How To Start Rearing Goats In Nigeria.

 

Goats can be reared in the pasteurland, but rearing them in cages has more advantages such as:
1. Cage-reared goats are less exposed to parasites.
2. They are better fed, and so the mother goat gives more milk.
3. Less field space is necessary for growing fodder and grass. For every six (6) females and one male goat, one-fourth (1/4) hectare of land would be enough.
4. The caged goats are easier tended and controlled.
However, more capital is necessary, and needs a worker to gather fodder to feed the goats and clean the cages. As preparation for the pasteur, plant such grasses and plants that the goats will need, like paragrass, napier, madre de cacao (kakawate), alibangbang and ipil-ipil. Apply as fertilizer for these plants the dried goat manure so as to make them flourish.

Cage

1. Wooden house, bamboo floor, with roof and open sides.
2. The floor is about 1.5 meters high from the ground so as to facilitate cleaning the manure.
3. At the sides of the house, provide food and drinking water.
4. Provide space outside to allow roaming around.
5. The nursing mothers and the weaning kids should have a separate house. One side must have a divider to separate the small ones from the mother at night.
6. Six (6) male goats are housed together.

Food

1. The aforementioned plants are feed for goats.
2. Don’t give too much for each meal, of fresh forage.
3. Goats don’t like dirty grass or acidic (spoiled) food.
4. They like variety of grasses for each meal.

Breeding

1. When the goats are about 6-8 months old, select good breeder and milker females and aggressive males.
2. A female goat may be mated at age 10-12 months. A male goat is ready to mate at age12 months. At the start, let him mate only a few, but as it grows older, the male goat can mate as many as 25 at age one and a half years.
3. A female goat’s fertile period lasts 2-3 days. The signs are:
– it begins to bleat (me-e-eh) and wags its tail.
– it urinates often.
– the genital is inflamed and secretes mucous
– the goat rides on other goats.
4. Mating should be once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and repeat next morning to be sure that there was fertilization.
5. Then separate the mated females. These will be pregnant in three (3) weeks if they won’t manifest flirting.

Parturition (Delivery)

1. The goat’s gestation period is 145-155 days. Thus, the day of mating should be recorded.
2. When the time of delivery is near, the mother goat bleats (cries me-e-eh), discharges mucous from the genital, is cranky and scratches her bed.
3. At delivery, her mucous discharge is yellowish.
4. When the kid is coming out of its mother, help the delivery by pulling out the kid, but make sure that the hands of the helper are clean. Apply alcohol on the hands to avoid infection. Normally, the head comes out first. The kids are often two, rarely three.
5. Wipe the nose of the newly born kid to enable it to breathe freely.
6. Apply iodine at the end of the umbilical cord, and put a knot or tie it.
7. When the kids are four (4) days old, remove the newly growing horns to keep them from hurting one another. Only a veterinarian or one with experience should undertake this.
8. Others are: putting of mark on the ear one week after birth; cut off the nails once a month, and castration from one to four months old.

Milking

1. Milk the mother goat five (5) days after delivery. Continue milking up to 3-5 months until the kids are weaned, or 60 days before another delivery.
2. Milk the goat in the early morning before the kids suck.
3. If the mother goat has abundant milk, she can be milked again toward afternoon.
4. Give the mother goat 200 to 300 gm concentrate daily to increase her milk.

Weaning

If the goat is raised to milk, do not totally wean the kid from the mother when this is 3-5 days old. Separate the kid from the mother at night.
If milk production is only secondary, separate the kid totally when this is 3 months old. Make sure the kids are fed and given water while they are separated from the mother. In this way, the kids will quickly learn to eat and drink even while still young.
Care
1. Allow the goats to exercise themselves 3-4 hours outside their cage.
2. Give them regular vaccination against disease.
3. Separate the sick and call for a veterinarian.
The common sicknesses of the goat are pneumonia and parasites.

Pneumonia:

Usually affects the goat with the onset and toward the end of the rainy season. Don’t allow them to be exposed to rain or draft. Signs of pneumonia are difficult and fast breathing.
Give the goat liquamycin, Tylan 200 or Combiotic injection.
Parasites:
Give the goat tetrazole or thixbenzole every six months.

