Nigeria: Health and Agriculture Key, Says Kwara Governor Saraki

Ilorin — This interview was first done in 2009, when an AllAfrica team visited a rural health clinic and a farm in Kwara state and afterwards talked to then-GovernorBukola Saraki about rural development. We are revisiting that conversation now, because AllAfrica is exploring those issues in Nigeria in more depth this month and in the months to come. What the governor – now a senator from Kwara state – said then can help to benchmark how far Nigeria has come in the past three years and how far it still has to go. Excerpts:

You're a medical doctor who has become a politician. Has your professional background had an influence on what you do as governor?

We have the first state health insurance scheme in Nigeria. The design came partly from my medical background but more from experience, after being governor.

It is always easy for us to look at things like bricks and mortars and say, "I've built a hospital." People will come, there will be fanfare, and we cut tapes. As politicians and as leaders, we clap and say, "Oh, yes, we've done something." Everybody can point and say, "That building was commissioned by Governor Saraki". Building those clinics and hospitals, people can say we've sorted health care. And that's a mistake. But you only learn that from being here in this seat for a while.

We came in saying: we need more hospitals, we need more clinics, we need more drugs – and we do. But there is one thing I have learnt after being here for a while, which many people don't understand. Over years of neglect, the population has lost faith in medicine, in the sense that over the years the clinics are not there, the doctors are not there. They've gone to traditional medicine and other ways of trying to survive. So you first have to win their confidence and get them to come back.

The way to get them to come back is pretty much as if you are a marketing a new product. We decided to charge a nominal amount for insurance – 300 Naira ($U.S. 2) a year. So that's basically free. It's not a cost issue anymore. And we are providing care through clinics. After a year in the program, the community has started going back to those clinics, and as time goes on, they begin to act like consumers and demand better service - because they're paying for insurance. And that begins to bring back better health care.

Original Article Here

Nigeria: Agricultural Biotechnology Can Lead to Quantum Leap in Food Production - Dr. Abubakar Lawali

Dr. Abubakar Lawali, a Plant Breeder is with the Department of Crop Science of Faculty of Agriculture, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, UDU, Sokoto. In this interview with Abdallah el-Kurebe, he spoke on plant genetics and the place of biotechnology in the provision of food security. Excerpts:

For a Nigerian traditional farmer, how would you describe plant genetics?

Plant genetics is used in agriculture to develop new and modern improved varieties through plant breeding. The varieties could be for high yield, improved mineral and vitamin content, early maturing, etc.

How would you relate the political will of Nigerian leadership to the agricultural needs of the nation?

One can conveniently say that it is not there. However, let us wait and see, perhaps with all promises made, something may come out of it.

Recently, the Global Food Security Index of the Economist Intelligence unit ranked Nigeria 80th among 105 other countries on food insecurity. What do you see as the reason for this ugly development?

It is quite unfortunate but the reasons that Nigeria is lagging behind in the provision of food security for the citizenry include inadequate funding and infrastructure for research; lack of adequate link between research and development; funding of development, where available, is not realistic or has been politicized and as such, does not reach the target farmers.

Do you see the current Nigeria's Agricultural policy as truly addressing the problem of food crisis in the country?

Theoretically it can, but it has always been the problem of implementation. You cannot transform Agriculture when the infrastructure is not there; you cannot supply inputs through cell phones in a country where there is no power and literacy level is low.

What do you see could be the role of Agricultural Biotechnology in improving food production in Nigeria and by extension, African continent?

Agricultural Biotechnology can lead to a quantum leap in food production if utilized effectively and efficiently. However, bio-safety regulations must be respected.

Biosciences for Farming in Africa, B4FA has come into the continent with a view to creating awareness on the need for governments and farmers here to wholly adopt biotechnology in order to increase food production to meet up with the over-growing population. As a plant breeder, how would you advise the FG on this?

Government can adopt biotechnology. There is no problem with that but we must, first of all, place all the bio-safety regulations in place.

Ways for improving food production are by genetically modifying plants as well as genetically engineering crops such that would be resistant to deterring factors like pests and other plant diseases. According to your research and findings, how much of these are Nigerian farmers using?

