OFSP publicize at GOSA MARKET

The inclusion of the Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato into daily diet remains a continuous clamour to reduce the high death rate among kids ages 1-5 who are synonymous to Vitamin A deficiency as the International Potato Center visited the Gosa market Abuja with drama and choir group to sensitize market men and women on the importance of OFSP for its beta carotene content 

The country Representative/Technical Advisor for the International Potato Center Dr Olapeju o, Phorbee, during the sensitization show said “the idea was to enlighten people,  a lot of people are yet to be aware of OFSP and its importance, and it very pertinent for everyone present at the market to take back a message home to their families, colleagues, friends and loved ones on the importance of OFSP, health and economic wise”

Dr. Olapeju added she was convinced that the produce will soon be generally accepted and circulated round the 36 states of the Federation having seen consumers coming around to ask questions, and also tasting the fresh Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato. Despite the fact that OFSP was new to many of them 2 bags out of 3 bags that was brought for the market sensitization show were sold.

Mrs Mary Iheonu, a staff of the Agriculture Development Project (ADP) f.c.t and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato processor also added she discovered that the crop has a lot of potentials in the processing industry adding there is nutrient attached to the OFSP vines that everyone must catch on in order to stay healthy.

Ruth Ineli a trader at the market also told Food Farm News that she likes the Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato, because it tastes like carrot with natural sugar. She also said she prefers the OFSP species than the other sweet potato species. She also advised that Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato be circulated round the country, so that it can be available for both the poor and the rich.

Agro dealers demand for payment, advocate for a new association.

As a result of the pending payment of the Agro-dealers, under the Growth Enhancement Scheme Programme (GES), Agro-dealers from their respective companies, came together to brainstorm on how their money could be paid so as to avoid accumulating banks interest rate.

The organiser of the event Mr Kabiru Umar, said the essence and purpose of the meeting was to look into the problem being faced by agro-dealers as many of them have expressed unhappiness saying the issue would be taken to government for immediate action.

80% of agro-dealers present at the meeting moved for creation of a new body that will help in the well fare advocacy of members just as Alhaji Rafu Lawal, the chairman of the agro association also agreed with his members' demand for new leadership adding he is ready to also join them in the fight. .

Mr Martins Akinola from the New Way Nigeria Limited said the agro-dealers are paying through their nose just because they have not received payment for their previous supplies pointing commercial banks keep increasing their interest rates. He urged the association to work together under one umbrella with one voice to hasten their payment.

Mr Alibaba, Central Bank of Nigeria, NIRSAL, advised the association to embark on media campaign as a tool to champion their course as Mr Kabiru Umar added that the creation of the new Ges Agro-dealer Association was to help members to grow and achieve the goals of the association towards food security through timely delivery of improved seeds to farmers thereby urging government to fast track payment of agro-dealers so as to ensure success of the input distribution programme. 

Agric policy is impacting says NEPAD group.

The Nigeria Rice Investment Forum Organised by the NEPAD Business Group (NBGN), which brought together relevant stakeholders, development partners, and government agencies to achieve its objective of creating opportunities that will transform rice production and processing in Nigeria and West Africa for self sustainability and social economic development has commended the policy programme of Mr. President on agriculture saying it is already impacting on the economy.

The NEPAD Business Group (NBGN) chairman, Chris Ezeh said that the group has increased focus on agriculture having identified the sector as one with huge potentials to create jobs and wealth for the economic development of the country and Africa, stating that the country is blessed with  favourable climate for maximum agricultural yields adding that the country's  rice industry is already witnessing some development in the last 14 years particularly under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan , though there are still a lot to be done, as domestic rice production has not increased sufficiently to meet the increasing demand of the Nigerian population.

The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr Akinwunmi Adesina in his welcome address said India wouldn't have been able to solve its problems without political will saying “if not for Dr Normal Borlon who came into the picture and with political will, India became a major exporter of rice and wheat just because they had the political will.

The population of Nigeria is rising so fast, there is high demand in rice and absolutely Nigeria has 84 million hectares of land and two large rivers, Benue and Niger, Nigeria must deploy everything necessary strategy to be not just a sufficient country in rice production but a major exported in rice. Although the federal government is currently focusing on rice milling to ensure a large quantity and quality paddy is produced” .

The representative of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said they are delighted with the federal government's rice revolution plan which is work on improving rice production in the country saying the rice revolution plan under ATA programme has helped and encouraged his company to acquire 150,000 hectares of land for rice cultivation, 5 integrated rice mills with the plans of 50% of its milled production coming from the local farmers who will make use of the Dangote facilities. He further said that his company is shifting to rice production n order to achieve food sufficiency. .

Mrs Fedelia Njeze, the special adviser to the president on NEPAD said the forum was created to break barriers of large scale production of rice in Nigeria and also create solutions to challenges faced in actualizing self sufficiency in rice production in Nigeria and West Africa.

