FG Advocates Policies To Attract Youths To Agriculture

The federal government through the minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that there is need to make huge investment in agriculture which will in turn attract youths into the sector.

The minister who stated this at a National Workshop on a New Agricultural Policy for Nigeria, organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), also lamented the low participation of rural dwellers who are supposed to embark on agriculture to feed the nation and increase the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

In his words, "There are those who estimate that by 2025 our population will stand at 450 million, making Nigeria the third most populated country on the planet earth, but what is more worrisome is that 75 per cent of this huge population will be living in cities while 25 per cent only will be in the rural areas. Can the 25 per cent feed themselves and the city dwellers? Yes, we if can hasten to lift agriculture to the level of India, China, and Thailand, not to mention the nations of Western Europe.

"To get to that level, we need to make huge investments in land preparation, machinery, seed improvement, farmer education, and encouragement or enticement of younger people into the agricultural terrain".

In his welcome address, the chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, said that agriculture must be born again in order to end our national shame.

"A nation that depends on other nations for its feeding has no right call itself independent. Agriculture must be born again in our country in order to end our national shame. Nigeria has close to 80 per cent of arable land, yet it is a massive net importer of food and other agricultural produce because our peasant farmers are still tilling the earth they inherited from their forefathers with obsolete farming implements," he said.

Adamu, however, said that there was the need to create a forum to encourage a constant dialogue between farmers and the ministry in formulating agricultural rebirth policies. He also suggested a clear policy on procurement and sale of fertiliser at the right time during the farming season.

 Source Leadership.ng

Read More »

FG Seeks State Governments’ Support To Improve Agricultural Production

The federal government has called on state governments to support its efforts in improving agricultural production in the country.

The minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh made this known during his meeting with members of the Cotton Ginners Association of Nigeria led by the President, Alhaji Salmanu Abdullahi in his office on Thursday, January 22, 2016.

Ogbeh said "the call for support on state governments was necessary because more investments and innovations would be needed to reposition the country's agricultural sector as an alternative to crude oil.

In the words of the minister, he said "We have to get back to business, thank God oil is finished. The Ministry has no land, all we need is to give the way and the ministry will drive the campaign among the state governors".

Ogbeh who expressed displeasure at the tragedy that had befallen cotton production in the country noted that tree crops like cocoa, palm oil and rubber among others had hitherto formed major players in the economic growth of Nigeria. He said the yield of 300 kg of cotton per hectare is very low; stressing that, the use of biotechnology would be introduced to improve agricultural production in the country.

He stated that the present administration would make agricultural practices an all year round operations with the provision of improved irrigation facilities in all states of the federation.

The minister disclosed the intent of the ministry of convening a National Council on Agriculture to brainstorm with State Governors and other stakeholders on the way forward for the nation's agricultural sector.

Earlier, the president of the Cotton Ginners Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Salmanu Abdullahi who led the delegation explained that the association which is made up of cotton ginning processors, cotton producers, merchants and cotton exporters is the main link between cotton peasant farmers and end-users of cotton products locally and internationally.

The president lamented that as a result of the decline in cotton production in the country, only 10 out of the 52 ginneries installed by the association were operational and produced below their installed capacities of 20- 30 per cent .

He noted that African countries such as Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso and Tanzania depended sorely on cotton production to sustain their foreign exchange and Nigeria has huge capacity to produce more than local demands for cotton as well as export to other parts of the world if properly harnessed.

Abdullahi said members of the association have both indigenous entrepreneurs and foreign investors who had made huge investments in the cotton industry; he called on the federal government to fast-track the revival of cotton and textile industries in Nigeria for its economic growth.

Source Leadership.ng

Read More »

Rural Farmers In FCT Beg FG For Land Allocation

Rural farmers in the federal capital territory (FCT) have begged the federal government for land allocations to enable them embark on massive production of food.

The farmers made the demand recently in Abuja, during Avian Influenza (AI) sensitisation campaign and interactive session with rural farmers in Jikwoyi Phase 4, Karu local government area of the FCT, organised by the African Centre for Food, Agriculture and Sustainable Development AFRI-CASD

The farmers, among other challenges, bitterly complained on non-availability of land as a major constraint to farmers in the FCT.

Speaking on behalf of the farmers, a Former Deputy Director Pest Control at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Joseph Olorunda affirmed that, to embark on a large scale farming, which will be beneficial to the country, there is need for the government to support farmers on acquisition of land for this purpose.

According to him, most of the land used for farming in the nation's capital is either on lease or borrowed.

