Poultry farmers hail FG for sensitization

In the euphoria of the great loss many farmers recorded early this year in poultry business, stakeholders in the industry have commended the effort of the Federal Government in creating more awareness forum for the use of bio security means of curbing the occurrence of avian influenza in the country.

 

In less than a decade, farmers in the poultry sector have recorded two devastating impacts of avian influenza as million of birds and naira had been lost in the process with the outbreak of the disease  in 2007 from Sanbawa farm in Kaduna state was the first within this period following a recently recorded one, early this year.

This bird flu occurrence as a way of curbing its spread has necessitated the department of Animal production and Husbandary Services, FMARD in partnership with other major stakeholders at Nasarawa state to organize a forum for using bio security measures to combat this menace away from the agricultural economy across the country. behavirol change sensitization Stakeholders in the poultry industry, including the Nassarwa state poultry farmers came out in their mass to appreciate the federal Department of animal production and husbandry service of the Federal Ministry of agriculture and rural development on its recently held sensitization and behavioral change workshop at the ramat hotel, Nassarawa state, which focused on the sensitization and behavioral change on the bio-security in poultry production, in collaboration with the  Nigerian Institute of Animal science (NIAS), Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Federal department of Agriculture Extension services and the Federal department of Veterinary Services, were all present to grace the occasion.

Dr. Ademola Raji, the Director, Department Animal Production and Husbandry services, who was represented by a deputy Director, Dr. John Taiwo said the sensitization, behavioral change and training workshop is of a huge significance to the poultry industry and the general livestock subsector, and it is first of its kind since the creation of the Department Animal Production and Husbandry services. The deputy director further said that the training is timely as a global attention is being paid to animal health, especially with the recent outbreak of avian influenza in the country. According to him the proper knowledge and application of the Bio-security measures will help to curb the outbreak of the disease.

The objective of the workshop is to identify and strengthen the communication strategies, on farm Bio-security practices and creation of public awareness for all stakeholders in the poultry industry, develop an action plan in all aspect of disease detection, prevention and control, to build capacity in technical, communication skill and development of bio-security for poultry farms, live bird markets in rural and urban areas. 

The Registrar of the Nigerian Institute of Animal science (NIAS), Dr. Oyedele Oyedeji, said the forum has a great impact on the standards used in crops and animals production, where the products will appear as good as the process used in processing them and the workshop will help to address challenges facing the industry. He also urged the department to convene a meeting of all stakeholders to review the livestock policy for Nigeria, which will give propel direction for animal breeding and genetics, animal nutrition marketing, operating procedures and animal welfare which would be disseminated to states through extension services. He stressed that this process will enable the country meet all international benchmarks in animal feed, product and human food safety.

Food Farm News, spoke with Sunny silve of the sunny farms, lafia, Nassarawa state and Imin Abner Genka of the Nzinga farms doma, Nassarawa state, who expressed their appreciation to the federal government on the training saying that the sensitization workshop had huge impacts on them and hope that they will get more of the work shop, as they also urged their state government and others to encourage the poultry farmers through more sensitization and training workshops.

The Zonal Secretary North Central poultry association of Nigeria, Mr. Dennis Eze,  said as the  Zonal Secretary North Central poultry association of Nigeria (PAN), he is happy with the proactive response of the federal government which has brought hope to lots of poultry farmers with the believe that soon, Avian Influenza will be eradicated from the country. He said he optimistic with lots of sensitization on going, and with the consciousness shown by most farmers, the virus won’t last long. He further urged the federal government to keep on with the sensitization programme, and also advised farmers to listen and abide by the bio-security, bio-exclusion, and bio- containment measures.

AGRICULTURE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN NIGERIA - Mr. Amusat Adeniyi an agricultural Communication Specialist, presently, the head of PR unit of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training believes private organizations must be responsive…..

 Agriculture is an important sector contributing to economic growth of Nigeria as a nation.  It is through this activity that food, fibre and foreign exchange earnings are provided for individuals and the nation as the sector contributes about 40% of the total annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employs about 75% of the population, accounts for over 70% of the non-oil exports and most importantly provides over 80% of the food needs of the country .  In a nutshell, it has contributed immensely to national food security by helping to maintain a healthy and peaceful population.

Considering this crucial role in the economic growth of the country, agriculture is on a concurrent list of the constitution in which Federal, State and local governments are expected to jointly and adequately financed the sector by following Maputo Declaration.  Unfortunately, it is the federal government that takes responsibility for a major portion of the funding and policy direction while the states take responsibility for the public extension delivery at the grassroots through the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) domiciled at the respective states which regrettable is poorly funded. It is worthy of note that the local government authorities have not being able to make a meaningful impact also in this regard probably due to their poor funding situation and the quality of staff being available to them.

