The Kwara State Government, yesterday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on rice cultivation; processing and packaging with a Spain based Vasolar Consortium.

Under the arrangement the consortium would contribute N70 billion over a period of four years while the state government would make 20,000 hectares of land available for the project as its own contribution to the project.

In his opening remark at the ceremony, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Investment to the state governor, Mr. Yomi Ogunsola said that the consortium would also be responsible for sponsoring farmers in the state for overseas training on rice production and processing.?

Speaking after signing the MoU, the State Governor Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed said the event marked another giant stride in his administration’s determination to use commercial agriculture as bastion of economic growth of the State.

Ahmed who pointed out that majority of the people of the state are peasant farmers noted that the new arrangement would make it easy for them to transform from peasant farming practice to commercial farming .

“We want to move agriculture from peasant level to commercial level in order to improve? the State’s economy.? Lessons have been learnt from the Shonga Commercial farming initiative and we are using the experience gained from there to further enhance agricultural practice in the state”, he said.

The governor added that aside from employment generation? for the rural dwellers, the new rice production project would assist the state greatly in getting the youths positively engaged.

The Bassa Nge Development Union (BNDU), of Kogi State has made plans to disburse loans to farmers who are indigenes of Bassa Local Government Area of the state.

The public relations officer of the union, Alhaji Idris Abdullahi, who made this known in a press statement, said the disbursement of loan will come up during the union’s annual general meeting/end of the year celebration, which is scheduled to hold on December 26 and 27.

Abdullahi also said that it is important for all the indigenes of the community, both at home and in Diaspora, to be in attendance as important issues bordering on the development of the community, Kogi State and the nation will be discussed.

The two-day events which will take place in Gboloko, the Bassa Nge district headquarters, will feature award of scholarship, presentation of the report on education reform, drama and cultural displays, among others.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised government at all levels to take agriculture more seriously as it could be a money spinner for the nation if properly harnessed.

Obasanjo said this yesterday at the South west zonal conference of the Zonal Advocacy Workshop on Economic Diversification and Enhanced Revenue Generation organised by the Revenue Allocation, Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

Over the last 5 years, Nigerian??? cocoa grower prices increased more than 50 per cent to the current average of? N460,000 per MT. The United States imported cocoa products estimated at $40 million from Nigeria in 2010.
Currently, cocoa is one of the market’s best performing commodities in Nigeria which hit a 23 year high in December 2008 and the price reached $2,581.6 per tonne in January 2009. South West? is regarded as the cocoa belt of the country, accounting for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s annual production of 242,000 metric tonnes in 2008.

However,Nigeria’scocoa production in 2011/12 is forecast at 300,000 metric tonnes, up from 280,000 metric tonnes? and the projected increase is based on a favourable weather outlook? and significantly higher grower prices, which would? encourage farmers to increase their production. Meanwhile,? the major problem with cocoa production in the country is that the majority of Nigeria’s cocoa farmers are above 60 years and most cocoa trees are even older with diminished production. Farmers are concerned about an immediate loss of income if unproductive trees are cut and replanted with the recommended new disease-resistant, high yielding and early maturing varieties.

Similary, there are factors limiting cocoa production in the country which include: Inadequate supply and high cost of recommended chemicals shortage and high cost of farm labour, non-availability and low utilisation of fertilisers, poor access roads to the major cocoa production points, government subsidies on inputs and seedlings all these are the major challenges of the seed.

As a result of its importance in terms of world production, West African producers are seeking to increase their cocoa output. Cocoa growing represents an important source of revenue for large numbers of small- scale farmers. Most plantations are family farms of 2 to10 hectares. This production is particularly significant in national economic terms because local demand for cocoa is relatively weak and therefore almost all production is for export. In Africa, cocoa beans are generally harvested in September and October, although the season can continue until January or March.

World consumption is estimated at 2 800 000 tons per year. The largest cocoa importers are Europe (more than 1.2 million tons per year) and the United States (0.4 million tons per year), the largest importers are Holland, United States, Germany, Britain and Brazil.

Furthermore in a move by the federal government to increase cocoa production from the present 300,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes by 2015, the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said that the reformed cocoa development committee released eight hybrid breed cocoa species by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), the country could achieve the production of one million tonnes in subsequent years.

