Reflection-Change of power, Agricultural development

Solder goes, solder comes, and barrack always remains, says a popular parlance that can be related to mean agriculture as an economy in Nigeria will always remain as the bedrock of Nigeria economy as many administrations are coming in and out in spite of improperly tapped resources of the sector due to policy somersault as every new government wants to do things differently from others. 
 

In the last ten years I have concentrated majorly in the reporting of this sector, one has been able to identify inconsistence policy in this sector as each administration through its minister of Agriculture and other economic team wants to do things differently even at the expense of the same subject is presumed to be working for thereby bringing the whole sector back to square one. 

The administration of the immediate past minister and that of Minister of Agriculture during late Yar’ Adua administration, Dr. Abba Ruma were very eventful to my own experience in this sector in terms of repositioning the sector into business ventures rather than developmental which was evident with their policy direction in terms of agricultural commercial production with private sector involvement, although with one or two variance in terms of style and approaches.

For example the commercial agriculture programme initiated programme of World Bank and Federal Government, and the commencement of 100 million metric ton capacity silo construction cum agro inputs centres during the time of Dr. Ruma are still very relevant even in the last administration of Dr. Adesina when the silo was completed and commissioned with many other inputs centres created. 

While to my mind the two administrations pursued commercial agriculture but with different approaches as while one concentrated on bigger farmers, the immediate past one lay emphasis on smaller ones.  This example is coming on the basis of impact of policy somersault in the development of agriculture in Nigeria which consistency of policy would have helped a lot. At 55 years, the state of our economy is still very dragging especially in terms of development due to egoism of credit personality at the expense of the entire population thereby killing our food security drive which must not be allowed in this present dispensation of President Muhammudu Buhari who has identified with policy continuity in the sector.

No doubt many things went wrong in the last administration which has affected its level of being able to addressing its aim and objectives despite of its many achievement, which such areas of challenges can be looked into for better repositioning of the Agricultural Transformation agenda in such a way that will positively affected both the small scale and large farmers holders in the face of ensuring the sector’s taking leadership in the revenue generation in replacement of crude oil.   

As ministerial nominees are being screened at National Assembly, I want to emphasis on the need for a proactive personality who will understand the dynamism of  policy continuity with adjustment where is very necessary for the benefit of entire country in this particular real sector of the food security economy as crude oil is facing dwindling price challenges day by day, Nigeria cannot avoid to slack in its repositioning of Agriculture in more commercialized ways for economic earning and job creation.

The last administration has been able to put in place Agricultural Transformation Agenda programme (ATA) which to some extend has given some level of direction in terms of inputs support to stimulate commercial production towards processing to checkmate food imports gulping billions of naira in the country as there are many areas of lapses that needed to be well positioned which the incoming administration must endeavor to look into and model more efficient programme around thereby enhancing those deficiency for the betterment of all Nigerians as regards food security. 

I have no doubt in me that the next Minister of Agriculture must be another dynamic man of vision for the sector because the nation cannot avoid not to create a big vacuum the former has been left behind which must be filled with another experienced mind that has the love and passion for the development of the sector.

One common interest I know in Nigeria is Agriculture and football. Foods do not discriminate against colour and tribe, but its economy rather synergize in terms of production, processing and marketing. 

No wonder the the Eko rice processing centre in Lagos state depends so on much on paddy productions in Kebbi and Niger states for her processing. It is worthy of mentioning on this piece that the President has shown his serious commitment and continuity to agricultural development programme which must not be jettisoned by anybody for personal interest. I want to wish the next Minister of Agriculture well with much expectation of positive change that will be worthy of reporting to our readers.  

Cellulant boss urges youths into agriculture information Technology

The CEO Cellulant Nigeria, Mr. Bolaji Akinboro

The CEO Cellulant Nigeria, Mr. Bolaji Akinboro has urged more youths to harness the potential opportunities in agricultural activities to empower themselves especially in the use of Information Technology (IT) in giving extension services and inputs to farmers thereby posing an alternative to older hands in the public and private sector of agriculture.

Mr. Akinboro in an interview with Food Farm News in his office said more youths need to get into changing the agricultural sector through IT saying their ingenuity will change the face of the sector to more vibrant economy especially in the face of the dwindling oil in the world market with more emphasis on repositioning to the real sector of agriculture as alternative source of revenue generation.

Cellulant Nigeria is a private company that powered the compilation of farmers’ data used for the Growth Enhancement Support of the Federal Government’s inputs subsidy to over fourteen million farmers in the country thereby curbing over 30 years corrupt practices in the fertilizers in less than 100 days as the product given to end users can now be well accounted for in terms of what is distributed and taken.

