Forum on Women in Agriculture and Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE) an Action-aid sponsored NGO has called for a review in gender agric – budgetary allocation.

This call was made by the Chief Executive Officer, CCPE in Kwara State, Mr. Abdulkareem Suleiman, who argued the annual agriculture allocation by successive governments as insufficient to galvanize expected growth and development in the sector.

“Since women participation in agricultural development cannot be overemphasized, considering their significant contributions in the agriculture value chain and food production, we recommend that women farmers be accorded a pride of place in subsequent budgeting which could reflect in at least 30 percent budget allocation to direct line items aimed at supporting small holder women farmers” he stated.

In acknowledgement of the contribution of women farmers to the gross food needs of the continent, the National Coordinator, Organization for the Sustenance of the Nigerian Environment (OSFSN) – Angela Okoye outlined the forum as an advocacy effort to get the State Ministry of Agriculture to enhance smallholder farmers, women and civil society organization participation in the budgetary processes as stakeholders that they are.

She noted that women worldwide make up over 70 percent of the  value chain labour force of the agric sector, while over 40 percent of women across Africa co – owned plots of land with their husbands but have not been able to expand due to discriminatory policies and neglects by Africa government policy formulations.

Okoye, a budget tracking and monitoring expert who doubles as member of Women in – Farming Advocacy Group therefore appealed that the state government should as a matter of importance inculcate the interest of women farmers. Also she recommended the need for equal and proactive  engagement of the Federal Government to open up the CBN initiative – ‘Nigerian Incentive – Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) for access by smallholder farmers, especially women because of their  production to processing roles in the agricultural value chains.

Nigeria: Zuba - Abuja's Fruit Market of Filth

Buying and selling of consumables like fruits are expected to take place in clean and serene environments, however at the Zuba International Fruit Market, they occur in an atmosphere of foul odour from mounds of refuse.

As one approaches the market, the pungent odour from the market can make one mistake the place for a large dumpsite with many rotten fruits indiscriminately decomposing around its environs.
The stinking environment where trading activities take place is brimming with scores of rotten fruits assailing everyone including buyers of the perishable products in a clear violation of environmental laws and a threat to public health.

Given the amount of environmental pollution the market generates, it seems the traders are oblivious to the fact that trading in such a filthy environment has several health implications as many of them spread their wares on the muddy ground.

The market is a melting point for major fruit-producing states. About 500 trucks and lorries loaded with assorted fruits come into the market each day while thousands of farmers, fruit sellers and buyers throng the market to do business, Alhaji Nura Haruna, the chairman of the Zuba International Fruits Market Association told Aso Chronicle.

"This market is the biggest in the North Central; people come from Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, and some eastern states to buy fruits here while farmers from all over the country bring their goods for sale here," he said.

"As people are offloading fruits from the trucks, pickup vans are on ground to convey the produce to different locations in the FCT," Haruna added.

A visit to this market leaves one wondering whether the fruits many FCT residents consume actually come from such a filthy environment.

Aso Chronicle learnt that about 50 cleaners are employed to take charge of cleaning the market but this has not saved it from the mess.

It was gathered that there is punishment for anyone that violates the market's environmental law, but this law seems not to be effective as the traders were seen disposing garbage indiscriminately.

While the activities of the traders constitute an environmental challenge, the muddy road that leads to the central area of the market affects free flow of both human and vehicular movements.

The road is narrow, muddy and congested with hundreds of people struggling to find better way in and out of the market. Traders wear rain boots apparently to reduce getting into the muddy and dirty areas that characterize almost the whole market amidst the pungent stench emanating from all directions.

The market is in shambles, a situation market officials said, is fast reducing the volume of business activities there. Several accidents have been recorded; vehicles sometimes slide and crash while trying to gain access into the market, Aso Chronicle learnt.

"When it rains, the entire market will be muddied, affecting free flow of movement through the tiny, muddy road," said a trader, Gloria Opkuveru, who added that the situation is affecting sales as customers find it difficult to gain access to the market.

"I remember some time ago - I think about two years or so ago - some white people used to come here. One day, three of them came after it had rained. They managed to walk their way out of the market without buying anything," Issa Muhammad, another trader said.

He added that the condition of the North Central's biggest fruits market frustrates farmers whose farm produce would go bad if kept for days.

"Anybody who comes here and sees that a market that looks like this exists in Abuja would be disappointed. We need a good garage for the trucks to park after offloading the produce. We are constrained by space, yet complicated by rain," said another trader who does not want his name in print.

Ms. Esther Tyohee is a mango farmer from Gboko, Benue State. These reporters maneuovered through the muddy path amidst huge crowd of customers to meet her where she was selling her mangoes along with two agile young men who helped her get customers.

Asked what she makes of the condition in the market, her response was interrogative: "Are we not paying revenue? They know how to collect money but don't know how to make the market good. Leave me alone please," she retorted at the reporters.

The market union leaders decry the failure of both the Gwagwalada Area Council authorities and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to entertain the several complaints lodged with them about the road, despite the huge revenue generated from the market.

Nura Haruna said they have made several efforts to meet with government officials to see what can be done over the terrible condition but nothing happened. "They couldn't give us the attention we needed and so we were discouraged to push the issue further," he lamented.

If we are generating huge revenue here for the government, why can't they even put asphalt on the roads and the market to make activities run smoothly? he asked, adding that they carry out minor repairs on the road, using the revenue the market generates.

Aside the fruit sellers, dealers of electrical and electronic materials whose shopping complex is situated along the muddy road said they were facing hard times as a result of near-zero patronage due to the bad road.
The dealers are worried that if the road is not rehabilitated, the billions of naira already expended on the shopping complex would be in vain.

Cletus Eze, the market chairman, said: "Of the over 700 shops in the market, only 109 are occupied. Those who had done business here before were forced to leave because buyers are not forthcoming.

"The money we spent on the project is just going down the drain; nothing is coming out of it," he said.
If the road is in good condition, the traders say the market has the potential to generate millions of naira for the Gwagwalada Area Council.

They appealed to the relevant authorities to, as a matter of urgency, look into the worsening and deteriorating conditions of the road and the market.

Nigeria Spends $2.4bn On Rice Importation in 3 Years - Emefiele

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday said the Federal Government spent $2.41 billion on rice importation between January 2012 and May 2015.

Mr. Emefiele made this known at a stakeholders' meeting with officials of Paddy Rice Producing states and Rice Value chain investors in Abuja.

He said the bank's decision to ban foreign exchange for importation of rice; fish and other items would not be reversed.

He said the Apex bank has no plans to reverse the ban, adding that the reason for inclusion of rice in the exclusion list was not far-fetched.

He said, "Figures available with the CBN show that from the period January 2012 to May 2015, the country had spent over 2.41bn dollars on importation of this commodity.
"Unfortunately, this trend has resulted in huge unsold stock of paddy rice cultivated by our farmers and low operating capacities of many integrated rice mills in Nigeria."

Mr. Emefiele said the CBN, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, would come up with a comprehensive financing model to support rice millers and other investors in the sector.

He said the bank decided to intervene in the sector through funding and other packages because the country would not achieve its true potentials if it imported everything it could produce locally.

He said, "the bank will make funds more accessible to farmers through some of its funding programme such as the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme and the N220bn Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development fund.

"The funds will be made available to rice farmers through the Microfinance Banks at an interest rate of nine per cent and any bank that charges interest above that rate should be reported to the CBN
"We appeal to the state governments to provide lands for the farmers on a large scale and we will work with them to clear some of these impediments.