Photo: Google.com

Conclusion

For you to be very successful in this business, You must know where to get best breeding stock and how best to market your business. It is very important because it will enable you to sell-off quickly and turn over.
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How To Start Fishery Business In Nigeria And Make Lots Of Profit.

First and foremost, making money is less of theory and more of practical, so i have tried my possible best to reduce the amount of grammar in explaining this topic to the barest minimum. 

What is fishery all About: fishery is simply a form of business that is all about rearing aquatic organism in an artificial or natural environment, making money from fishery depends on what you choose to do with aquatic organism(fish).

Forms of Business Under Fishery

1. Construction of fish ponds
2. Fingerlings production
3. Juvenile Production
4. Rearing fish to market size
5. Fish processing & smoking
6. Construction of fish aquarium
7. Fish feed sale and production
8. Teaching people the business

Construction of fish ponds:You can earn yourself a living constructing ponds of various sizes for individuals and organizations. constructing a pond is as easy as just digging a hole, just that you need to abide to various guidelines. Fish can also be raised in plastics, fiber strands and wooden rafts. There are two main types of Pond. This can either be earthen pond or concrete pond. To make money under pond construction you need to be able to build standard pond size for people. A standard pond size cost about ₦40,000.

GUIDELINES TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN SETTING UP A POND

1. Market: There should be a fish market near-by to allow for high capacity of sale of fish from pond harvests.
2. Nature of the soil: Soil with enough clay content to hold water. Clay and silty clay's are excellent soils for holding water because they stop water from seeping through.
3. Topography: Topography that allows for economical construction. It directly affects building costs and pond management. Pond should be constructed where enough water can be impounded with the least amount of earth fill.
4. Water availability and quality: water could be obtained from boreholes, streams or lakes. Gravity flow water is cheapest and best source. The water must be unpolluted, uncontaminated. Borehole waters can be excellent, but may be costly to pump and may require conditioning to remove carbon dioxide and improve oxygen content and temperature levels.

Fingerlings production: Making huge some of money under fingerling production depends on whether you own the hatchery or you pay people to hatch for you in their hatcheries. Fingerlings cost about ₦10 to ₦15 each. Based on market survey i will tell you, if you based your fish farming biz on production of fingerlings, using good brooding stock (male and female) and you are notable for viable fingerlings, you have a large customer based to supply no matter your region, and you can earn your self a descent income of ₦250,000 to ₦300,000.

The Requirements for a fingerling business

• Pond or plastic water container
• Personal or rented Hatchery
• Notify potential fish farmers in your area.

Juvenile business: This perhaps the easiest to setup, with little or no capital you can get this form of fish business uprunning, and start bagging cash into your bank account. A fully grown juvenile cost about ₦20 to ₦35. What you simply do under juvenile business is to:

• Hatch or buy fingerlings at ₦5 each
• Buy wooden or water container
• Buy local or coppens foreign feed
• Put your fingerlings in your water container
• Feed them daily
• Change the water every 3 days
• Sell them at ₦30 each after 6-8 weeks.
  
   

The profit margin here is around 300%, the only issue is water supply.

Rearing fish to market size: This probably the easiest part of fishery business, You only need to have a suitable pond size and stock it with a proportionate amount of fingerlings/juveniles, then you continue the feeding (with local or foreign feed) for probably 5 month till they will arose maturity. The only issue with this form of fishery business is that it’s capital intensive due to the feeding cost. if you can probably take care of the feeding cost, then i think nothing should stop you from starting this business as soon as possible. The profitable fishes you can rear in Nigeria are tilapia and catfish, a mature catfish sells for ₦550 while tillapia sells for ₦400. I will say it’s more advisable to start with catfish rearing because the market is readily available.

          

Fish processing & smoking: This also a very simple form of fishery business, fish smoking & processing does not necessary mean fish smoking, it’s the process of drying fish in a kiln so as to reduce the moisture content to a very minimal rate, so as to preserve the fish for a very long period of time(3-9 months). The only material you need for this business is a a metal or clay kiln, a kiln is a structure made specifically for drying food. a kiln ranges from ₦30,000 to ₦300,000 depending on the size you need. To make money from this form of fishery business you just need to rear or buy fishes of varying sizes, dry it in a unique way(by adding your own spices) and insert it in a good package/container, then sell to schools, banks and organizations who are the major customer based for such dried products, since they don’t have much time to go to market.