It is also very appalling to hear that Nigeria, a vast agricultural country endowed with substantial natural resources with evidence of self-sufficiency in food production and rapid economic growth of 45% annually between 1958 and 1963 through agricultural commodities export now finds herself in the group of low- Income Food-Deficit  Countries ( LIFDCs) in Africa.

This assertion was buttressed with a survey of about 1, 718 households in one of the northern states prior the introduction of National Programme for Food Security  (NPFS) where  80% of the households  were food insecure.  Conceptually, food security at the household level implies physical and economic access to foods that are adequate in quality, quantity, safety and even cultural peculiarities and acceptability to meet each person’s needs (Arokoyo,2005).

Nigeria with all her potentials in agriculture cum rural development; vast human and natural resources complemented with fifteen national agricultural research institutes saddled with different mandates ,three specialized Universities of Agriculture, over 50 faculties of Agriculture in regular Universities ,international research  organization (IITA ,ILCA) local and international intervention projects , the question now is why has Nigeria continued to remain in the company of food-deficit or food in secured  nation in Africa. In my own candid opinion, the major problem confronting agriculture and rural development is funding .The national Agricultural Research and Extension System are not adequately funded. The research institutes lack basic infrastructural facilities to work with; Electricity is a serious challenge in most of the research organizations in the country .Most of the Agricultural Development Programmes being handled the country’s extension system are in comatose as the ratio of an agent to farmers is very alarming.  Most of the extension agents are not mobile thereby short changing technology transfer to farmers at the rural levels.

The statutory operational activities of Research Extension Farmers Inputs Linkage System ( REFILS) a concept introduced to improve linkage among the stakeholders  with overall objective of increasing farmers’  productivity are no longer taking place as expected.  The monthly Technology Review Meetings (TRM) is now being held annually in some ADPs at the state levels.  An extension agent is now covering blocks instead of a cell which is supposed to be his operating area.  Farmers now meet their extension agents once in six months.  All these called for urgent attention and ingenuity on the part of the policy makers. As a trained agricultural journalist, I have taken time to study our agricultural system and resolved that social responsibility efforts of our corporations need to be looked into with a view to canvass support for improved funding of the nation’s agricultural and rural development initiatives. 

All over the world, including Nigeria, organizations are coming to term of social responsibility they can offer to assist the growth of small scales business especially farmers who are providers of food in the country as a level of support from these multinational company can go a long way in the development of rural agriculture in the transfer of improved technologies for commercial production and competitive global market. Although many of these companies in the country are now being sensitive to this responsibility while those who have not given it a thought should endeavour to join in the spirit  of ploughing back to the society. 

The question is how many companies are channeling their corporate social responsibility towards agriculture and rural development as it obvious that some of them only concentrate on show business like dancing completion rather than production oriented sector of agriculture. I am of the view that Non Governmental Organization ( NGO) ,   Professional bodies NIPR, APCON, Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria (AESON) should encourage organizations who are involved in CSR to focus their attention on agriculture and rural development.  Farming inputs like improved seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, agro-chemicals can be packaged and distribute to farmers/interested youths in a particular community as way of motivation towards agricultural development.

Big organizations like banks, telecom industry, and breweries can engage experts who will assist them in discharging their social responsibility for the purpose of human development toward meeting the first Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of poverty and hunger eradication.  Most importantly as a way of providing more funds for the sector, government should provide a policy whereby corporate organization should be made to contribute 1% of their net profit to support agriculture.

IAR&T-Centre of Excellency for improved seeds for self sufficiency in food production

 Seed Industry Development in Nigeria has become issues of critical importance in the Agricultural Sector.  It plays a frontline role in Nation development in terms of food security.  Agricultural research activities in most countries of Africa involve varietal development, its testing, release and registration.  Seed security strategies for Food Security Programmes enhance regular flow of seeds of staple food crops to the farmers.  The Institute of Agricultural Research and Training adopts a multidisciplinary approach to develop technologies directed at enhancing agricultural productivity with efficient low level external farming inputs.

The Institute is committed to producing high quality Breeders and Foundation Seeds for the use of seed companies to produce certified seed for production of grains by farmers.  In order to achieve high quality seed production, the Institute has six seed production stations located in five states across various agro-ecologies of South Western and Central Nigeria.  These are Ilora (Derived Savannah) and Kishi (Southern Guinea Savannah) in Oyo State; Ikenne and Ile-Ife (Rain Forest) in Ogun and Osun States respectively; Orin-Ekiti (High Rain Forest) in Ekiti State and Ballah (Southern Guinea Savannah) in Kwara State.By extension of her activities in developing seed industry, the Institute has developed adaptable disease resistant and high yielding varieties of maize and cowpea that have addressed production constraints of farmers.  It has also collaborated with other International Research Organizations such as International Institute for Tropical Agriculture to develop a number of maize and soybean varieties.  