There is practically none as of now; perhaps in the near future.

If, according to your research findings, no Nigerian farmer on the average is using genetically modified plants and genetically engineered crops, how do we start as a country?

Well you see the way to start even in the countries that have started; the first thing is to put in place, the bio-safety regulations like I said earlier. What are bio-safety regulations? These are regulations to ensure that there are no unwarranted or unwanted transfers of genetic materials to sources that they are not designed for.

If this takes place, then it may lead to the creation or development of very terrible and hazardous threat to the environment. And that is why before you start; make sure that the bio-safety regulations are being observed. To my knowledge, the bio-safety law has been passed by the National Assembly but not sure if it has been assented to by Mr. President. Even if it has been assented to, what have we put in place to ensure that these things are working? If we don't ensure that they are working and we just kick-start the project, I assure you that we will be in more trouble than we expect.

You have consistently mentioned the observance of bio-safety regulations as a precondition for Nigeria's adoption of Agricultural Biotechnology. Specifically, which of these regulation are you referring to

These are regulations as to how and where you practice; how the laboratories will function and even the farmers are going to control, polling transfer and so on. So, these things have to be worked upon by a national committee of experts. We have teeming professors out there that could help in this regard. What remains is for the government to present this document for the experts to do some work on its workability.

How would you assess government's support for research and development, especially in the area of agricultural biotechnology and the application of such research results for national development?

The basic infrastructure for biotechnology is lacking in the country as well as training and retraining. More so, funding for biotechnology research is lacking. We also need to prioritize and focus on certain key crops that will immediately solve the problem of food insecurity and for economic empowerment in order to reduce poverty; provide jobs through value addition to our crops, which in turn will attract international market.

You said there is inadequate link between research and development. Can you explain this?

When you go to the universities and check the shelves of the professors and other researchers in the universities, there are a lot of researches lying with piles of dust. In advanced countries, commercial people and those in the private sector go to the universities, get the researches and mass-produce them.

That is the name; you research and develop them. This is the link between research and development. In our country, the private sector is not so organised to do that as an economic activity.

Original Article Here

Agriculture Ministry to establish youth department

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will establish a Department of Youth in Agriculture to cater for youths in agribusiness, under the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) initiative.

The Minister, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, made this known in Abuja at the end of a two-day workshop on the National Presidential Initiative on YEAP.

According to him, the department will ensure that the programme designed by the youths during the workshop is implemented.

He said that this way, a system would be put in place for monitoring and evaluation.

Adesina said that government resolved to set up a structure that was youth-led to enable them design a programme that would create the next “Nagropreneurs’’ in the country.

“All the things that came out of this workshop will be implemented within an institutionalised framework. The initiative is important to Mr President because he promised Nigerians that he was going to create jobs and we hope to create one million jobs from this initiative.’’

The minister said that the president promised the youths that he would ensure the development of an insurance facility around the YEAP initiative.

He told the youths that he would convey the decision reached by them at the workshop to the President Goodluck Jonathan.

Earlier, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, observed that the Federal Government would engage the youths in rice production to sustain the transformation agenda on rice.

He said that the young farmers would be directly linked to rice mills that would process the rice after harvest.

“This is to help the young farmers sell their rice because the demand for rice in this country is up to 5 million tonnes on an annual basis and the production for rice about 50 per cent.

“So, the other 50 per cent will have to come from our own production. Gradually, before 2015, we will be producing all the required rice in Nigeria.’’

He encouraged other young famers to embrace the initiative.

In his remarks, Mr James Awoniyi, member of the Cassava Growers Association (CGA), advised the Federal Government to critically examine funding in agriculture.

He said that government should do everything possible to get youths involved in agribusiness.

A farmer, Miss Cynthia Umoru, commended the ministry for allowing the youths develop a framework to overcome the image of drudgery that had discouraged many youths from going into agriculture.

According to her, she left a “choice’’ career to go into agriculture and has never regretted taking the decision.

Seventy youths attended the workshop from across the country.

