15 Tuo!8llay, Nt,te rian Tribune 16 October , 20 12 no·w
hat ...
A chllIIleleon's tongue is twice the length of its body
more a~ro·p
ustry fOrlconomic, industrial re~olution'
M~ 1Vi Agboola Agbqje is a retIred banke r from the
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B tnt
of Agriculture lBOA), Kaduna State, before going ul. cale agro-prlocessing and marketing. The agr&ind tf'i t [ deve(opm"'~t consultant, who is also the Mana{li 1) rector/Chi-:~ ~ecutive of Agriforth Jrerchant LIm J ed. Jbada,n. Oy~~tate. spoke with Seye Adenlyt on houJ ¥ dgridtltur-: v:volution of the Federal Governmen C( I achieve its desired objectives. Excerpts:
y;
u 0 '1' (I btmker. w h y are you now into agri cu ltur e. esp ecially agro-p r OCl!lS5fng? t.grlc'll ure 15 the only Gnd~chosen profession, It Is l1l- [J' a !, thing all uver Ule \vorld loday, especially 0 de'lc1opcd naUoos and economies and I hope Nlgerll will i " aUse thIS ract a n·j embrace rarmlng as It sho.lld I'e ror a:onomle elllaOClpalloll a n d In duslrlal re\'o h lt :)11 But Ni9 ~ to Is one of rile evuntries oJth e wo rld with tClrg~ leposit of crude oiL Ordinwily. one would e.q~ "1 the notion 10 bejln a n c lcd ly buoyan t e nough to delle l op o t her sec tors of t h e economy H~ e i n dU.$ t ry ond ngric ultu .... _ What l.5 your ' ·aspt' ,,"f! to this? III" trwhave large dqxslt of crude 011 In lhe counll"\l lh II should bc enough (or our domesUc use espcchlly 01 Uu:, eslabllshmenl of many small a lld medluf1l Sf a e Industries alld ror aporl purposes. bUI ale WI I elr sufficlcnl? ~ - W(" 1101 suffering In U,C II11d3t ,,( plenty_ art; we no t h aving the problem of fCl'JC1 nl··I!! or Shortage? 1l1OU~ pt lroleum provtd,:s 37 pcr cent of our m~ comc_ lis "dnlrlbuUon 10 our nallonal Gross Domestic Prcail ci (COPlls a me~ II ~r ce n t. hence. there Is lillie '!vldence of deve lopm enl o n IIle ground such hal n 051 of our younl! 1X'0pie arc jobless agenLS hr '-3 Ising dlscord Ja ncmlt'. or ~n political revolutill n So !il h a t J10 you thi n k s h o u ld be d one to pre-
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vent the ecconom lc problem we a r e experien cing in the count ry? HonesJl) _ we need the esl1lbllsl mem or de velopment or mo re agroprodUCls Indus try LO Improve bolh socia l a n d physical In flaslruclures n allonWlde This will ca usc Ihe dl.-crstncnUon and conllllcrdaIlsaUon of agriculture In order 10
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enh anC'C the Incomr of fanners a n d would also cre ale food s urp lus. So you m ean the government h a ve to facili tate t he es t abll.5h m e n t of . m a ll a n d m edhun scale agnHndu.strfaJ ent erprises f o ,. peace and progress of Vige na? Yes of I"OUf"SC We need to establish more sImple dairy and hi rtlcultural {tomatoes and ~ppcrsl C:'n tC:'rprlsC:'s aimed at en h anCing our farmers ' producllvlll~1 and massive m ark~t growth via specially modekd agro-tne.! uslry baeked by In novallve, robusl and s .Istaln ab lc small and medium scale en terprises Wh at toO ..dd our pract i.slng farmers bencif1t from small a n d m edium scale a9m-ln d us trial
Nigeria '11 soon become one of the best five c~.coa producing nations - CAN President HE P esldenl of he Co 'Oa A.!Isoc1a '1')11 Nigeria {CAN I. \i Saylma Ril~j :::~ i9Sun:d coCOO r~ I n the COUll .. lry. ~ well 8~ stakdlokJ ers til the 5( ;tor that illl IJIdr ('tiS M uid soon be:
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banbhed.. Ue a lso , -lld that NI'viII s~ n regain Its "pruductlon
gena
Iostgkqrbl tJ 01 COC(G gil.' I-It: ~11't: 1I recen l11 du Yrw"lblT fure_ Ace Rumati" ,. e
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~ assul<UlCe
~ an InleruneAgrtcul r dlng to agriculture ~U ~ ), ngon In the count! Is elcome and apprt'CIlbl" -.yelopm ellt. stress g I II t h e n t'w Feder G 'vem m en l policy n Ie Uliser procuremenl f d dlstr1buIbn 10 fK"3' tng f"arn...-s dlreetlj ,,\I lout going I hrou~h po 1IIcia n s or subJeo'.lttgU I bultlCnlC)' ha5IfU~1 (anntnput to n:311, £a ers dln::cUy Indcrance.. Ilt~ abu e and mll!lISle of I hemlca.ls Is now al ,a re luced rale M~y ~I ng fanners In dim· n t. arts ol the coun U a ll' lOW happy an d P' big the Federal
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"1thoulmnl'
l'ederal Minis try o f Agrlcu llu r e because for the ilrst time In the hlstofy m the cou n try_ money Is n ot being used to pnr-ure ferUJ Izer _ Thc vouchersystem Intr oduced by the Fcderal Mtnlstryol"Agrtculture 10 ge t
poIn l In U"Ie In lernaUonai markeL In fact.. Ihe 1la\lOU r::INIgo1a oocoa 15 the best In the 5Ub--regIon_O n w h eth er coco
famlCllJ In U"Ie coun try complytng with \.he ru and IqtI.J1atDl of the bltcmalional market as
r,.rtlltser across
10 fanneOi natXnalIyiIJagood
thing and has c ur ta il ed the nefal1ou9 actJvlIy of m lddlemen or ~"lipB_ perfannenl,~he
added.
