lliE GUARDIAN. Wedne<da~
r.bruary ~ 20n
Ind ustryw:m:h I 43
Imperatives of cO'!VPea processing to Nigeria's economic development By Roseline Okln
c=: 1;""'''''''' ":'~ llMlIutionin~
from the crop oft ImprtJYtng rural ~lIltheCOlUUl}l According to document made .v_l~ble to The Guardian. by International Institute of TropiC411 Agncuhu~ (IJTA). Fannen end processors in Osu, a communlly in soulhw6u~m Nigeria. are umlng so much £nim the production of the
~=s. Olatv;. Oluwakeml, an Akara venaor saJd that the benefit or the crop is numerous.
She Solid: -from frying of
.. leaR alOM. I have: been able to afford sendmg my son to the
olnd
u~t}ll
bmIt oJ house
now own
a car:
OIuwakl:mt adds. OluWilkr:mt SClted thaI she had trial other businesses In the paSI bUl the proressfng of
cowpea grains to aleara
remained the most viable
"",'on
The business has grown in [he last seven ye.us and she
cu~nLly m1P~ more than
10 people. On averag!:. she getS profusol ~n Nl,SOO .00 N2,OOO
dally. In a country where
.boul SO perrell[ of me popu-
Ladon thrives on less than n ~ da~ this IS a kx of cash. -, have tried other business. es, but this is JUSI the best,· she !"dlerates. Another cowpea processor, Chief Mrs. OionmIsoIa, said that she Inhmt«! bllSiness from ~ 1'JlOl:Mr. After managing th~ business in tht Last 30 ye<ll"S. Olorunisolil now owns tht f.ilmous lyadunni Akan pmcessing enterprise. The business uses .iIboutlOO kg of cow. pea grains as raw material dallyTor making n.u;,; It has five branches spread across
w
Nlg~ria.
Incomes from the firm ha~ helped OIorunfsola to build two houses.. The third, a J. storq> building, ~s still under consuuction. Th~ of her chik1ren ha~ gradwltd from the un~rsi-
Uke Oluwak~ml ilnd Olorunisola, srYl'.ral other rocC!Ssors have be:ne:flted rom th~ processing of c0wpea In lhr community. Most of the houses built In Osu have at IeasI the foundation L1k1 Wllh mconlt' from ilbra. Thousands of ~lIers passIng through Osu town, located between Ik--Ife and lIeshit, stop dally to buy the popular ',dr.ant OW from the~rs. I}t
r,
Son'le of tht: consumers Inl~r disclosed that the pn>tem-rich crop ~Ienishes lost en~rgy .rulng from fatigue expt:iienctd during long jOurvi~
nl!)j'look fOrw.lrd to eating .. hnt osuwhe~ I am ffilYeUlngon this route,- iI ~
gu. Friday ~said. Elstwhere In the northern pan of Nigerli - homt to c0wpea production, lhis 1tgumJ.nous nop has pl'tM'll to be .. ~l4Ible SOUm" of income for farmers ilnd plllCeSSOIS. IITA sr.ntd that In Somo, IGmlna, Kaduna, Kano states and as far as Niger Republlc, cowpea fanners who ailopted Improved cowpe-a varieties iUld management practices reponed iln iJ\/Uoige- of 55 per nnt rise in their locomes. IUtined tnat fannm;who~ lRdilional YClneties earn about S25/ha, wtille those who itre growing the Improved
"""P<' '" """"" SJ9OJha. and additional $139, with proper crop management prilCtlCes.. -Besides Incomes, inl'ef\lelllions by IITA and panners suI' poned by the Tropical Legumes proiKt.canadlan International bevelopment Age~ United Sales Agency
for IntunatJonal DeYeiopment, iilld the 5uda.n Savanllil Task force or Ihe Kano-Kiltslna·Maradl (55 TF KXM) Pilot lAlming 5Ite (1'lS) of the sul>Silharan Challenge ,,-mno< .re hdping m Wldl Improved tedmo&ogies to meet the fncreaslng aemilnd for the crop-, it
"on-
""""Mohammed
Mump4 iI farmer gjd he has been aIR to double cowpea yldds using the same plot or land wirn Im".-l _ "'" .gronomk practices, through trTA InterventIOnS.. "Be1Or"e,1 used loget. fWObitgs of cowpea rrom tfils field, bUt In 1009, I harvested 6~ bags. which were more than double the Initalamount,~, be said. Cowpea's itppeitllO farmers has spiraled In m:mt times, IlliIldng the crop • prominent tool in lighting hun~ and ".,..ny In Alrlci. !ITA Cowpea B1ftder and Tropial Legumes II Project Coordln.lIor, Dr. Christian Fatokun, stated that the appeal of the crop IS puwmg not lUSt because of mcomes .as.sodiIted with II bUI also due 10 the fact that it is drnuWll to'eRnt and suiQJ»e forcultiY.itkm in the arid regions of
Tantalisers partners Brand Futurz on seIVice delivery By RoseliM Oken 'T'ANTAU5ERS PIc, a 1 Nigerian [ast food company, has engaged Br.tnd FUlun Consult.nts as its strategic marketing rHt'arch pilnner in its COiltlnuous effort at improving its serviCe models to ensu~ consumer satiSfaction and
"""I)< Speaking on
the deveJ01' ment, Markling Milnager, Tilntallsers, Henry ARbun, staled:-We h.a~ worked our way 10 Ihe tOP of our Indusuy.lt look. lot or eflon and commitment to achieve
thiS and we will continue to ensure tnat we R.llliIin on tOp by constantly evaluatInJl: our strate1des and modiMng them wlien nel:es5ilry. 6ur lntendon Is to Improve upon the standards that h.a~seencomt' this far"_ Cll.iel Executive Officer and Leild Consultitnt. Br.tnd Futun, Jonathan AJitbede describes the opponunlty to work with TanWist:cs .as itn opportunity to conuibute to the success story oC it global bnnd in the milking. He Qid: Ihe Titntallse:rs SlOI')' Is one Ih.t inspires
entrepreneun;hlp ilnd belief In Nigerian brands. We are exclt~ at the opportunity to work with them ana expect that our contribution will help take Thntallscrs to new heights. ~ Bnnd I'u turz Is one of Nigeria's foremost branding building finn. The company rovides striltegic marketng services such <&s research, digital marketing itnd direct marketing to a number of mululliltlolliliin Nlgerlit_ They Indude lafarge, Manuilc. Unlcem. and Pz Industries amongst olhers.