"We are at a stage where we must feed ourselves and all hands are on deck to ensure this work," he said.
The CBN boss said that those that defaulted in the payment of customs duty after bringing in excess quotas of rice into the country at concessionary rates would be penalised.

He said the CBN would take up the issue to the highest level in government to ensure that the money was paid.

"By exceeding their import quota, these importers have flooded the market with rice that is sold below what is produced locally thus, making consumers ignore the locally produced ones.

"We are going to enforce it and we will go to the highest level to enforce this to ensure that they pay and I appeal to them to go and pay," he added.

The governor also assured rice producers that the bank would work closely with the Nigerian Customs Service to address the issue of smuggling.
Also speaking, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi promised that everything would be done to support the CBN intervention.
 
Mr. Bagudu spoke on behalf of the 10 major paddy rice producing states, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Taraba, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Niger.
He said the states had enough capacity to produce rice that would help the country attain self sufficiency as well as for export purpose.

He also assured producers that they would expand infrastructure, as well as provide the right atmosphere for people to invest in rice farming. 

 

Sonny Echow, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the ministry was making plans to intervene in rice production in the coming season.

"We are proposing to the CBN to help us set up a fund for rice millers for our rice farmers.
"We will be making that recommendation to the CBN to facilitate a long term fund," he said.
Earlier, the millers stressed the need to address some of the bottlenecks affecting the increase in rice production in the country.

They also listed some areas where they needed intervention to include: Investment in research, irrigation facility and stable rice policy, as well as the need to tackle issue of smuggling.

Others included bigger fields, funding, access to land, establishment of more rice mills and increase in capacity of existing mills in the country among others.

Tanzania: TCB Targets 60,000 Tonnes Output

DESPITE the fall of coffee prices in the world market, local farmers' earnings are set to increase following Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) interventions in cutting down costs.
The move to boost farmers' earnings comes amid bumper harvest this season seeing output jumping to 60,000 tonnes compared to 40,000 tonnes last year.

It shows how much producers have actively invested in better crop management activities and technologies. The TCB Director General, Mr Adolf Kumburu, said in an interview yesterday that after a meeting with coffee stakeholders including the district councils, various duties and levies on coffee were slashed to 3.0 per cent, from 5 per cent; an initiative will cut down costs and boost farmers' earnings.

"The initiative is an incentive to coffee farmers to increase production particularly at times when world prices are seen falling," he said, adding that the move will lessen the magnitude of income fall.

He said in May and June, this year, world coffee prices declined to 3 US dollars from 5 US dollars per kilogramme in the recent months, thus impacting heavily on coffee farmers earnings.

As part of the interventions after reading the market trend, he said the board has been advising coffee farmers when to sell their coffee in order to fetch premium prices.

Tanzania is Africa's fourth largest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast. According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review, coffee prices in the world market declined largely due to weakening of the Brazilian currency against the US dollar, thus increasing coffee exports from Brazil, which is the world's largest coffee producer.

Coffee production in the world's biggest grower Brazil could fall to 44 million to 45.5 million 60-kg bags in 2015, in part due to the drop in robusta output.
The statistics show that output is down from the estimate of 48 million to 49 million bags and below most estimates gathered so far by other trade houses that range from 45.3 million bags to 49.75 million bags for the upcoming 2015/16 crop.

Nigeria To Start Production Of Canned Fish – CAFAN Scribe

Chief Rotimi Onibale, National Secretary, Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) on Monday said the association would soon start the production of canned catfish in the country.



Onibale, who disclosed this in an interview with FoodFarmNews in Ibadan, said that research was ongoing to ensure that Nigeria started its own production of canned fish.

“Our association is in the process of research to start the production of canned fish in Nigeria and we hope to implement it fully this year because it has been long overdue.

“When the sardines from Tunisia and Morocco go out of production, we will be able to have our own locally made fish to eat and we will also export to other countries,’’ he said.

Onibale added that the proposed canned catfish would have all vital food benefits that would also be good for the growth of children.

He said that the project was being supported by two organisations including the National Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMAR) and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
Onibale, who noted the importance of catfish in the body system, added that the canning process would soon get registered and made available in the market.

“We are happy to announce that the canning of the catfish is still in its gradual process and we are making all efforts to register the product by the regulatory bodies in Nigeria.

“We hope that before the year runs out, all the research work would have been completed and the product made available to the consumers,’’ he said.

Nigeria earns N472bn from cocoa, others

The country earned a total sum of $2.4bn (N472bn) from the exportation of cocoa, rubber, and other non-oil commodities within the 2014 fiscal period, figures obtained from the Nigerian Export Promotion Council have revealed.

The country’s export figure of $2.4bn for 2014, according to trade statistics from the NEPC, represents a decline of 19.19 per cent over the $2.97bn (N585bn) earned in the previous year.

A breakdown of the non-oil receipts of $2.4bn showed that cocoa exports with a total amount of $666.45m accounted for the highest non-oil export earnings, followed by raw hides, skins and leather with $487.97m.
Others are oil seeds, grains and plant/straw, amounting to $389.78m; aluminium, $113.35m; tobacco, $109.05m; tins, $96.32m; edible fruits and nuts, $75.24m; rubbers, $70.03m and footwear, $62.89m.
The rest are copper, $59.6m; fish and crustaceans, $55.68m; plastics, $54.63m; lead, $46.65m; nickel, $27.35m; cottons, yarns and woven, $21.87m.

In terms of country of destination, the NEPC document indicated that Netherlands, with a total amount of $456.96m, accounted for Nigeria’s highest non-oil export revenue.
Others are ECOWAS, $350.8m; Italy, $344.21m; Japan, $211.25m; India, $209.4m; Turkey, $116.8m; Spain, $102.2m; Germany, $100.97m; China, $86.3m; Vietnam, $85.4m and the United States, $81.6m.
Similarly, Nigeria’s total exports to South Korea stood at $74.2m in 2014; Hong Kong, $62.3m; Malaysia, $41.7m while Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada stood at $39.6m, $39.5m and $29.7m, respectively.

The Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said the agency had been at the forefront of the diversification of the Nigerian economy, adding that this had been further reinforced by the recent decline in the price of crude oil in the global market.

While admitting that the drop in the price of oil had led to reductions in government revenue with pronounced negative effects on different sectors of the economy, he said that NEPC had identified 13 National Strategic Export Products to replace oil.

The 13 products are palm oil, cocoa, cashew, sugar, rice, iron ore, metals, aluminium, and auto parts.
Others are petroleum products, fertilizer/urea, petrochemicals and methanol.
He said, “The expectations we have is to explore the possibility of investing in priority areas that we have highlighted.

“We need to attract counterpart investments into priority areas by investors such as the agricultural sector. We need to fastback trade event information and we want to support capacity development for exporters.”
He said the potential of the 13 products, which cut across key sectors of the economy would be maximised through investments, capacity development, innovation and formidable partnerships.

Nigeria can produce 1m metric tons of cashew yearly with right policies –Sotonye

 

Anga Sotonye is an Executive Committee member of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria and the Coordinator, Agribusiness & Youth Empowerment in Nigeria. In this interview with ABOLAJI ADEBAYO, he speaks on what Nigeria is losing for her failure to fully harness the potential of cashew and other agro commodities for manufacturing industries’ benefits and the nation’s economic growth

Sir, could you give an insight into the process of preparing cashew for export and what it involves in processing it?
Yes, our equipment just arrived, cashew processing equipment. Right now, we are about to start assembling and all of that to process cashew nut into cashew kernel that is one of the ways we would soon commence aggressively. To me, that is how we can create more jobs and we can earn more because locally there is a very big market for cashew. But, when it comes to export of raw cashew nut generally it is big business that I can always maintain that there is cash in cashew processing.