Original Article Here

FG designs initiative to lure youths into agriculture

The Federal Government is designing an initiative to create a new generation of young commercial farmers that will help transform the agriculture sector and guarantee food sufficiency for the nation now and well into the future. 

The initiative with which government intends to create up to one million jobs by 2015 is called the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) while the participating youths will be known as ‘Nagroprenuers’.

The minister of agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, said yesterday in Abuja that the programme will encourage many Nigerian youths to embrace agriculture as a business and be able to eke out a living and be lifted out of poverty status.

Adesina said the initiative which is a major part of the agricultural recovery and growth programme for Nigeria being implemented by his ministry was borne out of the passion to create more jobs for young people and especially due to strong concerns that the current generation of farmers is ageing rapidly.

At the YEAP workshop that had many youths in attendance, the minister repeatedly said that agriculture is being repositioned to transform the economic prospects of the nation because no sector has greater capacity to create jobs as quickly and sustainably as the sector.

“The agriculture sector is already large contributing over 40 percent of GDP and 70 percent of all employment. It has an unprecedented potential for growth. No nation has succeeded in driving sustainable economic development without fixing its agricultural sector. The evidence is all around us - China, India, Vietnam, Thailand are today big players in the world economy through transforming their agriculture,” he stressed.

Nigeria’s agriculture sector which was once vibrant is seemingly at its lowest ebb due to long years of neglect. The government has, however, planned to revive the industry with its transformation action plan which hopes to generate about 3.5 million jobs and push the country back into food sufficiency.

At the event, the minister explained that the government’s vision is to move Nigeria into becoming an agriculturally industrialised economy, to create wealth, jobs and markets for farmers, and revive the rural economy. He maintained that the plan is to grow the size of the sector from the present $99 billion per year to about $300 billion by year 2030.

“We are turning Nigeria into a breadbasket and a power house for food production. That is why we made a fundamental paradigm shift in how we look at agriculture. Today, agriculture is being treated as a business, no longer as a development programme. We are also focusing on private sector driven investments to unlock the potential of the sector. All these will serve to attract the young people into agriculture. There is lot of money to be made in agriculture,” he told the youths.

Adesina noted that to be competitive in today’s global agricultural markets, with changing technologies, demands for quality and standards, there is need to change the labour composition of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

While encouraging the youths to embrace agriculture, he said that the sector requires new skills, younger people and more entrepreneurial farmers, who will be able to compete at the global scale, well vast in business, to be able to run sound agribusinesses that will make Nigeria’s agriculture modern, commercial and profitable.

Original Article Here

Agriculture: Panacea for unemployment

Written by Raheem Mayowa

SOME decades ago, specifically before the discovery of oil in Nigeria, the coun try prided itself on being an agrarian nation. Then, agriculture was the main stay of the economy. Apart from leading in the production of some cash crops for export, Nigeria was also reputed for the production of food crops in large quantities, such that many countries in the African sub-region, to a large extent, depended on the country for supply of crops. Each region was known for a particular farm produce. For instance, the West was known for cocoa production, the East for palm oil, while the North was known for groundnut.

In addition to individuals’ efforts in farming, the government also channelled its scarce resources to agriculture in order to, among other things, boost its productivity. There were farm settlements everywhere, and farmers’ cooperative societies were established, where loans could be sourced. Not stopping there, government went as far as institutionalising agricultural subsidy, wherein all agricultural inputs were substantially subsidised. Produce marketing board was also put in place to regulate all agricultural produce markets, with the sole aim of encouraging more people in the farm and ensuring their development and sustainability.

Agriculture alone then accounted for 90-95 per cent employment rate in the country. Up till that moment, there abound evidences of various infrastructural amenities provided with proceeds generated from agricultural earnings. For example, the popular Cocoa House in Ibadan, the Groundnut pyramids in the North, and sundry other developmental projects scattered all over the country.

However, with the discovery of petroleum in commercial quantities and its exploitation in the 60s, our story began to change. Many people, especially the young ones, deserted farming for white collar jobs. To worsen matters, government’s attention was completely shifted from agriculture to the oil sector. More exploration meant increased revenue, and government officials began to live extravagantly.

