Nl,u l a n Tribune 15 Tuesday 20 November.
20,~1~2_ __
Agriculture
Femi Ibirogba
0807889155
FG should establish a cocoa board now :
M
ANAGING
Direc to r C
0
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or a
-Cocoa Products boss
PToduclll i.ld. II company p rottS"hlR t"OC08 Ih: OluJ I, O ndo S late. Mr
'n
Akin 0 lU5U YI. haa adv l'c al e d thai till: Fedt" r a ' Go vernment should cl!llablish • cocoa b o ard 10 r("gulale IIcllvlllt'S oC slakrholdcr" In the: produ c tio n . markl!'llnR a nd lCK'a l ullils allo n o r Ihe las h nap I-I e 8 ugll:cslrd th a i Ih(' board should rn= II comblnaHoll or private and ptlbl k' S«"1lM" u~rl8 to make II dfttth-c . -nl("", are 1.....0 things the Ghanaian
C
economy
are
policies
lafReted Itt rarmC'r1!l to
encourage
them
to
produce. Ille 5«Ond thing In Ghana Is that markellng or cocoa 18 not left In the hands o(lndlvlduals. We had II cocoa board In
Nigeria and the board was SCflIpped because of some excesses. but a vacuum Is len . If there were excesses. addrus them and take things thst are good about the board and renne them You cannot operate without an Instllutlon. Nlger1a does not have an Institution -The present govemmt'nt said It would create a cocoa marketing and trading corporallon. which ahould have b«n done slmO!lt two years. The earlier we put thai Institution In place, the better . Unless we do U,at. Ihe Nlgeflan cocoa economy will be underdeveloped. Olulluyl said. He pointed out that cocoa producllon Is on the decrea8e In Nlger1a despite Introducllon of hybrids because of nucluatlons In cocoa price . saying II eommodlty board would stabilise prices and support farmers . According 10 Olwuyl. NI~rla . which ..as one of the largest produCCT'll of cocoa beCore 011 discovery, now produces about 300,000 of the produce per annum. while Ghana and Cote d'ivoire. which used to tnll Nigeria. produce about 1.2 mtllloll and I
p~slng
company Ilk!! I mine would trnploy no I few!!r than direct 200 I work!!rs: Ire added. I According to him , I Nlgcrla still praclises I primary stage of I agrlc uICUr!!, produ c ing only raw mattrlals and I pnlshables. Wllh the I value dillin , It c ould I I move 10 the sccondary I eM,.Joh n Olaferu sta~ of l,rtscrvaUon ami I tire t!!rllary s tage of proc e s sing and pac kaglm; He , h o wtver . said lufrastructur!!. Including HAmMAN of tht Poultry A"soc latlo ll of power supply and specllll Ntge.r1a U'AN) In Oyo Slate and founder of funds (or altrlbuslncs5 Trudtt F'anns Ltd. lbadan. Iotr JoIUI Olatau. has tnvestors al a low!!r Interest TIIte and longer told UM: Iflgnian 1'ribu.ne that his wtrt sta rttd Ute J'DUltry With about t20 egg laying btnts maturation lerms. mU1I1 Accord!nglohlrn.lM:graduattdat IIO"-'D.rd UnlVtt'IIlly. ~ pulln plllcc If Nigeria Wuhlnglon OC. the Unlt«l SCllles or AnlCl1rn IUSAllrl Is serious about 1988. scnul wtUI UM: Della State lrl Warn and ,.,,..k«l employment generaUon, there. berore his employment tn Halliburto n as a poverty alleviation and malntc.nance englrlCCT. w!!allh creallon. saying llis ..'OC'k wlUI Halliburton ~ him to shuttk Nlg!!r1a must rttlalm Ita between Ntgcrta and Angola. It was out 01 thf! pocket monc.y thnl he ten for hiS wife. according to him. tlwt plac!! In cocoa. palm and aJte used to start a tum 01120 egg-laytng birds. ground nut prodUCtion. -Ever &Ince I got UJf! jOb ",1UI HaDlburton. I had been He said the agricultural atttor could Olirlkingofwlwt to doafic.r ret1mnent and Iliad ....ltcd employ more th811 80 per 10 always ~tI~ young 50 as 10 ha~ the strmgth and UM: mergy 10 manage '&ilalevu tiM: thlng 18 cncctJ\~tv. «-nt of the unemployed ·tn shon. It was my wife Olat started tI1f! poulin' If adequate poUclcs were business with about 120 btrd!! out otUlC pocket money made to slop IId\ lOr her whtJc shuttling between Ntger1a and Angola Importation of all agro- on olDdal duUcs. It was UM: cak:uIaUOO I made on tiM: allfcd consumables thai ~ of tiM: farm tl18t cnc:ouragcd me. I ~ the country could that It would be goOO and IllOfl! f!'CUtOmk:allo up-KaJc "roduce. Including rice I tiM: production: CMatcru sakl and poultry products. I III 1998, whUe alUi worktng 1\5 Ttthnkal Servtce lie lamented Manager alHalliburton. he. SlArted commcrdal poultry unfavourable business I pnxlucUonwtth3.000btrds.antlhlswtkwas~ conditions In the I UM:Wm.11lcfarmnowhasabout35.000btrdspnxJucmg country. saying his I tablc~and35.000~produdngtgg5forthe company spenda NI2 1 halcheryunltdUM:fann. n)Cfannproduces~day· old chk:ks and pnwkks laboralo.y aervtces. waUl many m IIII on 011 power I workcn in 115 empioy. generation monthly. a I -We"'~looklngrorapiacetoapandU)f!farmand altualion that has led 10 aomdxxIy auggcstcd thai lrl!tkad of getting five pkK5 01 the concentrallon or I land In tiM: dly. we:ahou)tJ go to Uti! out.5ktrts and get a most of Ihe cocoa l 1argcrportlon. So.