Friday, 2 December 2016
Thursday, 1 December 2016
Market Women’s Association Force Down Prices Of Foodstuff
Prices of foodstuff were forcefully
reduced at markets in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday by a taskforce led by the
President of the Market Women’s Association, Chief Omowaye Oso.
The team visited the Oja Oba and the Bisi Egbeyemi markets, both in the state capital.
Oso ordered the stoppage of foodstuff sold at exorbitant prices, after which, she personally sold to buyers at lower prices.
Buyers had accused the sellers of
deliberately selling at excessive prices on the excuse of the
non-appreciation of the American dollar.
Some of the commodities forced to sell at reduced prices included garri, beans, local rice and palm oil.
Consequently, a measure of garri, which used to sell for N200 was reduced to N100.
A 20-liter container of palm oil which
sold at N22,000 was reduced to N15,000, while a measure of local rice,
which initially sold at N500 was reduced to N400.
Oso said she had henceforth ordered that small measure of okro and locust beans be sold at N20 as against N50.
She said the raid was supported by the state government and the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe.
“Both the Ewi of Ado Ekiti and the state government are concerned about the exorbitant prices of goods and services in the town.
“The cost of goods, especially
foodstuff, is too high in Ado Ekiti, whereas, as the state capital,
prices of goods and services should be the cheapest here.
“The market men and women should have
mercy on the poor because things are too expensive here, unlike other
towns and villages in Ekiti State.
“It is very unfortunate that market
women in other communities don’t want to sell at their places anymore;
they now bring their wares to Ado, believing they will sell at twice the
price of what they sell in their communities.
“As the Iyaloja, one of my
responsibilities is to ensure price control of goods and today’s
exercise shall be a continuous one and shall be repeated in all markets
in Ado.
“It is unfortunate that 20 liters of
palm oil which sells at N14,000 in Ikole is being sold at N22,000 in
Ado, but we have sold it at N15,000.
“Ado is now developing a bad reputation
for high prices of goods and services, but we will not allow this to
continue; the Kabiyesi has said he does not want hardship for the people
of Ado.
“We will continue to carry out our raids
until our market women comply and anyone who cannot comply, must look
elsewhere to sell her wares.
“If you can’t sell your palm oil at lower prices, don’t bring it down to Ado again,” she said.
NAN reports that buyers at the market
and other residents commended the market raid, describing it as a
respite to the poor and hungry people.
Escaping from the rice trap
Nigeria has a most realistic chance of
breaking free from the shackles of foreign rice imports by taking
advantage of the current spiralling cost and government policy direction
to advance the cause of self-sufficiency in local production. Nigerians
have understandably been groaning from the weight of rapidly rising
cost of the commodity that went from between N7,000 and N8,000 per
50-kilogramme bag barely two years ago to triple that amount today.
According to figures from the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment during the Olusegun Aganga
tenure as minister, Nigeria spent N360 billion on rice imports annually
before the government decided to curtail the unbridled imports two years
ago. This translates to almost a billion naira a day, too much a price
to pay by a country that has the capacity to produce rice, not only for
local consumption, but also for export. With such high cost, especially
in foreign exchange needs, continuing along this path would have been
nothing short of a journey towards perdition.
But faced with the stark reality of
an economy currently in dire straits, the government is doing everything
within its power to cut down on its huge food import bills, especially
that of rice which, over the years, has become a major staple in the
country. But will Nigeria escape from the rice trap soon? The Central
Bank of Nigeria says, “By the end of 2017, Nigeria will not only meet
our national demand, which is between six and seven tonnes per year, but
we will exceed it and we will have rice to export to other countries.”
Now, the country ranks second, next only to China, on the list of major
rice importers, with consumption standing at between 5.5 million metric
tonnes and six million metric tonnes annually, going by official
figures. But with a ban on imports through the land borders, there is
now a huge gap between demand and supply that has driven up prices
alarmingly.
Naturally, the challenge now is for
local farmers to fill the gap, and reports indicate encouraging
responses. Addressing members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and
Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, told them in October to expect a fall in the prices of
rice. “By November when the full-scale harvests start, rice prices will
fall,” Ogbeh said. Nigerians are, however, waiting expectantly for the
predicted price tumble.