Same was extended to the public servants, as the government of the day, led by General Yakubu Gowon, doled out what was then known as the Udoji awards. What this simply meant was influx of people in their thousands from rural areas to urban centres, in search of civil service jobs. The oil sector was so much attractively packaged, that every Tom, Dick and Harry wanted his share of oil money and this had a very big blow on agricultural activities in the country.

Apart from the fact that the sector seriously caused digression from agriculture business, it also led to acute decline in employment, as the sector alone, in all its arms (onshore and offshore), failed to cater for the employment need of the population. Another atrocity of the oil boom was exposure of many Nigerians to ‘overnight’, affluence with little or no effort.

This explains why till now, many graduates will prefer waiting endlessly for plum but scarce oil companies’ jobs to other available, but menial ones.

In order to correct these anomalies, therefore, government must, as a matter of urgency, declare state of emergency in the agricultural sector. We must go back to the drawing board and see our existence as attached to farming. Given our vast expansion of fertile land, we do not require the service of soothsayers to be convinced that Nigeria has comparative advantage in agriculture. Here, our over-incresing population should also serve as a blessing, rather than a curse. To this end, government at all levels should be prevailed upon, to heavily, but prudently invest in extensive agriculture. Farming should be packaged in such manner that it will be attractive to the youth.

Besides, incentives should be provided to serious-minded farmers who are keenly interested in producing food for the teeming population of Nigeria, in order to earn their confidence. And government needs to strategise and harness all its resources towards attracting people in rural areas. All poverty alleviation programmes should be substantially directed at encouraging farming activities. The tradition of giving out Keke NAPEPS, okadas, clippers, which only make the youth to end up struggling for space in the already crowded urban centres should be stopped. Agricultural settlements should be revived in all states of the federation, while subtle legislations for land acquisition should be enacted, and inputs made available for extensive farming. Loans should also be made accessible to farmers without stringent conditions.

Conclusively, I am sure by the time all these necessary ingredients (pull factors) are concentrated in rural areas across the country, not only will the unemployment problems be solved, the overcrowding of our cities and its consequential problems would be automatically resolved as well.

Original Article Here

China in Nigerian agriculture

On June 20, 2012, ten agricultural scientists from the Desert Control Research Institute of Gansu in Northwest China visited Nigeria and Niger to embark on a water conservation programme. Co-sponsored by the United Nations and Chinese government, this programme is an attempt to share best practices in agriculture, following the success of a similar anti-desertification project carried out by agricultural scientists in Gansu.

The group will spend their time in the guinea- and sudan-savannah regions of Kano – an area plagued by erosion, loss of vegetation cover, droughts and desertification following hydro-agricultural activity. Here, they will be tackling the problem of water scarcity in animal husbandry and farming. These issues are less daunting for the scientists who revealed that successful farming techniques in Gansu helped local Chinese farmers overcome their own desertification challenges. Some of the techniques include the stabilisation of sand dunes by using nylon nets and the storage of rainwater in underground tunnels – for the ‘sandy days’ – to prevent the onset of droughts.

To this end, the team of scientists has begun to train farmers in improved farming and water conservation techniques. For example, the scientists have taught farmers how to build pillars, set up nylon nets, and then attach both to serve as a bulwark against sliding sand, thus preventing the rise of sand dunes.

In addition, a 10ha-experimental zone for desertification experiments and a climate observation station have been set up in the country. The Chinese scientists, who described the techniques as tried and tested, have assured their Nigerian counterparts that these moves will lead to increased agricultural yields. Furthermore, they have advised the Nigerian government and agricultural practitioners to invest heavily in water conservation techniques in order to minimise losses, improve yields, and expand outputs of agricultural products to make Nigerian agriculture more profitable.

The debate about China’s role in Africa has been raging for several years. As Chinese investment and involvement in the mining, construction, petroleum exploration, and service sectors of the economy intensify, many have wondered whether their presence is really a boon for Africa. Others have expressed their discontent and continue to complain about labour exploitation, poor working arrangements and the crowding out of local competitors.