~camchcrt:andbought II acrc.sol procCSS:lng companies In I land rot Ute; purpoee dthe (ann. We started with 3.000 Ghana. I dIly-oki dlk:ks: 1M: added. ·As a processor. I add I Claallenpat UM:carlystageofUJCbu!llncM lrw::tuded value to cocoa by ~ the bMk:s of tiM: tx.lnese. ...1tJCh 11f! tackkd producing cocoa cake. by searching Ute Internet. reading poultry produrtlon cocoa butter and cocoa books and consullbC C%pf!r1s bl animal pmduc:Uron. He powde.r. Agriculture 15 8IlkI funding WIllI not a probk:m because 1Jf! had aa~-ed the ruture of Nig rIa uP8tart-upatpllalbcfon:startJnglncommen::lalquanuty e • and Utal he waa llnanc:tng II wtUI llis salnr1es nol 011 . No nal1ol1 18 otalcru said: -You need 10 be pclMIorlate about any scrlous abou I busInc!Is. Pa!t86on will sustatn you v.ilo'l Ule gott9 ~ developing 118 economy rot.tgh. In Ule IMt one year, tlltr1g! ha~ bca'r tough In without production of the J'DU11Iy protIucUon suhMctor adequate. food for ltaelr. -When you n~ working ru'd you Im~t. you ha~ a nleTf! mu~t be dedlcale.d ~aal sense d Inlcmalsccur1ty It 18 bener to prql!ln: funds for agrtculture at 10 lcavc your poid job as carty as pcssI>Ic. W!! 1M: on ~ lowe.r Inlerest rate and hope when we do not prepe.re lOr post-retirement Ilk. You longer term of can do tIlat whtae)'OU an stUI . . . maturation . -I had 10 resign from Halliburton wl1f!1T I enJo>-ed ·Operatlons here are high rell1uncraUon, aud some: pccpIe vkwed It as crazy capital Intensive and I r!!all8f!d Uwt It was better 10 Icave tllelr job So. I banks "''ant to glVf! short. reSigned to cmbrat."C the J'DUltry business...
with 120 layers -PAN chairman
drive
There
Agribiz: How I started
My wife started our farm
government ha~ done 10 their co('oa II has put poliCies In place down the c ocoa value chain
adelenll2007@yahOO.L
el!Jlr Akin OIw-ulll. IIID, Cocoa PTod uct.s
million tOlmes o( cocoa per annum respedlvely. Olusuyl said dell~rate pollcn must be put In place like Ghana and Cole dlvolre to encourage value add ilion to cocoa before export. to build the economy. -In Ghana, all local factor1es and eomplimlu procuslng cocoa musl get adequate raw mater1als before a grain could leave that eountry We gain more and employ more people If we process the produce locally -If we must devdop
the economy through agr1cultural value chain. we must encourage fannen to produce more and encourage local maximum ulllisalion . The foreign cocoa exporter gets funds al leH Ihan nve per cent Interest rate. comes to Nlger1a and buys cocoa fOT uport. leading to Job loss In lhe country. nils 15 so because prucc:sstng companlH would employ workers to prOCHS the produce Tire highest number an exporter could employ Is 10, no matter how much he exports . But a
concludes FG's fish, poultry training
IAR&T
four·w«k Intensive training pul n place by lhe ede.tlll Government 10 n would-be farmers n the. areas o( poultry d f\shcry ...rn come to Old thl5 weekend. The training. taking lace at the InaUlule or grlcwtural Research nd Training IfAR4T) oor PlantaUon.lbadan, yo Siale. which was Intended Lo increase e availability and conumptlon or food protein mong Nigerians. has r 200 partlclpants In tlendance. who would going back to their arlous destinations crOM Ule COUntry (ully Ulpped With bask: and ew knowledge about hery and poultry pro· ucllon and
agrtbuslneaa. At the md ollhc traintng.. tho8t: who opted (or poultry production would be cqulppc.d wtth the necessary UlIng!! to enable them 10 slartofTwtth pro-ducUon. such as day-old chicks and feeds for a number of weeks. 1boee who have been tJalncd in the area 01 f\shery would aJ50 be glVf!.n Ilngerllngs and fish reeds which would lasl severa] weeks Lo enable. bc.ne.ficiar1c.s to suslaln the business Dr 11. Ahmed of the Fedenll Mlnlslry o( Agn· culture. who rcprcscllied the minister. Dr Ak)nwuml Adcslna. was A) 'the o~nlng ce~mony on Oelober 30. whUe Ule mlnlslr), would also be reprtse.nt~he. last day or the training.
term loans . and agr1culture Is not even their priority For Instance. I pay NSOO.OOO,OOO on tnterest pcr annum My counterparts In Ghana and Europe don't pay OlDt and we operate In th!! same markets: IlC saki.
" When yoU are working and you inuest. you have a personal sense of intental security. It is better to prepare to leave your paid job as early as possible. We live onfalse hope when we do not preparefor post-retirement life.-