Speaking on the improvement of the seed, the minister said that government had adopted a holistic approach towards improving cocoa production which included collaborating with the 22 cocoa producing state governments. In this regard, he said that efforts were ongoing to put in place a cocoa investment fund and create new financial instrument with the banks under the value chain system.

Emphasising on the strategies put in place, Adesina said that replacement of old cocoa trees and creating seedlings for nurseries across the cocoa producing states would boost farmers access, he further challenged the committee to work out modalities towards setting up a corporation to ensure that Nigeria’s cocoa industry was productive, efficient and competitive in the global market.
He said that for easy implementation of programmes, the CBN had included cocoa in the N450 billion dollar Nigerian Incentive Base Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending.

Also, the President, Cocoa Processors of Nigeria, Mr. Akin Olusuyi, commended the efforts of government towards repositioning cocoa production under the value chain system, saying that it would enable farmers to have value for their efforts and recalled that cocoa had made impact in the nation’s economy in the past, but lost the glory due to the neglect of the agricultural sector. He stressed the need for political will to ginger stakeholders to key into the new initiatives.

The Sultan , who made the call yesterday when the House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources paid him a courtesy call in his palace, said that the development of water resources and agriculture would help stimulate the economy.

The House committee, led by Hon. Aliyu Ahman Patigi was in Sokoto to inspect the on-going Goronyo Dam, part of which collapsed last year due to flooding as well as to assess the effect of the relief efforts to the displaced people.

Sultan Abubakar observed that Nigeria was well endowed with vast water resources and agricultural potentials and observed that what the country needed as a nation was the will to utilise these resources.

He said that Goronyo Dam could be put to better use if properly maintained and charged the committee to be firm in their oversight function and stressed that the problem with Nigeria was that people who commit offences were not punished.

The royal father also wanted the federal government to pay more attention to the issue of climate change.
He however commended President Goodluck Jonathan for releasing of funds for the rehabilitation of the dam.

Earlier, Hon. Patigi had said that the committee members were in Sokoto to assess the on-going work on the collapsed dam and to also assess the various relief interventions on the displaced people as well as? look at other areas of interventions.

The committee chairman told the Sultan that he and his members’ visit to the palace was also for them to receive royal blessings from the Sultan.

As Nigeria celebrates, no concrete steps have been taken in the last years to support agriculture, despite the potential of the sector as a means of unlocking the wealth of the land for the benefit of the people, government has failed to give the sector adequate financial support to sustain it, writes GRACE AZUBUIKE.

According to Mallam Bello Ahmed, a small-scale farmer in Zoba “there is nothing to celebrate as a nation, our agriculture sector has collapsed, government is not helping us with incentives”.

He adds, “In the 1960s agriculture used to be our source of revenue especially during the war, most people in the south were living by food even now we still depend on agriculture, I never believed that oil would be our source of revenue. Government refused to assist farmers by providing inputs and financing the sector to generate more profits for the economy.’’

He noted that the age bracket of farmers in Nigeria is between 60 to 67 years whereas younger people not going into farming, their fathers would not even encourage them, as they do not want their children to be as poor as they are or suffer as much as they did.

Also lamenting, Mrs. Elisabeth Audu, a civil servant who spoke to LEADERSHIP, said that oil has really destabilised the economy and government has no regard for agriculture, peasant farmers in the rural areas struggle with what they cultivate from their farms, adding that for us to move as a nation government should go back to agriculture and make it priority.

In spite of the growing importance of oil, Nigeria has remained essentially an agrarian economy, with agriculture still accounting for significant shares in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).? Over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural output comes from peasant farmers who dwell in remote rural areas where 60 per cent of 150 million of total population lives, Nigeria has a high degree of inequality in income distribution with only a small fraction of the population earning the bulk of its national income.

Despite all these obviously abundant human and natural resources, the country is still unable to feed her citizens producing about 500,000 tons of rice while the annual consumption is 2.5 million tons. Nigeria is now the world’s second-largest rice importer after Singapore spending over $350 million on rice importation alone.