With Christmas – a major Christian
festive season, when rice is usually in high demand – around the corner,
some states are already making pronouncements to the effect that they
can conveniently manage without imported rice. In Ebonyi State, renowned
for the cultivation of the popular Abakaliki brand of rice, the
Governor, Dave Umahi, has placed a ban on serving of imported rice at
public occasions. “The parboiling process of Abakaliki rice makes it
durable, unlike the imported rice which does not undergo parboiling,”
the governor said recently while trying to promote his state’s homegrown
rice.
In neighbouring Anambra, which
recently played host to a Federal Government delegation, led by Ogbeh
and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, the
Commissioner for Agriculture, Afam Mbanefo, stated in Awka, the capital,
that the state had attained self-sufficiency in rice production. “Based
on the calculation of our expected yield, we are expecting to realise
over 336,000 metric tonnes of rice in 2016,” he said, which exceeds the
210,000 metric tonnes target the state had projected for the year.
Activities of rice farmers in Cross
River State have also caught the attention of the CBN, which has
promised to make credit available for massive rice farming there. The
state Governor, Ben Ayade, said it would serve a dual purpose of food
production and job creation.
Significantly, big-time players like
Coscharis Farms and Dangote Farms Limited, noticing the potential in
rice production, have moved in to invest heavily. While Coscharis is
limiting its investment to Anambra, Dangote has spread its tentacles to
Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara and Niger states, where Africa’s richest man,
Aliko Dangote, promised a $1 billion worth of investment last year. Both
are also promising to build rice mills, with Dangote targeting Kano and
Coscharis, Anaku in Anambra State.
The massive interest in rice
planting in the country has not come as a surprise. This is a country
that had its foundation on agriculture before the discovery of oil and
gas. Data from World Bank indicate that the country boasted 77.7 per
cent arable land in 2013. Research and availability of rice varieties
have also made it possible for rice to be grown across the length and
breadth of the country, at any time of the year.
To achieve self-sufficiency, the
government has a very important role to play. Apart from guaranteeing
access to soft credit, it has to improve infrastructure, especially
access roads to ensure that products are easily evacuated from the farms
and waste is cut down. Besides, it is equally important to protect the
nascent rice farming culture by making sure smugglers are not allowed to
flood the market with cheap imported rice.
Already, there have been reports of
massive imports by neighbouring countries, targeting the Christmas rush
in Nigeria. They are planning to take advantage of the free trade treaty
of ECOWAS, which guarantees free movement of locally produced goods
among member countries, to bring in imported rice. Apart from hurting
the rice farmers and, by extension, the Nigerian economy, allowing
smugglers to have their way will deny government huge amounts of revenue
in unpaid customs duties. This is certainly not what the country needs
at this crucial stage. It is also believed that pressure is being
mounted by countries such as Thailand, India and Singapore, the world’s
major rice producers, on Nigeria to ease the restriction on imported
rice. While the Nigeria Customs Service should ensure that smugglers are
shut out, the government also has to resist the pressure.
Although started as part of Goodluck
Jonathan’s Agriculture Transformation Agenda, the rice self-sufficiency
programme has received a shot in the arm from the Muhammadu Buhari
administration. While Jonathan’s target of 2015 for self-sufficiency
failed to materialise, it is hoped that, with steadfastness and an
enabling environment for prospective investors, Nigeria’s quest for
producing enough rice for internal consumption and even for export in
2017 will be achievable.
FG distributes smartphones with agric app to rice farmers
The Federal Government, yesterday,
flagged off the distribution of agriculture app smartphones to rice
farmers across the country. Smartphones distribution, which was done
through the National Cereals Research Institute, NCRI, commenced with
the training of 50 rice farmers extension officers on how to use the
smartphones to obtain relevant information to boost rice production in
the country.