Weeks ago, renowned Zambian- born economist Dambisa Moyo penned an article in the New York Times expressing her optimism about the presence of Chinese workers and businesspeople on the African continent. Giving the Chinese her vote of confidence, she said: “China’s motives for investing in Africa are actually quite pure.” In a rejoinder piece, Jolyon Ford of Oxford Analytica took issue with the article’s simplistic analysis and advised that more attention be paid to the effects of Chinese investment. Furthermore, Ford suggested that questions such as “has the quality of African growth… been improved by such investment, or has only the quantity of growth improved, on otherwise largely unchanged axes?” be raised.

Earlier this year, the minister of Agriculture, Akin Adesina, visited China to secure funding from the Chinese government and other agencies for rice production projects in Nigeria. Noting that China presents a success story and model for Nigeria through its hybrid rice technology – which was able to lift 400 million people out of poverty within ten years – Adesina said that China is key to Nigeria’s agro- transformation agenda.

While it is not clear that the water conservation project is of a highly commercial nature, these questions would be worth considering as Chinese scientists and businessmen enter the Nigerian agricultural sector. As this debate continues, what is certain is that China is here to stay. Furthermore, as China continues to emerge as a world power and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Nigeria would do well to take a leaf out of Chinese’s book. Devoid of China’s involvement on the continent, Nigerians should be looking to China and elsewhere to see how these successful countries overcame challenges we are still tackling. Therefore, in this regard –closing knowledge gaps, adopting tried and tested practices, and emulating climate-smart techniques – China’s presence is definitely advantageous to Nigeria.

To heed Ford’s advice, the true marker of the success and legitimacy of any Chinese-led project will be its outcome, namely the impact it has on farmers, farm yields and the environment in general. Another important thing to consider is at what cost this impact is made. In a country where over 70 percent of the farmers are smallholder farmers, one must also observe how transformation projects improve or take away farmer’s ownership of land and resources and ability to progress in their profession.

All in all, water conservation, improved irrigation and farming techniques; learning arcs, capacity building and knowledge transfer; and massive investments in agriculture are welcome developments in the sector, and partnerships to drive these forward are what Nigerian agriculture needs to reach its take-off point to self-sustaining economic growth.

Original Article Here

Youths involvement in agriculture: Strengths and opportunities

Oluwatomi Olatoye

The feedback received from readers  on youth involvements in agriculture is overwhelming. It is just a confirmation that Nigerian youths are interested, willing and ready to participate in food production in Nigeria. 

The purpose of this article is to  further encourage youths  and to profer suggestions  that will result in increased participation in agricultural activities by young people in Nigeria

Agriculture is identified as one of the four economic pillars. Its importance, as a priority area in the country for development,  is therefore unquestionable. The nexus between youths in agricultural development and the country’s ability to achieve its food  security goals are inextricably linked.

The increased participation by youth in agriculture in Nigeria is necessary and vital to facilitate food security and also  ensure the sustainability of agricultural production and realisation of the agricultural transformation agenda of the Federal Govermment.

There is compelling evidence of an ageing farmer population in the country which must be addressed to facilitate sustainability in agricultural production.  The average age of farmers in Nigeria is 65 years , if young farmers do not replace the ageing producers, the production of food within the country will be seriously compromised in the next 10-15 years.

It is necessary to encourage increased food production in the country by increasing the number of producers and the level of productivity. The youth population is strategic to the success of these efforts to boost food production.

Also, the poor image of persons involved in agriculture needs to be changed and the young people are the ideal catalysts for such change, given their greater propensity and willingness to adopt new ideas, concepts and technology which are all critical to changing the way agriculture is practiced and perceived.

Strengths of Youth involvement in Agriculture :
• The latent energy, capacity and ability to produce
• Excellent source of ideas and innovation and areas of interest in the agricultural sector
Opportunities for Youth Involvement in Agriculture
• Vibrant and expanding market for primary and secondary agricultural commodities offers tremendous opportunities for young people to earn good income from agricultural activities
• There are existing incentives and policies that target youth involvement in agriculture which encourages young persons.
• Many tertiary training opportunities exist for young persons interested in agriculture.
• Throughout the country, there are a number of existing agricultural agencies, NGOs  that youth can become involved in.