According to Cellulant CEO “There is compelling evidence of an aging farmer population in the country, which must be addressed to facilitate sustainability in agricultural production.  Most farmers in Nigeria are over 55 years and our life-expectancy averages is between 55-60 years and as the country already relies heavily on food imports to feed its growing population, reversing the trend will mean that the youth must take up the mantle and venture into agriculture where there is a lot of potential for the youths who are IT inclined, but it’s about identifying the right opportunities. The youths are strategic to the success of any effort to boost Nigerian food production,”.

Mr. Bolaji also submitted that Nigerian farmers would soon experience more positive change in terms of government intervention going by the body language of President Mohammadu Buhari during his meeting with Permanent Secretary of FMARD added he was optimistic that the GES programme would be up scaled saying “the President believes that the continuation of the GES will help curb corruption that is uppermost in the priority of this present government.

 Already many states are beginning to make orders for fertilizer input thereby trying to go back to old practices which farmers have decried and it is likely to bring a crack to the federal government Growth Enhancement Scheme”.

Mr.Bolaji advocated for the use of modern technology to develop agriculture urging the federal government to bring in more sophisticated technologies to further fasten the development of the sector.

National Agric show, stakeholders indict organizer, WFD low key.

The regular agricultural show being organized by National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN) in collaboration with many other stakeholders in the sector especially All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) could not hold this year due to financial reason among others which many have criticized as untenable in the face of the past dividends of the show by the organizers and failure on the part of private sector to discharge their responsibility towards ensuring an agricultural interactive forum for farmers, researchers, foreign donors and financial institutions just as World Food Day unlike last year was celebrated low key.

National Agricultural Show is a replica of the United Kingdom (UK) Agricultural show instituted for the purpose of bringing both private and public stakeholders in the sector together for the purpose of experience sharing and particularly a platform of showcasing available improved research technologies to the door steps of farmers and other business off takers for multiplication. This initiative is driven sector driven.

Food Farms News curiosity of trying to know why this year National Agricultural show did not hold reflected many stakeholders’ condemning the inability of the organizer to come up with the show saying “private sector must be ready to discharge their responsibility very well without waiting for government, and until they siege to see themselves in this light, our national economy may not go beyond this level we are now.

Stakeholders further queried that how did organizers spend the money made in the previous agricultural shows as participant pay for registration and many government ministries, departments and agencies at both the federal and states’ level have in the past assisted the organizers in the past stressed if those past dividends have been judiciously spent the issue of not being able to hold this year will not in any way arise.

Some of the AFAN members who spoke under anonymity said the association was not in any way benefiting in the agricultural show dividends saying majority of the key members always use our position in the state to attract government’s participation, and sponsoring of participants with hope of getting something for the development of the farmers’ association.

The last 2014 October turnout at the Nasarwa-Keffi venue has reflected that the show may not hold this year as government involvement was very invisible as the World Food Day that is usually simultaneously held after the close of the three days programme was shifted to another venue away in the central heart of Abuja.

A reliable source at the NAFN had once complained to food farm news that the financial support from partners especially government is not forth coming and this has been negatively affecting the expected performance of the show stressed that government must support the sector to a level it will be able to stand on its own.

Also in the same vein the well celebrated World Food day by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last year was done in a very low key this year due to funding challenges as few workers took a walk from the office complex to Federal Secretarial Complex of Abuja.

The theme of this year Word Food day bothered on” Family Farming: Feeding the World, caring for the Earth”

ECOWAS, RMRDC, Associations identify mycotoxin as threat to food security

group picture at the mycotoxin event

Intensified effort to checkmate mycotoxin impact on food security in the face of increasing population in the country gathered momentum as Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS), management of Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC) and experts private sector who converged at Abuja last month came out with a stance that more sensitization to curbing the negative effects of this fungus disease on crops be put in place in order to achieve the year 2050 seventy percent ( 70%) food increase production as predicted by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of United Nations. 

These stakeholders puzzled on the negative impacts of this fungi disease as they identified mycotoxin as very harmful to crops thereby emphasized on the need for more protection of crops for the purpose of ensuring acceptable consumable standard for health advantages for human beings thereby advocating for more awareness creation to all stakeholders at the value chains of agricultural production.

 Dr. HD Ibrahim the Director General Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC) said that mycotoxin should not to be taken with levity in the face of growing population and standard saying “right from the field to the stomach we have mycotoxin, we eat mycotoxin infected food unknowingly and we must join hands together in combating mycotoxin for our crops protection".

The DG, RMRDC who was represented by Director of Industrial Chemistry Dr. Moses Omojola pointed that the issue of mycotoxin must be a priority in terms being curbed to a barest minimum as this fungi disease unknowingly infected our edible foods thereby urged stakeholders to join hands together in combating mycotoxin.

The Representative of the ECOWAS Mr. Aubee Ernerst Reuben of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that his commission is very passionate on the effect of mycotoxin on food security as it is health related to human beings adding that ECOWAS had already swung into action by ensuring a mechanism of agencies partnership that will checkmate fungi infection towards meeting EU commodity standard. 

