SUNDAY TRUST
August 28, 20T 1
Gassol community welcomes Kenyan farmer in Upper Benue ~'~ I>:-" ~ -.,..""..,..... 4""
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ISSOlcommUnltYIS,nold, qui~1 to"" wh~re nothing "mel! hap~ns and whtrt nobudy seems to h.\,c much
G
intemt, so when I yellow and blue helicopler hovered over the
sl«l'yrivu b;mk town lut Friday, Ihe flMplc Wl:rc excited that .t 1ast
someone Im,'ortanl, with perhaps somethlngtllullUy important wu comlng to them. It turned out 10 be the chicken farmf'r from Ola, <>sun Sule, fomlci Ptesldcnt Olusegun Obasan;o and hit self proclaimed friend. Mr KaJvin Burgess. a
rice farmer (rom
Kcn~. ~king
gr«ner pasl' Ires. 1I was il (arming a pedllion to the rich alluvial plains of I.hc Rlvn Benue afOUnd Gassol Loal Go\'crnme:nl Area of Tanllb3 Siaic. Also on the aplOrnlion trip wen: Ihe Minister for Agricultun:. Dr Aklnwunml Ayu Adt$ina. the Governor of T"aJ'nba SI~I !, Pharm. Danbaba Daufulani Suntai, the State Commissioner for Agriculture,
. Mr Anthony lellason, the Area Mannger of Upper Benue River Basin Devdopment Authority (t:JURBDA) AlhaJi Abdullah! A. Aliyu ami five of Mr BurgeS5 f~rmi ng fri~ ld5 {rum Ken)'a, some
of them $OiI .scienlists. The soil scientists took-samples of the soil for eJl:pe.riments as
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they mlde their way through the over 30,000 heclrcs of the green plddy ncld. 11le soU tests wen:
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to ascertain the sui tabUity of the soil for the variely of riCC' they ¥l'ould want to plant when they eventually acquire the land.. The Area Manager !lId detaIls of the acquisition deal werc yC\ to be known butexprC5s~ optimism that when the partnership between the Federal MInistry of Agriculturc and Burgess pulls through. it would revilallu the once nourishing river basin. In a telephone intervIew with our concspondcol in 'alingo. A!haji Allyu lamented thai the rt...e-r basin was und erutUizcd because the Gell. Ibrahim Babangida regime in Ihe lau: 80s whittled down the- capacity orlhe authority 10 fa.ml rice on a large scale and all-)ocar-round ~The inve5Cor5 are experts in the neld and I bdiC'Ye they have what it takes tu tum around the fortunes or the rh'Cr basin. E"en irription {annlng that we no longer ha\'e the- capacity to do, I believe they will be doing that ," he said. Hehowever said Ihe government and t1le investor. Mr BurgC$S who found the Innd -conducive· were ye l to make a former'bi(tfor1he 3D,OOO h«tres ofland 10 the headquarttrs orthe UBRBDA in YoIa. Adamawa Stale,
adding Ihat once that Is done. the deal will be snled and large sale farming will commence in Gassot An official source at the UBRBDA projecl office in Gasso! said poor yields for the past two decades have di5CQuraged the government from {arming on a large scale, dting mismanagement and soil deterioration as poSSible
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The An:a Manager admllted the need {or soilteslS 10 ascertain the fertility level of the soil and finding a means of n:plenlshing tlle nUlrients. He said he had rKOmmended to the headquarters for soU tt$ts to be: carried out before the colI)lng of Obasanjo and his Kenyan farmer friend.. AI the project office in GassoI, abandoned and rusted {arm machinery liuered the apansl\-e compound. The big farm house too looked dilapldatw and unused, all teU-t3le signs of a gO\-ernmenl agency under Ihe\o\~lher.
