Horticulture: Ugu cultivation, farmers cry against flood effect

Ugu  scientifically known as Teifairia occidentails is a money spinning business many people especially the youths cannot imagine until they take the bull by the horns as our finding on this healthy edible  vegetable that it can give  about forty to fifty thousand naira daily on an acre of  farmland according to a  farmer who passionately pleaded for government intervention in the area of flood  impact on her produce.

 This  vegetable popularly consumed only in the Eastern part of Nigeria in the years past is now generally eaten by all parts of the country even in the North based on its health advantages to the body in terms of ability to fight radicals and a good source of vitamins C, K and lot of other minerals  like magnesium, potassium and iron.

Apart from the leaves edible of this vegetables, the seeds of it also has money potentials in terms of special oil. The seeds are used to replant after they must have been well dried just as the few that know the health benefits do cook and eat them at a premium price over leaves itself.  

 

 
 Finding reveal that Ugu vegetables happen to be one of the horticultural crops that can be easily engaged as it is always in high demand all year round. For example an acre size of Ugu farm is capable of turning into above five hundred thousand naira per month as it will take less than N60, 000 to cultivate an acre farm of Ugu. This is because all round the season the demand is high, which makes it a fast going business one can easily start family backyard as farm. 

However the Federal Government is doing her best to encourage the commercial production of the horticulture through more cultivations as plan is already going on towards daily exporting of fresh vegetables worth $10 million every year according to a Deputy Direction in the Horticulture department of the FMARD, Mr. Kalu who said that two tones of this Ugu vegetable seeds are already given to select farmers in Abia state.

Mr. Kalu further pointed that the FG sees the sub-sector as a means through which employment can be created to the teaming youth and is also capable of creating a mass pool of wealth for the exiting Ugu farmers saying Ugu is getting consideration as a crop along the value chain of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda Programme (ATA) of government.  

 According to him, the horticulture value chain is giving serious attention to the Ugu value chain as well as promoting its sales in the international market, as it is in high demand within and outside Nigeria, especially when it comes to health importance as it is advisable to eat the vegetable in large quantity regularly.

Further finding from other stakeholders revealed that the crop is underrated despite its health and economic potentials as they argued the ugu seeds alone can give raw materials products for sausage, biscuit, cake and ice-cream, just as  they pointed that the business required more attention from the government in area of  more  sensitization and awareness in order to reduce poverty. 

Mrs Cecilia Udubisi popularly Known as Mama Dutsy in the Kubwa- District of Gado Nasko land of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja confirmed the economic potential of this vegetable saying presently the negative impact of rain flood is giving them challenges as many have been  washed away by flood erosion  thereby pleading for government assistance.

Mrs Udubisi spoke in pidgin language that Ugu’ demand cannot be met as people daily come for it adding that she make about N40,000 –N50,000.00 everyday people come very early in the morning to buy to eat and further sell them in the market adding that the impact of erosion is already denying her the expected sale.

According to her “ Ugu vegetable dey sell well because people plenty dey come every morning to buy them. Every day, I dey sell about forty to fifty thousand naira, but now erosion don kill all my vegetables. Come am see sir. If I talk for mouth, you no go understand, see how erosion don wash away my Ugu. I no know how I go get the money wey I use plant am as I don apply fertilizer. I want government to assist us. The seed is very good for money too, but we do use to plant when we don properly dried am”

Mrs Okoye Grace, an Ugu seller, said the business is wonderful as it has been the source of her family sustenance over the years saying it required just little amount to start off  with an assurance of turning it to big investment transferable to the next generation. 

 

 a young entrepreneur, Mr. Seun Ajayi  who has been into the poultry farming in kuje, said he had to diversify into Ugu business after hearing so much and running research on its benefit. He said the business is capable of creating job opportunity for the youths and can be passed from one generation to the other. He further stressed the need for storage facility by government for the preservation of its nutrients being a perishable produce.

 Mr. Ajayi urged the Federal Government to look into investing more in the business and  create more awareness that will bring in more youths as employment generation saying that “ Ugu business is the easiest business  any Nigerian  can easily do. You need less fund, land and seeds to be a multimillionaire”

Although effort is on going towards putting these farmers into an economic cooperative group as some of them are members of Missionary Farmers’ Cooperative Society whose network cut across many states of the Federation according to its founder and FCT Coordinator, Pastor Akin Davids Tinuala who believes that the platform would be used to ameliorate the plight of farmers through economic and other inputs support.

