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AGRICULTURE
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'Agriculture is profitable'
FOR deca,lQ, agriculture In Nlgcna has iJMl \'iC\Oo~ as I pm fcsslon iISSOdaJcd with poYI!rty II i.5 the general notion that only the poor p'at:l;U in ;agriculture and. tMre(or~ If"ne "'"31111 to mru il big. hdsht- sh Klld be: looking II lhr oil5rClo ~ 01" oIh~ professions sucbum«IJdn!arnicngincmng Thit Is IDe view of Madam Hann;J.llJ Sonl. a woman fanner In Saminab. u= J.oaJ G<r.'nTIment
AmI 0( Kad, lila State. Shebnot he ' >n' yonetNlhold.. tllis view. 1Lnjl /troltoyu.an agn
w1ture con: UILU\!.nd Professor of Agricuhu1: II Ahmadu Bdlo UnMnity. Zar a 0TICl! lamenltd thai many Nige rians do not rell isc that agrkullUlt hokls Ihe Itt) to till' susle-nan :<I' and $11rvh,...,1 of Nigeri.a. nll~ ml ;placement ofpri llenumbcrofstu dents .ppIyiI18" 'Study agriculture in the un~f5it eo iJ; going down (If1ty iulSQ~ 'h)
on a yearly basi:
of rnu~ I~ ;r.,;tor has5UlTerM
rqI«I by sucre .$i\~ govnnmenlS in faVI)UTof crude oil wNhh. lrad '118 lu tho: llt.'ilf (olbp$C' of the 5« tor such Ihal reJiving It becolTl6 a Heroll~ 1:lIk, and making II an unattractive ~nture fur man) acepl runt population who havc no olha Irm;or occupalion but I'mning. esp!Q.&lJythc womt'n 1be DumUer ;>l women in agri culture in tllgl ri;!, according to
w
qricultu~ r.t3ldloldcTS.
Fat oul· wrighs Ihe !1un'"bc:r of men In the age~ prof:ssi..ln In an iati:I"iew shC' grat1ttd DaU, Trust . Matlam. Soni said farming is 01 p"""Otitahie business but farmen; ml ~ N giv= sup
pori and ma)Ur.I~1 by government and other stakeholders benusoe of the many challenges of the profession. She sUI: ~Pl'e2Otly I am ~ farmer by professioo though I IOd vdUlC'Clu~ up 10 the Higher National Oiploma (UND) ~l When I got mmTled, I ~ to Saminaka. from Kaduml Stale. 11w wuwhcn: 1plckat interet in £arming and stantd it ;u a hobby. Gndually, I m~tk it a fuji time pro· femion and with the proaeds from my farm,l h~~ been abk to buy. newToyoIa Sienna Space bus. "When I got 10 Saminab. I thought I could JUSC be em~ by the loa! g~rmm:nt but immcdi;o.ldy 1ddve:l inLOagriruIture, I I'dll rouiddonlCnt1wo.just !King a gnv.:mmertl wvri;a md Ihal passion has kepi me going. II Is not the IssueoftlIming IIIt'Ir1! but whereyou put your interest. Apan (rom that. farming is a profilllble busine5$.. There are IQ n'IO!Iny challenges all the same, but I bdle~ Ih1.1 if you ha~ passion (0£ 5OfJIethingand you Ire mcoungtd, you will do wdJ and that hu been my S(rength." On whal prompted the change in her 10 go into fanning Instead of practicing archi~sbe 11Iid. "farmin&suiU me well bcawc wt' mlill not rOfF tJw u a married
WOn'lO!ln in Ahica, m Nigeria and in the North, you are reo>tric:ttd. pro.
fessionally. ~EVCJ if your husband does not RStricl you, me 5OC1rty does and btaUK )'UII,al wwnanannol go IOu far from your home. Aldtlt«· lural work may CUTY me rar a~
and I n'IO!Iy be Ihere fO£ KImC time .~ from my fUll Iy. Whatever I
may be ammg from ard1itect~, Ilhink 1 WOlIld pn'feTloN around my family and my community. More "" with Igricuhu~ you can
village and I didn't know what it wa!l 10 go 10 lM farm until I got marritd. and moved toSuninaka whe~ I saw not only m~ fann·
. . . Through farming you can earn money and be comfortable and also make others comfortable ram money and be comfortable and abo mab othen; comfonable. WI was n~ broughl up In the
ing but wornen. 1 starled an a small plO! of land, .boUI SO by
100 brianglng to my hu~ where I CU!ttvaltd malte. I got
anolher place Ind ~ntured inlo other cmp~ wch 15 gmundnul. rke, soybeans. ginger .nd I even tritd Irish potat0e5 which 81llWl well in Platnu. -My husbMKI makes run of me. AftermanY)'QBoffarmingsmall portions of land. my husband advistd me thai instead of run· nlng from one plact to another, why nO'l concentrale on I biggerfarm. He wenl and $pOke to one of his ~Iatiom having aboul 30 h«tare5ofland that was lying raJlow and Ito! 11Iowtd. w: 10 cul'ivaJe the land, I planled malu Indsay-
"""..