Generally, harvesting of crops and threshing of soybeans, cowpea and kenaf or shelling of maize are carried out at the Institute’s Outstations.  They are afterward transported to the seed processing section of the Institute in Ibadan for processing.  The seeds brought from Outstations are allowed to undergo drying to maintain optimum moisture content of between 8 – 12% depending on seed type.  This eases machine processing, prevents seed germination, and allows the seeds to retain maximum qualities with genetic purity, viability, germination potentials, physical, analytical and storage qualities.  It also ensures prevention of diseases and insect infestations during storage.

 The Breeder and Foundation seeds are weighed and stacked on pallets separately.  They are further labelled given the name of the crop, the name of the Station where it was produced, varietal name, lot number, total number of bagged seed brought, field weight, date the seeds were received, etc.  Furthermore, samples of the seeds are taken to the Seed Testing Laboratory to ascertain the moisture content and other qualities like viability, germinability, seed vigour, etc.

Seed processing involves cleaning the seed samples of extraneous materials, drying them to optimum moisture levels, testing their germination and packaging them in appropriate standard containers for conservation and distribution.

The seeds with required safe moisture level are then cleaned by a machine called CLIPPER CLEANER which removes all extraneous materials that came with the seeds from the field, viz: broken cobs, straws, thrashes, broken seeds and weed seeds and other inert materials.  The cleaned seeds by this machine are conveyed by a specially designed conveyor belt into a DESTONER MACHINE that removes all stones from the seed lot if there is any.  The cleaned seeds are further conveyed directly into a machine called GRAVITY SEPARATOR that separate or grade seeds into sizes.  The bigger seeds are collected separately at a point as a grade A seed, the medium size seeds are also collected at another point as grade B seeds while broken cobs, and other extraneous matters not removed by the cleaning machine are collected as impurities termed Discards.

The Institute has standard processing plant equipped with multi seed cleaner and gravity separator that ensure prompt and timely seed processing of the seeds.  An air conditioned seed store equipped with mobile dehumidifier is used to maintain conducive seed storage environment while thermohygrometer is used to monitor the storage condition.  Quality has been the watchword of the Institute seed unit.  This has been possible with the standard seed testing laboratory used for internal quality control.

The grade A seeds are sold to Seed Companies and farmers for planting.  While grade B seeds are termed “GRAINS” which are not fit for planting but fit for consumption by both man and livestock.  After cleaning and separation, the seeds are weighed and packaged in 50 kg bags.  It is then treated with Aluminum phosphide against insect attacks and tagged with appropriate information such as Crop name, Varietal name, Germination percentage, Lot number, Seed class, etc.  These information on the TAGs are obtained from the National Agricultural Seed Council of Nigeria that is responsible to certify all the Institute’s seed production.

The seed bag is usually sealed using sealing machine or sewed by using bag sewer machine.

The packaged seed is then trolleyed to the cold room that has already been cleaned, washed, dried and fumigated for storage.

The bagged seeds in the cold room are stacked on pallet, avoiding them touching the ground or the walls to allow spaces for air circulation.In the cold room temperature range is maintained between 21^oC and below and a relative humidity of 30% and below, which have been found ideal for short term seed storage.  We monitor these two critical parameters for seed storage by using an instrument called Thermohygrometer.The Institute has two cold rooms for seed storage, one for Breeder seed and the other for Foundation seed to avoid mix up and contaminations.  Routinely, we check our store for insect infestation every month and seed viability every three months.At the beginning of raining season, farmers and Seed Companies patronize the Institute for stored good quality seeds.

The improved varieties are available in the Institute for farmers to grow in different agro ecologies of Nigeria.  Due to the quality of work done in IAR&T, it has consistently received patronage and support from different seed initiatives such as Alliance for Green Revolution of Africa (AGRA), West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) and West Africa Seed Programme (WASP).  Seed Certification Officers of National Agricultural Seeds Council, South Western Region has closely and consistently monitored seed production activities of the Institute.  Other agencies such as ADPs, Universities and Research Organizations have relied on the Institute for seed supply.  Since 2012 to date WAAPP has indented and collected 18 metric tonnes and 92 metric tonnes of breeder and foundation seed of maize respectively from the Institute while WASP had collected 9 metric tonnes of breeder and foundation seed of maize from the Institute.Also, in line with the objective of the Institute to develop manpower for seed industries, the Institute has facilitated or supported training of some Plant Breeders, Seed Scientists and Agronomists who have been well trained as certified officers for seed production.   They have in turn trained over 120 other relevant stakeholders on different seed related topics such as Agro Practices in Seed Production, Seed Production in Self-Pollinating Crops, Seed Production in Cross-Pollinating Crops, Seed Testing, Certification and Quality Control, Seed Processing and Storage, and Seed Distribution and Marketing. It is worthy of note that the improved seeds are always given to secondary schools in the South Western region as a mean of encouraging the use of quality seeds among the younger generation.

