18
DAILY TRUST
I nUSINESS
-= Business/Agric
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
I
Peasant farmers shouldn't be taxed-FIRS
From Onis AgcJbl,. lagM
Ing 10 tuing cIcessive.lr pnsanl (amlen to boost their 1"ltmlally gcnernled reve-
PEASANT farmers, farming on a subsistence lel·e[ shouldn't pay lUes. the Chairman, Federal Inland ~velluc Scrner: (FIRS). Mn.. lfueko Omoigui-Okauru, has said. Sl«! told ourcor~pondenlat till: Nigerian Instilul!!': of ManagelT\i:nt (NlM) jubilee Fellows Day, 201 1 luncheon held in Lagos. menuy. She mid in IUltlon, Mthcre 15 alwayS.1 threshold, and In Ihal thmhold, you lc:t go ofT certain grouplM Ind pcapnl poor farm f!f3 belong to this group that should be In
offlhc In honk. l'his Is coming at the huls of most Slates and local go\-~rnmcn U; in Nlgerta resort-
nue t"VCn though lhey are not interested in
bulhllng fanning capabilities oCtile ~l (am ler," "A peouant farmer, who Is just famting on a sustainable basis. is not taxable or he shouldn't be tued. In fact In some environment, you give t.hem tax crroits. So, It:S not abouuaying th:tt everyone, who is In Nigeria necessary, should pay taxes," she said. She .aid she Is awan: of "certain schools of thoughts who say even If Its Nl they should contribute. lJut you cannot overburden such people (pea.sant famlers)." She howrver noted that, Igriculture $Cctor In Nigeria .hould be developed so it can contributc significantly to Nigeria's
tax re\ocnuc bcaUK agric 15 now the: biggest tontrihutOf 10 tht: GOP. "We need to develop the agric sector to contribute to tu revenu e. The landmau Is there,lhesoU is there, bUI how Ire .... e posi. tionlng our ag.rk scctOf fOlthe future in a mann er that will guanntee III ,ustainabl e economy. Agric is not jlut only about farming.it balso about agro basW Industry and the value chain in agricu lture: at aU polnu - the distributors and traders. Howarc we creating Jobs In thb urtor and Ino-easing tax rc:venud" 5he asW She relleraled lhe call for buUding dive:niCied SOutttl of Income (or Nigeria and said It «Iuld form the core to reposition the ecunomy by the Presidential Eco· nomic team.
Sbe said.: "We need to bu1ld a SlJslaln· able revcnue base and that {,C'venue bue: is notlhe one that is dependent on one !.(Jurce orincome. We havc to dlver$ify to lion 011 base. Again we shouldn't focus on say tel ecoms IS the alternative to oil revenue: it rally has to be diverK. "It Is Importanlthat In diversifying the economy, we should look at tile Ingredienu of the ecollonly thai dri"'es productivity, for Insllnce agricuhure. AgricultW'C' contributes at least 040 percent to GOP yet It contrlbutu little: to tu I'evenue, "How an we lever.lgeon agriculture to bring a sustainable reverme base; how can we leverage on our trading base, w hich Is aJso a huge contrlbulo r to GOP. 10 build 5u~talnable revcllue."
Fadama III disburses N250m to 537 groups in Zamfara
Kano, Jigawa farmers and agric inputs From Hilllllll H~bIb, I{ana AGIUCUlTURAllnputs ha\~conlinued to be: the greatest challenges among (armers 1.11 Nigerian and tile West Mrican $ub reslon,;u their a\"aila"UJt)' o · othcrwi5C wUl dcterrulne th e outputs ",·hich include harvest and storage. The nad for l uch lnputslo be madellccessible 10 (anner.; has been the worry of go~ nmmt and other af,endes who wish to support (ood sust.inability and security. Inputs nC"!ded In the farms tange (rom seNs. fertiliu:r and farm Implemenu to ajd produc· lion. The IIvalJable ones an: SOll1etim es 1x40w sllnd;ud, CSJ'«ialIy with lhe infiltration o( rubstandArd itcmJ Into thccountry. The Eco.::om lc«lmmwtity for West African Stata (ECOWAS),through its Marketing InpuU Ren10nally (MIR) plus. recently spmlSored a fair in Dawakin Kudu, Kana State and GUjwtgu In Jigawa State to get the fanners accustomed 10 genuine (arm Inputs especially IeeW; and pes(lade. MIR plus specialiM YVtaya Kura said the obJective of the fain was, among other things. to (acilltate li nkages between farmers and agrt· culll.lnalll1plll$. He said the fair was also a plat(olm for .gl'o dea1en 10 get conllct with agro allied comp:mics and JUPPUcn and reduce the chain to li~ lanners thereby muimi2lng outpuL TIle fair, orxanlttd dllflng the market day In Gujungu which Is a major market ill Jigawa