r,
sub-Sithu.t.n /lbiciI.. IITA 5Uted: "8U1 the strides made bythecrop are not withOut challenges. -For Instance, the plant still faces ~ts anacks during eYery stage of Its life cycle. Aphids CXlTiIct juice from cowpeit leav~~und stems while the crop is still it SCftlling and a1so spread the cowpea mosaic virus. ~ thrlPS feast 011 il during 8owering. pod horen anack Its pods during pod growth, ilnd bruchld weevils attack the posl-harvested
"""-
ihe plilnts ~ ;also atr.lCktd by dlscil5eS cilU5ed by fungi. oocteria, ilnd viruses.. C'ilrasltk weeds - 511'18'1 and Meara, choke the plJJlt's growth at ;ill stages and nematOdes p~nt the rootS from absorbing
From frying of akara alone, I have been able to afford sending my son to the university. I built a house and now own a car. I have tried other businesses in Ihe past but the processing of cowpea grains to akara nutrients and Wilter from the Yield P,p re;malns a huge challenge, il sad Unleashing the full porenoal of cowpea. IITA hinted. would require greater anendon to the crop both In new scientific dlscoveliesand investmentS. IITA Cowpeil Breeder, Dr. 80ukar Ousmane. noted that un[ortunillely. suppon [or cOwpeil reseitcch has be-en rather relatively low comSOIL
pared with ott er atJpS such aswheat ill d rite. eonscqOt' uJy. this situarion has COnstri I~ the cowpea crop altaln ng its full patentiill and Is vat1wlly putting the lIves of nilhons 0( people In deYelos:lng countries d[
.uk
Ill.' sl<md lnal funding research ao dviOei aimed OIL tackling II c chillJenges facingthecfOl.1s1 eyto realising its-full pott',tiilL
Unilever records strong growth despite difficult n1arkel NIUiVER'S gloh.1J founh u qu.lrter and full.yt!ar U resullli ror lOU rdlea a robust
performance: despite the c0ntinuing tOllgh tCDoomic envImnmmt, the company said In illi IOunh quanrr lOU repon. AccoruinlllO tlle report. the company gray ahead of Its markets, gained share ~ <III and maint~lned a good babnce of ptice.and yolum~ growili. . "Turnover W<l5 CIL6 bilhon in th~ fourth quaner and £<46_5 biIJlon for the fulJjrea.r_ Underiylng SJ.Ies growili was 6,6 per cent In the Counh quartfr and 6.5 per cent for the full·~. Underlying wIUITlt' groy.lh was 0-1 per cent in the fowth quartet and l6 percrnrlbrthe rul~ Underlying oper3ung margin WilS down !Jy 10 basIS polnts for die: fulJ.yearWitha i'eduttion In OYeiheads oR'setting much of the pressure on gross ma:rgins frOm high-
er commodity Cl)SB. It added thilt core earnings per share were up by four per cent at fL4t at year-end with a fJft cash Oow of £lJ billlon.Nivenismg aDd promotions spf:nd WilS up &50 million to £6.2 billion. Commenting on the compant.s perforRlilnce, the Olief Exerut.t~ Officer; Paul Polman said: -In 20U we haYe made slgniflanl prog~ In the trarufol1Tlillion ofUnlll'Yt'rto iI sumfnable groWlh comJ1any despite dlfflcult markets and an unuswl numbec of significant tlt'emill chal·
lenges.
*Our O\'ttall performancr
~sdrivenbyour~ln
emerging ffiilrkeu and the Jlome Care itnd Pusonal ca~calegories. We Irwested heavily In our brands and exit rhe )'II!iIr with positive momentum. In Foods. w~ilst price Increases na~
impactM Y IIUI~ we have grown~n Ib~"'ltft our markets and f alned share in many pC olr 1ey business-
es."
~
Spea1Hng ;>0 ;It'rfonnance of the fOmJQf1V In c:tiffercnt ~on. II ,Iafed thal the AsTanfAfi1G n n:glon continued to groN .fte.;Id Qf the mar\.zu In the fourth quarter ilnt! achl~,-w POSlllve volume gro'o'."th despite: higher prfr es. chilJlenging macro-ecor:omlcamdldons in many counities and susr.tlned hlg.!\ leYels of competJtlvtilCUvity "We sa .... suong double. di£;lt-growtjl1n SouthAfrica. Ini1oneslilaoo \!'Ietn.lIm with continuing robust growth from Indll, llIrkey and Ollna. }apan ccmtfnued to decline after the e.ut:fxluakt: in the Om haILCrntr<&l.oo Eastern E.Jcope growrh, whilst hrtu:r tfian the stan ofthe~ilr; rcmitlru muted~, It added.