          

Construction of fish aquarium: Aquariam construction is a new form of fishery business which only few individuals are already cashing money from. Making money building aquarium is easy, the only issues is the construction experience, you need to be able to build aquariums using your own unique sense of design, then sell to organizations like banks, hotels, schools etc. Imagine a bank with a lot of daily customers having an aquarium in the bank vicinity, most customers will definitely be amazed, and they wont bother about the long queue to the counter.

      

Requirements for Aquarium Construction

• Glass of varying thickness
• Standard quality big size glass super glue
• Pipe fittings
• Paper decorations
• Toys

Fish feed sale and production: I will say this can be an easy and a very difficult form of fishery business at thesame time, the issue about this business is that it’s 99.95 % practical and 0.05% theory. it’s a very profitable business because most fish farmers are always looking for ways to reduce the fish feeding cost and still increase the flesh productivity of the fish, so if you can provide a good flesh-productive feed at a cheaper price than whats in the market, you are destined to be successful in this business.

         

Teaching people the business: At first i felt that there was no need to explain this form of the fishery business, because “no matter how much you are given, if you have a wrong metal attitude, you will never succeed and no matter how little you are given, if you have a right metal attitude you will succeed”

To make money under this forms of fishery business you need to create classes to teach people about this business, in fact you don’t even need to know all about the business, you can higher people to take the classes, but its more advisable to have proves and testimonies about what you are teaching, Cause there is no point mentoring people on what you don’t practice.

Conclusion

This post have been exclusively written for you by “Binoosmart” It’s now your turn to take action. For you to be very successful in this business, You need to also learn from people already in the business.

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How to be a better entrepreneur in 2017

The following habit should be adhered to strictly.

This a new Month, the 12th and the last month in the year 2016 please ensure you do any of the following 12 Golden Nuggets.

1) Make new friends cause “You are the average of your best 10 friends”

2) Acquire new success habit cause “You need constant improvement and motivation”

3) Always make your aim and aspiration high cause “Nothing is impossible”.

4) No matter your circumstances or situation always remember God cause “No man can make it alone”

5) Only depend on God cause “Men will fail you”

6) Always expect a positive result cause “You get what you expect”

7) Always take action cause “The world doesn’t pays you for what you KNOW, it pays you for what you DO”

8) Don’t disturb yourself with what other people think about you cause “What other people think about you is not a requirement for your success”

9) Value earning over money cause “There’s earning in learning”

10) Never limit yourself, try to be creative cause “Imitation is limitation”

11) always act “as if”, if you want to be a lawyer, dress and speak like one cause “of the LAW OF ATTRACTION which state that likes attract likes”

12) Be willing to start without seeing the entire pathway, just lean onto it, and take logical next step cause “you begin creating momentum (That unseen energy force that brings more opportunity, more resources and more people who can help you into your life extremely just the right time for you to benefit best from them)

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How To Start Small Scale Poultry Farm

There are so many questions people ask on how to start a small scale poultry farm business. If you are wondering how? then you are not alone. This article would give you an insight on how to start the business and how you can grow it successfully.


Poultry is a very viable and lucrative business. It can be a risky business suddenly, especially when you are not concerned about poultry feed management. Poultry birds require energy. In order to obtain desire growth rate, you must have to purchase and provide highly nutritious poultry feed. It is an established business, so all types of necessary facilities are available.

Steps To Take When Starting A Poultry Farm.

Select Your Poultry Niche

Poultry industry is a very broad niche with different aspects. Below are niches in the poultry business;

Egg productions (Layers breeding)

Meat production (Broilers breeding)

Chicken breeding (Hatchery)

Poultry feed production

Poultry equipment and manufacturing

Egg and meat processing, packaging and marketing

Poultry farming and consultancy
This is to tell you poultry farming has a very broad branch. Therefore, you have to choose your area of specialization. Of course, if you have the money and the technical know how of the business you can do all, but it is better to find out which aspect is more profitable in your area in terms of demand and income.