In 1990, estimates indicated that 82 million hectares out of Nigeria’s total land area of about 91 million hectares were arable. However, only about 34 million hectares were being cultivated at the time. Another 18 million hectares were classified as permanent pasture, but much of this land had the potential to support crops. About 20 million hectares were covered by forests and woodlands. Most of this land also had agricultural potential. The country’s remaining 19 million hectares were covered by buildings or roads, or were considered wasteland.

The desire to build a vibrant agriculture-based economy also motivated the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua to include food security and agriculture in its seven-point agenda. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources then launched its National Food Security Programme in September 2008, to combat the global food crisis and to ensure sustainable access to availability and affordability of quality food for all Nigerians.

To ensure the successful implementation of the programme, the federal government set aside N200 billion for its take-off, with the short-term objective of significantly improving the country’s agricultural productivity by moving from subsistence to commercial farming. The medium-term and long-term objectives are to expand and improve large scale production, improve storage as well as processing capacity, establish a regional infrastructure, and derive over 50 per cent of the nation’s foreign exchange through agricultural exports.
Furthermore, over the years, the sector has witnessed a tremendous decline in its contribution to national development, development economists have in fact, attributed the present economic situation in Nigeria to the poor performance of the agriculture sector ,unfocussed government policies have been described as the fatal problem that rocked the boat of food security in Nigeria.

However, on assumption of duty, the new Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, reechoed President Jonathan’s clarion call for a return to the glorious era of green revolution, when he recalled with nostalgia sweet memories from the ancient city of Ibadan where he grew up and the surrounding villages dotted with shining and beautiful corrugated iron roofs, all proceeds from the flourishing cocoa industry. But alas! The brilliant and effervescent horizon of the ancient city has now turned rustic and blighted by a decline and total neglect of the booming industry.

The annual post-harvest loss recorded by the Nigerian farmers constitute greater threat to food security, socio-economic living conditions of the populace and by extension sustainable growth and development of the Nigerian economy especially in the face of the global financial crisis bedevilling national economies.

The minister further stressed the need for Nigeria to translate the country’s huge agricultural potentials into realities by encouraging local production and strengthening the value chain so as to make Nigeria self-sufficient and generate income and wealth for the Nigerian farmers.

Explaining his vision further, he said that the present status quo where pundits, experts and policy makers continue to harp on Nigeria’s agricultural potentials is unacceptable adding that it was high time Nigeria and Nigerians rose to the occasion?? by translating those potentials into realities.

Adesina added that his coming to the ministry was not to serve any selfish, political or business interests but to serve the Nigerian farmer through the provision of incentives to rapidly raise agricultural productivity, improve incomes of farmers, create jobs and secure food supply for global competitiveness.

Going down memory lane, the minister recalls with dismay the glorious period when Nigeria accounted for 60 per cent of the global supply of palm oil, 30 per cent of groundnut oil and 15 per cent of global supply of cocoa, but has now regrettably become a consumer nation with a total food import bill between 2007-2010 amounting to N98 trillion naira or $628 billion US dollars and submitted that in 2010 alone, Nigeria spent 635 billion Naira on import of wheat, 356 billion naira on importation of rice, an average of N1 billion Naira per day on rice alone, N217 billion naira on Sugar and with all the marine resources, rivers, lakes and creeks in the country, Nigeria spends a whopping sum of N97 Billion on fish imports.

Agricultural production till date remains the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. It is the main source of food for most of the population. It provides the means of livelihood for over 70 per cent of the population, a major source of raw materials for the agro-allied industries and a potent source of the much needed foreign exchange.

Experts have said that the portrayal of agriculture as a profession for the poor is a major reason why poverty is prevalent in Nigeria.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP, Mr. Alex offor an agriculture consultant based in Lagos, said there was need to address the problems of farmers in Nigeria so that farming would be embraced by more Nigerians, younger Nigerians were not willing to go into agriculture because their parents in the rural areas remained poor, despite their dependence on agriculture.

