Investors Mop-up Farm Lands in Ogun, Others

Reports reaching AgroNigeria has it that some prominent Nigerians, including wealthy foreign investors, are purchasing huge tracts of land for farming with projects worth millions of naira. Many of these lands are being used for cassava, plantain, fish production and other food production.

It is reported that the investors, which spread across the Southwest especially in Ogun State, are investing in the area because of lower costs for land, taxes and human resources.

Many of the investors get arable land very cheap and are required to create jobs for the locals in exchange for the acquisitions.

According to an expert, Debo Thomas, investment in agriculture is important and this is responsible for the pace of land buying that has been phenomenal. In Oyo and Kwara states, Thomas said individuals and consortium have bought 5,000 to 10,000 hectares for cashew and arable farming.

He said the rush to buy farmland is being encouraged by investors who are desperate to modernise farming methods and increase crop yields to feed rising populations.

In some areas in Ogun State, an acre goes for between N300, 000 and N900, 000 with the State providing investors access to land as well as the ability to move profits out of the country. It also provides attractive incentives, including income tax holidays, for foreign buyers who can buy large plots of land for agriculture and food processing businesses.

Consequently, the State is benefiting from investments directed at ethanol production while there are large-scale commercial farming and beef and poultry production in some areas.

Agrigrowth promises good returns

Africa's farming potential is huge and the continent has a hungry and ballooning population to feed.

The African agriculture sector hasn’t been without its challenges in recent years. In South Africa alone, farming has been plagued by issues such as land reform, trade challenges and minimum wage disputes. But agriculture is still emerging as a sought-after asset class for institutional investors.

During this year’s Grow Africa Investment Forum, private-sector investors in African agriculture reported significant improvement in the enabling environment, which comprises a mix of government policy, access to finance and ease of transportation and telecommunications infrastructure.

The investment momentum in agriculture is being driven by several compelling factors, the most pressing of these being Africa’s food security. The world’s land and water resources are finite and under pressure from a swelling population. Africa, in particular, has the highest fertility rates of any region with 4.7 children per woman.

The United Nations Children’s Fund report, Generation 2030/Africa, highlights that, in 1950 Africa accounted for only 9% of the world’s population, today 16 out of every 100 people are African and it is a well-worn statistic that by 2050 Africa will account for a quarter of the global population. Demographic trends are presenting a world that is an ever more African place.

Unfortunately, coupled with this is persistent undernourishment, and hunger continues to stalk Africa, more so than in any other region globally.

According to the UN, Africa is expected to be the most challenging region regarding food security as the continent’s population doubles in the next 35 years. It is against this backdrop that agriculture, which currently employs 65% of Africa’s workforce, is increasingly seen as the continent’s untapped gold mine.

According to the latest publication by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN, when compared with the production levels of 2006, a 70% increase in agriculture production is needed to feed the more than 9.7-billion people expected worldwide in 2050, 25% of this being in Africa. And, as demands on the global food supply soar, the greatest opportunity for agricultural profits is most likely in Africa.

Africa has 39-million hectares of land physically suitable for irrigation, but only 7% of this is irrigated (and just 3.7% in sub-Saharan Africa), according to the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic. Therefore, despite having some of the richest natural resources for agricultural production in the world, Africa currently spends more than $25-billion annually for food import.

But there is an increased focus on agriculture-led growth on the continent, with African countries making up eight of the 10 countries that have the fastest-growing food sectors in the world.

This focus on agriculture as an economic driver is influenced by a number of socioeconomic factors, including population growth, poverty and unemployment. These factors present acute challenges and make unlocking African agricultural potential not just an attractive option, but a necessity. The UN Conference on Trade and Development has estimated agriculture’s annual investment gap for the 2015-2030 period at $260-billion in the developing world.

This presents a significant role for institutional investors looking for a good capital preservation tool that is also a reliable inflation hedge and has low to negative correlation with traditional asset classes.

In the current global environment, agriculture is progressively presented as an attractive asset class for a diversified portfolio. Given the recent economic turbulence globally, the low interest rate environment and a search for safety and yield, investors with a long-term horizon are looking to increase their allocation to real assets such as farmland.

Because of the availability of low-valued, premium farmland and agribusinesses on the continent as well as the shortage of locally available capital and skills for agricultural development, agriculture is a viable opportunity for investors seeking stability and higher risk-adjusted returns.

When we assess past performance, farmland investments in South Africa have consistently yielded a higher return in comparison to local and international equity indices, the local bond index and local real estate. Compared with other asset classes, South African farmlands have produced higher returns with moderate volatility.

According to the World Bank, agricultural investments have a two- to four-times greater impact on poverty reduction than investments in any other sectors in terms of gross domestic product. The FAO concurs, with its studies showing a positive correlation between levels of investment in agriculture and food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, growth in agricultural employment accounted for half of all employment growth between 1999 and 2009, the FAO said.