Capital Requirement

A small scale poultry that is set up on a piece of land behind your house may require a capital of
₦25,000-₦200,000 to start with.

Farm Location

The major thing to acquire before starting a poultry farm is a suitable piece of land. Generally, a plot of 120*60 square meters is suitable for a medium sized poultry farm. The size of land depend on the number of birds you want to raise and the farming system. Acquire the land from far towns and big cities. It’s advisable to buy a land in the rural area. Because lands and labor are highly available in cheaper rate. Select a fresh environment and pollution free area.

Establishing a poultry farm in a rented land is absolutely a bad idea. However, while selecting land, keep in mind some important facilities like great source of water, free from all types of animals and predators, a market near the farm, proper transportation facilities, e.t.c.

Housing

Housing system depends on your poultry breeds and farming method. Below are few tips to use while building suitable houses for your poultry birds.

The poultry house has to be well ventilated. Well ventilation keeps the bird healthy and productive.

Make a suitable system for entrancing sufficient amount of fresh air and light inside the house.

Try and make the house north to south faced.

In the case of making numerous houses, the distance between one house to another house should be about 40 feet.

Before bringing the chick into the farm, clean the house and the entire farm area properly.

Make deep liter clean regularly.

You can use some cheap materials like wooden material or rice ban for making liter.

Keep the feeding and watering equipment in proper distance from each other according to the number of birds and farming system. And always clean all types of equipment everyday.

The house must have all required facilities for poultry birds.
The housing system commonly used in poultry farming are;

Extensive System: range and fold unit

Semi intensive system: Standard semi intensive unit and straw yard

Intensive System: 1. Deep liter, 2. wire and slated floor, 3. battery cage 4. straw yard

Feeding

Good and high quality of food keeps the birds healthy and highly productive. Good quality fresh and nutritious food is the key success in poultry farming business. It’s advisable to provide adequate amount of food according to the age and number of poultry birds. Along with feeding good food, always supply sufficient amount of clean water according to the daily demands of the birds.

Poultry feeds includes

Wheat: Wheat is one of the best grains to be used as poultry feed ingredients. For this reason you should include a certain amount of wheat in the poultry feed ratio. During the wheat harvesting season, you can feed the poultry birds as mash or as scratch feed. You can also use wheat as a poultry feed throughout the year.

Barley: Generally barley is not as delicious like wheat and oats. But it contains fiber and a great source of fat.

Corn: Corn can be very effective grain for your poultry birds. You can feed whole, cracked or grinded. You can feed ripe corns to your hens.

Millet: It has good advantages as poultry feed. You can use millet in growing, laying and fattening ratio. Millet is easily digestible and help to increase body temperature.

Flax: It is suitable for high amount of protein in your poultry feed. You can use small amount of flax in the feed mixture.

Skim Milk and Butter Milk: They are very useful for all kinds of poultry birds. Especially for the young chicks and laying hens. Skim and butter milk play a vital role to get high quality eggs for hatching. And it’s also reliable source of protein.

By Products Of Grain: By products of grains have a great health value and suitable for feeding the poultry birds. Buy various types of by products if grains are available in the shop where poultry feed are prepared or sold. It’s price is comparably higher than any other poultry feed ingredients.

Fish Oil: Fish oil is a dependable source of vitamin A and D. Main.

Poultry is very sensitive and may be infected by diseases easily. Generally, they suffer various types of viral, bacterial, fungal, nutritional and parasitic diseases. Proper vaccination is a must for keeping your your birds diseases free, healthy and productive. So vaccinate the birds timely. If somehow, disease occurs in the farm, meet a vet doctor as soon as possible and listen to his advice.

Staffing

Staffing And Man power is not labor intensive if the use of technology is employed. Being a small scale poultry you don’t need so many staff, what you need is a manager and accountant. Either way, your manager can also assume the duty of the accountant too in order to save cost. This individual oversees the day to day running of the business.