The Institute seed production is confronted with a number of constraints/challenges such as, how to improve the operational efficiency of our tractors and farm implements, lack of 10 tonnes truck for transporting seed from production station to our processing plant in Ibadan, lack of supplementary irrigation facilities to produce off season seeds, need of some vital processing equipment in our processing plant and seed testing facilities for quality control.

The management of the Institute under the leadership of the dynamic and erudite scholar,            Prof. James Alabi Adediran is leaving no stone unturned to seek for support to surmount the challenges we have in seed production and processing in IAR&T, Ibadan.

Agricultural stakeholders in the country and Sub-Sahara Africa interested in improved seeds of maize, cowpea, soybean and kenaf should feel free to contact the Executive Director of the Institute.

Insecurity, market hinders tomato production.

The high level of insecurity in the northern part of the country has been described absurd, as it has deterred the economic development, and job creation for thousand s of youths in the northern part.  Without being faced with insecurity and insufficient facilities the tomato industry is enough to reduce the high rate of unemployment and also create wealth for the youths. As little attention is going to tomato production, tomatoes production is met with a lot of problems, the number one problem after farmers’ production is the low market response which affects pricing of the commodity, and farmers rarely cover their production cost. 

All this assertion is according to the findings conducted by group of scientists from Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR)  Ahamudu Bello University Zaria (ABU) as the finding reported a lot is produce, which means we have no enough processing and storage facilities for value addition thereby making people to pay more for little tomatoes.

The report’s finding also reflected negative effect of the production fluctuation and consumption during the off season as the importation of concentrates are on the high side to produce tomato paste thereby creating jobs in the importing country of Chine and the rest. But assuming there are enough processing facilities on ground, producers can produce three or four times in a year, after which the remaining fresh tomato fruit will be moved to the factory for crushing and also convertion  concentrate that will be sold to other countries that have factories for further processing  into ketchup, tin tomatoes and others.

Food Farm News spoke with a tomato seller, Mrs ola who said the lack of storage facilities has affected the small scale tomatoes sellers we get less tomato for a very exorbitant price, which also makes us to sell at a high price. The sector requires more attention; for more wealth to be created with tomatoes I have been able to solve lots of financial problem, the fruit is very promising and should be given all necessary attention it needs to develop” said mrs ola. 

Food Farm News  spoke with the Deputy Director FDA  Horticulture, Mr. Kanu Micheal O.E,  said “after going round the country on inspection, it was discovered that most of the factorywere not functioning, in fact  a major factories, Vetrus tomatoes is no longer in the market, after visiting the company to know why they are out of market, we found out that the company really mean to move upward, they took loan, brought the needed facilities, started the installation of the facilities with their foreign counterparts , but insurgency came, and because the  factory is located at the boundary between Gombe State and Borno State, the foreign partners had to leave, but Vetrus was left to decide if they will guarantee the safety of their foreign partners. The equipment is presently left rusting away without technical partners to install them.

The factory alone, when it takes off will boost the tomatoes industry and the value chain will be enough to engage and create employment for 2/3 of the youths in the Northeast, because the company was not just ready to install equipments but also increase their capacity from 450 to 1,050 metric tons of paste.

“Despite changes faced  by tomatoes the federal government created a staple crop processing zone and that of the horticulture, tomatoes in particular was situated in kano state- kadawa which, produces about 50% of tomatoes in Nigeria and the tomatoes processing is a government enabled situation, where government have the environment , good road network, water and everything needed for the private sector is to come with their equipments, install and start processing”.

The good news is that Dancer, the Dangote group has set up a tomato processing factory of 1000 metric tons of fresh fruits per day, it is completed and presently the Federal Government and the Dangote group are working together and in no distant time the tomatoes farmers can smile for off takers.

Last year the tomatoes growers association and tomatoes farmers in kano were given 1ton of hybrid seed free of charge by the ministry, just to show them that the use of high quality seeds will increase yield, and help you to reduce cost, make profits and also undergo training, after which their capacity were build to make sure they know how to use the seed inorder to obtain to obtain high yield for the first time.  Some of them reported 30 ton per hectare, more than the 18 ton they had gotten earlier, before given the hybrid seed”. 

The seed was not only taken to kano state, but the  tomato hybrid seeds was also  taken  to about 12 states . kano got the highest because it is the major producer of tomatoes in the country and was  picked as the tomato producing zone by the ministry and dangote. It is expected that the insurgency in the Northeast of the country will soon come to an end, which will increase productivity. 

A reliable source also disclosed that they are about creating a tomatoes farmer  interface , which will consist the processor, the farmer, the government, the private sector and the input dealers, to come together to discuss what it will take the country to produce  more.