Youth Must Be Ready to Work Hard ‘says President, African farmers

The level of unemployment in Nigeria can be checkmated by youths’ encouragement into entrepreneurship skill in agriculture. Speaking with Food Farm News, the President, African Youth farmers Association (AYFA), Mr. Bakare Olademeji  said the training of farmers in the use of modern equipment technologies and application of quality improved cum access to finance is very uppermost in their agenda saying the youth must be ready. Read the excerpts of his conversation with us below.

  

Introduce yourself and tell the difference between conventional and the new improved technology?

I am the President of African Youth farmers Association, and my name is Bakare Oladimeji. The conventional fish pond is the one you excavate to a level of water coming out and is commonly done in the low land or swampy areas. But there is lot of quality challenges about this conventional one. You cannot regulate the waters and this means you cannot guarantee the quality and continuous supply of this pond even during and off raining season. However the new technology is normally done in upper land and all you need to do is just to excavate a feet to get to water level and remove the top soil with about 10 centimetre to get to the hard core where waters can be held and controlled with pipes distributing the waters from the source for the fishes. The bore hole waters is better than the tap water for fish because of the chlorine content in pipe waters which is hazardous to the fish. There is no need of pipes in the swampy pond to distribute and control waters.

How is the network of you association in Nigeria?

We are trying very well within the limited resources available to us. But for the last three years, we have embark majority on extension services in the rural areas teaching the farmers news improved varieties of crops and livestock, and helping them to access of finance facility from the micro financial banks. We believe that if they can improve their yield economically then agriculture can improve. You cannot talk of economic agriculture without encouraging farmers to the used of quality improved seeds that can increase yield production. In cassava for instance, we have trained a lot of farmers as we are in partnership with the IITA, there are varieties of cassava that can give 50-55 tons per hectare as against the 18 tons in Nigeria. The different here is that farmers of both sides will not make the same amount of money in the international market.  Also we are assisting them in terms of accessing market for sale and packaging of produce, so that they will not just sell at a giveaway price. In livestock, we have started empowerment programme for the many youths especially in fishing rearing through pond as this pond can take about 5,000 fishes each, so you are talking about 10,000 fish capacity.

Who are your sponsors for this programme in Nigeria?  

Most of our resources are internally generated through membership commitment and little other here and there. We are still hoping that government might give us support.

What is your network like?

We cover about 11 states, and for FCT alone we have about 4,260 members and there are other members from the other states as we are already expanding to Niger state. In FCT we have 56 units including Kubwa and some along the Airport road. Kuchigoro vallage alone as unit has about 126 members and each community is recognized by a name with a leader. Each unit meets periodically as they may wish monthly to discuss issue that has to do with its challenges. Each unit comes up with ideas of what they can do as unit group to attract financial support like land for a lease for its members towards farming as the least you can is vegetables.

How do you assist them in area of micro finance bank loan?

First with N150, 000 you can start a vegetable farm like Ugu, okro, and water melon. But you need to be trained in order to know the basic of all these production as we provide the basic improved seeds varieties materials that will guarantee good yield as we monitor.

Do you involve Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in all this?

They do attend our programme and even support us with resource persons for our training programme during our first and second editions of our annual youth programme in 2013 and 2014. But we have not been privileged to receive fund from the ministry. 

Why did you prefer micro finance bank loan to Bank of Agriculture looking at the interest rate of lending?

The Bank of Agriculture (BOA) loan is not helping small scale farmers as their facility is very difficult to access unlike the micro finance banks whose interest rate is 5% per month which is very okay for a crop or livestock under three months. For example you can take a loan of N150,000 for vegetable production like Ugu, Okro,and water leaf. All you need at this level is basic training on best practices of high yield for commercial market as we go ahead to provide you with improved varieties of seeds. In livestock, you can do a birds of 200 as you borrow N100,000 at 5% and in the next three you can make between N160,000-N170,000 and you pay your loan of N100,000 with 5% of N15,000. Just do plus and minus and see the profit margin you cannot easily get from the BOA because of long procedure you will be subjected when planting season you want to spend the money would have gone.

Your last word for the youths about farming as a hard work?

The youth must be ready to work very hard like the white men who are using modern day equipment. They do not get relax despite not using cutlass and hoes, they do hard work until their produce is harvested before they can proceed for holidays in their exotic cars to enjoy somewhere else. I work eight to nine hours every on the farm, so our youths must be ready to work and even build work as part of ethics to survive in the present economic situation, otherwise one will be useless by thinking you will not work. I have been telling our members and even show them videos of billionaire farmers working in the farms picking flowers and other things on the farm. We solicited for individuals, government and nongovernmental organizations’ support in the execution of our activities to training of the youths in the country.

