BUSINESSDAY, 21 AUGUST, 2012

Business & Economic Outlook

27

ACROSS THE ST_ES

Tuesda)' 21 August 2012

BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonline.com

-------------------------------------------Boosting the agricultural sector in Abia Abia State Government is leveraging on the Agricultural Transformation Agend a of th e Federal Government to grow the agric sector in the State, writes GOOFREY OFURUM bia State Government recently commenced

A

the dismbudon of free

lmproved cocoa seed路 ings and agro-input to farmers 10 boOSI cocoa productio n in th e Slale. The Slate Government

also pro m ised 10 eSTablish mega farms in the seventeen Local Government Areas ohhe Slale 10 creale

Job opponunities for me youths.

The mega farms, lagg~. 路 Ub路 eration Parms; expected 10 create additional ",000 lobs. would be estab lished through th e collaborative effon of the Ministries of Agrk uJrure, l..ocal Government and Chieftaincy Affairs In conjunction wi th the Ab ia Stale Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC).

Governor Theodore Orjl, In his ad dress at th e nag-Off of th e dis tribution of free improved cocoa seedlings and agro- inpm for cocoa fanners In the State also explained th at livestock. fisheries and poultry, would be involved, noting thai the m ega farms, would serve as cen treS for inTensive production of all agricultuml products as well as job creation centres.

Re presented by his deputy, Emeb Ananaba, Orji also revealed thaI a modem abanoir wou ld soon be established inAba. the com merdal hub of the state, by a Canada based food processing company, under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement Oril solidted for the suppon of the fanners to his adminislnltion and pledged to servewtlll allslncertty and intq;rity.

"Abia farmers., I will not disappoint you_I have given you loans to empoweryou, now I have Wlveiled the Cree cocoa seedlings for you.

I have also given you other fann lmplemenlS today. I will conlinue to do your wishes and that means, delivering the dividends of democracy in this sector;" Orjl promised.

Le n di n g his view, Ike Onyen . waku, commissioner for Agriculture affinned that the event was organ路 ised to give cocoa production In tbe state the imperus and make It more attractive to Investors, young school leavers and generally create awareness of Ille huge economic potentials of cocoa producdon.

Onyenwaku uplalned that Ille m lnlsay has been bubblinG with activities, espedaUy In the last Jew weeks, following aclive financial a nd moral s uppon of Governor Orji to thetIanSformalion agenda of the Federal Government on action plans on cassava. cocoa. rice, oil palm, aquaculture, leather. sheep, goat and pig.

The agTlc co m missione r reo

vealed thai Ihe st ate has commenced Ille disbursemen t of N I billion agriculrural loan 10 boost Ihe capita! base of poor farmers In Ihe Slate. According 10 him. Abia has enonnous polentials for cocoa production. ~e rich soil and everny distribute rainfall in Abia Slate cannot be harnessed nOI just for cocoa production. but also forthe commercial production of other cash aops and livestock; OnyenwaJru explained.

Onyenwa lru urg ed potenda l Investors to lap from the rich agricultural resources for production and processing ofvarious oops and li vestoclc.lncluding cocoa.

- I Illank oue farm el'S, particularly, those engaged in cocoa production for Iheir patience. support and underslanding. Some of you have made Abia proud by wirnng nadonal laurels. We promise 10 do wha tever is needed to enable you excel In )'tIue chosen vocation and improve our current raling in cocoa production," he assured.

The agrlc commissioner urged Ille fanners to make good use of the inputs by property applying the skills they have acquired from Ihe

cocoa farmer Reid schools as well

Federal G' lvem m enl.