What Next…

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SEVEN REASON TO START GRASSCUTTER FARMING IN NIGERIA

(1) NOT TOO EXPENSIVE TO START…

Just need iron cage of N30,000 to 70,000 and one family of breeding grasscutters normally called a colony, which goes for N55,000 to N75,000 depending on the age and distance from the place of purchase to your farm. A colony comprises of one male and four females. The cage can be placed anywhere in the compound, u can start where you are with what you have, like I do say Nigeria economy doesn’t determine what u earn in Grasscutter farming you decide what comes to your pocket.

(2) THE BEST MEAT COMES FROM IT.

Grasscutters are the most preferred bush meat. Very expensive and good source of protein and other nutrients pure white meat

(3) YOU CAN FARM FOR THE PURPOSE OF BREEDING STOCK..

The breeding stock is one of the most lucrative aspects of grasscutter farming. The turnover period could be very short, maximum of 3-6  months after birth it depends on how old you want them to grow before you start selling   breeding family comprising one male and four females referred to as a colony.

(4) REGULAR INCOME…

Raising Grasscutters can make you keep smiling to the bank. The profits can come in many ways. Selling your knowledge through training intending farmers can fetch you money also it depends on how u were trained, You can sell your grasscutters live or smoked to Joints, individuals, Restaurants and Hotels. The waste as manure for fertilizer to crop farmers even the breeding family of one-male and four-females can bring huge money.

(5) MEAT FOR ALL AND CAN BE SOLD EVERYWHERE…

Grasscutter meat is a delicacy. It is like hot cake in most restaurants. So, the easiest meat to market is grasscutter. Even if you produce large quantity of grasscutter meat in Nigeria alone, you will find buyers for them easily. The meat has low cholesterol and is filled with health benefits. Nutritionists advise people to eat the tasty bush meat because it is white meat. In addition to these facts, grasscutter is free from cultural and religious taboos. This makes it to be a universal favourite, breaking all barriers, religion, creed, culture, ethnicity, etc Iike I do say how to sell gc is not my problem d challenge I always face is, I have never had enough to sell gc, be it table size or breeding stock so if u have gc and u don’t know how to sell contact me I will teach you my selling strategies, like how I bought kings and queens together here

(6) JOB CREATION….

Rearing of grasscutter for local consumption will decrease unemployment. You can even be an employer of labour. Grasscutter farming can make you avoid writing hundreds of job application where you “beg to apply” instead of settling down with this easy-to-start, profitable agribusiness that will help you build up your business capital, feed yourself and your family, get others employed and launch you en-route your financial freedom. Bricklayers welders iron fabricators or whatever you call dem all do make money from gc farming by so doing u are already creating jobs for others.

(7) IT REPRODUCES FAST AND MORE…

They can produce many litters. In this category, they are next to pigs and rabbits. A female grasscutter of good species can deliver up to 12 babies in a year or more . They have low mortality rate which is 10% if properly handled, they consume grasses mostly 80% and 20% supplementary feeds it depends on d one u choose, above all its very cheap to treat sick Grasscutter.

That is the end of the class....

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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

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150,000 Rice Farmers To Be Engaged In Dry Season Farming – RIFAN

Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) on Sunday said 150,000 rice farmers would be engaged in dry season farming in Zamfara as part of effort to ensure food security in the country.

The Secretary of the association in the state, Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau.

Muhammad said the association had begun educating people on the need to participate in local rice production to boost their economy and ensure food security.

He said the special intervention programme recently launched by the Federal Government on rice farming had boosted the moral of the farmers.

He said more than 20,000 hectares in Bakalori dam irrigation scheme and Fadama schemes in Maradun, Bakura and Talata-Mafara Local Government areas would be cultivated.

"The association is working with government agents to register active rice farmers to facilitate easy reach whenever the need arises.''

The secretary urged the state and federal government to meet necessary standard in local rice production.

Meanwhile, a farmer in Talata-Mafara, Jamilu Abubakar, had expressed concern over poor market for locally produced rice.

Abubakar, who appealed to the government to provide modern processing machines in the area, also urged the government to expand Bakalori irrigation scheme to accommodate more farmers wishing to invest in rice production.

When contacted, the Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, Alhaji Musa Raji, said arrangement had been concluded for the distribution of fertilizer and other inputs to farmers in the state. (NAN)

Source Leadership.ng

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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

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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

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N/Delta: Chevron, IITA partner to train 40 youths in agriculture

A female farmer

Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL)and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, had concluded arrangement to train 40 youths from the Niger Delta region in agriculture.