RUm an also ~ co-
coa farmer.l In Ule coun try to make use of h ygro ll se r . ~--WCh he saJd Is
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PH rt of fertilize,. package U!lCd for ooroa. prodl.lClkXl toachlcvebumperharve:st a nd appra:table proftL Com m entl n g o n lh e l..'UJTnlt poeilJon r::I Ntgerta 011 Ute world agrICUl tural
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II,. Sayi,"CI RUm an or 1.'OC08 prOO ucUon _ h e saki cocoa fro," Ntgerta Is apremtumlnlilew'Cridbecause of lIS nn.lma. colour a nd rlchllCSS h, n u lnelllS. His wums. "'JUr oxoa 15 UK: pra-nlum globally, 11le:
Gaw!~' ~ I~ h~rm..,op"",."_ _' .11y. ~n_!hc . .... _......".a.~"",,,1s one r::IllI! 9Clllug
we e m bar k on regula train ing/worksh op for ooa fllnllC:l"S In the COUIluy -, also need to leU you th at Ih e whole wor ld 15 Inl eresled In Nlgel18 I rqp.un Its poslUon In Ute prod uction of cocoa g1o-b all y . We will ensures that \V1: ~ the In tem a UOllal sUUldar'ds 50 Ulnl our cocoa beans becomes U1C dcI~ 01 C\ay nauon mUle \roI1d Vet)' soon_ NI gtrIa wlllbelU.1ntm anu the best Ilvc major COC08 prndUCC1"5 bl U1C v.utd: he·, aoncJud"'-
enterpr ises yo u are aduocating? II would he lp U!'l to make use or more hectares of cui livable lands for economic and Industr1ai revolu lio n in the cou n try. Also. small and medium scale agro In du!'llrlcs wi ll reveal wh al eaeh componelll of th e produdlon , processing. marketing e n terprts«:: Is a lld what II om do for our partlclpallng e.n t repreneur fanner!' tn order to achieve process hnp~m~nt a n d be prontably suct.~ss ful. II will also li nk aggrega les o f our farm e rs to loca l, Africa n and International machinery. tools. equlpmenl and prodUc18IMTEPI supplier"!! and agro .. based Industrtes Not o n ly t h at. It will h elp Im prove: UlI:: proc.IucUv· lIy of agric u ltural COllllllodHles. e.n h a nce Ihelr diver· slficallon and commerclallse their production by help· ing our fanne~ engage In p~slng of agricultural produ~ _
You o n ce worked i n t h e n o,.th e m part of the country. w hat do yo u t hin k is re:sponsiblefor t he dlsoppeClr(ll1Ce qfth e g roundn.ut pyramid tha t used to be the pride of a ctive and prqfitable farming acLflfity in the Nort h ? It Is because Nigeria el1ga~ in some lillie agrop rocessing thai we can not sec: raw groundnu!s pyramids anywhere agai n . For aamph:. the whole of the production beh ind the ramous grollnd n ul pyra m ids of ole.! wo u ld disa ppear wl Ulin a m o nth If they are subjected to the fuJI c rus h ing capaelty of jusl a rew of Ule groundnul processing m1lls In Kano No wo n de r . given the prese n t groundnUI prod u c tl vllles from th e ftelds_ most o r our twenlyfou r (2 4 ) m illin g fac ili ties of va r yi n g capaclly utlllsaUon are ell h er Idle or an: operating at belWI!Cn 10 to 30 per cen l of their tnstalled cnpaclUes . But s h ould th is continue w h en th er e are people to be more prod u ctively engaged In prod u ction? We know that abou t 10 per cr:nt of Ntger1:m5 dcpa.:1 on agncuJtun: ro.- Ih~ yd. ~ abo kJv;v that when the fronlle!'" Into value added Is property crossed Ule per. cen tage will r1se aixM: 90 per cent because agtn-Induslry can employ ~ people thiUI agriculture (fanning). lJoUJdoyou think UJecanpn!Uentpo5t~ wastagesfloss in Nigeria? SctUng up of s mall agro-Industrtal ell terprtsc In IUfili area. wtU pn:YCnt UIIs problem and \WJU1d also l~ In· dustr1a1 radulJon In rural area.s.. Youths can he engaged In any 01 the three proc:es:sing IblCSm agrn-llldustrtaJ erllcrprtse. namdy pruductlofl_processtng and marketing. Whal. is your assessment qf the ClU"f1!r1.f Minister of Agricul tunfl Dr ~"Wl1i Adr:sIna k! dr:IIr1il, well. lie Is making rarm blpUls readity avaJlablc lOr mo llClS and he slY.JUId be ClJITI mended b this ptun:.. J\g1u1Iture nl3keo!; Ullltcd Sbllcs d AmI:r1cD (USAJpt. !Owhy not ~? n lC:U:1Iy W"d)'01.l1 d our CCU'lIIIT1iC trauma Is full SI.2k: brTTlIr~ c:r ~tun:.. I ward 10 emphasise Ihat no agJ1t:ultural devdopmcnt_ no economic developm enl and Ule main ~ 15 agroprocessing. Our ranners shoukJ also be able to ride jpXi cars. build good houses and scm thdr dlilc1m"l to good
schools as
~n.