GRAIN: FG WILL NOT BUY FROM HOARDERS – LOKPOBIRI

In view of media reports that grains are being hoarded, the federal government, has said that it would not purchase the commodity from hoarders.

In a statement to Leadership Weekend, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, revealed that he has “reports of the hoarding of large tons of harvested grains by some individuals who hope to sale at exorbitant price to the Federal Government”

He said, “The Federal Government has however affirmed and warned that it has no plans to buy grains from any unscrupulous third part and that anybody hoarding grains is doing that at his own risk” he said

Senator Lokpobiri appealed to such individuals to put out these grains and make them available for consumers than hoarding them in conditions that will affect their quality and eventual loss, both of the grains and their much desired profit in monetary terms in the spirit of enhancing our agricultural sector’s self-sufficiency policy.

Senator Lokpobiri reiterated the determination of the FG to ensure the country enjoys food security and self-sufficiency, stating that “To achieve this desire, the present Administration through the Ministry of agriculture and rural development has put several measures in place that has today enhanced increased food production, especially grains”

He added that in addition “high breed seeds, soil test and relevant fertilizers are also within the reach of farmers, maintaining that “the Ministry is hugely engaged and committed to all-year-round agriculture including dry season farming and also through increased investment in irrigation”.

“The Federal Government’s Policy is to greatly ensure the drive towards achieving self-sufficiency in grains, to meet local demands from North to South and East to West, nevertheless, to encourage farmers in a situation where there are huge grains due to increase production, Government last resort is to buy off excess grains from farmers to be stored and released when the need arises,” he said.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR FARM PROFIT IN 2017

The major concern of every farmer who sees farming as a business is how to increase the revenue or turnover of his/ her farm.

However, the practice with many farmers is to sink money into farming without developing good farm accounting procedures and processes, which are very important to sustainable profit margin in any farming business.

Many of these farms don’t even have strict accounting discipline, the result is that huge losses will be incurred and the farm eventually shuts down operations.

The experience of many farmers is that it takes 3-5 years to be able to make significant profit from farm investment. However, some farmers can start making profit sooner if they have low overhead cost and have good production skills.

The Australian Department of Agriculture and Food advises farmers to take into considerations the following: Assess the flexibility of their business in different production scenarios; know the profit implications of pricing decisions; evaluate expenditure on inputs, and plan more effectively for the future.

The following tips will help you to increase your farm’s revenue and keep you in business for decades:

Control the expenses on your farm by strictly adhering to a budget. Every good farmer must have a budget – how much he/ she intends to spend on the farm vis-a-vis how much he or she expects as revenue – and adhere strictly to the financial plan. Failure to do so might result in spending money on areas that may not have direct bearing on the farm and/ or things not planned, which will eat deep into the farm’s revenue.

Secondly some farmers don’t even try to understand the true cost of what they produce, including indirect costs. As a farmer, try as much as possible to understand the unit cost of each item you produce in the farm and also look at how much is spent indirectly in producing it. This will also help you to knock-off wastages or leakages.

Thirdly, put in place sustainable mechanisms or processes, that will enable you to understand which of your products or produce brings more money to you and which one does less. This sort of analysis enables the farmer to consider investment in more profitable ventures.

Lastly, before you spend money in buying new assets for the farm, take an analysis of how much you are likely to make on those equipment, otherwise you could spend huge resources on buying things that will not bring any significant income to you. This is among reasons many farmers hardly make any good income from their investment.

AGRIC BUDGET: STRATEGIC FOOD RESERVES TO GULP N4.1BN

The Federal Government has appropriated the sum of N4.1 billion to buy grains for the strategic food reserves. There are 33 silos scattered across the country.

The measure is also expected to shoreup the prices of food commodities.

The amount represents 5.4% of the total budget (N76.16 billion) appropriated to the main ministry of which N69.2 billion is for capital expenditure in the 2017 fiscal year.

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the silos sites have a total capacity of about four million metric tonnes of grains.

This money is expected to fill the 33 silos across the country with rice, maize, beans, sorghum, millet and other grains, which will be released back to the market to cushion the effect of soaring food prices later in the year.

Also in the 2017 agric sector budget is the provision of N4.1 billion to get agricultural mechanisation equipment to farmers through service provider operators (SPOS).