NAQS needs empowerment

The raw and semi raw agricultural produce that are being sanctioned by the European Union especially from Nigeria is as a result of our government not wanting to do things rightly as the bill that supposes to empower the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) is still in the cooler without being signed into an act by the previous past President. The development of Agriculture is a function of many agencies, departments and ministries at all the tiers of government working together in a synchronized ways without default.

Many agencies that suppose to be up and doing in the development of our agricultural system have been relegated by the same government who claims to be doing things rightly when they are actually doing nothing that will protect the acceptability of their expenditures on commercial agricultural production in the international market.

The World Trade Organization demands that all the semi and raw agricultural produce going outside the country’s market frontiers must have a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) which its present operating act is not potent enough to give a service delivery that can assist the acceptance of export as the agency is not well positioned to carry out its duty. Being compressed under the FMARD will give them limitation based on bureaucratic process.

We are aware that the Oransanye panel has recommended the rationalization of many Federal agencies and ministries as a measure of reducing recurrent cost of government expenditures which may have been part of the reasons why this particular organ of government agency that is strategic to market procedure in the development of agriculture as regards standard certification was not rightly positioned to perform its duties. Being a department at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) is a pointer to our insensitivity to doing things in this country rightly considering the fact of aptness to action as supposedly  enforcement paramilitary agency that suppose to be very feasible at all the ports of entry as an autonomous entity  with an act. All effort to ensure the signing of this Act by the two immediate past Presidents were frustrated even after the endorsement of the bill by the both houses of National Assembly for an enactment into an act to operate effectively.

No doubt, the ineffective performance of NAQS is already causing us billions of dollars as day by day exporters of agricultural produce are being faced with challenges of sub standard due to lack of well guided process by the legitimate authority as there are even allegations of fake certificate being issued by this department that suppose to have potent current act that will enable it perform its mandate to capacity.

The actions of the international market forces may even be a reactions to our faulty system which allows all commerce trade, meaning that government must be ready to do things rightly for our semi and raw produce to stop being faced with rejection and turning back. The role of the all standard monitoring agricultural agencies like NAQS must be well spelled out from Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and NAFDAC so that exporters especially none processed agricultural produce of animals, crops and livestock must know where their export certificate must be collected.

African Groundnut council to domicile in Agric Ministry - *RMRDC ready for bee and honey partnership

There is indication that the African Groundnut Council (AGC) established in 1975 at Lagos and domiciled at the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment with its headquarter for all others African members may be moved to agriculture and rural development ministry according to a source. 

A source told us that AGC was established with aim the of enhancing standard and quality seeds production for the cultivation of groundnut in Africa among the member countries as Nigeria has recently moved its headquarters from Lagos to Kano for obvious ecological reason of where the crop is mostly grown adding in the spirit of right appropriation the ministry of Trade and Investment is already making arrangement towards moving the council to be domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Presently the Executive Director of AGC is from Senegal and the position is always rotated in seven years among the member countries of Africa and this association according to our source said its impact is very evident in the 60s Nigerian groundnut pyramid.

Food Farm News learnt that the immediate past minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga had queried the domiciliation of AGC in the present place thereby ordered for the a proposal to the relocation of this African association to the appropriate ministry based on its research related nature which his ministry did not have the mandate to handle.

Meanwhile the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has officially launched and presented certification of registration to National Groundnut Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NABPAN) and two others “Federation of Beekeepers Association of Nigeria (FEBKAN) and National Banana and Plantain Growers, Processor and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NGROPPMAN)

The outgoing Permanent Secretary, FMITI Ambassador A. Musa ably represented at the certificates presentation urged the three associations to comply with standard  that will ensure market acceptability of these produce locally and internationally adding that about 16 commodities association are already inaugurated to make nineteen stressed government continued readiness to provide friendly environment for national productions.

Meanwhile the Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC) has expressed its readiness to assist any agricultural produce that can give different derivatives as agro raw materials for both local and export adding that the Bee and Honey Association unlike many other would soon begin to enjoy intervention support of the council based on its high demand in the world market.

The Executive Director of the RMRDC, Dr. Hussaini Ibrahim ably represented said the council activities in the agricultural intervention is very evident in shea butter, cashew, castor , mellon, and many others adding that bee and honey would soon receive special intervention attention because its high demand in the world market.

Dr. Ibrahim stated that “our interest in area of bee keeping and honey makes this occasion well commendable as we are going to expedite action on any crops that can give several derivates. Bee keeping is worldwide trade. RMRDC will soon invite to launch African Education platform in Nigeria for bee keeping association to enable our products go to Europe”