He noted that farmers were usually poor, illiterate and helpless, while the middlemen, who buy the products from them and process them, were more comfortable and have access to finance, which are usually denied farmers, adding that Nigerian economy relied on agriculture up until the 1970s, when the oil boom created a diversion and wondered why the government had refused to give agriculture the attention it deserved given its role in the economy just as policy inconsistency of government had greatly affected the sector as it has failed to address the problems of the sector over the years.

The Federal Government has said it spends over N1.1trn on importation of wheat, rice, fish and sugar annually.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinnwumi Adesina, stated this in Abuja on Friday at a media briefing to commemorate first 100 days in office of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He ,however, said a whopping N635bn was spent on wheat, N356bn on rice, N217bn on sugar, while importation of fish gulped N97bn in 2010.

He described as a “disastrous glory” the situation of the agricultural sector in the recent times, adding that from the initial Agricultural Master plan in the early 1960’s, agriculture was supposed to generate $10bn [about N1.6trn] annually as revenue for the nation.

To reverse this ugly trend, Adesina vowed to make the agricultural sector competitive, efficient, and productive in creating wealth and jobs, guarantee food security and diversify the Nigerian economy.

He said, “The vision of the present administration is to make Nigeria a hunger free nation. We looking at the agricultural sector that will drive the income growth, achieve food security, national security, generate employment and transform Nigeria into a major food player in the world.”

“To do these, we must stop some things and start to do some things. The era of depending on agriculture as a development project is over. We will not have isolated projects that are not connected in a way that can drive agricultural growth, income growth, job creation, in a very measurable manner.”

Adesina pointed out that private sector would be the major drivers in the implementation of Agricultural Transformational Action Plan recently presented to President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic management team.

The minister said execution plans had been designed in the following food value chain such as rice, cassava, sorghum, maize, soya bean, cocoa, cotton, palm oil, livestock and fisheries.

On the issue of provision of fertiliser to genuine farmers, he assured that the Federal Government would no longer participate in the distribution of the commodity to eliminate the politics stalling the distribution network.

The President, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science(NIAS), Professor Placid Njoku, has said that Nigeria imports over 95 per cent of its milk.

Speaking at the 3rd Induction Ceremony of the institute in Enugu recently, Njoku noted that livestock sector has been led by the wrong people.

He said: “Livestock industry has not benefitted from the solid support of government in research.Most disgusting is the fact that federal livestock department has for over 40 years been headed by veterinarians to the total exclusion of animal scientists. The implication of this is that most successful of all animal scientists who have had to join that department have ended their careers as deputy directors, this is indeed unbelievable, but true.”

In order to address the critical issue of research, Njoku said the Institute has requested the federal government to implement the strong recommendation of vision 20-2020 to establish five species mandated research institutes for poultry, beef and dairy cattle.

To this end, the institute inducted 362 new animal scientists, with the new batch, it now has a total number of 1,013 registered animal scientists.

He noted that in the last three years, the institute has come as a ‘breath of fresh air’ to transform animal husbandry through ensuring conscious development of right principles and deployment of the right practices.
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Over two hundred homes and two thousand farmlands planted with crops such as yams, okra, melon, cocoyam and cassava in Ikom, in Cross River State, have been submerged in water following the overflow of Cross River. The property destroyed is estimated at several millions of Naira.

Areas mostly affected were Ikom town, Okuni and Agbaragba where the over 2,000 displaced persons have been evacuated to neighbouring towns and communities.

Some victims are now squatting with neighbors and relatives. The historic town of Ikom is in a mournful state as the displaced have not only lost their homes to the flood, but household property including food stuff, electronics and cash.

Our correspondent who visited the area reported that canoes in their tens were deployed to ferry victims and their property to safety. Also affected was the Okuni axis of the river where the Ikom-Calabar highway covering about 300 metres was completely submerged cutting off traffic on both sides.
Hundreds of vehicles including lorries carrying perishable goods such as tomatoes, bananas and plantain from the northern part of the country to the south and some from the south to the north were stranded, with the goods rotting away.

Economic activities as it relates to transportation and other sundry businesses have been badly affected as a result of the flooding. However, some people have cashed in on the situation to make brisk business by ferrying travelers across with high fares as much as N100 per person. The Director-General Cross River State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Vincent Aquah who carried out a rapid assessment of the disaster described the losses occasioned by the flooding as unprecedented.