Stakeholders however suggested that market should be created to mop up the production through proactive policy that would give tight security against importation and capacity building at all the value chains of production, processing and packaging so as to meet global standard demand just as they added that” availability of improved seeds will enhance yield per hectares and building resilience against climate change must be addressed”

FIRE RAZES HOME OF AFAN CHIEFTAIN -By Jacob Aguomba.

The country home of Abia state chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief Donlop Okoro at Isikwuato was raised by fire inferno Monday last week.
Speaking to Food-Farm News in Umuahia, the AFAN chieftain said the cause of the fire disaster cannot be immediately ascertained.  

“The fire was first noticed with thick smoke coming from the room of my cousin who lived with us in the same house. At this crucial moment we could not gain access to his room as he had locked it up and gone off to work. And within a few minutes, the fire had engulfed the whole building. So, in a few moments, almost within a twinkle of an eye, the whole of a lifetime household acquisitions was erased, consumed by fire”. Chief Okoro said.

Chief Donlop Okoro and members of his family has been inundated with phone calls and text messages from all over the country and abroad by friends, relations and other sympathetic and concerned individuals, farmers and commodity organizations as well as corporate citizens.
Asked how he has coped with the situation so far, Chief Okoro retorted Oh, well it has been quite a stretch for me and the entire household you know. And this is coming at a festive period such as the yuletide season. It has actually been stressful for the whole family but God is surely in control”

Exhibitors, others underscore last National Agric Show.

The last National Agricultural Show has witnessed a low turnout with poor assessment by the few participants and other stakeholders who expressed frustrations attendance and scanty activities as compared to the previous editions held at the same venue of Tudun Wada village, along Abuja-Keffi expressway in Nasarawa State.

Some of the exhibitors who spoke with our reporter expressed disappointment at the way and manner people were allowed into the venue with conspicuous over bearing of those who are providing ancillary services and traders that displayed all kinds of wares that have no relevance to the purpose of the show.

Only about seven states namely Kano, Nazarawa, Benue, Kogi, Gombe, Taraba and Adamawa are seen very active with their agricultural produce well displayed while many other states could not come due to unreleased of fund according to a source who preferred anonymity but rated the show outing very poor saying private section must start to be seen in the light of being at the driver’s seat of the nation’s economy.
Another source told us that the usual financial support the organizer of the show normally receive from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) for the purpose of the event did not come as there were scanty appearance of government officials especially from Abuja as few that come from far were very unhappy because they could not get their expectation as  few stands of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) State Chapters, research institutes, processors, agricultural machinery and equipment fabricators and other exhibitors were equally seen.

On the first and second days of the show, some of the exhibitors were still very busy battling to erect their pavilions and stands when activities had already commenced. On the second to the last day of the event, some of the exhibitors hurriedly parked their bags and baggages to avoid unnecessary expenses as the show fell below their expectation.

Giving reasons for the low turn-out, the Secretary to the Board of Trustees, National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN); the organizer of the show, Dr. Samuel Negedu attributed it to people’ apprehension occasioned by security challenges in the country adding that lack of funds among other factors also slowed down activities of this 8th edition of the show and therefore urged all stakeholders to support the foundation to ensure robust continuity of the annual event. 

   
                                    
In spite of the reasons given by the foundation secretary, analysts still believe there is a political dimension to the poor outing as one Mr. Bulus Adamu, told Food-Farm News that he wondered why the minister of agriculture was not present or anybody from the ministry saying “Could you imagine this kind of event happening at a time when the agriculture minister wants the sector to be seen as a business, and he did not attend the opening ceremony neither does he send a representative. What do you think is happening? No reason was given for that. I think it’s all about politics.” When reminded that some officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture attended the agricultural show seminar which heralded the show proper, Mr. Adamu said, “that was not enough, they are supposed to identify with the show all through.”

Although our check on the ministry confirmed that the minister was not in the country at the time of the event just as his absence was vividly noticed at the World Food Day celebration held at the parade ground of area 10, Garki, Abuja.

Speaking on the development, the AFAN President, Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, maintained that there was nothing to worry about. He said they want the agricultural show to be private sector driven as it is obtains in other parts of the world. He cited the Royal Agriculture Show in the UK saying that “The show is okay. There is no need depending on government for agric shows. We want this show to be private sector driven to ensure its survival in the future” .

Benue fish farmers get GES inputs.

 By  Nenge Liam-Markurdi

Recently 400   registered fish farmers benefitted in the distribution of 500 juveniles each and 50% subsidized fish feeds of 15kg (5 bags) at N12, 500 as against the market price of N5, 000, 00 under GES scheme. Added to this, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) is to train and offer free expert services to the fish farmers on best management practices that will enhance increase productivity and production.