At a cashew warehouse like this, the process is straight forward. You buy any cashew from the farm gate, in the bushes, in places such as Enugu, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Kogi, Oyo, Abia and other parts of the country. We buy the cashew directly from the farmers and bring them into the warehouse for processing and subsequent sale in local and international markets.

As a commodity exporter, could you expatiate on export potential of commodities like cashew, ginger, garlic and others?
We export cashew, ginger, sesame seeds and other agricultural commodities but our expertise is exclusively in trading and exporting value addition of these commodities, including plantation in the (blueprint) and management. Cashew for instance is a great crop. I call it a winner crop because everything about cashew is just useful. You can imagine, when you plant cashew it becomes the first line of defence to fight erosion and you are contributing to an improved and a balance environment. The canopy the cashew trees provide serves as shield for relaxation, and when it comes to the cashew nut itself, there is so much to it.

You can take the cashew nut for export as raw cashew. In Nigeria, raw cashew nut is exported that is what we do predominantly. Nigeria today produces 124,000 metric tons of cashew nut, just nut. We are not talking about cashew apple, and we are not talking about other by-products of cashew, just the nut alone.When you talk about the apple we produce over a million metric tons of cashew apple that can easily be converted to cashew apple juice but over 90 per cent of that cashew apple juice is wasting during harvest because there is no processing. In fact, there is zero processing in Nigeria for cashew apple so it is wasted.

Is there any nutritional value in cashew, what are the health benefits of eating cashew?
When you look at the cashew apple it is richer in vitamin C complex so when 90 per cent of that is wasted you can imagine the colossal loss the economy is going through in the first place. We encourage people to consume cashew apple but people zero in on the cashew nut because this is where the economy potential of the cashew is, that is obvious so, everybody is going into the business by buying the raw cashew and exporting it. The cashew nut has zero cholesterol. So, for the health-conscious consumers, cashew nut is preferable. When you go to somebody’s house and they bring cashew nut, ground nut and they drop the two before you, naturally you will go for the cashew nut because the cashew nut has greater appeal, it looks more prosperous and of course it is healthier but it is more expensive and because it is expensive you don’t find it everywhere. Mainly you find cashew nut in the home of the rich.

What is the value at the export market, do you have a benchmark for how much a bag of cashew is sold or do you sell per container?
The measurement actually is in tons and today a ton of cashew sells for $1200. We have 1000kg in a ton and 13 bags make one ton. In a container, you have to store about 17 tons. You can decide to ship 100 containers, 200 containers; it can be 1000 containers depending on the finance that is available to you. Cashew is a big business and it is a serious business, it is a sector that should be supported strongly by the government because cashew is an industry that is not yet fully explored, the potential of the cashew industry has not been fully harnessed.

When you do not fully harness the potential of this industry it means that you are still as a nation that will be suffering from job loss, reduced income, you are suffering a whole lot of disadvantage. When you are exporting raw cashew your market globally is defeated than when you are exporting value added product.

Does Nigeria really depend on imported processed cashew?
Yes, we do.. When we export our raw cashew into Asia it is processed there and that processed cashew would have created jobs for their own people. By further exporting the processed cashew into Nigeria they are also earning foreign exchange for their countries and we buy it as Nigerians and we eat it.

What we have in Nigeria is low profile processing, which cannot be compared with the imported ones. We need, as a nation, to build very advanced cashew processing facilities because we have the capacity, we have the raw materials. We can take advantage of these raw materials to add value to them. It can create local jobs for our people and we can sell the processed ones locally and also export them.

With your experience in cashew trading, what does it entail to have a state of the art world class processing plant for cashew?
You need on the average about $400,000 on the minimum and when you convert the money into naira, you are talking about N83 million. That is what we need on equipment alone, not to talk about the warehouse for the factory and all other things. So, why would you want to invest $400,000 of hard earn cash into processing when you are not sure of electricity. If you don’t have electricity it means are going to be utilizing generator and diesel, which is also very expensive. You are going to compete with countries like Brazil, Vietnam, India and others that have constant electricity at a very low price.

You want to use generator to process and compete with these countries, you cannot compete. So, for us to be able to build a sustainable cashew industry we need to support the industry, a lot of government support is needed. Right now, we know that as a country we don’t have stable electricity. So, government should give cashew processors some form of subsidy to subsidize their cost of electricity because running on generator is huge cost for them.

The other time you were trying to explain cashew nut and the economic value of its other components would you like to share some light on that?
The cashew nut I called the winner crop; it is so valuable because it is a big industry on its own. When you export raw cashew nut, you do not just export cashew nut alone. First of all when you crack this cashew nut you have what we call cashew nut shell, from the cashew nut shell you can extract cashew nut shell liquid which is called CNSL or shell liquid.

Cashew nut shell liquid is used for a lot of industrial applications including the manufacturing of insecticide and a whole lot of products. Cashew nut shell burns like wild fire and it contain bio fuel. When you come to cashew cannel, it is what people eat as a processed cashew nut. You salt it, you can spice it with pepper depending on your taste. When you look at the whole value chain, it is a multi-billion dollar industry.
We in Nigeria pride ourselves as major producers of cashew with very insignificant processors. We cannot continue like that. That is why we have to change the way we do business. We have to provide a lot of support, specialized, well articulated support for the cashew industry so that the industry can be built. We can harness the potential of our cashew crop, so that we can create more cashew millionaire in Nigeria, we can create more wealth from cashew.

Sir, how do you think government can support the private sector?
That is the critical thing. To create more wealth and create guarantee market for our cashew farmers is to create the industry here. All kinds of support should be given to the private sectors so that they can establish cashew industries in Nigeria. The support should include tax wavers, subsidy to some level to reduce the cost of energy and all of that so that people can go on to create more byproducts from cashew in Nigeria. That is where the wealth is, that is where the job is, and that is where the economic potential of the crop is that will need to harness and develop.

The demand for Nigerian cashew nut is on the rise so we have to step up by increasing local production; we have to grow more cashew trees. It takes four years, when you plant cashew nut for it to grow into commercial viability. At the fourth year for the next forty years you will be harvesting cashew on yearly bases. It is a good business, you plant your tree once and for the next forty to fifty years you will be harvesting from the same tree. Government should encourage people to plant cashew and you see it will be important for the incumbent government of Buhari to do something radical that no government in Nigeria has done. If you want to build an industry sometimes you need to be radical.

Today, our production capacity for the raw cashew nut is 144,000 metric tons annually. We need to step up our production, we need to step up production by two folds, we need to take our production to somewhere around 400,000 annually, that is what a serious government should be talking about. Now if you ask me I can give you categorically and clearly that it is easy for us in Nigeria to take our cashew production from 144,000 metric tons to 1,000,000 metric tons in just four years. It is the simplest thing anybody can do. It is just a matter of being strategic.

When we increase our production from 144,000 metric tons to 1,000,000 metric tons, it simply means that automatically the value of cashew we would have grown in Nigeria would have so increased with one million metric tons, and by that, we will be talking about more economic empowerment for our people. The implication of that is that we would have grown our earnings, revenue from raw cashew from about N34 billion to somewhere in the neighborhood of about N300billion to N500 billion annually.

Is it not better to increase our earnings from N34 billion to N500 billion without doing anything too technical? All what we have simply done is get more people to plant cashew. How do you do it? Identify them and encourage them through simple incentive programme that will be drawn out. You should increase production of cashew across the nation, increase processing, and increase export. When you do these three things you will take the cashew industry from the unpleasant status now to a multi billion naira economy. More people will be employed because we are going to have more cashew trees scattered across the country.

