Farming Matters: Making the case for Agroecology

9/16: This issue of Farming Matters explores innovative ways to show that agroecology provides critical solutions to the challenges of our time. Agroecology is gaining recognition for its potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss and malnutrition, and there are many successful example.

However, to garner the necessary support in policy and practice, looking differently at ‘progress’, ‘performance’ or ‘success’ of farming and food systems is key.

As agroecology can have impact at many levels, conventional indicators such as yield per hectare of a single crop no longer suffice. The experiences, opinions, and perspectives featured in this issue demonstrate how farmers, researchers, policy makers and consumers are using new lenses to track change.

Some authors point out that evidence alone is not enough to achieve an agroecological transition, and that the ‘movement’ dimension of agroecology is crucial.

New brochure: IAASTD findings and recommendations for future farming

Business as usual is not an option, if we want to reduce hunger and poverty, improve rural livelihoods and achieve environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development for all. This was the message of the “International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development” (IAASTD). The new brochure “Agriculture at a Crossroads” presents the report’s main findings with updated facts and figures, charts and maps and the latest scientific insights. The 52-page-brochure covers topics such as hunger and health, meat and animal feed, industrial and small-scale farming, agroecology, climate and energy, soil fertility and land grabbing. It connects the IAASTD’s findings to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and contains an interview with IAASTD co-chair Hans Herren.
Download the brochure here.

Gov.Tambuwal Urges FG to Stop Foodstuff Export to Neigbouring Countries

Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has urged the Federal Government to immediately stop the export of foodstuff to neighbouring countries, especially through the land borders.

Tambuwal made the call in Isa Local Government Area while launching the 2017 dry season wheat farming on Saturday.

He also called on the Federal Government to come up with emergency plans to purchase excess grains from the farmers so as to boost the nation’s grains reserve.

He decried the massive exportation of grains from Nigeria, saying it posed great danger to the nation’s food security.

“Considering our population, we must take measures that will enhance food security in our country,” the Governor said.

Inject N50bn into Oil Palm – Association tells FG

The National President, Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria, Chief Hilary Uche, on Friday called on the Federal Government to review its policy on oil palm.

Uche said that the call became necessary in view of the economic recession in the country.

He said that such policy should include provision of strong financial support for oil palm farmers.

He suggested injection of N50bn into oil palm sub-sector by the government to reduce the negative impact of the current economic recession on oil palm farmers.

He said, “With N50bn, we will achieve a lot in oil palm growing and processing in the 24 states with the potential to grow oil palm in Nigeria.”

The financial support, he added, would enable the country to get the desired dividends from such “agricultural window”.

He said that in countries where oil palm plantation was doing well, government usually support the sector.

Uche recalled that oil palm made the feasible impact in the economy of the defunct Eastern Nigeria before the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in 1950s.

He said that Nigeria can repeat the feat if fund is provided to oil palm farmers.

The OPAGAN boss said that investment in oil palm required patience “in the sense that after planting, you have to wait for at least three years before harvesting.

He said, “Oil palm is unlike poultry, fishery, piggery or rice farming which you can invest in and in less than six months you start to get returns.

“Oil palm farmers need support from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture for the sector to contribute meaningfully to economic growth of the country.”

Uche noted that the advantage of oil palm was that it had has long gestation period and capable of sustaining the economy and it needed government’s full support.

He said that apart from getting high yielding seedlings, there is the need for good maintenance, provision of harvesters and processing for the country to have the benefits.

Uche said if Nigerian government can support oil palm sector the way she is supporting other agricultural windows like rice, cassava, the revenue from oil palm can sustain the nation’s economy.

He said, “Oil palm has more than 360 value chains and before now it had sustained the economy of part of this country and has the potential to provide jobs to numerous unemployed youths.

“Twenty hectres of plantation of oil palm can engage more than 2,000 workers, while one automated oil processing plant can employ more than 3,000 persons.

“This is apart from numerous others that can indirectly eke a living via sales and supply of the by-products.”

He added that if six automated oil palm processing plants could be established in each of the 24 states with the potential to grow oil palm, unemployment would be greatly reduced.