On the occasion, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture noted that Nigeria is shifting from subsistence farming to Agriculture as a business. The minister told fish farmers to take farming as a business so as to boost not only their income but that of the country’s exports’ drive.

Represented by the Acting State Director of Agriculture, Dr. Obute Godwin Garba who disclosed further that the federal Government had a compensation programme for fish folks who lost their stock and farm equipment as a result of the devastating 2012 flood, reiterating Government’s resolve to restore the protein gap caused by the ill result of the flood.

Benue State commissioners for Agriculture Mr. Donald .A. Gbugho frowned at the way people now obtain resources from land and water, causing irreversible changes that are degrading the natural processes that support life on earth.

The commissioner appealed to fishermen to therefore desist from the use of obnoxious fishing practice to stop our rivers and lakes from running out of fishes thereby advised farmers who are beneficiaries of A T A to make judicious use of the inputs and avoid the temptation of selling them off for peanuts.

Two of the beneficiaries Messrs  Peter T. Penda of CTI Ranch opposite NITEL Makurdi and Xtopher Ibier were full of commendation for the Federal Government’s agricultural policy and assured that in the next 4-6 months when the fishes mature, they hope to generate between 400,000 -600,000 Naira while  appealed to Government at all levels to support the fishing industry with fishing nets, boats and canoes among others.

With over 800,000 registered farmers in the state under (GES) who are into farming of yams, cassava, beniseed, soy-beans, guava, tomatoes, pepper, cotton, vegetables, poultry, ginger, fish, livestock, oranges, okro cashews,potatoes and several species of mangoes. Over 120 co-operatives have also registered under the All Farmers Association of Nigeria; the body co-coordinating all the farmers in the state. While majority of these farmers are into small scale farming, a few others are mechanized.

What is naturally sufficient at the disposal of Benue farmers is the fertile soil which thrives and generates high yields even without the application of incentives and scientific inputs like fertilizer and herbicides among others.

Apart from being blessed with arable land, the state can boast of Major Rivers with River Benue, Katsina Ala and Gwer and many other tributaries here and there is also Lake Aketa where fishing has become a tourist event. 

In spite of these God given Agricultural features, the farmers in the state require Government intervention to move to the next level. 

Till the introduction of the Federal Government’s Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) it was always difficult for farmers in the state to access farming input especially fertilizer. The Agricultural reforms introduced by the Minister of Agricultural,Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has really impacted positively on the farming families in the state. Improved varieties of maize, cassava, rice, water pumps, sprayers, treated sacks fingerlings and feeds were either freely distributed or given to Benue Farmers at subsidized rates under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)

AGRIC SECTOR REFORMS: PROSPECTS FOR 2015 FARMING SEASON

The agric sector remained a reporter’s dilemma in 2014 because the bulk of fresh food produced during the year, as usual, still came from the rural dwellers that had neither accurate records nor brand names. For his perennial lack of proper storage facility, the farmer in the hinterlands cannot tell how many baskets of tomatoes, yam tubers or the quantity of vegetables that got decayed and wasted in the long distance journey to the urban market place.

 A synergy of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), other financial institutions as well as the organized private sector, notably the National Association of Small (and Medium) Scale Industrialists had produced a mantra which aimed at ensuring that agriculture must be run as business. Agribusiness has since become a template of discussion for investment or any financial facility in the agric sector. It is also encouraging that the ministry of agriculture has built the Touch and Pay technology (TAP) into the Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES) which has so far ensured that fertilizer and other farm inputs get directly to farmers, even in the rural areas. 

Yet, it is difficult to apprise the exact impact of the on-going reforms in the agric sector since the rural farmer is still tilling the soil, growing his crops and harvesting his seeds or grains without keeping farm records. And regulators are constantly short of accurate operating data. It does not help either, that no one is sure of how many jobs that the federal government intervention has so far created in this sector of the economy.

However, there is no doubt that the reforms which the Jonathan administration embarked on three years earlier and sustained in the past twelve months has induced more people back to the farm. It is equally not surprising that otherwise jobless youths has taken up entrepreneurship in  fish farming, plantain and palm fruit plantations. They are also expanding the rice fields and many more has gone into other specialized areas of food production and processing. The minister of agriculture Dr. Adewumi Adesina has received loud applause for pursuing a policy framework that may give Nigeria self sufficiency in rice and sugar production. In the Western states, cassava is on the threshold of replacing wheat flour for the bakeries. Cassava floor bread now graces our breakfast tables!
The return of rail transportation is a big plus for farmers in many states of the North.

 It is hoped that the recent rail contract to a Chinese firm will be successfully delivered within the contract time frame and farmers in the beneficiary states will then have a relief over their produce evacuation problems. Across the Niger, in the South East, a number of farmers spoke to this correspondent on the passing year and the prospects for 2015.