Ol.:oro 1101ed that Ihe association is working \"'Ih the State Governsocieties 10 establish cocoa seeds ment 10 enS"Jfe that real farmers in processing plants in the Slate_ the State benefit from the N I billion Dunlo p Okoro, chairm an, All commeJdal agric loan. which is onFarm ers Association of Nige ria going. He further advised the con(AFAN) Abia State, in an inlerview sultant hanelling the disbursement with BusinessDayobserved that the of Ille loan !c, workwith the Ministry State Government is giving fann- of Agriculture. whiclJ according to ers proper recognition that they him, has iI comprehellsive lisl of farmers tha t hl:.ve registered with He revealed that over 800 fann - th e ministry for the loan. ers In the State would benefit from - r-arm cl'! rei'J on the mlnistryof the free improved cocoa seedlings Agriculture; consequently, the conand agro-Input largesse and urged sultant Uinu Id workwith the minisIhose nOI yel capnu-ed on the data- try 10 gel to th e real farmers In Ille base to visilllle mlnlstryoragricul- State. We fin! nOI actually interested tureor AFAN office for reglsmuion_ In going aher the consultant; we -Farmers are happy, becau se want the mlnistry of Agriculture to what is being given out today to forward th e.r Uu to Ille consultant. cocoa farmers-chemicals, seedlings 10 ensure lhat those wbo appUed and rain boo15 are 10 encourage rhrough t ill! ministry are no_t left them and Itls been given to them out.- Okoro >tated.. rree,- he stressed.

The St a te Chairman, AFAN, He eIplalned I.hal Ihe Slate h owever de::ried Ille state of mads Govenunent set up tIanSfonnation In the hinterlands and wged local com mlnees on cocoa, ri ce a nd governme nt chairmen 10 create cassava 10 promote agriculture as access ro ads 10 e nable farmers to weu as to el\SUJ1! thai farmers in the tr.llISpon d teir produce from Ille Slate benefit from the agricultural farms 10 the market. transformation programme o r the C3n1hsed 28

as cons ider Ihe coming together of fanners' schools as cooperative

The State Government has m apped out programmes to supply fertilizer and other farm inputs to genuine farmers in the state and encouraged mechan ized farming through the provision ofloan fa cilities to big farmers

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28

Business & Economic Outlook

ACROSS THE STATES Tuesday 21 August 2012

BUSINESSl' AY: WWW.bU5inessdayonline.com

BoosLing the agricultural ...

Coooooed (ian fJt.ye 27 AccordilJg ttl him, there are no feeder mad! to the farmlands and the local government chairman should know ti:.al it is within their jurisdiction to create access mads 10 the filIIm. -Getting agIl inputs is another

challenge that we face, sInce the federal Go\'emm ':!nt look ove r th e pro,ision of fertilizer, It has been difficult for farmers to get fertilizet

beclUse nOI e1,"erybody has been captured on th.! database and it is not everybody tllat is geldng th e mes>age. .So, there Is need fo r the State Govemmeru's{,) ]Iurchase fertilizer

like before and :ru bsidlse It for local iamlers, so thaI with time. fanners wQuldconform [(] the new arrange-

ment, but for IIDW, most farmers haVl! been left QUI; he observed.

10 give agrku!ture a boost. the CUllen! admini;nadon in the State says it is im pal." ting positively on farmers througll its agencies. lIke tile minislry.,cf agriculture and the agricultural development programme (ADP) II also e::plalned thai the Slale Go\'emmcni ilLS mapped out prograrnrrtes 10 su pp ly fertillzer and oth~r fIrm in puts 10 genuine fanners j n Ithe Sta~ md encouraged me<llanized famling through Ihe pr0l1slon o f loau faci\llies 10 big farmers.

BusinessDay I hecks also gathered thai the minhlryo fagrirullure acquired 55 ua,:turs under public! privale panneJSltip InilJallve and farmers, who d id nOI benefit !'rom thel'rogramm e have been advised to al>proach th, ·/.DP for its uactor hirill g servil:es.

1 h~ goverrun,! nt according to SOUlce5 has bee:! providing lI<lining workshops and St!mlnars for farme ls asi~-eu as eJllension services. lhe adlIllniHi.tion In coUaboratioo with the Na:ion al Root Cmp Re..wakh Institull! (NRCRI), Umudike , has done £. hliin widening the horbon offann~n Into the modem fam~g m:hni1Iues.