The following are some suggestions for increasing youth involvement in Agriculture:
1. Improved access to training and capacity development: Proper training should be provided by all the tiers of governmets, private organisations and NGOs.
Agropreneur Nigeria, in  collaboration with CUAD, is putting together a summit on youth in agriculture. We observed that large sections of the youth population are untrained and modern agriculture requires trained personnel.

2.Provision of proper information on many opportunities in agriculture -  this will result in Increased employment of youths in agriculture.

3. Improved training at the primary and secondary school level. Linking school agricultural operations with general curriculum

4. More opportunities for on farm training for youth

5. Enterprise development training, particularly in value added activities such as food processing and packaging.

6. Improved and easier access to resources such as: Land, capital, technology and information, facilitating.

7. Developing a data base of agencies that can provide access to youth on information in agriculture

8. Facilitating market opportunities and providing targeted marketing opportunities for primary and value-added agricultural products produced by young entrepreneurs.

9. Providing motivation and improving the image of agriculture. Update policies and incentives

10. The private sector, NGOs can help facilitate networking among youth. Providing incentives to encourage collaboration and group activity of youth.

Youths already in agriculture should email their success stories to urbanagric@yahoo.com. Also, youths that are interested in agriculture should text their name. Location and area(s) of interest to 08052069264
Happy farming!

Original Article Here

Nigeria: FG's New Agriculture for Business Plan

BY BOLAJI ADEBIYI

One of the challenges for President Goodluck Jonathan when he took office was how to transform agricultural practices in Nigeria in a way that will ensure the actualization of the full potential of the sector.

Years before he ascended the saddle of leadership, great efforts had been made to turn Nigeria's over 84 million hectares of arable land and favourable climatic conditions into source of wealth, employments and food for its massive population. And with 44 per cent contribution to GDP and an estimated 70 per cent of Nigerians engaged in the sector, agriculture remains the most important sector of Nigeria's economy.

But nothing manifests the failure of those great efforts, including the Operation Feed the Nation and the Green Revolution programmes than the fact that Nigeria remains a net food importing nation, spending about N1.3 trillion on importation of basic food items annually. Even, when some of the schemes can moderately be described as successful like the cassava initiative of the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, such successes were not long lasting as a result of flip-flop or misalignment in policy.

Meanwhile, for many years, fertilizer procurement was the major activity of the sector even when the poor farmers in far-flung places across the country are left to their own devices as they struggle to produce foods to feed the nation while "big men" struggle for fertilizer contracts in Abuja. Worse still, the fertilizer after procurement, never get to the farmers at the intended subsidized prices. And so the nation was in deficit of its pre- and immediate post-independence glory: the largest producer and exporter of groundnut and palm oil; the second largest exporter of cocoa and the largest exporter of cotton in West Africa.

Knowing that the development of the Nigerian agricultural sector holds the ace to the diversification of the Nigerian economy, provision of jobs for millions of unemployed youths and food security, President Jonathan knew he had to put square pegs in square holes. He got that right with the appointment of Dr Akinwumi Adesina whose expertise in turning around agricultural practices in many African countries has been acknowledged. With Adesina as the superintending officer, the Jonathan administration has in the past one year embarked on the most comprehensive reform of the agricultural sector ever attempted by any government in Nigeria with his Agriculture Transformation Agenda, ATA with focus on transformation of the sector through the development of agricultural value chains.

