15 Nigerian Tribune
T\l eSl~' ~t ~ 2011
in the
here in N igeria, wh ile in Sout h Africa, Thaitand, Malaysia, China, Ihe)' reap 60 tonnes. To dem ystify this d isparity, fa rmers in Nassarawa ~tate of Nigeria have slarted to reap 42 tonnes. 1000 metric tannes in a single shift dail v w ill translate to o\'er 300,000 tonnes in a yea r req\(iring over 10,000 hectares Ihat C'il1l gua ran tee employment lor 10,000 peop le in farmi ng ind ustries. The products of cassava mills which include; ethano\, industrial starch and nOllr are also raw materials to olher p rocessing faclories. The three producls have limitless markets, so the .. bove fac tones can be expanded and repl:caled 10 over 100 times w ithin five years and that will provide one million jobs in the th ree states alone. Do you ha ve some ideas or suggestions for dIe National Economic Team so that the national's agricultural programmes can achieve tlle expected results so tilat foods can be on the tables of Nigerians, as well a8 boost commercial farming In N igeria in order to witness a tum· around in the naUon's
to appreciate the zeal of individuals Economic Tea rn to improve the qu al-
ity of life o f 1'ligerians. Bul ,m y lime the Ccnlr,,1 Bank of Nigeri a ilnnounces the re lease of money for com · meTa'l l agricu lture, 1 feel ve ry Ullcomforlilhl{' ' ~"lI se I know llle money w ill nol lead to the slightes t improvement in agricultural yield . Thoug h loan to farm ers is im po rt,," I, bu l it must be e mpha ~ i sed that it is the least of whal we need to developcommercial f.uming in Nigeri 1. I will lell ),OU how the various loans ilTe disburSL>C a nd to whom Ihey are d isbursed . wh.'J\ do you mean by tilis sf.tement7 For i051"11-:1:'. let's talk abo ut the loan to peasant
farmers thrOl'gh the slate governments. The one bi llio n n ... ir a 101m disbu rsed through Ihe states is being used as incentives to th e pa rt y faithruls in va rious slates. The c(·ndilio n allached to the loan w hen the 5eCuril y rec:lu ired is the gra tuit y o f the serving civil servants in s')me slates. takes Ihe 10,IIl beyond the reach of an Oldinary fann er. If a civil servaol uses his gratu ity to Sl'aran lee a loan, s uch a civil servant will take a big pe-cen tage o f the loa n as h is commission. Loan cann" t be used to farm and no peasan t farmer in his r ight 5("nses will use a bank loan to fann. This is because tlw re is no way he can recover the money from the pro':eed s o f the fann because the e na bling environment for prosperous comme rcia l farming is not avai lable to him. But some burners, esp«ially tllose practising rom- . mercial faIJning are getting 10~1I5 from banks. The Central Bank of Nigeri1l (CON) even said n:tany farme15 ha ve ben'!fitteil from lilt! Fedenl1 Government's Comme.mll. \grirulrure Gflljt Scheme (CACS)? Cut in ... Tl,ere is what we know as loan to mega farm ers. Fo r ltle~i1 farming. beautiful proposa ls a re w ritten for fa rmmg but the money goes to other business lines. Mcst times, a loan obtained fo r farming at 8 per cent inten$t rate could be rI!-loaned to other business li nes at ol'er 20 per ren t. Eligible fanners don't liet this money. Feople w ith the right collateral secu rities are not farme iS. They are- money lenders. It is not impossible for .. medical d octor whu wa nts to build a hospital o r a I.us iness man who wa nts to build a ho tel to write a p rcp<?S111 for integrated poultry farm to ob· tain money fc r his d esired p roject. Mlnt'do Y',u have to say about the revitalisation of farm settle.at€nts by some people and experts? To me, fann estate is outda ted. Most m oney taken by the state g)\'emments are wasted on the provision of un necessary a nd unneed ed infrasLructu res li ke house I"og ramme for fa nne rs, w hich is a very outdated a rminl; strategy in the present day N igeria. In Malaysi'l and India, peasant farmers are grouped underc:densbn officers usua lly at the ratio oflo farmers 10 an extellsoin offirer who supervises their o peralions, takes si'=llislics of their needs and what they produce and ensure that they have marke t for their p rod· u cts. Out in r ligeria, ch'i l servants does the fa rming d irectly rather tha n p rovide the needed services to the fa rmeflli. It is the strategy of the various sta te governments to misuse the money allocated to the Minis try of Agriculture. W/lll t wbou t the tractorisation scheme l progrllmme ? f the federal and state governments for Tanners. 1s it not a good programme? It is a 800<1 idea, but the Irulh is that there are n o tracto rs in the s tates. Most states have less than ' 50 trac to rs to their po pulatio n of over three million
economy?
