OGBEH: 80 PERCENT IMPORTED TOMATO PASTE POISONOUS

Eighty percent of tomato pastes imported into the country are poisonous and not fit for human consumption, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said.

The minister made the disclosure during budget defence at the National Assembly yesterday.

He said laboratory tests conducted by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) revealed that the imported pastes are harmful to human health.

Ogbeh who attributed the escalation of kidney, liver and cancer diseases in the country to consumption of poisonous preserved foods, said the Federal Government will soon ban the importation of tomato paste.

The minister while reiterating the commitment of government to address the increasing prices of food items in the country, quoted Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as saying Nigeria’s grains production has risen by 11 percent.

He said the N67billion debt incurred during President Goodluck Jonathan affected the performance of the ministry in 2016.

Ogbeh said from the N21billion that was released for capital expenditure to the ministry in 2016, N17billion was used to offset part of the debt.

“Those we owed were on us. We tried what we could. President Muhammadu Buhari also gave us N20billion to pay part of the debt,” he said.

TOMATO GROWERS DEMAND PRICE REVIEW FROM DANGOTE

Ahead of its planned resumption of production by the end of this month, the Kano State Tomato Growers Association of Nigeria (TOGAN), has asked Dangote Tomato Factory in Kano to review its pricing ceiling for tomato per basket.

The state chapter chairman, Malam Sani Danladi Yadakwari, said the association was ever ready to supply the company, only if the pricing ceiling initially proposed by the company was reviewed.

He added that, in this tomato season, when open market decides the price of tomato per basket, the farmers would embrace the more favourable price and this may affect supply to the company.

“You see, presently, tomato is sold in the market at N4000 to N4500 per basket, and the offered price by the company is less than N2000. Therefore, ideally, most farmers will prefer taking their tomato to the market than to the company. However, I have heard news that the company has made commitment that it will purchase at market price even though that decision by the company wasn’t relayed to me officially. If it is true, then we will make sure that we supply the company with the needed tomato without much ado,” he assured.

Reacting, the Managing Director Dangote Tomato Company, Abdulkareem Kaita, stated that the company has concluded all the required preparations to resume production by the end of February. According to him, the management of the company will soon hold a meeting with the tomato farmers to discuss the issues, adding that the issue of pricing will not be a hindrance, assuring that all issues will be resolved.

It would be recalled that the company had suspended production last year due to the outbreak of Tuta Absoluta that ravaged tomato plantations in the state

FG SUSPENDS CATTLE TRANSPORT BY RAIL

The Federal Government has suspended transportation of cattle from the Northern part of the country to the South, Daily Trust investigation revealed.

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) that initiated the scheme confirmed to our reporter that the cattle movement by rail has been suspended.

Our reporter found the Gusau train station where cattle were transported to Lagos by rail in September 2016, virtually empty and deserted when he visited.

The Coordinator Research & Strategy at NIRSAL, Bello Abdullahi Abba said “Yes, it is true that the historic movement of cattle from the northern to the southern part of the country launched last year has been temporarily suspended due to some technical issues which are being worked on.

“While that process is going on, we are proceeding with another aspect of the Farm to Market scheme – transportation of grains from the north to the ports in the south for export.”

Chairman of the Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria in Zamfara state, Alhaji Aminu Garba Gusau attributed the stoppage of Gusau to Lagos cattle transportation by rail to ‘selfishness and insincerity’ of stakeholders and organizers of the programme.

He said “We met with various stakeholders in Zaria, Abuja and Lagos. We were asked to gather cows for conveyance to Lagos and after we had done that the train didn’t show up. We lost our capitals to feeding and taking care of the animals.

“We gathered the animals ready for transportation but were disappointed because the train never came back again. We wrote to the Director Operations of the Nigeria Railway in Zaria up till now there is no positive response.

“Later we were asked to increase the transportation fares for each coach by the consultant of the programme. We had earlier paid N90,000 for each coach carrying about 30 cows. We agreed to pay N105,000 for each coach but the train hasn’t returned again.

“They are not sincere about the programme they launched it to achieve a selfish agenda and after that has been done they felt they have nothing to do with us again. We are calling on the president to look into the matter since this government is determined to diversify the economy.”

In September last year, the Federal Government through NIRSAL flagged off cattle transportation by rail in Gusau, Zamfara State.

A train carrying 500 cows in its 15 wagons left Gusau for Lagos shortly after the flag off of the scheme that was greeted with fanfare at that time. The scheme has stopped six months after the flag off.

NIRSAL said “The problem with the cattle movement is that there have been challenges with rail tracks and locomotives which led to delays.”