Earlier, the executive director, Afri-CASD, Mr Bamidele Adanikin, expressed dissatisfactions over the challenges often faced by Nigerian farmers despite the importance of Agriculture to reviving the country's economy.

He explained that not only are farmers at the mercy of buyers of farm produces, but are often faced with post-harvest losses in terms of perishable produces.

Adanikin stressed the need for the establishment of agriculture commodity marketing board by the government, so as to reward the labour of farmers.

While speaking on the FG's free meal scheme for schools, the Executive Director, urged the Federal Government to develop a policy that will ensure that food commodities are gotten directly from local farmers.

He said, food commodities such as Rice, Garri, Fishes among others should be purchased directly from local farmers rather than importing these from other countries.

His words;"since government unveiled plans to embark on free meal for schools, which also reflected in the 2016 budget, government should ensure school proprietors, buy food commodities directly from the farmers. Rice, Garri, Fishes for instance, should be purchased directly from the local farmers rather than patronising importers of Rice from Malaysia, among other rice exporting nations.

Source Credits ::::Leaadership.ng

Read More »

Nigerian Catfish Farmers Can Save The Nigerian Economy, But Does Our Govt Care?

Developing nations of the world depend mainly on the primary sectors of the economy which basically are mining and agriculture.
The situation in Nigeria is not different, only that the majority of Nigeria’s working population depends on agriculture more than mining. Agriculture is the most important sector of Nigeria’s economy, and research shows that about 70% of Nigeria’s labour force is engaged in agriculture.

The agricultural sector in Nigeria is mainly dominated by the aged (50+ and retirees), but a sector that is appealing to Nigerian youths is the catfish farming sector. The reasons for this are not far-fetched:

• It is easy to set up a catfish farm compared to other sectors of agriculture
• It is less strenuous than other types of agriculture
• It can be done on part-time basis with returns guaranteed; it isn’t unusual to find people involved with catfish farming in addition to full time jobs
• You can recoup your capital and interest within a short time-frame; typically between 3 – 6 months
• There’s readily available market for catfish produce

The sector offering opportunities

Since the early nineties, people have been going into catfish farming increasing awareness about catfish, and many Nigerians now see it as a substitute to imported fish.

The self-employment that has been the outcry of the Nigerian government can never be actualized in other sectors of the economy except the agricultural sector, catfish farming in particular. Hence, many unemployed youths have embraced this opportunity to be self-employed in this sector.

In our findings, we discovered that there are over 13 different areas that Nigerians are gainfully employed in the catfish farming sector. These include: 1) pond construction, 2) breeding, 3) feed milling, 4) selling of input, 5) marketing of fresh fish, 6) setting up of fish processing factory, 7) importation, 8) marketing of floating feed, 9) repairing of implements (e.g. pumping machines), 10) consultancy services, 11) work opportunities for farm attendants, 12) transportation and logistics, 13) harvesting.

It will be folly for any reasonable government to neglect a sector that provides so many opportunities for the unemployed, which is why Nigerian farmers are crying for a saviour at this critical moment.

Until recent times, Nigerian catfish farmers have been able to overcome their numerous challenges and thrive. They are now beset with so many challenges that are threatening the industry, and unless the Nigerian government comes in, the once promising industry has a gloomy future.

Some of the challenges in Nigeria’s fish farming sector that need urgent intervention from the government

• One of the major challenges of the moment is the low quality of imported inputs (raw materials), some of which include fish meal (72%, 68% and 65%), soya meal, methionine, lysine and other minor ingredients.

A recent informal survey conducted between January and July this year shows that imported materials are not yielding as much as locally available materials which have not been available due to the Nigeria’s internal Boko Haram crisis. This was further aggravated when the border was closed during the 2015 elections.
Imported fish feeds are not exempt, and a 2012 study of imported floating fish feeds revealed that the actual proximate composition of fish feeds, when analyzed in the lab, was inferior to what was declared by the companies producing the feeds. Four brands were analyzed and fish feed sold by one of the brands, Adolf Calyx, contained just 25.89% crude protein while the company declared 42% crude protein on their label. To the unsuspecting farmer, this discrepancy can have catastrophic effects.

• Even some of the locally sourced ingredients have been adulterated. For example, there has not been pure GNC for a long time now. What is sold as GNC is either blended with Bern seed, rice meal, shea butter, or other less proteinous ingredients.