Pastor Segun Adewumi farm e rs. Commercia l farmi ng cannot be done wit h cutlasses and hoes. What is the value o f loan given to people tha t ha ve no tools to wo rk? C uHi v.lble lan d is .no t available and co mmercial farmin g requires large farm land s. WI,at do you have to sayabaut the recently maugurah?d agnculfural produce Commodity Boards by the govemmenl? II is a welcome d evelopment, bu t the government must be very ca reful so that it won' t go moribound agai n li ke it hap pened in the past. Experience has s!lown th at most commod ity associatio n members are fake fllrm ers. Olher unils o f people thrQugh which ag ricullura l loa ns are chann eled are the com m odi ty associa lions. Most of the commod ity "ssocia tion m embe rs are not far mers, but people agita ting fo r lOans and gra nts as means o f their livelihood. Some carumt identify the product upon which their association is registered . For example, the ch ai rman fo r a comnlodity association like cocoyam may not be able to recognise what cocoya rn is. Most of them a re busy-bodies who il ltend all the workshops a nd semi na rs where us uall}' some monies are shared to Ihe participan ts. Can you briefly X-ray the problems of agrirulture and tlte roles individuals or government played in tlle deVElopment of tlle sector? I wa nt to say that government officials trade with the money meant for loan. We are all aware of the practice in govern ment to lodge money meant for a project in the fIxed I1C'C(1unt of commercial banks for belween three 10 six months. 111e accrued interest. is nonnally d elivered in cash sometimes up. frollt 10 govemment officials. Some of the money meant to be given as loan to farmers are trea ted this way. In view of these facts, there is a need for the r ederal Economic Team on agriculture to ha ve a defini te policy th at will bypass a ll the obstacles listed..-above for Ihe successful prosecution of com mercial agriculture. You may wish to know that in the three s tates Ogu n, Oyo and O ndo Slates, there exist cass,wa processing fa ctories w ith installed ca pacities to mill 1000 m etric tonnes o f cassava daily into g lucose syrup, sta rch a nd fl our, but none o f these fa cto ries have cassava. We renp 8 to nnes fro m an hectare o f farmland
If they wou ld listen to advise, below are some of my advise a nd s U ~f$tions for them. If they can ado pt them, I tell you, N igeria would get to promise land . Every state must acqu ire a minimum of not less than 5,000 hectmes of land in each of the th ree Sena· torialdistridsoflhei r slates in Ihe un ils of not less than 500 hectares per 10Cali,9n. Cou nterpa rt fu nd may be provided o n an appropriate percentage between the Federa l Government and the sta tes to dear the land and dema rcate it inlo blocks o f fi ve hectares that will be given to the fa rmers. Each Sena torial d istrict w ith 5000 hectares wi ll ha ve 25 tractors attached to the district and the tractors w ill be managed ind ependently a long comme rcia l lines. Services of Ihe tTac tors will be ch arged to the opera tion o f the farm . All arrangC'men t fo r la nd p repa ra tion, p lanting, chemical application, fertilising up to harvest should be thoroughl y s upervised and inputs w ill be s up plied by Ihe program me management. The onl y cash that goes to the participant is a monthly allOWance of us uall y NlO,OOO.OO. Th is too will be d educted from the proceeds of the harvest of his farm . With this arr.lIlgement, there shall be no need for any deposit of25 percent from the participant because the prOOucts are serum:l. The pJOgrammes are p urely comme rcial and w ill not be managed by the governmen t agen.!s in order to protect \I from und ue bureaucratic bott lenecks. Farmers should be grouped at the ratio o f te n fanners to an extension officer who should subm it weekly reports to the s uperior officer on every block under his su per· vision . Extension orricers sho uld be drawn from the staff of tlie minis try o f ag riculture and local governmen ts. ProceSSi ng fact ories sh ould be sited within the vicinities of the fa rm to process the particular p roduce thrt t maybe rice, cass,'lva, beans o r w hatever thrive best in the locality. Provision o f lan d and clearin g of the land s h ou ld co ntinu e o n yea rl y ba s is for fi ve yea r s so tha t every success ful far m e r w ill b e given additi o n a l 5 h ectares in th e s uc ceeding ye ar until h e ha s 25 h ectares . U p o n the attainment o f 25 hectares, the farmers ca n then apply for mega farm o f 100 hectares . Within to years, we shall h ave hund red s of millionai re fanners and industrialists in Nigeria . This is imperati ve becau se individual farm er w ill ha ve the oppo rtunity to prosper according to hi s ability and commitmen t. However, th e above suggestions could be modified and adjusted by the experts and if adopted, I know it will su rely t.'lke our country to tilt> I'" ,mised land in agriculture.