Mr Deji Haastrup, General Manager, Government and Public Affairs of Chevron, disclosed this on Thursday in Warri at an event to kick-start the programme.

Haastrup said that the youths would be trained on aquaculture, cassava, plantain, banana production and processing.

He said the programme tagged ''Agropreneurship'' would offer an opportunity for large scale employment leading to self-reliance.

"The pilot programme incorporates young people from the Egbema-Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation and the Itsekiri Regional Development Committee.

"Other parties that are collaborating with CNL and IITA are the Delta Government and the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND)," he said.

Haastrup said the current programme would gulp about N188million.

He said that CNL would continue to support the people of Niger Delta with a view to making life meaningful for them.

Mrs Clementina Arubi, representative of the General Manager, NNPC-NAPIMS, stressed the need for economic diversification through other ventures, especially agriculture rather than over-dependence on oil.

Also, Mr Michael Johnny, Chairman Egbema-Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation, in his remarks, commend the effort of the parties that organised the agricultural programme.

He, however, solicited for scholarship for the people as part of the initiatives to widen their horizon.

Source Credits ::: PM News

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Nigeria Loses $1.2bn Daily To Oil Thieves – Prof Eshett

The former deputy vice chancellor, University of Science and Technology, Owerri, Prof Ebong Thomas Eshett has disclosed that Nigeria was losing about 400,000 barrels per day to oil thieves and vandals which is approximately $1.2 billion.

This is even as he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the ailing power sector saying that steady power supply had remained impossible in Nigeria since 1960.
He made this revelation in Abuja yesterday during the 10th anniversary celebration of “African Icon of Our Generation Award,” organised by Accolade Communications Limited, Lagos in collaboration with International Centre for Comparative Leadership for Africans and Blacks in Diaspora.

In his presentation titled, Reforming, Restructuring and Re-Positioning Nigeria for True Greatness and Sustainable Economic Development, he advocated for the review of jumbo salaries paid to legislators and other public office holders and channel the excess monies into projects that would alleviate poverty and create employment for the masses.

Eshett who was the deputy chairman of 2009 Agriculture and Food Security Thematic Group of Vision 20:2020, urged the federal government to urgently re-visit and implement the recommendations made by the group adding that the committee members should be co-opted into the implementation team.

According to him, the unfortunate relegation of agriculture to the background, unbalanced distribution of developmental projects across the geo-political zones, economic marginalisation of some sections of the country are deeply responsible for retarding growth in the country.

He lamented that billions of dollars were periodically smuggled out of Nigeria and stacked away in foreign banks noting that the ill-gotten monies are used to purchase expensive landed property or to establish businesses abroad that would help in boosting the economy of foreign countries at the detriment of Nigeria economy.

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D’banj Speaks On New Album, Agriculture and Marriage

Let’s start with celebrating your birthday – 35 years – how does that make you feel?
To be 35 and for what God is doing in my own life, I feel so happy. If I can remember this my first birthday I have celebrated. I am not used to celebrating, except for people who throw me surprise birthdays. Every day is like Christmas for us, every day is like birthday for us. When it’s come to my own kind of brand, what I do for a living, I have fun.

I get paid for what people do to relax. So you have a long whole semester in school, you want to go on break, you look forward to the Koko Consult, look forward to this entertainment show, that is how we get our money. I have been doing that for over a decade now. So my kind of nature has not made it possible for us to sit down and enjoy. In doing that now So much has happened in 10 years, 11 years since I started in the music industry. I released Tongolo when I was 24, now I am 35.

Tongolo was your first official song…
Yes, before that was Mobolowowon, which was in the same album. In short, it was done at the same time. Mobolowowon was accepted by the UK people because of the story. So, when we came to Nigeria, we thought it was the Mobolowowon that would be accepted but then it was Tongolo that was accepted by the Nigerians.