In fact, findings of an informal survey of catfish farmers in various parts of southwest Nigeria, show a good majority of them are now running at a loss since the first half of this year, and the increasing unavailability of ingredients and degradation of the quality of available ingredients is playing no mean feat in this.
Bearing in mind that some of these people took loans from commercial banks with high interest rates above 20%, it makes no sense to continue the business if it is unprofitable, and this is leading to an exodus in the catfish farming sector.

• The fish breeders have not been helping the situation in any way. As a result of increase in demand for fingerlings and juveniles, many breeders now use inferior broodstock to breed for innocent farmers. Some even do in-breeding, bearing in mind that the quality of fingerlings and juveniles depends on the parent stock. Little wonder farmers are not getting results like before. The size that can be attained in six months before now may not be attained in eight months. Due to this, many farmers have been unable to recoup their capital within a reasonable period of time.
• The current structure of the market for catfish is not helping the situation in any way. There are few individuals that dictate the pace of this business instead of the force of demand and supply. Many economists may argue with this fact, but what should a farmer do when middlemen purchase on credit and refuse to pay? In fact, it isn’t uncommon for few individuals, especially middlemen, to meet and fix the price of the outputs.

In an ideal economy, the price of inputs should determine the price of outputs but this is not the case with the catfish farming industry in Nigeria. The price of the output is often not in agreement with the price of input. A farmer could raise his fishes when the price of inputs are sky high only to sell when the price of outputs has dropped, often resulting in a loss, and nothing is being done to check this.
To sustain the current government policy banning importation of certain items that include fish products, the Nigerian government must do something to save this sector of the economy.

Proposed solutions

1. The Nigerian government should make use of existing institutional frameworks saddled with the responsibility of regulating and standardizing inputs and raw materials. For example, bodies like the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and NAFDAC should be proactive at ensuring the quality of inputs entering the country and produced in the country, to ensure that the stated quality are in accordance with what is declared.

2. Research institutes should be established, or empowered, to produce quality broodstock and make them widely available to local breeders to use nationwide. When establishing these institutes, the government should consider areas with is a high concentration of catfish farmers. This will ensure the availability of their produce to the breeders and farmers.

3. The government should be involved in marketing and distribution of the products of the outputs. This can be achieved through price boards and other regulations and controls to ensure stability in catfish production and also the availability of these products all year round.

Conclusion

If the catfish farming sector is ignored and subsequently collapses, the Nigerian government will be dealing a major blow to the agricultural sector that currently employs the highest number of the Nigerian populace. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to ensure the sustainability of this emerging industry.

Bamidele Onibalusi

This article was contributed by Bamidele Onibalusi, with massive input from the veteran of the Nigerian catfish farming industry, Abiodun Eniola Elusoji. Mr Onibalusi is a blogger and freelance writer who has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Digital Journal, and the Guardian. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

source

Read More »

Economist wants FG to invest in agriculture

 

Prof Cletus Agu, Head, Department of Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in Enugu State, has urged the Federal Government to diversify the economy by investing in agriculture sector.

Agu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka on Thursday that this would forestall the total collapse of the economy.

He added that the country’s economic dependence on oil alone for foreign exchange was not a good development.

He said the recent fall in the price of oil in international market was a strong indication that money from oil could no longer sustain the economy of this country.

“From every indication, it is clear that money from oil alone can no longer sustain the country’s economy; there is urgent need to diversify to prevent total collapse in future.

“Some states and local governments in the country are unable to pay workers salaries because of fall in oil price that resulted in reduction of federal allocations to states and local governments.

“Government, as a matter of necessity, should seriously invest in agriculture to boost the economy as well as provide employment to millions of jobless graduates roaming the street,” said.

He said state governments should start harnessing solid minerals in their various states as part of diversifying the economy.

“There is no state in this country that has no one solid mineral that when harnessed, will become a foreign exchange earner for the country.

“Our problem is that as soon as oil was discovered, we abandoned agriculture and other natural resources in the country,

State governors should look inward on how to generate funds to run their states; the present situation where governors rush to Abuja every month end to share oil money is not the best, “he said.

Agu recalled that before the discovery of oil, agriculture was main foreign exchange earner, noting that some premier universities in the country were built from the proceeds of agriculture like palm oil, groundnuts and cocoa.

“It is unfortunate that as a result of oil boom, we abandoned agriculture and all eyes focused on oil; today we are bearing the consequence of that great neglect of agriculture.

“It is indisputable that agriculture provides about 60 to 80 per cent of foreign exchange to most countries of the world.

“Federal Government should put measure in place to build farm settlements in all local governments in the country which will help to ensure food security as well as provide employments to millions of Nigerians.”
He expressed concern about the inability of successive governments in the country to use money generated from oil to adequately develop the country.