Uche, who noted that Adapalm oil palm plantation and processing plant in Ohaji/Egbema area of Imo had gone comatose, said that if properly managed, Adapalm could engage more than 5,000 workers.

Govt to Reduce Milk Importation By 2019

The federal government is working towards reducing milk importation into the country by 2019, minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said.

He made this known at a multi-stakeholder conference with the theme; ‘Milky Way to Development’ held in Abuja.

 

Represented

 by the director of animal production and husbandry services, Dr. Egejuru Eze, the minister said the country’s annual national dairy output and demand were estimated at 700,000 metric tons and 1,300,000 metric tons respectively, giving a supply gap of about 600,000 metric tons.

He said:” We are partnering with major national and international stakeholder in the dairy sector to inject a considerable volume of locally produced raw powdered milk processed in Nigeria to meet the national demand and drastically reduce milk importation by the year 2019.”

Vice Chairman, Arla Foods, Jan Toft Noergaard said the conference was organised to discuss and offer solution to challenges facing the dairy sector in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa and to improve the livelihood of farmers in the dairy sector.

Focus on Agriculture to avert famine, says Oyedepo

The Chancellor, Landmark University, Bishop David Oyedepo, has said that agrarian revolution will avert the impending famine in the country next year as warned by the Federal Government.

He urged universities and other tertiary institutions in the country to lead the agrarian revolution in order to address food insecurity, national economic recession, lack of industrialisation and the high unemployment rate.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had warned Nigerians to brace for an imminent outbreak of famine by January next year following a huge demand in the global market for Nigeria’s grains and cereals

Oyedepo said during the 7th matriculation of Landmark University in Omu-Aran, Kwara State on Friday, “Apart from the security threat facing us in Africa, the greatest threat to the survival of this continent is the worsening food crisis, which has the potential to wipe off the people all together.

“This is why we cannot afford to wait for this closely impending scenario to become a reality. And this is the vision and mission of Landmark University.

NIGERIA'S BANK OF AGRICULTURE IN VIEW

Bank of Agriculture Limited is the nation’s foremost agricultural and rural development finance institution. It was incorporated in 1972 as Nigerian Agricultural Bank (NAB), in 1978, the name was changed to Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank Limited (NACB) to reflect the inclusion of co-operative financing into its broader mandate. In October, 2001, following the Federal Government’s effort to streamline the operations of its Agencies, that were believed to be performing overlapping functions, three institutions Nigerian Agricultural and Co-operative Bank Limited (NACB), People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN) and the risk assets of the Family Economic Advancement Programme (FEAP) were merged to form Nigerian Agricultural, Co-operative & Rural Development Bank Limited. In October 2010, following the rebranding of the Bank to reflect its institutional transformation Programme, the Bank adopted the new name Bank of Agriculture Limited (BOA)

OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE
The Bank is wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria with its shares held by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) (40%) and Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) (60%). It is supervised by Federal Ministry of Agriculture. It has an Authorized Share Capital of N50 Billion (Fifty Billion Naira)

KEY MANDATE

The Banks key mandates are:

1. Provision of credit to support all activities in the Agricultural Value Chain
2. Provision of non-agricultural micro credit to the poor segment of the society comprising rural artisans, petty traders etc.
3. Capacity development for the promotion of co-operatives and agricultural information systems.
4. Provision of technical support and extension services
5. Boosting of opportunities for self-employment in the rural areas to stem rural-urban migration.
6. Inculcation of banking habits at the grass-roots of Nigerian society.

STRENGHT

1. Nigeria's largest Development Finance Institution (DFI) and one of Africa’s leading agricultural finance institution.
2. Nigerian DFI with the highest rural operational outlets comprising 136 outlets, 6 Zonal Offices and the Head Office, spread across the 36 States of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
3. The Bank has deep institutional knowledge of rural micro and agricultural financing with over 40 years of experience.
4. The Bank maintains strategic partnerships with international and multilateral institutions like USAID, IFAD, World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
 

LOAN RATE

• . Microcredit Agric & collaborations
• . SME (Production & Working Capital)
• . Marketing, On-lending to MFBs & Microcredit (Non-Agric)

Loan Condition

• 20% Lien Deposits
• 6 months Minimum Customer's Account Relationship

Deposit

• . Interest Rate
• Negotiable Fixed Deposit

 

CBN TO PROVIDE N750bn FOR AGRIC BANK RECAPITALISATION

The Central Bank of Nigeria is to provide about N750bn for the recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture before the end of next year, the Federal Government has said.
ADVERTISING
inRead invented by Teads

According to the government, the restructuring and recapitalisation of the BoA will enable the bank to attract up to N1tn to effectively provide loans at affordable interest rates to farmers.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed this at the Farmers’ Field Day organised by Dizengoff Nigeria Limited in collaboration with Phinada Integrated Farms in Abuja.