Do you feel fulfilled with what you have achieved at 35? Are these the goals you set out for yourself and how do you measure your success?
What God has done is tremendous and it’s beyond my wildest dreams even though some have not materialised. The main one is marriage. I would have thought that I would have had a child before 30. I always wanted a child before 30. I wanted to make sure that the foundation was very strong and the direction in which we were going because as you said as a child you crawl, you walk. So I wanted to make sure I pass all those places work-wise and focus on my family. Apart from that one, the other thing is the Grammys. I think Grammy is already in the plan.
I didn’t know I will meet Kanye West. I was dreaming, I dreamt that I want to go to places and hear my song among white people. I have dreamt to chart across the world and all that has happened. I have dreamt to perform in the front of thousands of people on a global stage and all that has happened as months ago I was on a global stage.

What are the new goals you are setting for yourself and what are the things you used to do and hope to discontinue?
For me, it is not about the age I have been exposed to a lot of things much larger, things much higher than my age. Since the earlier time I have known the brand, I have been taught to give what belong to Caesar to Caesar. That’s why when some people meet me they said you are so playful outside but calm inside and that’s because the showbiz knows when to give it up. Because it’s showbiz, I won’t say I have grown out of anything. My music and lifestyle revolves with my age with time. I think it’s just happened that I find myself in the last two years in the more corporate side of things in the more humanitarian side of things, more giving back in the more standing as a brand because I have been in the more business side of things.

Let’s talk about the tenth anniversary album and its promotion.
This year I had thought that by the first six months, I would have touched everywhere. We have Dubai, London, American, Switzerland, DC. I just wanted to touch everywhere but then the global show in April 2 and more importantly the plan I had for the album, the 10^th anniversary album, was to plan and promote the singles within the first six months.

So one of the songs that was not scheduled to come out leaked last year- Feeling the Ni**a- which I am glad we released because when it was released a lot of people got confused saying it wasn’t mine.
Officially, that was not supposed to be the first single from the 10^th anniversary but because of what happened the song is everywhere. So, I see my people and they are saying give us more and I see that taste. That proved something to me that my fans are still very hungry. Some people are thinking that Dbanj is famzing now he doesn’t even sing again because the brand is so active. It is good that we had that feeling filled because that made me  restructure the album.

A lot of people have criticised how you are promoting the album.
Most people… I think you need to understand this depends on the stage. The good thing about it is that I am looking at it globally. The box is beyond Nigeria alone. You know, if you are global you need to think of the others but I am thinking of Nigeria, Africa because a lot of interviews have been lined up. We will be able to go everywhere because more importantly, I am partnering with people. I cannot talk about them due to confidential purposes. We will have serious promotions that will involve the my fans. 

Is there any international artist on the album apart from Akon?
There is more than one; I won’t mention them, let (fans) go and buy the album. The album comes out in September – D’Banj, The Epic Journey. The EP (was) like an introduction to the entire album

How many songs will you have on the album?
I don’t know but if left for me I will do 10, 11. I have so much fans right now that we are even pressured to release a double album in September. When we were touring, especially outside Africa, a whole lot of people knew Oliver Twist, Fall In Love, Igwe, Olurun Ma Je, even when they don’t even know that you are the one that released them. So why not re-release your greatest hits so we can know that it’s for the global world and for Africa. September; I don’t know, but the album, ten minimum songs and the greatest hits and luckily, for me it’s might be a visual. Most of the music they said they want has a video; Igwe has a video, Olorun Ma Je has a video.

Let’s talk about the artists on your label: Tonto and 2Kriss; what do you have for them?
There were a lot of people that were biased about my comeback. I knew there were a lot of misconception for not being around for that last one and the half years; people not having the right people to speak to had misinterpreted or miscommunicated my actions, my record.
K-switch has already inherited that. Right now, I am telling one record label to come and take K-switch because people just victimise the guy cos he’s D’banj’s brother. But we are working on. For the rest, I didn’t want them to be affected by the same thing. Tonto and (2Kriss) dropped singles so we could see how the people would to react to it. While we are doing that, we are clearing the grounds for D’banj for the fact that people had a lot of speculations, people want to talk so let us make sure that the air is settled. Now, I have done what I need to do and the whole world has seen that we are not in any competition with anyone.

So you won’t sign new artists?

