I 18
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
DAILY TRUST
Business/Agric
'We can't meet rice
production target'by 2012' By Abubakar ~ Mommoh
D
o yoo think Nigeria
wiJl be self suffident In ricoeproduction by . 201l? What is needed to achieve the t.lrg~t is beyond the farmers' mtch. For instance, we relied on
President of Rice farmers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Wodi, in this interview with Daily Trusttalks about the problems affecting rice production and agriculture in the country.
government to give us lncler:$., fc:rtiliur. seeds and chemicals, among others but none came. Farmers do the production. pmusslng and packaging but we need [adlilalion. For instance. we need the ski lls and modern technique of rice production. We want gO''elTlmenl to help us with fertili7..erand lntctors. These were nol forth coming. There is nothin g we GIn do to meet that larget. The 2003 Presidential Implementation Commillec im:reasc:d ri ce production and government pro mi!led to give our members lotXI tractors each rear and for four yean, frum 2003 to 2006. Up liU now we have nol golten any tractor or fertilizer. The governme'lt did not do anything for us. ow much rice do ,,'e need 10 become self suffident? It has been estimated that if we can produce between 4.5 and 5 million metric tOlmes of rice every rur, Nigeria will become .self sufficient. People talk about aport, weare notconccmed with that presently. We want to ensure that every home has enough made: in Nig:ria rice:. We have always said that mere. availability of food in Nigeria is not the same as food sufficiency unless that (00l:! is produced, processed and packaged by the rice farmers.. We want a situation whereby Nigerian fanners will be able to produce the quantity I)f rice needed. market it in Nigeria and after that we can export the excess to the neigboucing countries.. Wh:.1 do you think is responsible fl)l' the disconnect between agricultural policies and implemenl9lion?
rice with. the local farml"!s. The late Ptesident Yu'atlua set up a committee with the Bank of Industry and it was agreed that 9utofl111" N10 billion, 70 percent oftlJe fund should go to the local small seUl" rice producers and rural based producers, 30 percent 10 large scale farml"fS and foreign processors. WI" were surprised when th e ministryof Agricullure direded th"t 70 percent of the fund should go 10 large scale producers. Whereare they today? There is no need for dichotomizing between th e small scale and large scale f;uml"fS. The: small scale (armers should sell to Ihe luge scale farmers because they h'ave the capacity 10 procl"5S, but the small scale fanners are primary prooucm.
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Theproblem Is that people are gh'l"n ministerial appointments or are posted Iu the ministry of Agriculture as a sort of patronage:.. If they want to help you because of the role you played in party politiCS ordooions, they appoint you and when the person becomes miniSlerof agriculture, he/she h"s no loyalty or passion (or it. Frankly, we don't have allY functional policy on agriculture. What should agriculture policy (C)QI$on? II should be agriculture centred.. Thefannl"fSassoclations should be the primary focus in agricultural prOduction. We cannot talk about food suffiCiency without the: farmers. We have rice fanners. cassava
auoclaUon. Thl"SC are the groups' that should help the government in dl"Cision making. What do WI" wanllo do? We want to produce much, process wc:ll and add value and have a good market, thai should be the concem of the govemmelll and policy wiU be guided and tailored 10 achieve theseobJc:ctlves..
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ow many of yuur memberl have benefitted from the N100 billion CBN com.merd.aI agricullure loan? There are two problems here. First is the banks, and secondly, Ihl" p.ollcy is not spedfic enough. During one ....'Orkshop. a ~ntral Bank staff lold us that each bank
had been given about N I billion to give a$ loans to farmers. After wecame back,l wrole a bank Ihat I needed a loan because I have a rice mill, the bank. replied that it was nol participating. There was the N10 billion rice intervention fund. It was our association that initiated it when !he minister was $;lying that they Were. going to import rice bea.use thl"rr was food crisis in Nigeria. OUf association said it was not troe. We told the minisler to be careful of foreigners who just wanled to bring their rice to Nigeria. We said we had Ihl" f"dlilies and capacity 10 produce rice in the counlry. WI" met here: and said we had about IS million metric tonnes of paddy
ow has the Nallonal Programme on Food S«urity and Chinese participation helped in rice production! I recall that during Chil"f Olusegun Obasanjo's govemment, members of United States rice f::lrm ers association came to Nigeria. Thl"yspcnt i1bout 4 days and up till the time they fini.~hed their work. the m inistry of agriculture did not im'ite Ihe rice f:rrmers. The Popular food limited came in. They were a5king them 10 come and Introduce rice production in Nigeria. What have wedone wrong? Sevenly per cent of what we spend 10 import rice goes to South Asian countries. Then you go and bring them and gl~ them substilntial p"rt of our land 10 help us produce rice, what have you done to the Nigerian farmers? The presidential report of2003 staled that there were 99 abandoned irrigation facilities in th e country, the Popular food people con[irml"d that unl ess 80 percent of ricl"production is done through irrigation, you cannot achieve self sufficiency. 1111" river basins are there, th e abandonetl Irrigation projects aTl" there but nobody is doing anything about them.
Agric research can reduce hunger, poverty B,-rlrY A..Hman ENHANCED s,:lentllk research in agricultural value chain Is O'itical to rc:dudng poverty and hunger and wi(\ens Ihl" palh for economic transformallon in the agricullul'iIl ~I"c tor, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural De\'etopment has saie.. Or. Akinwumi Adesina $aid doubling re.cearch ilweslments in Research &: De\'elopment in
sub-Saharan Africa could IIfl an estimated 144 million people oul of poverty. Addressing a gathering of researdters. pol icymakers and investors in Ibadan, the minister said the contrlbuUons of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture ( L1TA) to agric research In Nigeria ha\'e given a big boost to the $ector. - UTA iscruc\al for Nigl"riaand lYe stand ready tosuppert HTA in
its importanl wurk: he sa.id. HI" .said the: work of the instl· tull" in developing improved maize varieties brought about tra.nsfonnation of mail.1" production in the northern Guinea savann::lh whlle its cassava varieties helped Nigerian farmers boosl productiun by 10 million tons between 2002 and 2008, enabling the country to O\'l"rtakl" Th"Uand ;u the world's biggest producer uf cassava.
According 10 a statement from the institute signed by its communication officer, Godwin AtICr, Adesina said governml"ut would gh'e support in Ihl" area or creation of polities that ",'Ould supporl cassava productio n and value addition. HI" said the limitations to agricultural productioll would be lackled, adding that Ihe pri . vale sector would be encouraged to lake the lead in agricultural
development. The meeting was organised by IITA to develop sU'alegies for a cassava revolution in the country as one of the largl"ts 5d by the ministry. It broughltogethl"l stakeholders in the cassava sec· tor to discuss opportunities on value c:hain development in cas· uva processing, with a view to developing markets and ge n · erating jobs and incomes for farmers.