This might be grossly inadequate considering the size of the country and the huge demand for agricultural equipment, which is a major factor that can attract young people to the farm.

Also the ministry has penciled down N5.1 billion to be spent on maintaining ‘land and climate management’.

The ministry would also spend the sum of N3.38 billion for livelihood intensive family enterprise (LIFE) programmes; a programme that the ministry said will take life back to the villages in order to reduce the number of urban poor.

Similarly, extension services support to farmers, value chain actors, youth and women in agribusiness is expected to gulp N3.01 billion.

On grazing reserves, which have been the subject of heated debate, the key question is: Would N1.86 billion budgeted for National Grazing Reserves development grass up 50,000 hectares of land, with infrastructure such as water (for both animals and people) and schools across the northern belt and even develop new ones?

However, considering the lack of federal government preparedness to tackle pest and disease in the country, it intends to spend N2.1 billion on veterinary and pest control services.

The budget may evoke row over constituency allocation

Special budgetary allocation to some constituencies for the 2017 fiscal year may generate controversy among stakeholders in the sector.

N150 million is earmarked for Kebbi South Senatorial District only for “supply of fertiliser to rice farmers for productivity boosting measures”, which is different from N1.8 billion for input delivery platform for GES roll-out and management.

This raises concern over why only “Kebbi South Senatorial District” was chosen to get fertiliser worth such amount while other potential rice growing areas in the geo-political zone were left out.

Also in the budget is a special appropriation of N500 million for construction of Wukari-Ibi rural road.

This is separate from the N6.46 billion allocated by the ministry to “rural roads and water sanitation.”

Crops with giant allocations

Wheat tops the list of crops that have received the ‘billion naira’ allocation for the 2017 fiscal year, with N2.61 billion assigned for the promotion and development of its value chain, which is closely followed by N2.01 billion allocated for the promotion and development of rice value chain.

Cocoa was assigned N1.88 billion for the promotion and development of its value chain; N1.81 billion for the promotion and development of cassava value chain and N1.62 billion for the promotion and development of cotton value chain.

Other crops that have made the list include cashew with N1.26 billion earmarked for promotion and development of its value chain and N1.1 billion for the promotion and development of sorghum/millet value chain.

Likewise, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMARD) assigned N1.55 billion for the promotion and development of fisheries and aquaculture value chain, while promotion and development of nutrition value chain got N1.87 billion.

Similarly, N1.1 billion was set aside for the National Agribusiness Incubation Programme (NAIP) and N1 billion for the procurement of agricultural equipment and inputs for 36 states.

SOKOTO FARMERS BEGIN HARVEST OF ‘SHAMBO’ PEPPER

It’s the time of the year for the harvest of a pepper variety popularly known among farmers and consumers in Sokoto as ‘shambo’ pepper.

Although the pepper is noted to be popular among farmers in Fadama areas of Sokoto because of its viable economic potentials, the pepper variety is consumed more in South-western Nigeria.

“Our people take the pepper to the South where the market is more favourable,” stated a dealer, Hussaini Abdullahi, 38, of Dundaye Bakin Gulbi who has spent 10 years in the business.

Farmers in Goronyo, Rabah and Wurno local government areas of Sokoto State are noted to be the major producers of this pepper variety.

‘shambo’ is longer than the popular ‘atarodo’ and it has a unique aroma and taste. Consumers use it to spice stews and soups, indigenous foods such as ‘akara’, ‘moi-moi’ as well as the popular ‘fura da nono’  and ‘awara’.

At the Ramin Kura vegetable depot in the Sokoto State capital, a ‘shambo’ pepper dealer, 60-year-old Altine Faru told Daily Trust that they get supply of the pepper from the farming communities in the state twice in a week, Monday and Friday.

On each of these two days, they bring in 320 to 480 sacks, totaling over 600 to almost 1,000 sacks on weekly basis.

He, however, said the variety that used to cost N2,000 per sack, now goes for N1,200 per sack due to glut as a result of the economic downturn.

“It used to sell at N2,000 when consumers had more money and the highest price for a sack is N3,000 when the rainy season approaches and the supply dwindles. Now it is harvest season as you can see a lot of it packed and waiting for buyers,” he said.