Go vernme nt ha s also pro gr-anuhed Its apicu1tural agencies inlO th e Federal ':'ovemment and imematiooal ah'Tirultural agencies lik£the WAD and FADM-IA I II others for the fonnulation and execution ~~agrkulttlli' l polities and has connnuedtoho:J.(Iurhscounterpart obligations on Ib l!m.

The Slate qO'fernment slated also that It has lolned the Federal Govemmeht s cassava and Oil trnnsformatio~ in iliative (COTl), nothg that the Governor recently, sigrled the I~l!.fsible standing order ( I~PO) to gil'( fanners Impetus 10 access the N t billion corrunerciaJ agriculture IOill( of the Federal Gov· ernm!.lnL Tbe Mlnls l r) of Ag riculture has approved ~ toll aborative programme with ,lh ~ ministry Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the Abia stale Oil ProducIng Areas Devekpment Commission (ASOPADEC:O toestablish mega farms (l ibe rat ion fa rms) across the 17 Local Guv ! rnment Areas of me State. Uvestock, Asheries and PoultrY w'Ji be involved and serve as centers for ir.u nsive productiun of all agricuhwal products as well d.S job cre.ltion ,::enters.

eAndOni/OpobotNkoIU edernl co nstltu en cy In Rivers State, represented

by Dakuku Pe le rslde, Is made up of two local council areas (Andoni and Opobo/ Nkoro). The areaissetto takeitsdes-tiny In its hands, as preached by Peterside, fonner works commissioner in RiversStlte and one of Govemor Chibuike Arllilech!'s trusted allies.

Now, the message has caught on with the entire peo ple of the two council areas and they have pe rfected plans to unveil theirec:onomic potentials and power to the world, through a comlngec:onomlcsummiL Andonl is the last local councll area In Nigeria from the southern axis. Our area Is jutting Into the Atlantic Ocean and so we touch the Atlantic shelf. We are the only local council that has elephants.

We him! an elephant colony, a naturally preserved forest close to theOcean. Ngo Is the headquarters of the local government, In fact. one of the largest council areas In Southern Nigeria.

Almoflhesummlt We are expecting so much I"mm t.he economi c summiL Some Chi· nese Investors are talking with us on caged fish projec:ts and we have held (WO discussions so far. We are keen on this and we know It wUJ work.

We hope that genuine inve5I1Jrs can come and work with' us. We have a stable and peaceful entity, hard worldng local populace. and variety ofbuslness opportunities to exploil There is this thin g we call the AnOOnl metaphor:The desert in the north is counted as part of a local council land mass which is factored into revenue allocation formula. but the ocean is not counted for us In the south, especially Andoni tllat has a large par1 onts land mass In tile AtianticOcean.

We knowthat 60 perrent of the oil tllat feeds NIgeria is off-shore, yet the local councils tllat own the offshore water mass are not counted. We are breadwinners or Nigeda but our 'wives' do not respect us. It is an irony.

ll

We have a stable and peaceful entity, hardworking local populace, and variety of business opportunities to exploit

Andoni: Introducing national power grid to ignite tourism, fishing The cha irman of Andoni local counci l, DROM NTE EREfOROKUMA, in this interview with IGNATIUS CHUKWU,

explains how his administration is linking Andoni to the national power grid to ignite the fish and tourism sectors which are major economic drivers in the water-locked community, dose to the Atlantic O(l!-1n.

the world and Investors. We have narural beaches for tourism development, we have fishing portS, islands, ni!..rura1 habitats for large ns h businesses, etc. Wesupply mostofthefish to thetities, big fish species.

Nigeria im ports over N IObilllion fishstockannua1lybutwecansupply mostoftllis. Wedomorefishingthan anybodye1se In Nigerla.. bul 'n ost of this is lost due to absence preservationsystems here.l he fT en do tile fishing. the women do ( te selling.

We are brln&1nK power to it,TIlte this lalent economJt:fl'rt:e..