 In the same vein, the President, Mycotoxin Society of Nigeria (MSN) and a RMRDC Deputy Director, Dr. Anthony Negedu also threw his weight behind others speakers saying mycotoxins are harmful toxic to health of human beings and pose a serious constraint to crops acceptability as regards standard thereby advocating for farmers’ sensitization towards ensuring healthy food production in Nigeria.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that by 2050 global food production needs to be increased by 70% stressed that production must consider standard with consideration to health and environment. “There is a growing demand for safe, nutritious, ready, convenient foods and friendly food packaging. Consequently, innovative agriculture that makes the best use of available resources, maximizing quality and minimizing waste will become critical to meeting the challenging demand”.

In view of the above challenges faced by the Nigeria produce and commodities in the EU market, the International Society for Horticulture Science (ISHS) and Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders has recently held the 2^nd International Symposium on Mycotoxins in Nuts, Dried fruits and Cereals as experts converged with a strong communique of proactive measure to checkmate the disease. 

The farmers’ representative under the umbrella All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Prince Ike Ubaka noted that mycotoxin has been the greatest challenge to farmers and consumers, and if not seriously considered for eradication, mycotoxin might deter our produce from completing with other produce at the international market urging the Federal Government and stakeholders to help sensitized more farmers and stakeholders to come together to wage war against it. He further stressed that standard should be set for our produce in order to stop trade conspirators.

A mycotoxin expert, Elisa Assays pointed that these fungi can survive under certain humidity and temperate conditions during storage stressing that exposure to these toxins may cause cancer, weaken immune systems, allergies, and death. 

She further said that most fungi are aerobic and are found almost everywhere in extremely small quantities. Even temperature treatments, such as cooking and freezing, do not destroy all mycotoxins. Due to their prevalence and resilience, testing for mycotoxins is important to ensure the safety of food products. In most countries there are requirements for mycotoxin testing as a public health measure to protect the population.

The communiqué issued at the end of the international symposium on groundnut, dry fruits and cereals submitted the following as recommendations.

1. Development partners, other initiatives and national Governments should be encouraged to emphasize capacity building, awareness creation, advocacy and strategic communications in their countries;
2. There is need for the establishment of modern facilities and upgrade of existing laboratories for mycotoxins analysis, management and control for national and regional uses.
3. There is need to harmonize legislations and mandates of relevant organizations for proper implementation, as well as mainstream mycotoxin mitigation into the national food safety policy.
4. Research should be strengthened towards the development and use of resistant crop varieties against mycotoxigenic fungi;
5. Governments should be encouraged to have national research focus on mycotoxins with more emphasis on human exposure assessment, standardization of detection methods, creation of relevant research-industry linkages and the establishment of reference laboratories for certification of imported and exported products;
6. All relevant stakeholders including health practitioners, legislators, policy makers, should be encouraged to actively participate in mycotoxins risk assessment, management and control;
7. There is need for adequate compartmentalization of agricultural produce for ease of traceability and safety;
8. Domestication of readily available and affordable technology for detecting mycotoxins contamination should be prioritized;
9. Stakeholders should be enlightened on GAP, GMP, and other best practices on continuous and sustainable basis in the entire value chain actors of food, feeds, and herbal drugs;
10. There is need for the establishment of national and regional Mycological Culture Collection, and Mycotoxins Research Centres;
11. The custodian of standards in developing countries should be strengthened to set in motion the process of legislation on mycotoxins and other contaminants;
12. There is need to strengthen institutional capacity for research in biodiversity hotspot delineation of mycotoxigenic fungi across developing countries;
13. The symposium recommends the need to diversify the use of contaminated grains or produce for other industrial uses such as industrial ethanol, etc,
14. There is the need to “go-green” and upscale the total use of crops with the use of wastes as organic fertilizers.

Nigeria’s Hope Lies On Agriculture – FG

women farmers

It is no longer news that the Nigerian economy is currently experiencing a downward trend. The fall in the price of crude oil – a major source of revenue for the country – has serious implications for the country’s economy.

As part of its response to the challenging economic situation in the country, the Federal Government has said that the country’s hope now lies on agriculture.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Arch. Sonny Echono made the remark yesterday at the 1st Daily Trust Agric Conference and Exhibition organized in partnership with the ministry in Abuja.

Echono, who was represented by the Director, Federal Department of Rural Development, Alhaji Olumuyiwa Azeez, noted that the conference was timely and its theme: “Beyond Crude Oil: How Agribusiness Can Sustain Nigeria’s Economy” was apt considering the current economic situation occasioned by the dwindling revenue from crude oil and gas sector.

“Beyond crude oil, Nigeria’s hope lies on agric. Nobody drinks oil, nobody smokes gas, but everybody eats food. Oil cannot be there forever,” he said.