The training programme drew
participants from six pilot states of Kogi, Nasarawa, Kano, Ebonyi,
Kebbi and Niger, where rice is being produced with comparative
advantage. Speaking at the event in Lokoja, Kogi State, Acting Executive
Director of NCRI, Agboire Samuel, said the gesture was part of the
Federal Government’s policy aimed at scaling up rice production in the
country to meet both local and export demands.
Sesame Seed; Investment & Trading
Sesame Seed, also called benniseed is
the most sought after vegetable oil in the world as its industrial
ingredients can be used for the production of margarine, canned sardine,
corned beef, soap making and ink and is well preferred to other
vegetable oils because of its lack of odour, chemical composition,
colour and taste.
Nigeria is the second largest producer of sesame seed in Africa, and ranking seventh in the World.
SOURCING
The major producing areas in order of priority are Nasarawa, Jigawa and Benue States. Other important areas of production are found in Yobe, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Gombe, Kwara, Niger, Bauchi and Plateau States.
PRODUCTION STATISTICS
Nigeria currently produces about 300,000 metric tonnes of Sesame Seed.
USES
Sesame seed is a source of highly nutritional oil used for cooking. It is also used to garnish and decorate confectionaries e.g cake, bread, sweet, burger, hot dogs, etc. It is used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, soap and cosmetics, production of animal feeds, etc.
PRICING
A tonne of sesame seed currently sells for about N300,000.
EXPORT MARKET
Major destinations for Nigeria sesame seed are China, Turkey, Japan and India. Other countries like Poland and Netherland also receive Nigerian Sesame in smaller quantities.
EXPORT SEASON
The season for Sesame Seeds sales is between November and April of the following year.
HARVESTING PERIOD
Harvesting begins in late December and continues through July. Each producing area has only one season. Early crops are harvested between July and August and late crops between November and December.
STORAGE
Since sesame is a small flat seed, it is difficult to move much air through it in a storage bin. Therefore, the seeds need to be harvested as dry as possible and stored at 6 percent moisture or less. If the seed is too moist, it can quickly heat up and become rancid.
PROCESSING
After harvesting, the seeds are cleaned and hulled. The seeds pass through an air separation stage to remove any foreign particles. About 10 percent of this “cleaned natural seed” moves directly into food use as whole seed to be blended into flour for baked goods.
Next, a combination of water and
friction work together as the seeds are passed against the chamber of
the hulling machine to separate the hull from the seeds. This dust-free
de-hulled seed makes up 30 percent of domestic production and has 99.97
percent purity for the baked goods market.
Once the seeds have been hulled, they
are passed through an electronic color-sorting machine that rejects any
discolored seeds to ensure perfectly colored sesame seeds. Immature or
off-sized seed is removed but saved for oil production.
PACKAGING
Jute bag is highly recommended for packaging for export. It allows for aeration and at the same time safely holding the seeds, which are very small in size. The weight per bag varies; they are packed in 45kg, 50kg or 60kg, depending on the market dictate.
INVESTMENT SUMMARY
Production
Processing
Export
Storage
Packaging
ARMTI to discuss agriculture at 19th annual lecture
The Public Relations Officer, ARMTI, Mr.
Mayowa Gidado, gave the topic of the lecture as: ‘Youth in agriculture:
Possibilities and opportunities for sustainable agricultural business
in Nigeria’.
The guest lecturer is the Managing
Director/Chief Executive Officer of Paul Okpue Farms, Asaba, Delta
State, Mr. Paul Okpue; while the acting Director-General, National
Directorate of Employment, Mr. Kunle Obayan, is among the discussants.
Gidado said the programme would serve as
an avenue for ARMTI to fulfil one of its mandates, which is to
contribute to policy development to enhance better management of the
agricultural and rural sector in Nigeria.
He added that the programme was expected
to attract policymakers, practitioners, academics and other
stakeholders to brainstorm on topical issues in the agricultural sector,
which has been placed on the front burner this year.
According to him, the lecture series has
attracted several notable personalities in the past like Maj.-Gen.
Agbazika Innih, Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Dr.
Ishrait Husain of the World Bank; the Country Representative of the
Food and Agriculture Organisation, Dr. Louise Setswaelo; and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, among others.