The transformation plan of President Jonathan essentially implies tackling the gamut of problems that have been at the root of poor performance of the sector from lack of access to finance, poor seedlings and lack of adequate processing facilities. The plan entails reforms on distribution of key inputs like fertilizers and seedlings, agriculture financing and implementation of nationwide activities with state governments to improve the value chain of crops especially rice, cassava, maize, soya beans, sorghum, cotton, cocoa, oil palm, fisheries and livestock to facilitate increased productivity and production in the sector. On the input side for instance, the government is providing 50 per cent support for seeds and fertilizers for farmers. The Government is also empowering companies involved in the production of inputs like fertilizer, seeds and other agro products to scale up their production by ensuring that loans are granted to them at a seven percent interest rate while also providing 70 per cent guarantee on the loans. Government is also encouraging the companies to sell their inputs directly to farmers and build their supply chains to get to rural areas. It is expected that with such policy, inputs like fertilizers would get to the farmers in record time and at over 95 per cent reach (20 million) from its present dismal 11 per cent (550,000) reach.

Like in the developed world, the Jonathan administration has introduced the use of Guarantee Minimum Price, GMP to stabilise prices and to absorb excess output of agricultural produce. The fact that farmers know that there is a guaranteed market for their product and at a guaranteed price will encourage them to increase their production. This will also encourage investments in processing plants at the lower ladder of the value as the investors will be assured that they will have feeds for their machines all year round.

To further indicate its seriousness, government has awarded contract for the construction of 18 high grade cassava flour processors capable of processing 1.3 million metric tonnes of cassava flour for local use to mix with wheat to bake bread and other confectionaries. The 18 plants will make Nigeria the biggest cassava processor in the world when they are completed in the next 24 months. With the various intervention of President Jonathan, it has been estimated that Nigeria's cassava production will rise from 34 million metric tons to 51 million metric tons by 2015. Of course, many Nigerians are by now aware of the commitment of President Jonathan to promoting the eating of bread partly made from cassava. It is estimated that over N60 billion in wheat import bills will be saved from the substitution of 40 per cent of bread wheat flour with cassava flour annually by the country from the policy.

Government has also been promoting the cultivation of another staple that has been bleeding Nigeria of its foreign exchange: rice. Efforts and incentives provided by the Federal Government to encourage local production of rice is already yielding results with the commissioning of new rice processing plants in Ebonyi and Lagos States. Another multibillion naira investment in rice production in Taraba State is also set to commence. Just like in the case of cassava, Nigeria will save over N350 billion in yearly import bill with local production of rice.

The ultimate aim is to ensure that Nigeria is food secure by increasing production of key food staples by 20 million metric tons by 2015. President Jonathan's Agriculture Transformation Agenda has received endorsements locally and internationally. Ekiti, Kano and Taraba States have already aligned with it, while internationally, Cargill, one of the largest food processors in the world, has expressed interest in investing in Nigeria's cassava sector. The AGCO, a tractor manufacturing giant has also signified its intention to set up two tractor assembly plants in Nigeria. This will bring down the cost of tractors in Nigeria and further facilitate mechanized farming as envisaged under transformation agenda. The World Cocoa Foundation has also agreed to provide support for the training of Nigerian cocoa farmers in modern cocoa production procedures while on the financial side, the World Bank decided to support the programme's implementation with about N135 billion.

Adebiyi is special assistant on media to President Jonathan

Original Article Here

USAID Poultry Initiative to Generate N58 Billion

NIGERIA - The Poultry Association of Nigeria has said the unrestricted trans-border trade among poultry farmers in West Africa will bring N58bn to Nigeria.

According to Punch, PAN Secretary, John Olateru, said the initiative, which was facilitated by the United State Agency for International Development, would also help poultry farmers in the sub-region to attract foreign investments.

Mr Olateru spoke in Lagos at a regional workshop on Hatchery Certification Standards for West Africa.

He said, “Many international poultry farmers had indicated interest to invest in the industry to complement the existing investments.

“We will take advantage of the opportunity of this initiative to create new markets and increase our productivity.”

He added that Nigeria with over 160 million people would soon boost its human capital development indices with the full implementation of the initiative.

He said the decision of USAID’s to bring farmers together would galvanise the industry.

USAID representative, Suzanne Ngo-Eyok, said the agency had been working to develop hatcheries, laboratories and veterinary services in eight west African countries to boost regional poultry trade and check bird flu.

The countries are Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire.

She said, “Since the Avian Influenza outbreak in 2007, three countries have put in measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Now that Avian Influenza has disappeared in so many countries, those restrictions are still in place.”