NCX, REPS LINK FARMERS IN 3 NORTHERN STATES TO COMMODITY MARKET

The Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and some members of House of Representatives in at least three northern states have trained selected farmers on how to trade their produce on the floor of the commodity market for them to optimally reap the reward of their sweats.

The training, which came in form of empowerment, took place in Benue, Plateau and Jigawa states.

In Benue, over 50 women drawn from all council wards of Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency of the state were exposed to essentials of commodity market.

Head of Communication and Strategy at NCX, Mr. Chris Echikwu, in his presentation, said there was need for Benue, being the agricultural hub of the country, to expand market for its commodities such as sesame, maize, soybean and sorghum amongst others in the global commodity exchange world.

Echikwu said the commodity exchange would help to protect farmers against inherent risks in agricultural produce marketing through hedging in the exchange as well as address the problem of products quality while the opportunity would increase funding for agricultural activities and at a reduced cost.

In Plateau, the NCX also partnered with a member of House of Representatives representing Mikang/Qua’an-Pan/Shendam Constituency of the state, Johnbull T. Shekarau, to train about 150 farmers on capacity building for the commodity market and the use of NCX trading system.

The sensitization, which took place at Shendam Local Government Area of the state, had in attendance participants from the Mikang, Qua’an-Pan and Shendam local government areas.

Addressing the participants, a consultant, Dan Usman from Yakubu Dauda-Mama & Co., explained that the government established NCX to provide price-discovery mechanism, protect farmers against inherent risks in agricultural produce marketing through hedging in the exchange and to increase funding of agricultural activities at reduced cost.

In his presentation on the importance of warehousing, Deputy Manager, Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Abiodun Oladotun, said the warehouse minimized post-harvest losses that often affected farmers, promotes quality productivity in the agricultural sector and ability by the farmers to have access to credit facilities from the banks.

In Jigawa, the NCX has commenced training for over 600 small holder farmers on the usage of commodity market.

Participants are from Buji/Birni Kudu Federal Constituency of the state, where the NCX is partnering  Magaji Da’u Aliyu, a member representing the constituency at the National Assembly.

The Assistant General Manager, Marketing of the NCX, Ezikiel Doma, said the training had begun with about 100 farmers under the first batch.

He said the NCX would put in place an organized market for small holder farmers where there would be an organized competitive price system for their produce.

NIGERIAN PALM OIL CHEAPEST IN INTERNATIONAL MARKET – FARMER SAYS

Mr Godswealth Henry, the Managing Director, JEKON Integrated Farms Nig. Ltd., says Nigerian palm oil is the cheapest in international market because Nigeria exports low quality palm oil.

Henry told the News Agency in Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday that the palm oil produced in Nigeria was not readily accepted in the international market due to its quality.

According to him, the Nigerian palm oil is full of cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance made by the liver and distributed throughout the body. It allows our bodies to make vitamin D and hormones, and makes up bile acids.

High cholesterol in the blood can interfere with blood flow throughout the body and high cholesterol means you have a lot more cholesterol in your blood than you need.

“The palm oil being produced and marketed in Nigeria contain concentrated fatty acids.
“Nigeria’s palm oil does not meet the international requirements and when it is exported, you discover that they are cheaper while those that meet the international standard are very expensive.”

This, he said, had discouraged oil palm farmers from exporting palm oil.

According to him, the equipment to remove the fatty acids requires huge capital outlay which farmers cannot afford.

Henry said oil palm farmers needed assistance from the tiers of government through intervention fund for such capital intensive project.

“Such project can be sited in a locality where farmers can easily have access to them as well as those interested in exporting palm oil to remove the fatty acids.’’

He said oil palm farmers needed assistance to be able to produce oil to feed the local markets and export to earn foreign exchange for the country.

Henry said JEFKON integrated farms Ltd. had been lucky to acquire such equipment to remove fatty acids from red oil.

According to him, the dearth of oil palm fruit, especially during its lean season has made it impossible to procure palm fruits in commercial quantity to feed and satisfy supply needs of customers.

The managing director said the equipment was capable of producing 250 drums of high quality palm oil daily.

“However, because of the scarcity of palm fruits, the company hardly gets 10 tonnes or 50 drums of palm oil in a week.

Henry said that about 99 per cent of raw materials for production of palm oil were still being sourced from Cross River.

He attributed the low production of palm oil to poor maintenance of the Okpara Oil Palm Plantations in Cross River, and non-establishment of new palm plantations since 1960s.

Henry said that governments should resuscitate the palm plantations in the country to demonstrate their serious about diversification of the economy.

The European Union suspended some agricultural food exports from Nigeria which include palm oil in 2016 due to its low quality. (NAN)