AGRIC
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BUSINESS
Wednesday 01 August 2012
BUSINESS DAY: www.busi nessdayonline.com
Poor infrastructure, policy bacl(up limit horticulture business
Benue farmers groan over late arrival of fertilizer
Horticultu re, a very vibra nt business attracting huge foreign exchange in Kenya, is still at its infancy in Nigeria. Jumolle Kassim, sustainability consultanUchieF executive, Naturescape li mited, a hurticultural firm, says inFrastructura l challenges and inability to access Facilities From institulional lenders are major limitations preventing horticulture From generating massive empl)yment and Foreign excha nge in Nigeria. Excerpts: OLUYINKAAlAWOO,
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I over the wo rld
IncluCJ.lng NIgeria, globa l warming and dep letion of he oZI'nt layer
leading to climat e change Is building the fconomic potential ofhottic~.lbure. which has five fie:l ds. t hese fields ale floricu lture · production
of rlowu s, lan dscape horticultutt - !Induction, making and rna nu~nancc of landscape plants. oleriaJlture . producdon 01 v!gelables,
pomology - pr<lduclion of fruits, and pos' -Ilarvesling physiology - marketing. quality and pr!Hntlon of
spoilage. With thegrow_~awareness
mala ",~lI -kep l un"d designed green environmeht will belp 10 offset carb o n emissio n around building SUUClures and pro\'lde al:S1hetics, Naruresca~ Limited slaned businessoperaliouln 199531 researchers and oof\Suhams III honicu hu~ and landscape, planning a nd Lesign;ng, en\;ronmemal lm.nagement The rlrm Is also in to tourism destin~ ions plmning and promotiof (f these via i nformation techno logy soludons. Our [lI 'get clients a re indlYlduals, co rpo rate bodies, and lesiiltl ujaJ estates,
local and Slale governments, and generally, everyo ne who loyes a designed a nd well-sc ulplured ga rden environment. These clients understand thai thealraround thei r premises are cleansed and sanitised through planting ofhonirultural crops and this rubs off on the well being of the residents. Fl owers have expoTl potential but the challenges of Infrasnuclure in Nigeria make the operating cost here diffirull, such thai we maynot beableto compelewith other III ayers In the seClor s uch IH East African, panlcularly Kenyans who do not have OUT own challenges. Challenges Though noriculture, a fi eld of horticulture is an aspect of agriculture, there Is no policy suppOrt for operators to access finan ce fo r this Une of business. The business Is l ucratlye, but getting fina nce for expansion Is a major challe nge. As a result, Na turescape has not been able 10 do major dRain part projects. Honicullure Is an appendage of agriculture, but currentl y the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not ha"e any policy to suppon lending to this sub-sector. Only.the cultlvadon of yegetables and fruits aspects ofhonicuJlu~ Is
e nue State s tatus as t h e ' Food Ba s ket of the Nation ' is under threat again, as fa rm ers across the slate have bee n g roaning ove r t he nOIl ayallability offenilizer and o the r agro-chemlcals th at enhance yields. BuslnessDay Inyestlgation gathers that due to this situation, crops such as malz.e, yams, rice are In short su pply In the market 85 of Ju ly e nding, when such commodities o ught to be in high s uppl y judging by previous years. In response to this problem, the Benue State goyemment has flagged off the sale of 400 Irucldoad of differen t fertilizer brands expecled 10 be sold a t a s u bsidised rate of N3,000 per bag, but many of the farm ers express m ixed feelings. According to them, the governor 's geSlure is Indeed very commendable but the timing is wrong as II wou ld take so me days for the commodity to gel to remote areas where a large chunk of the farming population resides. The farme rs say Ihe problem of fertllhers distribution In th e state over the years has been due to the connivance of governme nt functionarie s wilh middlemen bent on se iling subsi d ised fertilizers at exorbi tant rate s. A s ub s idised bag of fertilize r in the s tate pegged at NJ,OOO by the government may often get [0 genuine fa rmers al the
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supported, as tlll:se are foods for human con sumption. Because the no ri culture aspect has no policy support. banks shy away from funding h.
Most people do not pay muc h allen tion to details aboul gardening and often delete it from thei r house plans at the las t stage and Opt for Paving stones, out of fear of mai ntai ning the garden and spending extra money continuously. Some just go to road side plant sellers who do not have any formal training aboul designing and sustaina ble options for the garden works, and just mix a nd malch planlS for their houses just 10 get a cheaper option thai mighl be a ·penny · wise pound foolish" option in the long run. They all miss out on the ~freshing benefiu of having plants Ihat cleanses lhe air and offset their carbon footprint. The fU lure of noriculture and all aspectsor horticullure Is bright i n Niger ia , as people are gradually being enco uraged 10 do more planting of nowers a nd uee crop l by the governme lll, es pecially the Lagos State government. The issues of climate cbang~ adaptation and mitigation ,kills has really played up the imponance of RfOOH (Redu cing Emission from Oeforestationand Forest Degradation), and everyone Is being encouraged to plant [wo to 10 trees 10 replace any cut tree, which also includes
pianting nowers and shrubs around the house. This Is a panacea to climate cbange devasta ting erfecls because the trees take OUI the carbon dioxide emitted by humans and other greenhouse gases and ~pl ace with oI)'8en needed by humans, th e~by cleanSing the ai r of excess green house gas which is respo nsible for die negative effectS of climate cbange. Plans I look forward to professio nal or lega l protection for wha t I describe as Inleilect ua l property rights of noriculturists who get ca lled on by potential clients to submil proposals (or bea utifi catio n or landscaping, and then give the contrac t to road side gardeners to Implement using the proposal of the expert. In Eu rope, suc h requeSts fo r qUOlatlon o r proposals are paid for, 50 onl), serious clients need appl)' or request It's difficult to do thllt here, since one can'l Ile an Island; several others will be \\11IIng to submit proposals without gening Ilaymenljust to Increase theircllllnces. Yet, comingon a visit to a site and doing a proposal costs time and resources. Future pro.peclI We plan to e mbark on public neighbourhood parks and com mu nity cenues projects. and'also plan to go into training.
rate of NS,OOO to N6,OOO, as a result of s harp practices. The Slate gove r nor, Gabriel S usw"m , has howe ver wa rn ed against s u c h un p atrloli c acts . Du ring the nag-orr of the 2012 fertillur/chemlcal sale and distribution recently, tlle govemor said: "lhis year, we will not give feniliz.ers (0 my aides because we wan t to minimise sharp practices " occasloned b y so m e of them who dive r! Ihls commodity 10 middlemen at n ew garage, w ho In lu rn se ll to our farme rs at very high cost. And to those government officials saddled with the handling of the commodity this year, I want to warn that any of you caught In such acts of sabotaging our efforts will be dealt with squarely, no matter how highl)' placed such a person is.' Som e fa rmers are still hopeful thai If the governor can march his words with act ion , the commodity would get to remOle places acros s th e sta te ear ly enough to still be useful, as It would be better to apply the fenillz.er late Ihan not at ali. The gove rnor said the delaywas due to Ihe Federal Gove rnme nt 's direc ti ves that states PUI on hold the exercise, pending lhe time It would have flagged offits improved seeds to farmers across the country. Howeyer. the la\esuppl)' and distributio n orfeniliz.er in the Sla te is r • •1 a new phenomenon. The ratmers have consistendy requested for fertillz.er lales t in the months of April and May, which Is t he best pe riod to apply II in order to get ma.rlmum yields.