Countries such as Ghana, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso have experienced rapid agricultural growth, in some cases outpacing growth in other sectors. In Ethiopia, poverty has declined by 33%, according to the World Bank, and agricultural growth has been cited as a main driver. Mali stopped importing cereal crops for the past five years and is planning to export 500 000 tonnes of maize to its neighbours this year.

Other possible success candidates include Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda, Angola, Zambia and Tanzania, all of which have large tracts of uncultivated arable land with large rivers that can be tapped for irrigation.

African agriculture could, and should, be thriving. Africa not only has the potential to feed itself, but also to become a major food supplier for the rest of the world.

Duncan Vink is the joint managing director of UFF Asset Management and an agricultural investment adviser to Old Mutual Investment Group.

Agric Ministry introduces new measures for fertiliser allocation

Bauchi State Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, has described as successful the 2013/14 E-Wallet System of fertiliser allocation and distribution in the country.

To this end, he said, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is soon to introduce the National Agricultural Payment Initiative (NAPI) as a boost to the e-wallet system geared to biometrically capture the data of all farmers under the scheme.

He attributed the non-implementation of the e-wallet fertiliser allocation this year to change of administration at the central level, and the non-payment of outstanding payment to agro dealers who supply the fertiliser.

The director who spoke in an interview with journalists yesterday in Bauchi, said however that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture is doing everything possible to offset the outstanding arrears to the fertiliser suppliers towards making headway in the programme.

“There is also this new programme that is coming up, the National Agricultural Payment Initiative (NAPI) in which we are going to capture biometrical data of all farmers which is an improved version of the e-wallet system.”

According to him, successes recorded during the last e-wallet system of fertiliser allocation will be fused into the new programme, as errors noticed during the e-wallet system are consolidated into the new NAPI scheme.

Yusuf stated that the ministry made all necessary arrangements to continue implementation of the e-wallet fertiliser allocation this year but for one of the impediments which was the non-payment of outstanding arrears to agro dealers who supply the commodity.

“The non-payment of the outstanding arrears was the main cause that has not allowed the implementation of the programme this year, but  efforts are being made by the ministry to offset the outstanding arrears,” he said.

He recalled that the e-wallet allocation system in which farmers use GSM to redeem fertiliser had experienced some problems such as lack of GSM by some farmers, and the problem of network especially in rural areas, hence the introduction of electronic identification cards for farmers to operate like the ATM.

“Under the new system, cards will be issued to farmers with national identification numbers. It is a smart card just like the ATM cards whereby at any given time farmers can access inputs without problem of network, they can go into banks and make transactions using Point of Sale (POS) machines, they can access loans, and so forth.”

Yusuf described NAPI as consolidated success recorded under the e-wallet system that could be implemented in future, saying registration under NAPI is soon to commence.

He called on farmers to get  ready for registration under the new programme that could be partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Identity Management Commission and state governments for farmers’ registration.

Yusuf also revealed that about 700, 000 farmers registered and benefitted from the e-wallet system of fertiliser allocation in Bauchi State in the last two years and implored farmers to ensure that they got registered under the new NAPI programme.

Major crop losses in Central America due to El Niño

14 September 2015, Rome – Prolonged dry weather associated with the El Niño phenomenon has severely reduced this year’s cereal outputs in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, putting a large numbers of farmers in need of agricultural assistance as the subregion tries to recover amidst ongoing dryness, FAO said today. 

This is the second consecutive year that the region's main season cereal harvest has been negatively affected by severe dry weather related to El Niño.

The Central American Agricultural Council -- headed by agriculture ministers of the subregion – has declared a state of alert after hundreds of thousands of subsistence farmers have suffered the partial or total loss of their crops planted for the main grain season that runs from May to September.

Early estimates from Central America’s main de prima harvest suggest declines of as much as 60 percent of maize and 80 percent of beans due to dry weather caused by El Niño, a weather phenomenon characterized by abnormal warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific ocean.

El Niño-related dry spells are known to delay planting, reduce planting areas and stifle crop development.  Recovering as dry weather continues With hundreds of thousands of families affected by severe food losses, the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua have begun distributing agricultural aid packages, including seeds, fertilizers and irrigation pumps, to help farmers recover as much as possible in the second planting season, now under way.
Three out of the four countries have also begun distributing direct food aid to help families cope with severe food shortages.

“This year's El Niño's impacts are even more intense than last's. After two years of intensifying dry weather, it’s critical that we support farmers to recuperate some of their losses by helping them achieve stronger yields in the second season,” says Felix Baquedano, Economist in FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) unit covering Latin America.

Those farmers now planting second season crops, meanwhile, are doing so under exceptionally dry conditions.