'African farmers need suitable technologies' DR. Dennis Kyetere is the newly appointed Executive Director of the Africa Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF) who was in Nigeria for a familiarisation tour. Our reporter caught up with him and he explains why suitable technologies are critical for food sufficiency in Africa. ".rllW!A. HilSSln
Whal nperieou.do you ha"e 10 brinSlnto AATF to .chi,.,...e
WHAT U fOU~ plao to promote accasto lechnlllOSJ'thl'QUgh Ih e
thlstuget? .(1£51. of aU. I am a brndrr by ttainlng.1 wu Ihe Orst 10 Idmllfy and map the grnr that is respon-
Africa Agriculture TechnOlogy Foundalilln (AATI)t The Afrkl I\gricu1ture Tech noklgy Founibfion (AATF) IS an orpniu.tion iterrated to brour agrkulruce ta.hnologJes from the private anJ publk eompanles whkh ha", the technoklgies that are fit for African fannen; bul whidl they rould n~ KCeM brauR Ibo:y haYe intellectual property rlghu AAU Is to bro· k:a- thox lechrologies .nd from my view, If wr a~ to nakr II, ~ mil$! be able ~o deliver thc1.e technologla II ' African fanners thmugb lrlit)nt,al ion and knowledge:sharing. As managen. the best 15 10 \¥Un. with 1IJ1I"artDeTS amIable in the African countfi.=; -'OlLth
of the Sahilr.l" h.ch b our fOCUi fur now. Oll r p.th is tocn:atc that
sible (0£ resistllllce 10 maiu II~ which is a diseaR IrI maize that
rcduca ib production, so by background. I hlvc thatl«hnical ""~l<dg< I did a lot of mai1.t: breeding bd'~
going InlO Id minl5tnlo lion u. director-grner.ai of the National Crop R~h Organi· ulion of Ugamb which ~ uni~ess which is not available everywhcttso lhat weU1!abk to contribute 10 the food I«'I1ril)' of the nnalI scalI: African r.nner. \Vlien youllly propriety righI , whlt.re)'Oll ref~nsto? Propriety righl rcfal' to tech· noIogies that have inldleclual property rightl on them You
wepmductioo oftheoups andanimal tr.lils in the whole of Uganda "ith ~ technologies. Those aprrimas aJl' all bru;icto my work in addition to otltel" positions that I
reproduu them unlil you
just adopt the5e technologies but 1'>~1ook II thrpriontll'Softhesul)..
annat
ha,-e their right•.
"'~hdd.
rmmthe~mcmbacoun
tril'$. CountrirlJ will identify their major production problems so wt' look aI each country. We also look. at improving the nUirimt cunlenl of our food. We seI«t these areIS and they ~ B~ by our board and these I;UI acroa the African continent. From therr, ...... look lOr those companies that h;o..-e the appropriate technologies that .suIte the small sale f.armer. it iJ out of thh
thai we stan 10 negotiate worldns
with rounlrb and organino.tioru to addl"e$!S the dWler!ges in AiriClD COlllltries.
How do we ro5un: thc:sc teW-
noJogies iIJ1' $Illt.able to Africa~ Vtty good. in AATF.
~nal orpnintlons. For rDDlpie. in West .Afria WI! h.1\'~ a body made up of about 21 countries that h&vr, $d prioritks ",-hich ~ ob!:a.intd by having infonnation
~ don)
What would you say .bout the raginSUXUJnmlO'"erGenctia..Ur Modifttd Organism$, GMO? It is \In)' unfOrtunatc that the Genetk:allr Modifoed Org:o.nlsDl5
N~MO)b~gam~~
against because ;as I technology, there is no proof of any danger. 11 b not all cmp$ th.at must be modi·
ftc<! but there ~ some .situations whereby thc bI'St solution is 10 use the GM crops.. For rnmple.somr fartner5 plant couon with a lot of difficulty and these hrrneB OlIn IInp~ their yields wllh tbeGMO beca~someofthemplantll ~
seven 10 12 times ~ it can ger. minate, aput frum unrJrCa5iIT}' exposure 10 chrmbb. whereu they can plant only once with the GM crop and the plant will $Ill"Vive. Ho..,wou.Id you I"IlU foodJtC:U· rily lnMrk:a! I..rt. us not gmer.U.i1.e, then are some countries like Ghan. lhat are on the rnoYe 10 IOOd 5eCUrily but ~ still need our p;o'o'Ul1menu 10 5how commitment rat.hcT than ju.st talk about II and they 0IU$1 be stroog about iL Nigerill'$ greate$1 polen· tial In agricultvn an be realized through beua rommllmenL