He stated that the nation’s economy must be focused on diversification to agriculture, noting that in the face of population increase, food production must also be increased to keep pace.

The Permanent Secretary further stated that any nation without food security cannot stand, therefore, growing, processing and marketing of food was crucial to Nigeria’s national development.

Echono said the private sector was taking the lead in agricultural value chain and the government has put several programmes and policies in place to end the era of doing agriculture as a development rather than as a business.

Also speaking at the event, the Emir of Gummi and Chairman, Coordinating Committee, Northern Traditional Rulers Council, Justice Lawal Hassan, highlighted the importance of agriculture to the nation and the Northern traditional rulers.

“What we need in agriculture now is leadership not ideas. We already have ideas,” he stated, urging all stakeholders to come up with what should be done to make agriculture take over from other sectors.

Kano State Needs Blueprint On Farming –Ganduje

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State

Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has disclosed that there was the need for investors in the state’s agricultural sector to draw blueprints showcasing the proper and feasible channel to exploit its vast – though untapped – agricultural resources in order to achieve food security, poverty mitigation and industrialization.

Governor Ganduje, who gave the charge while receiving a joint delegation from Dantata Foods Nigeria Ltd. and Thomas Agriculture, UK, led by Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata at the Kano State Government House, said that his administration was willing to assist in implementing realistic proposals in the agricultural sector considering its importance.

He pointed out that Kano boasts of huge population, abundant water and agricultural potentials, adding that his administration is willing to provide an enabling environment for investors to fully develop these potentials for common good.

“We have the potentials and with the efforts of the Federal government to tackle insecurity, investors now have nothing to fear in terms of security.

For instance, now that you are proposing to construct a modern abattoir, this will provide raw materials to our leather tanneries since we have the biggest tanneries in West Africa”, Ganduje said.

He hinted that the state government was mobilizing farmers to form cooperative societies, in order to create a platform for them to produce and sell their products at competitive rates as well as provide them with access to extension services from prospective investors for enhanced productivity.

In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata, said their consortium intended to invest in the agriculture value chain in Kano, especially in poultry and meat production in view of the increasing demand for beef and chicken by fast food companies.

Dantata said they were also looking into the perishable products market for local consumption and export, while solicitating the support of the state government in terms of land with access to water, which will enable them settle down for business.

Mr. Richard Thomas from Thomas Agriculture UK explained that they would focus on large integrated agriculture in order to reduce the deficit between production and consumption.

Ondo, Fadama Empower Farmers to Tackle Unemployment

the Third National Fadama Development Project

The Ondo State Government and the Third National Fadama Development Project (NFDP III) have syndicated efforts in agriculture to beef up food security, especially with cassava farming, in order to provide more employment opportunities for youths in the state.

This was made known recently during the official flag-off ceremony of Fadama III Additional Financing (AF) and presentation of ₦120 million cheques to 2,400 farmers by the State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko.

Mimiko, who was represented by his Deputy, Lasisi Oluboyo, said his administration would not relent in its efforts at making agriculture a major policy thrust in raising the state’s economic prosperity and sustainable development.

He revealed that the “government has spent over five billion to implement various agric-related programmes in the last six years. We have also paid ₦380 million as counterpart contributions to the Fadama Project from inception.”

Oluboyo, who was the immediate past Commissioner for Agriculture, lamented that the problems of unemployment especially among the youths, has resulted into some social vices like youth restiveness, prostitution, armed robbery, drug addiction and advanced fee-fraud.

He said the state has cultivated a total of 1, 384 hectares of farmland for the production of maize, cassava and cowpea, listing other initiatives under the aegis of Ondo State Cooperative Federation (ODSCOFED), Wealth Creation Agency (WECA) and Ondo State Agricultural Commodities Association (OSACA).

The Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Agriculture, Engr. Alex Aragbaiye, said Fadama III Project has implemented 784 sub projects across 160 Fadama Communities and “a total of 675 out of these sub-projects are income generating enterprises, while the remaining 109 are rural infrastructures that promote agricultural production, processing and marketing.”

Aragbaiye disclosed that these were made possible through the funding arrangements of International Development Association (IDA): ₦676, 482, 545.20, state government: ₦292, 066, 00, local government: ₦72, 000, 000 and beneficiaries’ contribution of ₦250, 432, 698.20.

State Director of Fadama, Mrs. Florence Omagbemi, lamented that the drift from agriculture – which has been with man from the dawn of humanity and remains man’s first industry – to crude oil was responsible for the dwindling of the country’s economy.

Omagbemi listed the project’s success to include the development of National Farmer Database with a total of 14.5 million farmers registered – with 3, 000 being female farmers, Growth Enhancement Support (GES), Financing, Staple Crop Processing Zone (SCPZ), Cocoa Value Chain and Cassava Value Chain among others.