14 West African Countries Tackle IUU to Ensure Safety At Sea

14 West African Country including Nigeria have met to brainstorm and tackle  illegal, unregulated and unreported (‎IUU)fishing activities while and ensure safety at sea.

The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Architect Sonny Echono stated this in Abuja on Tuesday at the Opening Ceremony of  the “2nd Regional Steering Committee Meeting of ECOWAS Marine THEMA  Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (MESA) with the Theme “Enhancing the Use of Earth Observation to support Fisheries Management and Safety at Sea in Western Africa”

The Permanent Secretary who was represented by the Ministry’s Director of Fisheries, Aderemi Abioye said” The partnership through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was to build platforms for collaborations and partnerships with other African Countries in the West African regions to harmonise our regulations and monitor the operations of fishing vessels across the Region”

He added that  as part of  efforts to meet the nations fish demands “the federal ministry of agriculture  is  promoting aqua -culture, accommodating new investment in fish production( using different technologies) encouraging and empowering  artisanal fishermen  to be able to produce fish from rivers, lagoons lakes and all inland waters in the country”.

Architect Echono maintained that “ECOWAS is helping us to use Earth Observation Data (EOD) to be able to monitor marine waters and provide security fishing vessels and their operators and also ensure the protection of the environment in the Coastal waters of Nigeria and West Africa”

Speaking on the challenges of fishery in Nigeria , he said “fishery which formed about 4% of total GDP was challenged by the cost of oil bunkering, operation costs of vessels, piracy”, further assuring  that the department in collaboration with security agencies was working to ensure safety of fishing vessels across the waterways”

Also speaking in his keynote address Provost, University of Ghana Prof. Ebenezer Owusu said “the goal of the workshop is to help curb illegal unregulated and unreported fishing activities using satellite imagery as global losses due to IUU or pirate fishing which are estimated to be between USD $10b  and US $23.5b annually”

He revealed that “West Africa waters are estimated to have the highest levels of IUU fishing in the World, representing up to 37% of the regions catch. Adding that in addition to economic losses pirate fishing in West Africa severely compromises the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities”

ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Dr Lapodini Atouga , Represented by the Director Environment Dr Johnson Boanuh  in his welcome address said the project has a 4 year life span of which a year had been expended.

He charged participants to constantly keep in view the global objective of the project which is to increase information management, decision making and planning capacity for coastal and marine resources management, by enhancing access to and exploitation of relevant EO data.

WACOT: Nigeria gets $32m non-oil revenue from sesame export

The General Manager, West African Cotton Company Limited (WACOT) Pankaj Chawla, said ‎Nigeria has non-oil revenue of $320 million from exports of sesame, representing 10 per cent of the total sum of $3.2 billion global trade of the cash crop.

Chawla said that Nigeria is among the leading producers of sesame, adding that about 180,000 Metric Tones (MT) were produced annually in the country.

Speaking during the official launching of mass production of sesame in Gumel Local Government area of Jigawa State‎, the general manager said the country stands to benefit from sesame farming owing to the fact that Chinese farmers have begun to abandon the crop while India ‘s production is hampered by erratic whether condition.Chawla noted that Nigerian farmers would get an edge due to demand and supply mismatch and good pricing.

He said: “Let me use this opportunity to briefly explain the global scenario of sesame production and how it can benefit us in Nigeria. It is an important cash‎ crop globally. It was originated from India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and Myanmar. Global production of sesame is around 4.5 million tones out of which 2.0 million tones are traded globally from the import sesame producing countries. Countries like China, Japan, Turkey and Korea are the major buyers of sesame.”

He added: “Nigeria produces around 180,000MT of sesame annually and from our neighbours like Chad and Niger we get about 40,000MT, which when put‎ together gives Nigeria a share of 10per cent of the total. Global trade of sesame. Therefore, the global trade is about $3.2 billion and Nigeria has non-oil revenue of $320 million from export of sesame”, he added

He maintained that the firm’s partnership with the Jigawa government would boost sesame production in the state, noting that the 1.0/ha average yield of the crop would help improve economic life of the people of the state.

Chawla also said that WACOT, having engaged in sesame production business, is also a large producers of cotton with billions of Naira investment in the country, adding that the company has workforce of about 6000 staff.

He appreciated the effort of the Jigawa State government for the agricultural partnership, stressing that the firm is ready to deliver 100per cent in the development ‎of agriculture in the state.

In his address, the Jigawa State deputy governor, Barrister Ibrahim Hassan, ‎restated the government’s willingness to partner with the investors to achieve agricultural development in the state.

According to him, agriculture is the mainstay of the state’s economy, noting that it provides livelihood for over 90per cent of the state’s population.

He added that the state government has identified agriculture as a vehicle to drive the economy of the state forward, saying that the state is 7th largest crop producer in the country with crop value estimated at N644.41 billion.

He further said that the government would mainly focus on agricultural programmes to achieve puberty reduction in the state, adding that it is part of its policies to use agriculture to increase food security, nutrition and contribute to sustainable employment generation and agro-based economic growth.

FG Should Allocate 20% Of Annual Budget To Agriculture – AFAN

 

The national president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Kabiru Ibrahim, in this interview with Ruth Tene Natsa, among other issues, called for an increase in the budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector and more government funding. Excerpts.. 

What are your specific recommendations to government on how to resettle farmers affected by the insurgency in some part of the North?
My specific recommendation is to be able to put the farmers back in business, and in terms of stamping out insurgency, there must be a deliberate programme to help or compensate farmers in their losses. There must be a programme of reconstruction that must include both economic and physical measures.

What intervention has been made by the AFAN to tackle the security challenges of insurgency and the problem of Fulani
herdsmen?
We are just from a meeting of the grazing reserves and routes and I can confidently say that the government is anxious to put an end to cattle rustling and whatever is causing the fight between the sedentary and nomadic farmers. The AFAN is in the middle of it.

Do you have an idea of how much farmers and the country has lost to insurgency?
In naira it is difficult to say, but right now I can tell you that most farmers affected cannot even afford to feed themselves.

Speaking about the interests of farmers, how would you rate the success of the GES?
It think its rich; the only drawback is that under the GES, the government was able to register only 14 million farmers. Of course we are more than twice that in Nigeria. What has happened under the GES is a selective registration of farmers, probably on the political leaning of farmers. Normally what happens is that it is the directors of agriculture that register farmers in the state, and they do this without the collaboration of the AFAN who are supposed to provide the names, thus giving way to corruption. So there is the need to ask, who are the marketers that provide the fertilisers, is it on merit, are the seed companies chosen on competitive basis or selected because they belong to some interests groups? Believe me if it was free the AFAN would have embraced it. But if you look at the states and local governments, the GES is only affecting friends of the governors of the state.

President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) has indicated interest to continue with the GES. What would be your
recommendations?
There is nothing wrong with the GES.What we are saying is that the programme should be modified because as far as we are concerned agriculture has no borders. It does not consider gender or religion, we do not segregate and there is no politics to it. If the GES is done on that basis, its reach will be deeper and will therefore be a success. So for the GES to be a success the AFAN must be involved; they must be part of the implementation of the scheme.

Have farmers been able to access the mechanisation GES?
Well, it was launched last year and I do not know if it is under the GES. If it is, it is yet to really take shape for us to be able to access it. But what I would encourage government to do is to create parks with large tractors and in the places of need as it is not everywhere that they are needed. In the same vein, it is not everywhere that the combined harvester, irrigation equipment and other such equipment are needed. They should be located at specific areas of needs. They should be kept in parts and have a management that will have control of their uses.