He said that it was pathetic that the state was experiencing such magnitude of disaster, recalling that recently, Calabar South and Calabar Municipality were ravaged by flooding in which property worth millions of naira were lost. He expressed fear that the water which was not showing signs of receding was capable of causing more damage to property. The Director-General thanked God that so far, no report of loss of life had been made apart from livestock and property.

The chairman of the Ikom Local Government Council, Dr. Tony Ngban appealed to the state government to come to their aid as the effect of the disaster was beyond the capacity of the council to cope with. He lamented that thousands of the displaced were living in dehumanizing conditions and warranted urgent attention.
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Africa has been put on the spot over lack of investment in agriculture, especially in the wake of a food crisis owing to prolonged drought in parts of the continent.

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said recently that lack of investment in the sector had made Africa become a net importer of food, spending up to $50 billion annually on food imports.He blamed African governments for abandoning agriculture.

“ Africa is spending its hard earned resources buying food and the more expensive the food is, obviously you are fuelling inflation and the reason why this is happening is because agriculture in Africa has been performing very poorly,” he said.

Adesina added that there was need to accelerate uptake of improved varieties of crops that were high yield, rapidly increase the use of fertiliser, set up marketing institutions for farmers, ensure value addition to produce and improve infrastructure.

“Our farmers produce in hope but they sell in tears,” he said in reference to the lack of marketing institutions that would ensure farmers had a market for their produce.

He however noted that African agriculture was rising and would grow even further if there were policies that comprehensively supported farmers.

“If you look at the Foreign Direct Investment that is coming to Africa today, it’s tremendous. Everybody is coming to get a piece of Africa, if there is no potential in Africa, obviously they wouldn’t do that, that means African agriculture is on the rise,” he explained.

In an effort to find a lasting solution to the perennial clashes of Fulani cattle rearers in Jigawa State, the federal government has planted grasses on one hundred hectares at the Sankara grazing reserve.

Handing over the project, National Livestock Protection Officer, Alhaji Dahiru Suleman Runka, said government was highly impressed with the process followed by the state government to bring an end to the problem in the state.

He said: “The grazing reserves would enhance the activities of Fulani farmers which is one of the good schemes that could help in controlling the perennial clash. The federal government would keep executing projects until all the reserves in the State are covered with improved grazing grass and available water for livestock.”

In his remarks, the state commissioner of agriculture, Alhaji Mukhtari Muhammad Birniwa, added that the state government was committed to ensuring security of lives and property, while noting that government had mapped out plans to improve grazing lands by planting improved and nutritious pasture grass and making water available to support farmers in the state.

He also disclosed that government has constructed two earth dams and five motorised boreholes with a total size of 7,880 hectare.?

The federal government has said that it was set to increase rice production within the next two years and that by 2015, the country would be self sufficient in rice production.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who disclosed this recently to newsmen in Abuja, said government had concluded plans to forward a bill on rice production to the National Assembly.

According to him: “To ensure food security and reduce the amount Nigerians spend on the purchase of food, there is need to put in place necessary framework for its achievement.”
He lamented that the average Nigerian household spends about 70 to 80 per cent of their income on food.

The minister lamented that Nigerian farmers lacked access to basic infrastructural facilities, adding that he was pushing for cassava green revolution in all parts of the country.

He mentioned that cocoa production increased from 170,000mt tones in 1999 to 380,000mt in 2009, nonetheless, its production was confronted with major challenges.

Listing the high cost of import, lack of access to improved varieties, lack of adequate information and the high cost of import for cocoa processing machinery as challenges, the minister assured that these challenges would soon be addressed as the federal government was going to work closely with the States to improve access to agricultural inputs.

He said: “United States has 200,000 farmers and they are the largest producers of food in the world, the largest exporter of food in the world and the largest donor of food aid in the world, whereas Nigeria has not less than 14.5 million farmers, majority of them cannot feed themselves not to talk of feeding the whole country.

“I will not be a minister of agriculture without food, as a minister there is nothing honourable about being in charge of poor people, that is not my job, my job is to increase food production and raise the income of farmers because Nigeria will not be a museum of poverty.”