With near certainty that El Niño conditions will continue into early 2016, second season output will likely also be limited by severe dry weather.

Losses At an estimated 3 million tonnes across the subregion, this year’s maize harvest is expected to be far below average and some 8 percent below last year’s already compromised harvest.

Production declines are expected to be particularly sharp in El Salvador and Honduras, which both saw 60 percent of their maize crops destroyed by the irregular rainfall earlier this year. In El Salvador alone, losses are estimated at $28 million in seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and land preparation. Honduras additionally saw 80 percent of its beans perish.

In Guatemala’s most affected areas, some 80 percent of crops are estimated to have been lost, including 55,000 tonnes of maize and 11,500 tonnes of beans, affecting over 150,000 families. While there is still a chance for farmers in the dry corridor to make up for some of those losses of beans in the second season, insufficient rain is likely to prohibit maize from maturing and prevent farmers from recovering those losses.

In Nicaragua, early estimates suggest 50 percent of the total planted area has been damaged, with total crop losses in the country’s most severely affected regions.   Effects on prices Countries across the subregion have increased imports of staple foods from other parts of Latin America to increase availability of food and keep prices stable.

In El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, maize prices have remained significantly above last year’s level – with increases of as much as 20 percent in Honduras. Guatemala is the only country in the dry corridor that has managed to bring prices down from August last year thanks to imports from Mexico and improved supplies from the ongoing 2015 main harvest.

FAO response
In Guatemala, where crop losses have triggered food distributions to some 110,000 families, FAO is supporting the government in building early warning systems and developing management plans, as well as in making seeds and training available to farmers to increase the country’s resilience against the effects of El Niño.

FAO is further mobilizing resources to provide direct assistance to production and to support food and nutrition monitoring systems in Honduras, while continuing to support the government of El Salvador in its long-term strategy to adapt local agriculture to the effects of climate change.

Central America’s “Dry Corridor” is a semi-arid region stretching from the low areas of the Pacific watershed through the foothills of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and parts of Costa Rica. It covers nearly one-third of the Central American territory and is characterized by recurrent droughts.

Jigawa Boosts Agriculture with Seeds Centre

Seed Centre recently commissioned

  Jigawa State government has established an Agricultural Seeds Centre for the benefit of farmers and processors in the State.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony at Birin Kudu, Governor Mohammad Badaru  Abubakar, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Adamu Abdukadir  Fanini, said the seeds centre would ensure availability of improved varieties of seeds at a close distance to farmers so as to boost food production and create jobs.

According to Governor Abubakar, “The policy thrust of the present administration is to provide an enabling environment for private sector investment and agro-based economic growth like the emergence of Dangote and Lee Group Investments in sugarcane and rice towards sustainable socio-economic development of Jigawa State.”

General Manager of the Jigawa Agricultural Supply Company Limited (JASCO), Alhaji Hassan Idris Girbobo, pointed out that the seeds centre would be used to mitigate various challenges facing agriculture globally, such as climate change, incidence of pest and diseases, unpleasant and volatile market prices, among others.

Alhaji Girbobo said the centre was an added economic advantage to the State, adding that it would serve many processors and farmers who normally carried their cleaning and processing to far places like Zaria.

He advocated manpower and efficient laboratory that could guarantee safety, noting that the centre was a partnership venture on the basis of 60:40 between the State and Federal Government on the suggestion of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

In his message, the Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Mohammed Danzomo, commended the State government’s intervention in the supply of fertilizers to farmers for the rainy season, saying it was a sign of better things to come.

A farmer, Alhaji Dauda  Bako, who attended the event, said that the seeds centre would go a long way in improving the livelihood of farmers, among other benefits in the State and its environs.

FG Debunks E-Wallet Scrap

The Federal Government has refuted the rumors going the round that it had scrapped the Electronic Wallet Scheme.

An impeccable source from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told AgroNigeria that they were oblivious of such directive.

“We’re unaware of such directive here. E-Wallet is the engine room of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS); unless the Federal Government wants to scrap GESS, then it could contemplate on scrapping it”, the source said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government had recently reiterated its commitment to a sustainable agricultural sector that could boast of raising the incomes of the rural populace; while underpinning the national economy.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Arc. Sonny Echono disclosed this while declaring open a staff training programme on innovative Collaboration for Development (CTA) in Abuja.

Echono said the ministry is determined to strengthen the staffers’ capacity development and maintain its online presence and relationship with the Nigerian public. He said the ministry is ready, as always, to play an effective role in influencing policy development processes thereby supporting the development of effective value chains.

He declared that the ministry has through the use of ICT built a vibrant agriculture in Nigeria and cleaned decades of corruption in the fertilizer sector through the Electronic Wallet Scheme.

According to him, Nigeria is the first country in Africa to develop the Electronic Wallet System through which farm inputs are delivered directly to farmers via electronic vouchers on their mobile phones, adding that within two years, the e-wallet system reached 6.4 million farmers and helped improve the food security of 30 million people.