The to''In itself is d)·ing. It had secn Its beUer dars since the late iOs and Ihe earl y 805 when the river basin boonl& Now old rusted zlnc houses arc crumbling andschoolsm dea.ylng. Thi::orily bank therc- a vestige o{n nancia l
eoll,lJOllpagrS
SUNDAY TRUST Conril/rornplIge4 boom had been shut down and abandoned. It "'as n01511rprislng then Lhal the PCOI)1e wekomed Obasanjo and his fritnd wannJy and with high apeclalioru . Hassan Haladu 1\IaS m elon his melon farm \,;Ih his four children breaking and WlUhing the melon. He said he had rented three farmlands from the UBRBDA but would gladly SlOp farming them unce the im'estor
August 28. 20 11 hopeful that Mr Burgess will find thf': l;md here fnUle for his rice farm project. We aiM! thank the governor and former president Obasanja for . bringing thl: Investors to our community. We hope it wililurn oul to bea reality; Ihe' community chief said. Whil.. at the field, as usual, thl: sanctimonious Obasanja said he es t~blished II river basins as a
mililary hrnd of state in the 10111" 705 with the aim of ensu ring food Sl:curity and reilerall:d it ......s far thl: same reason tllat hI: WilS In Ga~ 1 that friday. He said it wu unfortunate that tile river basins could not be utilized tu pfl)\'ide food security to Nigerians, sajing he was making another t'ffort huping that this lime he will get itrighl.
A suurce in Government I louse. Jallngo laid our correspondent that Sunlai is using Ihe la nd 10 make friends wilh ObasanjCJ, I:SpCcially now that he h~s rallen oul with the godfather oITaraba 1>Q1i· tics, Gen. Theophilus Y. Danjuma. It remains to be seen if the government will s.acrifice the hopes an..! opulations on the altarof politics.
M.r nurgess promised to inltgrate tlle local farnlC:rs in his project and also to build a very big rice mill wllen he takes over. Both the Minister and the Commissioner for Agriculture said they would do everything possible to support the take off of the project. But there are spc:culaliOI15 111:11 the whole thing wOl!ld turn out to hI: a political show.
takes o\'l"r the land. He remembto rt'd wilh nostalgia
when the riva basins were newly establishr d in the late 70s and tht kind uf wealth it created for the town. "It Is interesting \0 know thai
de"e!opmeut will he coming b'3Ck here again. And I know Ihal when it comes, I will be part of it. Even of recent, when former GOI'ernur lolly Nyame cuilivaled about 7.000 h!"Clres or the rivn basin. a 101 of ~ople here were emplo)'ed and olher r."Umen were able to gel farm inputs more easily; he said Haladu was hoperul that when Ihe Kenr an farmer starts cultivating Ihe over 30,000 hectres of paddy fi~ld, f:rrm input.s will be al'allab!e and th~ Indigenous small scale fanners will also purchase them li t arrordaule prices. Pointing at his maize farm, he lamenled the stun ted growth oflhe cerea l crop. saying he was unable to lIpply fertiliz.~r because he couldn't s~ :m}' 10 bu),. 1·le ~aid il was difficult for them poor (.!.rmen 10 Ira,'el al l the w.w to /al ingo before they gel ferUliter to bu)' ~My maize ~'ields will be poor beC\usl" {did nol see fertilizer 10 buy. Bnl I bel ie\~ that if the ri ver basin is rl"\,;moped. tht' scarcity of fertili zer Ilill buome an old story. We will also h:am new farm lu hni qu~"$, 50 I personally \..d come the big scale farmers; he said. Ab..!ullah i Ibrahim too was seen wttding h is rice farm. t-le told ourcofR"sr ontlent tllat he has ft' nted the two hectres of the land from UBRBDA for NSOO each per hectre but hI" would welcome im·eswn. He ! aid the invl"Slors would hnpa':l positivel)" o n the town ami he was hoping that he would perso nall y benefit a s a small ~ca le farmer and livestock faroler. "The truth i: that some people II.. re li ke me I{(IJid S« the coming of tlle investor; as good lor our town but oth ~ rs who will be den ied IheoppN tunit)'ofrarming the paddy field themsdvts rna)" f~d unhappy aboutth~ lakeo\·cr. Ibrahim said. for Lamido Gassol, His Roral Highlles!;, Alh ..ji [dris Chiroma, the land belongs to th~ fed~ra1 gOll'Cmmenl ar:d il is coming 10 take wh~t bdollgs to it so he has nothing to say. But he said he had expe<:lations that when the federal govl:rnml:nt ;md private investor partnership pulls through, his little lawn would be benclilling. H~ spoke passionately about the stale governor promising to CO]lSlruct Ihe Gassol road and the invutor. M r. BUTKesl promising 10 establish;m agricultural inslilute in Casso!.. He also ell:puts thai the ri ce f;um projecl wou ld create I:mployllll:nl 10 r his subjects and improve SOCial ame nitieslamenting that his communil y laclu a coUage hospital, electricity and q\l:ility sch·)(Ils. ~\~'e arf': all hap~y;md wt' are
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