No, not for now. I can never say never because a lot of things happen. Some people said you didn’t sign Oriste Femi, sign him na. There is no need because globally record labels are dying most importantly what you should have is distribution. Distribution, the right organisation to take care and manage a brand that is what am building on. My empire is based on that and I own one of the biggest distribution companies; I even distribute for people In Nigeria. We are planning to expand globally. Abroad, the people that distribute are the people that sell, manage and brand development. That is what my company is doing even for Oriste Femi even though he is not signed to my label. Once that is done in Africa, that is what we are working on.

You said Don Jazzy was going to work on your 10^th anniversary album…
It’s a present continuous tense. It’s been done. You have to first find the songs of Don Jazzy that no one has heard that we even have before. I will love a Don Jazzy track on it. It might be one or two but it will be there if it’s a good work. But I don’t know if it’s going to be a very new one; we will have to go to the studio and do one now.

So, you have not done new ones?
No.

But you have songs produced by Don Jazzy that can be on this album?
Not yet.

Why agriculture; why not IT, hotels or something else?
I believe that nothing is coincidental in life so when I approached my people to do something they agreed. I have always known that i am here for a course, I am here for a purpose; I am a chosen lucky person by God that knows that things should happen the way they should happen.  My timing was different everything was different and they told me about it, they told me this is what we want to do and they said every time there is a course we look for youths and you are a successful youth.
If 60% of the farmers we have are small scale farmers and this is what they contribute to the world produce other than the big people and it has been proven by my research that the amount of irregular cultivated land available in the world in the next future is available in Africa. There is need for us to focus on it and let our youth know about it because right now, everybody wants to be a musician, footballer, an IT person, social media or media. Then when we have 5000 youths and we can take it to all the African presidents -“increase the budget of agricultural. You said you will do this at the African union.” All the presidents came together and they said they would  put 10% of our annual budget into it. We had over 2.something million youths so in four months we had created a lot that our own president our own minister of agriculture everybody were interested.

I am so successful and these are the things that make me say God has given me a voice. So this was what I went to talk about in the World Bank meeting. I went last year and I spoke for seven minutes and it was how youths should change and address possible change in agriculture so that people can believe in themselves; and lucky for us, the brand name has been a name for us. So, we have different Koko products. Last year was the perfect time for me to go into it and when I presented it to Dangote, he said, “Why garri? Nobody has thought of it.” So I knew I was on the right path.

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‘Nigeria Spends $1.5bn Annually on Importation of Tomato Products’

 

 

To benefit from new high-yield tomato seeds

 

By George Okoh in Makurdi

Director General and CEO of the Raw Material and Research and Development Council (RMRDC) Dr. Husaini Ibrahim, has revealed that Nigeria spends around $1.5 billion annually on tomato products importation from China and other parts of the world.

Ibrahim said such imports were unsustainable following the economic downturn befalling the country, and added that the country can reverse the trend with the introduction of improved seeds that yield more in dry season farming.

Also, to address the problem of acute shortage of tomato vegetables and boost Nigeria foreign currency earning, the council introduced improved and certified high yielding tomato seeds to various Growers Associations in the country.

Ibrahim, represented by a Consultant with RMRDC, Dr. Usman Argungu Hassan, disclosed these yesterday while addressing farmers in Lafia, and said the essence of introducing the improved seeds is to boost its production in the country.

“In Nigeria in spite of all the comparative advantage the country has in all year round tomato production, we are largely dependent on importation of tomato paste and other tomato products from China and other exporting countries, which is unacceptable”, he said.

According to Ibrahim, the council has developed a robust monitoring and evaluating plan in conjunction with the Nasarawa state government to ensure productivity in crop production.

Earlier, while welcoming the DG to the event, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture Nasarawa State, Mr. Naphthali Dachor commended the council for researching and improving the tomato seed, which is reportedly resistant to diseases and pest.

He advised famers in the state to go into dry season farming using irrigation technique for bountiful harvest. He disclosed that during dry season crops like tomato yield twice as much as it does during the raining season.

Dachor also called on the council to assist farmers in the state by setting up a tomato production factory in order to check wastage of produce.

Responding on behalf of farmers, Mr. Ali Adamu said with the introduction of the new seeds, farmers in the state will increase their efforts and hope for a bountiful yield in March 2016.

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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.

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