He said, “The Central Bank of Nigeria is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture. This is because one of the biggest challenge of agriculture in Nigeria today is access to affordable loans. But in many other parts of the world, agriculture is the most attractive sector for banks to lend money to. So what do we do?

“As a ministry and the Federal Government, we are planning to recapitalise the Bank of Agriculture. So, we are to restructure the BoA and the CBN is committed to providing about N750bn. The BoA as an institution itself is going to attract hundreds of billions of naira. And we thinking that before the end of next year, we should be able to attract at least N1tn available credit to be lent to anybody who wants to do farming business.”

The minister added, “Right now, the Federal Government is subsidising farmers, but the subsidy is not what the farmers want. We have seen this under the Anchor Borrowers Scheme of the CBN in Kebbi. In that scheme there was no subsidy.

“What the CBN, through the BoA, did was to give each farmer between N110,000 and N130,000 to cultivate one hectare of rice farm, and some of them got 10 tonnes per hectare. And if rice per tonne is between N60,000 and N80,000, then whoever adequately cultivates two hectares is already a millionaire.”

Lokpobiri further stated that the Federal Government decided to make tractors import duty-free in a bid to move Nigeria towards mechanised and commercial agriculture.

CELEBRATING CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE.

Peterangelo Vallis is the executive director of the San Joaquin Valley Winegrowers Association based in Kingsburg, CA. Today, he discusses the great care farmers put into their land.

“Hey, we don’t make any more land. God gave us a green earth. That is what we’ve got, and we live in the best possible place to grow virtually anything,” said Vallis.

“In most cases, anything that has been farmed here in California has been farmed for a hundred years. The soil is better now than it was naturally because we are taking better care of it. We’re putting more natural green material back into the ground,” Vallis explained. 

“We are stewards of the land, and we have to be cognizant of that. We have to publicize that fact because farmers are the best people at caring for the lad,” he said.

“I think oftentimes we are so busy caring for the land, we don’t do as good of a job pumping our chest up to everyone, going, ‘Hey! You know what? You come try to do this. You try to do it half as good as me, ‘because I’ve learned things from school. I’ve learned things from my family. I’ve learned things from generations. I’ve learned things just because I’m here doing my job and watching out,” Vallis said.

Vallis believes we need to widen the conversation and tell more people that farmers do the things they need to do; they do the things that benefit all society.

“We are proud of what we are doing. You know what? People who eat are the direct beneficiaries. Everyone who opens a can of beans. Everyone who goes and gets some lettuce out of the fridge. Everyone who eats beef, chicken or any other meat benefits from our taking care of the land to continue to produce,” he said.

“No farmer I know and no farmer I have ever met actively goes out and poisons our land, because then they can’t make food. Making food is what we are called to do. BY LAURIE GREENE(CALIFORNIA).

FEDERAL FUNDS TO HELP REDUCE FOOD WASTE IN CONNECTICUT

HARTFORD (AP) — Connecticut is using new federal funding to help reduce the amount of food that's wasted in the state.

 

 

Officials estimate nearly 520,000 tons of food waste is generated annually in Connecticut, some of which could've been donated to feed needy people.

A $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been awarded to the Massachusetts-based Center for EcoTechnology, which is executing projects across Connecticut to help businesses and institutions minimize wasted food.

The center expects to provide technical assistance to up to 20 businesses in 2017 and ultimately divert 600 tons of wasted food.
The EPA grant is funding "Don't Waste Bridgeport," an effort to redirect wasted food from schools, supermarkets and restaurants to charity organizations in the city. BY THE DAY.