There have been rumours about the leadership of the AFAN. Is there a faction?
As far as I know, there is no faction. The executives and I were elected in May 2014 in our traditional show ground along Keffi Road and before then there was no other election. We were given the mandate to take over leadership after due process following the review of the constitution. The election came afterwards. So there is no faction, people are agitating for nothing,the office of the president, or any other office, does not attract anything. We are doing something that will add value to farmers and agriculture in Nigeria and if anybody is claiming leadership, let him show his followers. We have chairmen in all the states of the federation and even at the local government level.

Does the AFAN have a record of all farmers?
We do in all the states and very soon will come up with identification for all our registered farmers as well make available to them copies of our constitution which will be translated into Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. We are working tirelessly to ensure we speak in one voice.

Aside the implementation of the Maputo Declaration, what are your recommendations to PMB with regard to agriculture?
For the year 2016, the federal government, and indeed all the tiers of government, should allocate 20 per cent of the total annual budget for 2016/2017 to the sector because going by past records, with a budget of four trillion, 20 per cent of that will be about N1.6 trillion. With that we can do everything that needs to be done.

People could argue that the sector is already well funded?
Yes it is, but it is not funded by government. From the 2015 budget it hardly got 2 per cent, 2014 was 1.7 per cent.

Would you say the little that is given has been effectively utilised?
I am sure the transition committee of the present government has uncovered so many things wrong with budget implementation. 50 per cent of these budgets are almost hardly utilised in all cases, even less than that in some cases. So if 1.7 per cent was allocated in 2014, hardly will 50 per cent of that be implemented in agriculture. Even the privatisation of the value chain is not well coordinated. Government must identify what each state has competence for and make it the state’s priority as done in other

Cooperative Trains 5, 000 Women On Cassava Foods In Borno

The Cassava Farmers Cooperative Union says no fewer than 5000 women in Borno have so far been trained to produce good varieties of cassava foods.

The Chairman of the cooperative, Alhaji Alamin Umara, told FoodFarmNew in Maiduguri on Friday that the gesture was aimed at boosting the entrepreneurial skills of women across the state.

Umara said the women were being trained to produce additional foods in their various localities that would generate income as well as food security of cassava.

He listed some of the cassava food derivatives to include bread, chin, cakes, pounded yam, flour, doughnut and garri, among others.

Umara said that each of the women received N20, 000 grant to enable them start up their businesses.

“Most of the women we trained were victims of the insurgency drawn from Bama, Munguno, Magumeri, Abadam, Baga and so on.

“We are expecting some loan from the bank, we have concluded plans to train 15, 000 of them on the same skills.

“The gesture, we believe, will go a long way to alleviate the plight of the beneficiaries as well as create employment opportunity for them,’’ Umara said.

Desertification, Drought Contribute To Rural-Urban Drift – Director

The Director, Drought and Desertification Amelioration, Federal Ministry of Environment, Dr Bukar Hassan, on Sunday said desertification and drought have contributed to the increasing rural to urban migration in the country.

Speaking with FoodFarmNews (FFN) in Abuja, Hassan noted that drought and desertification had also contributed to the climate change with its effect on the country’s economy.

Hassan lamented that drought and desertification had wilted away farmlands of farmers residing in dry land areas.

He appealed to government at all levels to increase budgetary allocation to Ministry of Environment to combat drought and desertification.

He said that increased budgetary allocation would ensure better environment, mitigate the effects of climate change, reclaim farmlands and return life to the rural areas, especially in the Northern parts of the country.

The director, who commended the Federal Government’s efforts toward the fight against drought and desertification, said that more needed to be done to encourage wet and dry season farming.

According to him, the take off fund for the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) was about N10 million and we want government to increase it.

“All the insurgency we are talking about in Nigeria may have a root in land degradation and unemployment.

“In the 80s, Nigerian Government made huge investment in dry land agriculture in dry areas but because of climate change and other factors, these huge projects could not yield the desired results because of lack of water.

“The government should look into these issues critically with a view to assist people living in dry areas.

“What we expect the present administration to do is to ensure that the political will and financial will to combat desertification is increased so that the people can enjoy a better environment and reclaim their farmlands.

“Government has invested much on irrigation which has not realized its objectives so far because of drought, climate change.

“The fishermen do not have water to fish, farmers have no water to farm and they have nothing to do,’’ the director said.

He said the department in collaboration with the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) programme had adopted the bottom approach to help combat drought and desertification in the country.

Eat Imported Chicken, Turkey, Risk Cancer – NAFDAC

The days when chicken and poultry used to be an exclusive preserve of the rich or a delicacy for Sundays, Christmas and very special festivities are long gone as its consumption has become a huge business and themainstay for several  businessmen and women. Ruth Tene Natsa writes on the risks involved in eating these imported foods. 

The warning by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) that the consumption of imported poultry and turkey products may lead to cancer, kidney diseases and hypertension should be a deterrent to all to avoid such products but not yet as Nigerians continue to consume the products.
According to the NAFDAC boss, Dr Paul Orhii, the risk in the products is as a result of substances that can predispose one to kidney, liver and lung diseases as well as certain types of cancers and drug resistant bacterial infections among others.

A major disadvantage to the consumption of imported poultry foods and products aside its health implication is the dearth of the nation’s poultry markets as farmers have to contend with low market demands for locally grown chickens which are cheaper, healthier and more accessible.

These challenges are further exacerbated by the nation’s inefficient power system which limits farmers’ abilities to effectively store frozen products, poor storage facilities, a low market demand structure as consumers show a preference for the imported products and a corrupt system where criminals in the guise of business men smuggle frozen products into the country at the risks of local poultry farmers.

Another report that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent N187 billion on the importation of wheat and fish, among other goods which can be conveniently produced in Nigeria leaves one wondering if Nigerians have a bias for success or development because while our farmers continue to lack markets for their products, demands for foreign goods and services continue to soar, enriching the importers. The fact that Nigeria remains a viable market for the many foreign chocolate testify to that. Unfortunate results of the love for foreign made goods are the loss of jobs, loss of foreign exchange, importation of diseases, as warned by the NAFDAC, poor development of the nation’s manufacturing and agricultural industries, among several others.

Food Farm News Friday’s efforts to trace the reason for the high demand for imported chicken and turkey revealed Nigerians love for foreign products, demand for quality, a social status symbol, poor manpower development, porous borders, and the get rich syndrome which is only concerned about enriching the importers at the expense of the farmers. According to a housewife, Mrs Nwafor, the love for foreign poultry is the fact that it saves one time on dressing and packaging which the local farmers often do not have the patience to do.

“I love buying the imported chicken and turkey because it is usually clean and easy to pick up and cook rather than going to the market to wait for those mallams to kill and dress poultry for you. Also it makes it easier in that one can buy in smaller affordable quantities.

“I have never seen locally produced or dressed turkeys and they are usually more expensive if one has to buy the whole. But in the markets, one can buy just a wing or a thigh without fears of emptying one’s bank account. Also, I do not think that our farmers can sufficiently produce all the poultry this nation requires.”
Reacting to the health implications of eating the foreign products, she queries, “If they are dangerous, why do the government allow them to import them? These products come through our seaways, they get into our ports and borders and at the end are sold in open markets. If they are that dangerous, why are efforts not made to arrests those responsible; why are they not destroying or seizing those goods in the markets after they have successfully escaped the customs at the borders?”