Gidado stated that this year’s programme
would also coincide with two ongoing courses in ARMTI at namely:
‘Everything you ever wanted to know about sweet potato’ and ‘Youth
empowerment scheme in agribusiness’ entrepreneurial and management
training.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Bauchi Targets 200 Percent Increased Yields Through Mechanised Farming
A
memorandum of understanding between the Bauchi state government and the
government of the Czech Republic is being concluded to provide the
state with cheaper agricultural equipment in an effort to make
agriculture attractive and transform it to an alternative source of
revenue and better employer of labour that gives greater yield than the
traditional agricultural method.
Governor
of Bauchi state Mohammed Abubakar who stated this at the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International, Airport, Abuja shortly after returning from the Czech
Republic, said the delegation he led to the Czech Republic from Bauchi
state was in that country on the invitation of the minister of
agriculture and the deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Czech
Republic.
According
to a press release signed by the Press Secretary to the governor,
Abubakar Al-Sadique, which was made available to THISDAY Weekend, the
governor stressed that for agriculture which is one of the major
employers of labour in Nigeria to provide the alternative source of
revenue the country desperately needs, farming must be “practiced in the
scientific way”, where mechanisation will replace traditional methods.
Abubakar
lamented that farmers in Bauchi state like other Nigerian farmers rely
on traditional farming which consumes lots of human energy and resources
but yields far less to the farmers.
“Because
we now need to test the soil to determine its suitability for the
cultivation of the crops we intend to cultivate to increase our yield
per hectre, we must embrace the developments and innovations being
brought to agriculture that come with researches in science and
technology, which the Czech Republic so seriously engages in. The yield
per hectre for maize, for example, in the Czech Republic is about 40
tones while in Nigeria the highest is unfortunately about 5 tones”, the
governor whose delegation was taken round modern farms to see how modern
agriculture is practiced in the Czech Republic, he said.
Under
the memorandum of understanding, the Czech Republic is to support the
agricultural sector in the state by providing especially small scale
farmers with multi-purpose mini tractors and other farming implements at
low costs that Bauchi farmers can easily afford.
At
the inception of his administration, Abubakar visited the Czech
Republic and thereafter a trade delegation from that country also
visited Nigeria during which time he had a meeting with the delegation
on investment potentials of the state in the areas of agriculture and
tourism.
It
was the result of that meeting which informed the agriculture minister
and the deputy minister of foreign affairs’ specific invitation of
Bauchi state to see how the Czech Republic can help the state boost its
agriculture through science and technology and use of modern
agricultural implements produced in that country.
Because
of the interest the authorities in the Czech Republic have in investing
in agricultural development of Bauchi state, accommodation and other
logistics were provided to Governor Mohammed Abubakar and members of his
delegation.
Researchers Alarmed Over Threat to Nigeria’s Cassava Industry
Nigeria’s
rising population, particularly in the cities, coupled with low
productivity (yield per hectare) of cassava roots is threatening her
cassava industry and could impede the gains made in the sector, putting
the country at risk of becoming a net importer of staple crops.
Grown
by over 4.5 million people in Nigeria, cassava is a major food crop,
contributing to food security and income for millions of people but the
productivity of the crop in Nigeria is low–12-13 tons per ha.
“This
low productivity cannot support Nigeria in the next 34 years,”
according to Dr Claude Fauquet, Director with the Global Cassava
Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP 21) while addressing participants
at the just concluded workshop with the theme: “Integrated System for an
Effective Cassava Production in Africa,” in IITA, Ibadan last month.
“By
2050, Nigeria’s population will rise to 400 million, meaning that we
will have more mouths to eat cassava and cassava products such as gari,
fufu etc. With the current cassava productivity of 12-13 tons per
hectare, cassava cannot sustain this huge population,” Fauquet
explained.
Elsewhere
in Asia, cassava productivity has hit more than 20 tons per ha and a
nation such as Thailand is today a major exporter of cassava products
such as starch.
Fauquet
said Africa, and Nigeria in particular, has the land, youth and climate
to achieve the same feat such as Thailand. “The question is: Why is
this not happening?” he remarked.