However, half of the weekly supply is transported from the market to the southern part of the country at the rate of N2,500 per sack.

Altine said the major challenge they face is lack of adequate funds to run the business whose success, he said, depends on capital.

“Most of us don’t have enough money to buy a trailer load of ‘shambo’ pepper to sell to larger consumers in the southern part of the country,” he lamented.

Another dealer, Hussaini Abdullahi, revealed that this year, some  farmers faced the problem of pests which destroyed their crops.

“There is lower production of the pepper this year. With a good harvest, you hardly find a place to stand here, it would have been full of ‘shambo’ pepper sacks waiting for transportation to southern Nigeria,” he said.

Hussaini decried that the prevailing economic situation had slowed down their business, hence the glut in the market which would affect farmers.

Another farmer, 55-year-old Bello Abdurra’uf of Lahodu village in Wurno Local Government Area who is also into ‘shambo’ pepper farming, said they plant the seed alongside millet when early rainfall is recorded.

“The seeds require a lot of watering, fertilizer and application of pesticide at required intervals to prevent insects from hampering its growth,” he said.

Abdurra’uf added: “When properly nurtured, it can be harvested six to seven times, unlike onions which we harvest only once.”

In this harvest season, Abdurra’uf declared that he expects to realize  N40,000 from his N5,000 investments in its farming.

Similarly, Garba Buhari, 57, noted that the pepper is more economically viable than onion and tomato put together.

“It can bear more than six harvests which guarantees reasonable income for a farmer,” he stated.

He appealed to the state government to provide farmers with soft loans, adequate fertilizer and subsidized pesticides to produce enough to enhance the economic growth of the state.

Aminu Muhammad, 30, has also been into the production of the pepper for over 10 years now. He said good and well-raised farm that can undergo 10 rounds of harvest on weekly basis.

“I invested N15,000 in the production of five beds of ‘shambo’ and I am expecting a profit of N50,000,” he revealed.

The farmer urged the state government to come up with a programme for the variety’s production similar to the newly introduced wheat programme.

NEWS WHY YOU NEED TO KEEP FARM RECORDS

Farm records form an integral part of running a successful farm enterprise. The more records a farmer keeps, the easier it is to manage and run the affairs of the farm
An agricultural economist, Dr. Yusuf Oseni, of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, said farm records provide farm history and allows for comparisons with other similar ventures.

Sighting the bigger picture, he said, farm records may be required by certain government agencies for establishment of development schemes like ADPs and irrigation schemes and form the basis for government policies geared towards helping farmers.

Dr. Yusuf noted that location and size of farm, soil types, form of labour employed and its costs, number and cost of input supplies and number and cost of each farm produce sold are among the basic records to be kept by farmers.

He explained further that farmers also need to keep farm inventory, including records of all assets owned, tools and equipment inventory and crop and livestock expense records among several others.

On the importance of keeping farm records, Aliyu Samaila, Director, Agricultural Productivity, MARKETS II programme of USAID stated that keeping records provides a guide to show you whether you are making profit or not.

He disclosed that agriculture needed to be taken as any other business as such records provided a reference point to know when an incident occurred and how, so as to prevent future occurrence, especially in poultry business.

Aliyu stated that records also serves as a reference point to extension agents to be able to make necessary corrections on how farmers are carrying out farming activities, adding that they guide farmers against making or repeating mistakes.

Similarly, a renowned livestock breeder/farmer, Malam Musa Rabo Dan-Hassan, who is the Managing Director, Dan-Hassan Livestock and Poultry Services, Madugu House in Katsina, disclosed that keeping farm records helped him in taking managerial decisions for the smooth operations of his farm.

Malam Musa stated that he kept records of where his poultry stocks were bought, their production during different seasons and vaccination records of the birds.

He noted that from the records, he was able to identify quality stock and avoid problematic or poor quality suppliers of the poultry stock, adding that it allowed him to know the best time to sell output or when to buy input.

In terms of sheep and goats, Dan-Hassan outlined that keeping records enabled them to easily identify problems in growth rate of the livestock, and also prevent inbreeding of the livestock.

Keeping records allow farmers to quantify the profit they have made from the total input they put into the venture and the output they were able to get at the end of each production cycle.