Oyo, Finland To Partner On Agriculture, Others

Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State on Thursday expressed the willingness of his administration to partner with Finland in the areas of agriculture, education and human capital development.

Ajimobi spoke in Ibadan when he received Finland’s ambassador to Nigeria, Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury.

He described education as the largest industry in the state, assuring that his administration would invest more in the sector.

The governor called on Finland to support the state in transforming the educational system.

Earlier, Suomela- Chowdhury had said health and educational development were top priorities of Finland, adding that this informed why it facilitated a pilot education project in Ibadan

Forest Depletion Threatens Bee-Keeping In Nigeria – Association

The Association of Beekeepers of Nigeria, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State chapter, on Thursday said the demand for housing and depletion of forest areas had become serious challenges to sustainable bee-keeping in the country.

Mr Tunde Oremeyi, Chairman of the association, told the Food Farm News (FFN) in Lagos that if unchecked, the trend might negatively impact on bee population, agriculture, and household livelihood.
FFN reports that honeybees are one of the most important pollinators for wild plants and crops as they are closely linked to both agriculture and biodiversity.
According to him, the Federal Government’s master plan reveals that Nigeria’s housing deficit is estimated to be around 17 million units.

“It’s a major challenge here, you know there is no concrete housing policy, people just build anyhow.
“For instance, on many occasions I have been sent parking from my apiary because the owners decided to sell the place to property developers,” Oremeyi told
The Association of Beekeepers of Nigeria, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State chapter, on Thursday said the demand for housing and depletion of forest areas had become serious challenges to sustainable bee-keeping in the country.

Mr Tunde Oremeyi, Chairman of the association, told the Food Farm News (FFN) in Lagos that if unchecked, the trend might negatively impact on bee population, agriculture, and household livelihood.
NAN reports that honeybees are one of the most important pollinators for wild plants and crops as they are closely linked to both agriculture and biodiversity.
According to him, the Federal Government’s master plan reveals that Nigeria’s housing deficit is estimated to be around 17 million units.
“It’s a major challenge here, you know there is no concrete housing policy, people just build anyhow.
“For instance, on many occasions I have been sent parking from my apiary because the owners decided to sell the place to property developers,” Oremeyi told
The Association of Beekeepers of Nigeria, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State chapter, on Thursday said the demand for housing and depletion of forest areas had become serious challenges to sustainable bee-keeping in the country.
Mr Tunde Oremeyi, Chairman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that if unchecked, the trend might negatively impact on bee population, agriculture, and household livelihood.
NAN reports that honeybees are one of the most important pollinators for wild plants and crops as they are closely linked to both agriculture and biodiversity.
According to him, the Federal Government’s master plan reveals that Nigeria’s housing deficit is estimated to be around 17 million units.

“It’s a major challenge here, you know there is no concrete housing policy, people just build anyhow.
“For instance, on many occasions I have been sent parking from my apiary because the owners decided to sell the place to property developers,” Oremeyi told
The Association of Beekeepers of Nigeria, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State chapter, on Thursday said the demand for housing and depletion of forest areas had become serious challenges to sustainable bee-keeping in the country.

Mr Tunde Oremeyi, Chairman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (FFN) in Lagos that if unchecked, the trend might negatively impact on bee population, agriculture, and household livelihood.
NAN reports that honeybees are one of the most important pollinators for wild plants and crops as they are closely linked to both agriculture and biodiversity.
According to him, the Federal Government’s master plan reveals that Nigeria’s housing deficit is estimated to be around 17 million units.

“It’s a major challenge here, you know there is no concrete housing policy, people just build anyhow.
“For instance, on many occasions I have been sent parking from my apiary because the owners decided to sell the place to property developers,” Oremeyi told FFN.

The apiculturist added that many bee-keepers were now faced with either having to cough out huge sums for an outright purchase of the land or quit such property.
“The moment you start seeing two, three buildings around that means you must park your things and live,” he added.

The bee-keeper, therefore, urged the Federal Government to formulate a bee-keeping policy and designate bee-keeping settlements to promote agriculture in the country.

“If you go to other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, they have bee-keeping policies, but in Nigeria we don’t have.

“They should also set aside some agricultural land where bee-keepers can practice without any fear of eviction.
“It would go a long way to help bee-keeping in Nigeria,’’ he said. .
The apiculturist added that many bee-keepers were now faced with either having to cough out huge sums for an outright purchase of the land or quit such property.
“The moment you start seeing two, three buildings around that means you must park your things and live,” he added.
The bee-keeper, therefore, urged the Federal Government to formulate a bee-keeping policy and designate bee-keeping settlements to promote apiculture in the country.
“If you go to other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, they have bee-keeping policies, but in Nigeria we don’t have.
“They should also set aside some agricultural land where bee-keepers can practice without any fear of eviction.
“It would go a long way to help bee-keeping in Nigeria,’’ he said. .
The apiculturist added that many bee-keepers were now faced with either having to cough out huge sums for an outright purchase of the land or quit such property.
“The moment you start seeing two, three buildings around that means you must park your things and live,” he added.

The bee-keeper, therefore, urged the Federal Government to formulate a bee-keeping policy and designate bee-keeping settlements to promote apiculture in the country.
“If you go to other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, they have bee-keeping policies, but in Nigeria we don’t have.
“They should also set aside some agricultural land where bee-keepers can practice without any fear of eviction.
“It would go a long way to help bee-keeping in Nigeria,’’ he said. .
The apiculturist added that many bee-keepers were now faced with either having to cough out huge sums for an outright purchase of the land or quit such property.
“The moment you start seeing two, three buildings around that means you must park your things and live,” he added.
The bee-keeper, therefore, urged the Federal Government to formulate a bee-keeping policy and designate bee-keeping settlements to promote apiculture in the country.
“If you go to other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, they have bee-keeping policies, but in Nigeria we don’t have.
“They should also set aside some agricultural land where bee-keepers can practice without any fear of eviction.
“It would go a long way to help bee-keeping in Nigeria,’’ he said.

Farming Activities Yet To Begin In Katsina

A survey on the situations of farming activities in some local government areas of Katsina State has revealed that most farmers have yet to begin planting.
The development validates the 2015 prediction of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) that rainfall will be delayed in some parts of the country.
The survey, conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (FFN), indicates that there is a drastic decline in farming activities in some local governments of the state presently when compared with the 2014 farming season.

According to the survey, between 15 and 30 per cent of the farmland in Funtua, Ajiwa and Dutsin-Ma areas, has been cultivated for planting due to late rainfall.
The survey shows further that in the eastern part of the state such as Mashi, Mani, Daura, Sandamu, Zango, Ingawa, Dutsi, Baure and Mai’Ádua, farmers have yet to plant their crops.
FFN recalls that NiMet predicted in its 2015 Seasonal Rainfall Predication (SRP) that there would be late onset and early cessation of rainfall in Katsina and other states in the North-West and North-East regions of the country.

Some farmers, who spoke with FFN, therefore, appealed to the federal and state governments to provide them with drought resistant seedlings to avoid economic loss and food shortage.
Malam Lawal Ibrahim, a farmer in Funtua, said that the state government should provide them with appropriate seed varieties that would take shorter period to yield to avert food shortage in the state.
“The length of the growing season is expected to be shorter this year, so we are appealing to relevant government agencies to provide us with cuttings and seedlings for all crops,’’ he said.

Sharing similar opinion, Malam Yusuf Mohammed, a farmer in Dutsin-Ma, appealed to the government to subsidise farm inputs such as fertilisers and agro-chemicals for them to increase their yields.
He also appealed to financial institutions to provide credit facilities for them to expand farming activities.
According to him, if they receive support from the government to get tractors, they will be able to go into commercial farming and even export.
In the same vein, Malam Nasiru Bello, a farmer in Ajiwa, appealed to the government to support them with irrigation and other relevant facilities to reduce losses.