Besides
the rising population, Fauquet noted that urbanisation would trigger
the migration of more than 50 percent of Nigeria’s population to cities
which would leave a labour vacuum in the rural areas – a situation that
would further exacerbate the problem of cassava production in the
country.
He
however said Nigeria could address the challenges by investing in the
research for development of cassava along the value chain. Specifically,
he said, investments in improved varieties, weed control, best
agronomic practices, and mechanization could change the outlook of
cassava. “Other areas that need attention include access to credit,
markets and cooperatives,” he added.
Fauquet called on the Nigerian government and donors to invest in research and development to put cassava ahead.
IITA
Deputy Director General, Partnerships For Delivery, Dr. Kenton
Dashiell, who represented the Director General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga,
said cassava is an important crop for Nigeria and it was important that
researchers were thinking about its future.
He
commended the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for investing in
cassava production along the value chain, and called on the government
of Nigeria to consider upscaling some of the proven technologies such as
cassava mechanization, weed management, improved seeds at IITA, and
best agronomic practices to farmers across the country.
Project
Leader for the Cassava Weed Management Project, Dr. Alfred Dixon
described cassava as a “poverty fighter,” emphasising that investment in
cassava would help Nigeria to tackle the twin problem of hunger and
poverty, and youth unemployment.
The
workshop in Ibadan attracted participants from the private sector,
development partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and
IFAD, and farmer organisations.
Ebonyi High Producer of Rice
The
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh has described Ebonyi farmers
as the real heroes of President Muhammadu Buhari’s push to diversify the
nation’s economy, especially through agriculture in rice production.
The
minister also promised that the federal government would rehabilitate
the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the
state.
He explained that under Operation 1,037 of the federal government, a minimum of 10 dams per state and the FCT would be built.
Ogbeh,
who was accompanied by the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Rice
production, Abubakar Bagudu and Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin
Emefiele, commended Umahi for his agricultural policy, particularly in
ensuring massive rice production in the state.
The
minister called on youths to key into agriculture to diversify the
economy and see it as a way out of the present economic recession in the
country. He promised to bring agricultural equipment like rice
harvesters, threshers, par- boiling drums to Ebonyi State.
“Next
year, we shall plant for you 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts; five
hundred hectares per the three senatorial districts in your state. We
shall also build you two factories here for roasting cashew. By the middle of
last week, I had some machines ready for you (Ebonyi State)".
These
include threshers and even new par-boiling drums which operate
differently from what women are using. When those machines come,
youngmen will be thought how to enter a farm and harvest rice for
farmers. These young men and farmers will make so much money to the
extent that they will become millionaires in the villages. So wealth is
here (in farming)”, Ogbeh said.
He
also promised that the federal government would rehabilitate the Ettem
Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the state,
even as he explained that under Operation 1,037 of the federal
government, a minimum of 10 dams per state and the FCT would be built.
The
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Rice production and governor
of Kebbi State, Bagudu, said what he saw in rice producing states showed
that the country had achieved self sufficiency in rice production and
should therefore commence plan for rice export. “Success recorded in the
last one year is phenomenal. What we have seen, in terms of rice output
seems to suggest that the goal of self sufficiency which we hitherto
thought will be achieved in 2017, might have already been achieved,” he
stated.
Emefiele,
in his remark explained that the apex bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme
would commence next year to boost farming and tackle challenges
confronting farmers.
Emefiele also pledged the bank’s readiness to participate in the clearing and re-dredging of the Ettem Amagu Dam.
Governor Umahi had while welcoming them in the state, commended President Buhari for reviving agriculture in the country.
He
expressed the readiness of the state government to partner the federal
government in all season farming. He said, “There are over 30 dams in
this state. They are recharged by very near streams. So we want
assistance from the Federal Government in the area of irrigation.
We
want assistance in the area of money to the farmers. We want assistance
in the area of biomass plants. The cost of buying diesel and
maintenance is too high; we also need harvesters to assist our farmers.”
The
team also visited the state’s modern rice mills in Oso-Edda and Ikwo
where they saw live processed rice rolling out of the machines.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)