“If all the revenues generated from oil have been well spent, the level of poverty and unemployment could have been small.

“The truth is that our leaders saw oil money as national cake, so everybody is busy trying to cut his or own, instead of thinking how to use it to develop people’s welfare and the country,”Agu said


 source

Read More »

Texas Ag chief won't apologize for atomic Facebook post

 

Don’t expect Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller to apologize over a social media post that appeared to call for the atomic bombing of “the Muslim world” – despite an outcry from critics.

Miller, who is currently on a trade mission to China, did not personally share a controversial photo that appeared on his campaign Facebook account and has since been removed, Todd Smith, the Republican's campaign spokesman, said Monday. The commissioner has no plans to figure out which of his staffers shared the posting, or to apologize, Smith said.

“We’re not going to apologize for the posts that show up on our Facebook page,” said Smith, estimating that 18 people have access to the campaign account. “I don’t know who did it, but I’m not going to start a witch hunt to find out who did.”

The campaign account of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller shared this image of a mushroom cloud on Facebook. (Photo: Facebook, provided by Texas Democratic Party)

The photo, originally shared by the Facebook user The Patriots IV Drip 2, depicted a mushroom cloud framed by two statements: “Japan has been at peace with the US since August 9, 1945” and “It’s time we made peace with the Muslim world.”

The posting also included the text: “#noislamknowpeace” and “#COMETAKE.”

Late Sunday, Miller’s campaign account shared the post without adding a comment, according to The Dallas Morning News, and it was removed sometime Monday morning.

On Aug. 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped its second atom bomb on Japan during World War II, killing tens of thousands of civilians in Nagaski and prompting Japan’s unconditional surrender. Commemorating the bombings this month, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, called for an end to nuclear warfare.
Texas Democrats decried the posting as “hateful,” calling for an apology.

“It is unacceptable for Republican Sid Miller to be promoting such disgusting rhetoric. Sadly, this kind of racist, xenophobic hate speech qualifies you for higher office with Republicans’ Tea Party fringe base,” Manny Garcia, the state party’s deputy executive director, said in a statement Monday.

Though Miller did not personally post the photo, Smith said, the commissioner has not been afraid to publicly share his views about Muslims.

Shortly before he was sworn in, for instance, Miller appeared at a Texas Public Policy Foundation forum at which he was asked what keeps him up at night.

Miller replied: “I do have some long-range concerns as I hold those two grandbabies on my lap, and I happen to wonder: When they have grandbabies to hold in their lap, will we be a socialist country? Will we be a Muslim country?”

Smith said Monday that Miller was not advocating for any atomic bombings, even if the post was “thought-provoking.”

“I read the post this morning, and we’re at the 60th anniversary of dropping the atom bomb in order to destroy an insidious enemy that was intent on destroying American lives, and we face a similar enemy who has vowed to destroy American lives, and I think that’s the topic that the American people are focused on," Smith said.

Miller, a former state representative in his first year as commissioner, is currently on an 11-day trade mission in China, with stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Lanzhou.

Disclosure: The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here. 

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune, a WFAA media partner

Read More »

Goverment Train Ebonyi States Of Nigeria Farmers, Mechanised Farming

As part of its effort to revolutionise agriculture, farmers in Ebonyi State, would soon be trained on the use of modern mechanised agricultural equipment.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Barr. Uchenna Orji, who stated this at a joint press conference with his Information and State Orientation counterpart, Dr. Emmanuel Onwe, in Abakaliki, said the government had engaged the services of some “expatriates to train the farmers on the use of the mechanised agricultural equipment it has procured.”

Orji said that five hectares of land had been acquired and cleared at the permanent site of the state university for the exercise, adding that registered farmers and farmers’ co-operative societies would benefit from the training.

He also said that “parboiling machines would soon be installed at the three modern rice mills owned by state government to get them fully utilised.”

Orji announced the readiness of the government to enhance the aesthetic beauty of Abakaliki to make it a standard state capital, saying that the Executive Council had directed the Ministry of Environment to ensure that illegal structures were removed.

The ministry is also to plant ornamental trees by the streets.

Onwe restated the commitment of the council to the urban renewal programme of the state government, adding that the council had approved N100 million to enable the Ministry of Power to continue with the on-going urban street light project.

He hinted that it was the decision of the council that the street light project be handled systematically with the current rehabilitation of 200 kilometres of urban street roads by the Ministry of Works.

 Source : DailyTimes...

Read More »