Agricultural experts, nonetheless, have advised the state government to seek early maturing and drought-tolerant seed varieties from the research institutes as a matter of urgency.
Malam Lawal Adamu, an agriculturist, said that federal and Katsina State governments should seek those seed varieties from research institutes such International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Agricultural Research Institute, Zaria.

He said that they could also get the varieties from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT).
“Also, the research institute in a neighbouring Niger, INRAN (Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione) has good drought- tolerant varieties of millet..

“The governments may wish to assist the farmers who form 80 per cent of the population and buy these varieties for distribution to them at little cost.
“ They may also buy them for the farmers at free cost to avert food shortage which is a potential threat to food security..
“These varieties usually take about 70- 85 days to mature and ready for harvest,’’ he said.
In addition, Mrs Felicia Nnaji, a crop production expert, urged the governments to support farmers with farm inputs to ensure adequate and sufficient yields in 2015.

Developing Youth-friendly Agriculture To Boost Food Production

A major contributor to the dearth of agriculture in Nigeria is the drudgery and the massive migration of young people from rural areas which has left farming to an ageing population. Ruth Tene Natsa writes on the need to get the attention of the youths in developing the sector. 
24 year-old Dogara is a secondary school drop out who has no handiwork or entrepreneurial skills to help him earn a living in Abuja, yet he said, “I cannot be a farmer because it is a very hard work.”
Asked what he will like to do, Dogara who hawks phone chargers said, “I want to be a soldier or work with government,” adding that “farming is for old people.”
Sadly, this is the attitude of many in a nation where a good number of youths are unemployed and live a little below poverty level.

It is also ironical that the youth who have the strength required to take on agriculture shy away from the hard work, leaving it to an ageing and dying population of farmers. Should that continue, one is forced to wonder what the fate of agriculture will be in Nigeria. The education, enthusiasm and strength necessary for modern agriculture is with the youths, hence, there is an urgent need to gear the sector towards a youth-friendly system.

Fortunately, Nkiru Nnameago is a youth who has passionately taken to agriculture with through the development of the Youth Farm (YFarm) Project. The Y-Farm aims to establish and promote at least 10,000 youth-led farms and agribusinesses across Nigeria and Africa by 2020. In an exclusive interview with Food Farm News , the young farmer said, “Agriculture is not only profitable but a solution to problems of unemployment, insecurity, poverty, corruption, among several others.
“While youths in agriculture are challenged by poor access to land, finance, market, mentoring, farm inputs and equipment, there are still quite a lot of benefits for youths in agriculture.”

She said that the benefits to young people include a platform for agricultural education, viable careers and businesses, improved livelihoods through jobs creation, entrepreneurial opportunities, among several others. To develop the agriculture sector, the young farmer has called on the Buhari-led government to adopt and replicate youth-led projects, especially the YFarm Project and create platforms to showcase African and national youth agriculture festivals and marketplace, schools bootcamp on sustainable agriculture, e-platforms, community outreaches on agribusiness and climate smart agriculture as a means to capturing the attention of the youths to get involved agriculture.

A compelling need to restructure the thinking of the Nigerian youth will not only solve the problem of drudgery but will create millions of jobs, generate employment and wealth and also ensure the eradication of hunger through improved food production. The fact that quite a percentage of Nigeria’s perishable foods goes to wastes as a result of lack of processing and storage facilities shows that millions of jobs can be provided through harnessing the strengths of the youths in areas were such commodities are in high yield. The mechanization of agriculture is another way to get the attention of the Nigerian youths in agriculture. There is the need to ensure that the subsidized mechanization of farm inputs is made available to youths in rural areas, therefore the need to further invest in agricultural mechanization.

The past government saw the need for this and introduced the Agricultural Mechanisation Scheme which was aimed at providing subsidised mechanised service to farmers in the rural areas. While it is not in doubt that mechanisation tends to reduce the demand for human labour, it also enhances the beauty of agriculture and will attracts youths into the sector.Mechanisation will cut down the labour expended in agriculture by almost 70 per cent while improving yield. Reintroducing young farmers clubs in schools, in addition to the teaching of agriculture, will further create more green fingers across the nation’s fertile lands.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2013 set up the Gender and Youth Desk with a view to harnessing the potential of young people towards reducing unemployment, improving food security, creating wealth and eradicating poverty.

Kano Cancels Distribution Of fertilizer Through Mobile Phone Alerts – official

The Kano State Government has cancelled its earlier plan to distribute fertilizer to farmers for the 2015 cropping season through mobile phone alerts.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the state Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malam Garba Yunusa, made available to Food Farm News (FFN) in Kano on Monday.

According to the statement, the government has now directed the ministry to distribute the commodity directly to farmers at various wards across the state.
It stated that the government took the decision in view of the fact that the rainy season had already commenced.

‘’The fertilizer will be distributed directly to farmers at various wards in the state considering the urgent need to distribute the commodity as the rainy season has already set in,” the statement said.
It expressed the commitment of the state government towards supporting farmers for enhanced agricultural production in the state and the country at large.
The statement advised farmers to go to their respective wards in the state in order to purchase the commodity.

The Food Farm News reports that local farmers in the state are anxious to know the price to be fixed by government.
For now the state government is yet to peg the price of the commodity as it usually does during every rainy season.

UI Holds Stakeholders’ Workshop On Seed Yam Production

Stakeholders in the production of seed yam will on July 14, converge on University of Ibadan for a workshop on seed yam using low-cost bioreactors.

Notice of the workshop is contained in a statement issued by the Principal Investigator, Dr Morufat Balogun, in Ibadan on Sunday.

The statement quoted Balogun as saying that the stakeholders’ workshop would consider year-round production and availability of seed yam using plant tissue culture technology.

She stated that “this forms part of the objectives of the project `Improving Yam (Dioscorea spp)’ seed systems through production of dormancy-controlled seed tubers in Temporary Immersion Bioreactors.’’

She explained that the project was funded through the National Science Foundation-Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) science programme under Prime Agreement.

The Agreement, she said, was between the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which has http://www.nas.edu/peerscience as its website.

The principal investigator said that the project was a collaboration between University of Ibadan and the Pennsylvania State University.

Balogun, a Geneticist and Tissue Culture Specialist in the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, UI, said the project had been researching into growing yams in Temporary Immersion Bioreactors.

She explained that bioreactors was a system whereby yam plants were fed with liquid nutrients intermittently in sterile containers to produce small tubers and investigate control of their dormancy.

“Simply put, bioreactors is about bringing advanced technology to farmers at reduced costs,’’ she said.

According to her, the workshop will be attended by farmers and extension agents from Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states working with the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADP), who will undergo training and review the technology.

She said other national and international partner institutions and agencies expected at the workshop include National Root Crops Research Institute, National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the National Biotechnology Development Agency.

“We are looking at creating a yam seed production network of scientists, seed producers and farmers for seed sector development. These activities can easily spread to other states of Nigeria through ADP offices.

“The underground tuber of the yam plant is a major source of carbohydrate and income in West Africa. Nigeria alone produces 70 per cent of global yam production, equivalent to 50 million tonnes per year — FAO, 2013.

“Thus, there are quite a large number of farmers that make their livelihood from yam.

“In spite of its importance, yam seed is seasonal, causing surplus of yam at a time but limited and high cost of consumer-preferred varieties at other times of the year,’’ Balogun said.