Chief Ernest Dike Nwosu, current best farmer award winner in Abia state and 2013 best farmer runner-up at the National Agric Show, spoke to Food-Farm News mid December. He scored the passing year high and raised the expectations for the New Year. His words: “For the first time, government was able to deal with farmers directly through the GES. Truly, it was no longer business as usual as Mr. President had promised and farmers were able to access fertilizer, improved seeds and other inputs at subsidized rates. However, we have heard of some federal government interest free loans meant to provide the needed support for farmers to expand their farms, produce more food, create jobs and eventually key into the agric value chain. But I do not think those facilities has produced the desired results.

 Again, we know the federal government had approved and disbursed a N220 million loan facility for cassava growers. That facility was apparently covered in the 2014 national budget but this is the end of the year and no farmer has been able to benefit from that very good gesture of the Jonathan administration. We probably have not heard the last word on this yet. And in spite of this red tape delay, I can tell you confidently that 2014 was a good year for farmers generally and we look forward to enjoy greater support from the government and donor organizations in the 2015 farming season”.

“The good thing about 2014 was that through the GES scheme, President Goodluck Jonathan was able to convince Nigerian farmers that he truly recognized the need to feed the nation by encouraging farmers”, says Chief Samuel Emejuru, palm tree grower and cassava farmer. Answering another question, he said, “The subsidized fertilizer and improved seeds made accessible to farmers helped to improve my output in the passing year. We expect the federal government to ensure that the various loan facilities approved for farmers actually get to those of us based in the rural areas. I don’t know the situation in other states but here in Abia, it is surprising that a 9% interest was placed on the N100 million farmers’’ support loan facility and yet the real farmers were short-changed.

 For instance, thousands of farmers paid N1500 to buy loan application forms, spent more money to submit it with passport pictures attached and at the end of the day, there was no loan to the real farmers and yet it was obvious that somebody somewhere was merely milking the farmers to enrich his own pocket. On the cassava grower’s N220 million loan, we had to buy the form twice making a total of N12, 000 but nearly one year after, we were told that another condition was for us to open an account with Bank of Agriculture (BOA) which we did, six months after we were told to pay a counterpart fund of N20,000 which we did and yet we do not know how much we may be given. All the terminal requirements have been fulfilled by many farmers several months ago and as I speak to you, no cassava farmer has accessed this loan and the 2015 planting season is already here with us. With this kind of scenario, we are only hopeful that 2015 will be a better year for farmers, even though it is an election year”.

Mr. Goddy Asonye, a fish farmer based in Akanu village in Ugwunagbo council area of Abia state told Food-Farm News that he responded to government call for young university graduates to embrace the opportunities in the agric sector and chose fish farming as a new entrepreneur. “I built my first fish pond in 2013 and throughout the passing year, business was good and I built more ponds.  Now I am an employer of about 16 youths and my hope is that 2015 shall be my year of consolidation with more fish ponds and this shall create more job opportunities for my fellow youths”, he concluded.
Chief Donlop Okoro, Abia state chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), took a retrospective look at 2014 and concluded that the year under review was a mixed bag of joy and sorrow. “We at AFAN, the executive and the entire workforce of farmers in Abia state have enjoyed the support of both the federal government and the encouragement of our agric friendly state government. Many farmers had reported bountiful yields at the 2014 harvest and that of course came with gratitude to the federal government who decided to reach the farmers directly to avoid the usual stories of diversion of fertilizers and the attendant high prices. Here in Abia state, we farmers appreciate the policy content of federal government intervention in the Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES).

The policy has regenerated a lot of interest in farming, especially for the youths. And another advantage is the higher yields recorded in 2014. This is one source of our joy. But we are also worried over the anguish our members are passing through in the struggle to access the financial support facilities which government has introduced to enhance business growth in the agric sector.     

We will increase upland rice production says NCRI, Ibadan station.

Can you introduce yourself and your plan through your mandate to increase upland rice production in this ecological region?

I am Shokalu  Olumide, Assistant Director, National Cereal Research Institute(NCRI) and head, Ibadan station. What I am going to share with you is about upland rice. Basically this station has the mandate for research and development of upland rice. We have two ecologies that grow rice, one is swamp rice popularly “ akuro” or Fadama. While upland rice is the one that can grow rice like both maize and yam, and that is what we are intending to carry out with our research technology that will start from march-April 2015, as we are starting our planting April that may extend to June. We have been given the responsibility by the minister to expand upland rice production in this region particularly in Oyo state and its environ because many farmers do not have the improved upland variety.

Speaking on rice sufficiency between now and 1015-2017 be said it is an interface of many factors as there is high demand for rice, but policy issue should favour production with stiff measure on importation of rice. So local production must be encouraged to favour our farmers. I must say my Executive Director is not ready to compromise unproductiveness, so we have a lot of work to do from now on.