THE fadanta UJ projt'ct has so (ar disburlCd NlSO million to 531 Fadama User Groups (FUGs) In Zamfara, The Fadama Programme Coordinator In the 5t;lte, Alhaji AUyu A1line, said th is on Sunday In Gusau It a two-day training Initiative (or flcllitalon on coopenatJve saving' and credit schem e. He said the uscr groups were made up or fu hermen, pas toraUsts, irrigation farmen, hunters, po ult ry farmers as weUu \"U illerable groups such as widow. '-nd the phy, lcally challenged. Alline said that the project IVIS aimed al empolVcring Ihe people to take charge of their own development agenda through a Communit y Driven Development Approam. Healso said th ltlhe programmc would assist in reducing po'·erry, generale employment opportuni t ies, boost (ood production and guarantee food sa::urlty. Altine said that over N6 m illio n was sa"eeI in various fadafna User Equity Fu nds, adding that Ih i5 would be used to replace eq Uipment as at when due. He listed some ohile projects executed to Include 10 watering points to reduce (armen and herdsmen cluhes, a 2 6 kilometre road. shops anti. pro· curement of agro·processing mach ines. Also 'peaking, the sta te's Commissioner for Agriculture, D r Malaml Aliyu Yandoto, uid gove rnment would cont inue to accord agriculture top priority ill order to create Jo"s. Yandoto said government wou ld also support the Fadama II I project to impro",e the li ving condi tion of the people, enhance agricultura l productio n and guarantec food security. (NAN)
SlIte. was aimed at readdng farmen; at the grass.
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The fanners ~ g131.1 to h;JI"C! the fair brought 10 thdt neighborhood as testilied by Saflyanu Sarkin Kuuwa who said most of the inl'uts ~ the melon seeds he bought were variety they have not (ound even In the market.. One of I1le partici~ts front Grttn fidd took Umc to aplaln to lhe (armers the vari· ous b~ds which they could look out for and cautioned them agaInst purchl5lnglnpuls from
.""",The (air In Dawakln Kudu wualso fruitful to the farmers as one of them Aminu Hamu brought • maIze variety which he said he bought &om a seed developing company lut year and had not seen a better yield in 20 yean.. The fair also bcame yet a forum (or stakeholders in the 5CCtor 10 lntel'lld and share ape rlences towards achievi.lll the desired goal5 o( sustaining food IC'CUrity in Nigeria. Nevcrthekss. what s.cemed to be a bit of a hitch was the (aet ilIa! most farmen have ceo-nontlc«Insln.lnts In tennso( purchasing power. A fanner, Hajtya Amloa Yar Sharu pointed out that the purchasi ng power of the ranners usually geu lower during the rainy KaSOtl and tll ey c:an not pay ror more Inputs whIch they
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She said slnceagriculture has becomecapitaJ intensive, there Is the need for finanaallnstitutions to assist.
2011 National Agric show kicks off Od 16 THE 2011 National Agricultural Show (NAS) being organised by the National AgriculOJ.nl Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN). will kick-off on DeL 12 and endonOcL 16. This Is ccntalned In a statement Issued yeslerday by Mr. Musa Adamu. the Seoet.ary. Publicity and Protocol Com m itteeofNAFN, According to the statement, Sen. Abdullahl Adamu, the Chalnnan, Board o£Trllllees ofNAfN. has 'nlugurated the various organisi ng committees for the show. "Speaking (In the occasion, Adamu charged member' of the co mmittees to get down to work Immediately. He reminded them of the enormity ohhe tasks ahead of them, ~dding tJl at the JUccess or (aUun: or the show fc:sted on their shoulders." Ad.amu also charged members of the commluecs to be on the side of
hi5tory by dedicating lhemselvC$ to the wignment before lhcm. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) real.l$ that the show was held forlhe flrsttime in May200711 Tudun Wada, on the Kcffi-AbuJ. Road, Karu Local Governmeot Area o(Nasarawa ~te.
The show wu the result of dis· cusslons held between the All Farmen Assodation of Nigeria, {AFAN} and the Nasarawa State Government, hued on the uperimces they gained at the UK Royal Show held in Coventry In July, 2006. Thealrn of lile 5how Include among other 'ihinV, to showcase Nlgeri.'s ab\lndant agricultural potential, rcsoUtCCl and ptoduc.t.s, It is also aimed at consolidating put .dlievemenu and opcnlng the way for an improvement in the future development o( agriculture. (NAN)