Council Calls for Downward Review of Sugar Prices

refineried sugar

The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) wants local refineries and producers in the nation’s sugar sector to carry out a downward review of current sugar prices in line with emerging trends in global sugar market.

According to the NSDC, this is necessary in view of the emerging worrisome trend in the domestic sugar market, adding that, “the Council had believed that with time, the trend would reverse, but indeed, it has not; hence the need to reach out to all our major sector players and find workable solutions.”

A statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the Council, Dr. Latif Busari, pointed that, “Between January and June this year, while world sugar prices have dropped by around 18 per cent, wholesale prices in Nigeria have gone up by 15 per cent. Wholesale prices today are hovering around the high prices of N2000, and council keeps receiving complaints from both industrial and domestic consumers who wonder why the declining international prices are not reflected in the local market, given the fact that Nigeria still imports over 98 per cent of its raw sugar needs.”

Dr Latif Busari stated that with most of the major producers projecting good crops, and many large consuming countries still holding substantial stocks, global sugar prices are more likely to witness further downward pressure, and no one knows when it would bottom out.

“Council had done a conservative estimate of the cost profile, and while it agrees that the recent depreciation in our local currency relative to the dollar has eroded some of the gains, our estimates reveal that ex-factory price of refined sugar in Nigeria should cost around N6, 000 per 50kg bag or N120, 000 per ton even when a realistic, reasonable margin is factored into the equation,” the statement read in part.

Ebonyi to Redeploy Excess Workers to Agriculture

Governor Dave-Umahi

The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi has announced that excess workers in the State Civil Service would be redeployed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources so as to enhance productivity in rice farming.

Governor Umahi made this known during a special colloquium for stakeholders in agriculture at the Akanu Ibiam International Centre, Abakaliki, designed to chat a new way forward, particularly in the area of rice production.

“Excess workers will work in the agricultural extension programme, where they can practically make their impact felt through their contributions,” he said.

He also announced that all the schools in Ebonyi State would have farmlands where they would be engaged in agricultural activities in one form or another. He directed that all the lands not in use at present in the Ebonyi State University be converted to farmlands.

Governor Umahi said he was not condemning the idea of travelling to Songhai for training, adding that the new policy directive of his administration would be to partner with the Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu. He further said the youth were expected to be the driving force of the proposed agricultural revolution in Ebonyi State.

Prioritize Agric Value Chains – AFAN President

The President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, has urged the Federal Government to prioritise Agriculture Value Chain and revisit some of the existing policies to make agriculture work properly in the Country.

 

Architect Ibrahim who disclosed this recently during a chat with newsmen said that if the Growth Empowerment Scheme (GES) had been expanded to reach every farmer, they would have been agitating for it.

“From the records that were given out by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, about 14.5 million farmers were captured. But you know we have farmers in excess of that in Nigeria. This means that they captured political farmers, AFAN was not involved” He noted.

According to the AFAN President, the GES is a good policy, however it should be segregated. “It doesn’t make sense to give two bags of fertilizer and 12.5kg of seeds to every farmer. Farmers’ needs should be assessed. With the concern of this government for agriculture, I believe the policy would be sustained”.

Architect Ibrahim noted that for proper development of various crops and livestock across the Country, the Agricultural Value Chains should be prioritized.

He therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a minister that has the passion for agriculture and accommodates the views of other stakeholders so that the sector can be properly positioned, adding that the present administration should restore the dignity of agriculture as promised to Nigerians.

NIFOR Warns Against Palm Oil Adulteration

Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR)

The Director of Research, Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Dr Celestine Ikuenobe, has warned against the adulteration of palm oil.

Ikuenobe, who gave the warning in Calabar, the Cross River State capital at a workshop for palm oil farmers, said adulteration is risky to consumers.

The director decried the adulteration of palm oil with chemicals used in dyeing of clothes, saying it is unsafe for human consumption.

He said that unless such unwholesome practices were checked, a major health disaster might occur in the country.

According to him, the adulteration is not only in palm oil, but also in palm seedlings sold to farmers.
“The palm oil supplied to the Nigerian markets and the Diaspora is often adulterated with dye chemicals, which make such oil unsafe for human consumption.

“This act is unacceptable and unless something drastic is done, a health disaster might result in the country.

“Because of the low palm oil production in the country, we contribute nothing to the international global palm oil supply and all these factors are responsible for the low palm oil production in the country”, he said.

Ikuenobe called on farmers not to patronise people who offered them seedlings at a cheaper price but should instead, buy from the ministry of agriculture in the States.

He urged Cooperative Societies, farmers and growers, to interface with Solidarity the states’ ministry of agriculture, to access loan and learn best production practices to enhance their oil production.