She said USAID was looking at laboratory and veterinary services and urged operators to ensure that international sanitary code of conduct for hatchery were strictly adhered to.

Ms Ngo-Eyok said, “At the moment, Nigeria is at an advantage because poultry supply in other countries of the region is low. In Benin, they have their day old chick coming from Belgium, even eggs to hatch their hatcheries come from Belgium Netherlands and Brazil, when they could come and get them from Nigeria.

“That is why USAID has decided to support this initiative to bring all the regional stakeholders together and reintroduce trust to find a solution and a way to open up trade in West Africa.”

ThePoultrySite News Desk

Nigeria can’t move forward without agriculture – Gov Ahmed

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI
ILORIN — Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State has urged the Federal Government to evolve an agricultural policy that will effectively trickle down to the grassroots and have the desired maximum impact of creating wealth, food security, generating massive employment among others in the nation, stressing that without agriculture, Nigeria cannot move forward.

Ahmed, who played host to the Management of Vanguard Media Limited led by Eze Anaba, Deputy Editor and Assistant General Manager (Brand), Mr Fred Odueme, in his office in Ilorin explained that it was not possible to design and support agricultural framework from the central government without the necessary synergy with the state and local governments and expect it produce result.

He noted that the agriculture policy of the Federal Government had not been fully integrated into every state, stressing that the states have more passion for agriculture than any other state in the country.

He said: “Why can’t the Federal Government isolate us as willing partners and create a synergy that will see each state bringing its own portion, the Federal Government bringing its own portion on an agreed policy driven programme and we begin to take ownership of these programmes under the monitoring structure of the Federal Government? That is when you begin to see the real impact of agriculture coming from the federal to state and the local government, otherwise it will still be a mirage.”

VISIT: From left— Mr. Eze Anaba, Deputy Editor; Mr. Fred Udueme, AGM, Brand, both of Vanguard Newspapers; Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; Mr. Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor of Vanguard Newspapers, during a courtesy call on the Governor by the management of Vanguard Media Limited in Ilorin.

Laments failed agricultural policies

The governor also lamented that various agricultural policies of the Federal Government in the past which were supposed to see agriculture taking the right position and moving the country’s economy forward have failed.

Reasons he cited for failure of the past agriculture policies include lack of strong agriculture policy,  inability of the nation’s leadership to work out a platform to grow an agric business in the country, and the fact that over the years, we have  largely been feeding ourselves through subsistence farming and the lack of attempt to transform this subsistence farming to commercial farming.

Ahmed also urged the leadership to toe the path of the countries in Africa that have moved from “low level” to “high level” largely because of the way they drive their agriculture policies to change the fortune of their economy for the better.

Urges African countries to develop raw materials

While noting that  majority of the African countries have been major suppliers of raw material, the governor urged African countries to  have the capacity to develop their raw materials and integrate it in order to transform to a truly GDP that will sustain growth and development.

Ahmed said Kwara State had since realised all of these, hence it has skewed its efforts towards a platform that would see the state transforming itself into a much more enabling platform that will be attractive to prospective investors in agriculture.

He said that though so much had been said about the commercial farming in Shonga, which he declared as a success story,”but one thing is crystal clear, we understand commercial farming in Kwara today better than any state in Nigeria. We know the challenges of setting up the commercial farming, we know the huge gap that exists between commercial farming and subsistence farming and we know what we need to do to move our farmers from subsistence farming to commercial farming. These are lessons we have learnt and which we are ready to translate into a working tool to drive our subsistence farmers to truly become a first set of commercial farmers in the country.”

He said that Kwara State was lucky to be transiting from one government to the other so it hadmoved beyond the problem of improper planning and lack of strong agriculture policies and moving towards shaping a state that will truly become an agric hub in Nigeria.

In this light, the governor said: ‘’We are mapping out a clearly articulated, methodically designed roadmap for agric development for next five years. We call it Kwara agric master plan. We commissioned University of Ilorin, Kwara State University and Corneil University of New York to evolve the master plan.”

Original Article Here