Tourismpotelltlal lJr.\l ldoni No other local tv.lL' dlln Nigeria is better positioned ~o r tourism than AndonL We have wonderful sand beaches like the Bahamas, South Africa. Dubal, elc that have beautiful beaches. The wonder of It all is that the Atlantic Ocean takes sand away from other beaches but rather

e.-

Federal Government and Shell are our worst enemies. There is no single feder."'1 govenunem or Shell project in AndonL ~1!t this is where they extract all the mOlley. We are forgotten. Niger Della Development Comm1sslonand 13 percemalIocation are not the exruse forneglecting Andonl.

Thlngs to showcase at the summil We have many things to show to

deposits it In Andoni.

So, everyday, tile Atlantic Oceall give§ussand Wedo notneeddreclgIng 10 gel more land It is therefore tile best potentiallnNigeria, thewilY nature romances with us. We no longer kill elephants to get tusks and meat but 1\'1! preserve them for full blown InvestmenL Tourism should however be private sector driven.

We h.-ve the largest fishing pon In the world. We also have the largest 15larod In southern Nigeria. Andonl blteracted with the white !nail (tile Ponuguese)asfarbacku 1649, even ~fore the British cat.r.t'. The lim baptl!.mwascondUCledin ..upanofthe world in 1699 in a Catho.;(' church.

Andolll was a tJading ~ost and had d eveloped trading (",utes because of a thriving population. then.

Our people are scattered alo n g the water rou tes and have fonned villages from the Akwa Ibom axis,

through the main Andoni 10 BorulY, Peterside, Cawthorne OJanneL up to Bayelsa State. We still Interact and keep In touch with each other.

Something amiss Darknes5 has enveloped our place beause of the absence of electrldty in the entire local oouncil area. Ught Is life and power is the beginning of business and indusrry. Power Is under the exclusive list and so it the duty of the fed eral govt!IllIllent but my administration has take n up the task. We awarded a power project at N430m, for First the phase. We are merely ca tching an elephant with bare hands. WearebuildinglOwersto bring the national grid through Db power system.

We are bringing transfonners to connect many communities. even twoconununities(KhanaandNkoIO) that are not in Andoni local council area. Some 16 communities have so far been alvered. lhere have been many issues cropping up, espedally ,ve had expected the betdge (by the state government) to be completed so we could use It to mount our towers across the big water but the de!ay has forced us to elpand the scope of the oontract.

Sl!{;urity is imponant. We have zero tolerance foreime and violence.

In fact, we helped to recover over 1,000 rods and ZOO bags o f cement when a a:msuuction site was robbed.

Arrests were made. We ha\'C fought down anned robbery, piracy, rultism, etc. Our attitude here is, do the right thing and be the friend of the cOUIlcil.

Jftheydisrurb you, alme to us.

Development is Imporlaf!l to us and we pursue it with all viguUL ThaI is whywe are in love with the present administration In Rh-ers State. They brought the Unity Road which has changedoureronomyby60percenl Leadership Is key to dp.velopmenL Ow son, Dakuku Pete rs ide, representing Opobo/Nkoro/Andoni Federal Constituency has shown tremendous leadership foresighL He has exposed our pan or the country and it is left to us to lap Into iL He teaches us to look Inward and anrnct tile world. and that is what we are now doing.

Neglect has been too bad. That is why we are angry with the Federal Government and Shell. The 86 oil wells won since 2010 have not added one kobo to our benefits. Theyareall located in our local council area. Oil companies are tricksters, wicked, they hale us. I even called them to a meeting and they Just ga\'C excuses; that \vc were fighting.

Our peop!e will soon revolt and barricade the area. We are just ronsideetng the impact to Nigeria.. but \vc may soon run out of patience. Shell said their fund is for cassava but \\'C are fishennen. Theyuse divlde-andrule; deal Wltll handpicked groups without recourse to the local alundl authority.

Our projeruso far Include buildingofJetties, mads, buying ofgenerators. We give light to the IOwn and the council. The Slale government gave us a 2,000 KVA plant and we fuel It and supply light with our N23million annually. Now, beause of the little power we have, businesses, including li mi ted Industrtal actlvities are springing up.

Our nnandais are limited. We gel about N Il9million monthly and spend about N1l5m1llion on wages and overh eads. There are no taxes (IGR) to fall backte.