She said that the seed problem was due in part to tuber dormancy, the inability of tubers to sprout for two to three months in spite of favourable environmental conditions, which prevented year-round production.

Also, uncontrolled sprouting after dormancy break causes storage losses and reduces profits.

“This contrasts with maize, whose seeds can be grown anytime of the year with irrigation. With the changing climate of extreme floods and drought, manipulating production cycles is a coping strategy for yam production,’’ the investigator said.

She added that using the new technology could make yam production more profitable, with Nigeria becoming the major exporter of yam to other parts of the world.

She said “it is obvious that yam is a crop that should enjoy attention in the effort to alleviate poverty among farming communities, especially if constraints of seed systems are addressed.

“ The immediate application of this technology is in production of disease-free seedlings and conservation of yam genetic resources without losses associated with field collections, in addition to out-of-season production and manipulation of storage cycle,’’ she added.

Bird flu: 1.4 Million Birds Destroyed – NVRI boss

More than 1.4 million birds were destroyed to stamp out bird influenza that hit poultry farms early this year, according to Dr. Mohammed Ahmed, the Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom.

Ahmed told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Vom on Sunday, that 18 states were affected by the flu whose last case was reported on May 28.

He said that 800 suspicions were diagnosed in the institute’s laboratory out of which 500 tested positive to the disease.

The NVRI boss said that compensations for the destroyed birds were already being paid by the Federal Government.

“Payment of compensation for the destroyed birds is already in progress; it started and stopped at a point, but it has resumed,” he said.

He observed that the compensation was being handled by the Federal Government and appealed to the states to help by initiating steps to assist farmers.

IFAD Supports Farmers With N50m Worth Of Inputs -Coordinator

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Niger said it assisted 150 rice farmers in the state to procure N50 million worth of inputs to increase their yields.

Dr Mathew Ahmed, the Programme Coordinator of IFAD Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) in Niger made this known on Saturday at the inauguration of funds support programme for small holder farmers in Katcha Local Government Area.
He said “we have supported 150 rice farmers from six different cooperative groups with a grant of N25 million to match the N25 million they contributed for this programme.

“Fifty hectares of land will be cultivated by the clusters of farmers, numbering 25 in each group.’’
Ahmed explained that the programme, aimed at enhancing rice and cassava value chains for sustainable agricultural transformation, would increase wealth for farmers.

He said that the grant was for farm inputs such as faro-57-fertilizer, herbicides and for insurance cover for the farms in case of destruction from natural disaster and diseases.
He added that part of the grant would be used to prepare the land, while IFAD would provide 25 tube wells to enable farmers to grow “three cycle yield’’ per season.

He said that the grant covers provision of threshing machines for the farmers to ensure that the rice was clean.

“We are expecting 400 tonnes of rice per cycle, meaning we will get 1,200 tonnes of rice per farming season under the fund’s regime,’’ he said.

Improved rice seedlings, according to him, are also given to beneficiaries by IFAD and the Niger State Agricultural and Mechanisation Development Authority (NAMDA).

Alhaji Mohammadu Ibrahim, the Permanent Secretary, Niger Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, urged the farmers to utilise the support for rice production toward ensuring success of the programme.

Ibrahim, who was represented by Alhaji Bala Maidugu, said the extension staff of the state’s ministry of agriculture would be on ground to give the farmers necessary support.
He said “IFAD is also partnering with Bida and Wushishi local government areas in our state on enhancing rice and cassava value chains for sustainable agricultural transformation.’’

Also, Alhaji Jibrin Yakubu, the Chairman, All Farmers Association (AFAN) in the Katcha Local Government Area, said many farmers were faced with the challenge of getting fertilizer at affordable rates.
Yakubu, who commended IFAD for the gesture, assured that AFAN would ensure the success of the programme.

USDA Reports Summary USDA Lowers Old-Crop Corn, Soybean Stocks

USDA will release its latest Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports at 11 a.m. CDT Friday. (Logo courtesy of USDA)

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- USDA lowered old-crop corn stocks by 97 million bushels to 1.78 billion bushels and soybean stocks by 172 mb to 255 mb.On new-crop, USDA's production estimates reflected last month's Acreage report (a decrease in corn and an increase in soybeans), but USDA left yields unchanged at 166.8 bushels per acre on corn and 46 bpa on soybeans. 

USDA sees new-crop corn production at 13.53 bb, slightly higher than the average pre-report estimate. The ending stocks estimate came in at 1.6 bb, within the range of pre-report estimates. 

On soybeans, USDA estimated new-crop production at 3.89 bb, up from 3.85 bb last month and equal to the highest pre-report estimate. That puts the new-crop ending stocks estimate at 425 mb, down only 50 mb from June's estimate. 

Globally, USDA made large changes to 2014-15 and 2015-16 ending stocks for wheat to reflect a sharp decline in wheat feeding in China that started in 2013-14. Global wheat supplies for 2015-16 increased by 12.1 million metric tons and use fell 5.4 mmt, resulting in a 17.4 mmt increase in ending stocks to 219.8 mmt.

For DTN's exclusive audio comments, visit: http://listen.aghost.net/…

Crop Production: http://www.nass.usda.gov/…

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE): http://www.usda.gov/…

 

CORN

USDA lowered old-crop corn ending stocks to 1.779 bb to reflect a lower June 1 stocks figure. USDA increased feed use by 50 mb, ethanol use by 25 mb and exports by 25 mb. 

On new crop, USDA slightly lowered production by 100 mb to 13.53 bb due to lower planted acreage. USDA cut feed use by 25 mb, increased ethanol use by 25 mb and cut exports by 25 mb, resulting in a net decline in use of 25 mb. Ending stocks fell to 1.599 billion bushels. 

Endings stock-to-use for 2014-15 came in at 13% while 2015-16 were pegged at 11.6%. The new-crop national average price increased 25 cents from last month to $3.75.

Globally, USDA trimmed corn stocks for both 2014-15 and 2015-16 to 193.95 mmt (197.01 mmt last month) and 189.95 mmt (195.19 mmt last month) respectively.

Brazilian corn production for 2015-16 increased 2 mmt to 77 mmt while Argentina's production was left unchanged at 25 mmt.

The stocks-to-use ratios are 19.7% for 2014-15 and 19.2% for 2015-16.

SOYBEANS

Old-crop soybean ending stocks declined to 255 mb. USDA increased crush use by 15 mb, exports by 15 mb and residual use by 44 mb. 

USDA's production estimates and ending stocks for 2015-16 came in toward the high end of pre-report estimates. New-crop soybean ending stocks came in at 425 mb. USDA increased its crush estimate by 10 mb. 

The ending stocks-to-use for 2014-15 came in at 6.6% while 2015-16 came in at 11.4%. The new-crop national average farm gate price also increased a quarter to $9.25.

Globally, soybean ending stocks for 2014-15 came in at 81.68 mmt, down from 83.7 mmt last month. Ending stocks for 2015-16 also declined to 91.8 mmt from 93.2 mmt in June. Argentina and Brazil production were left unchanged at 57 mmt and 97 mmt respectively.

Global ending stocks-to-use ratios came in at 27.6% for 2014-15 and 30.5% for 2015-16. 

WHEAT

USDA lowered its all winter wheat production estimate 3% from its June 1 forecast to 1.46 billion bushels. Hard red winter wheat production, at 866 mb, is down 2% from last month. Soft red winter wheat production is down 5% at 393 mb. White winter wheat production came in at 196 mb, down 4% from last month, with 12.7 mb of hard white winter production and 183 mb of soft white winter production.