1HE GUARDIAN. Sarurday, February12.20n
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MetroNotes They are 13. Forget that crap about unlucky number: Hunter Coetzee (Rihunt Farm or Farm One). John Sawyer (Wona Farm or Farm Two) Irvin Reed (Rosedale Farm or Farm Three) Pete Du Toit (Carp Diem Farm or Farm Four) Allan Jack (Hilton Estate or Farm Five). Dan Swart (Dam Farm or Farm Six), Mic Hellam, (Hallams Farm or Farm Seven), Jacob Jouner, '(Dixie Farm or Farm Eight), Graham Hatty, (Hatty Farm or Farm Nine) Paul Retzlaff ( Pineleigh Farm or Farm Ten), Mic Fields (Mafunzario Farm or Farm Eleven) Lanrie Flanaga (New Ventures Farm or Farm Twelve), Peter Crouch, (Time Farm or Farm 13). They are white Zimbabwean farmers, currently in Shonga, Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State brought into the country from Zimbabwe in 2004 under the initiative of Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State. Now the state is reaping its blessings By Debo Dladlmejl
C'HONGA, Edu Local Government Area (LGA) of Kwara State is Jnow becoming a centre for commerdal agriculture, six years afterthe settlement of some 13 Zimbabwean white farmers in the communities by the government of Dr. Bukola Saraki of the state. The settlement was meant to boost production of agricultural . products in the state. The farmers are spread over13000 hectares ofland. each of them with 1000 hectares to grow crops and rear animals. They are now operating in three groups: crop production. poultry and diary farming. Four of them are into poultry farming with the state- of -the -artfadlities to produce 25,000 matured birds (broilers) in four weeks. On the way to the farm (in Tsaragi) is a mini-factory owned by the Nigerian Starch Company based in Ihiala, Anambra State. The company buys cassava from the farmers for starch production. Shonga can now boast of a new Police Station, a 33 KVA power station has been stationed there.lelecommunication industries like MIN, Glo now have their masts in Shonga. The villagers can now boast of a well""'!uipped health centre. The inhabitants watch CNN, Sky News, Africa Magic, and others television stations on their televisions which are now connected to satellite. According to Mr. Ayotunde Oyeniyi, the Permanent Secretary (PS), of Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, it has been discovered that spoon- feeding local farmers does not bring results. "Governor Saraki discovered that except through commerdal agriculture, we cannotfast-tractagriculture devefopment in the state?"
Jacob George Jouner of Farm Three, Shonga Farms
Cows grazing in their shed at Farm Ten,Shonga Farms
He recalled that Shonga Farms was born in 2004 as a model of commercial agriculture out of the desire of the governor to provide a platform for food security to Nigerians." Oyeniyi noted that agriculture can drive economic growth if properly managed. "Today there is electridty in the neighbouring communities where the white farmers are operating. Boreholes are being dug for the communities. Things are getting better because the project has come to stay. The locals now bring the banana produced by the white farmers to the urban centres to be sold. He disclosed that it is not that the state government is finandng the project hundred per cent, although the government provides the enabling environment Like the initial take- off capital for the project The capital has now been turned into equity participation. The PS revealed that people come from Abuja, Lagos, Pott Harcourt and Kaduna to buy frozen chicken from the white farmers. Notwithstanding, he said, fund is a major challenge. "Our banks are not used to commercial agriculture. They want to give credit in the way they give credit to merchandise. But agricultural loans required longer gestation periods, before the loans can be paid back The cost of the pro1' ect he puts at N3 billion, provided by the consortium of banks like Intercontinental, Union Bank, GT Bank and First Bank). The mechanism has been put in place for the project to survive. Shonga Farms Holding is a registered limited Uability Company with Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja to take care of day- to- today activities of the farms. It is a project which has a permanent structure that will not be jertisoned by incoming administrations in the state." To empower the local farmers, the PS said, the government has set up a community farm. It is like a demonstration farm, where he said the local farmers were given 20 hectares of land per head. The farmers are meant to learn from the white farmers the way to practice modem agriculture. "The white fanilers will transfer the technology to them over time. We have discovered that our present farming population is ageing, so the government had established The Integrated Youth Training Centre at Molete, Moro LGA to train the younger generation the methods of commercial agriculture." Oyeniyi called on the Federal Gove'mment to help in completing the Shonga Farms Irtigation Project for the white farmers to produce crops throughout the year. "We have not got enough support from the Federal Government. The farmers by now ought to be practising all- season farming. That is the original concept and we are going to get there. "The farmers have not even been able to meet up 60 per cent of the local demands. Take for example the West African Milk Company (WAMCO) now has small percentage of their Peak Milk from Shonga Farms. "ifWAMCO is to buy all the raw milk the farmers are produdng from their cows, that means that there will be no milkleft for the production of Yoghurt That is why the farmers are working hard to increase their milk production. The cross- breeding of the local cows with exotic breeGs is also ongoing." One of the white farmers, Jacob George Jouner, (Dixie Farm or farm Eight) a poultry farmer has 20,000 broilers to be slaughtered after (Wenty-nine days. The two-week-old chicks are already stretching their wings jumping up and down the poulay shed. The chicks are crowded in the poultry house where they are receiving the best medication and care. The Poultry house is well lit and has a computerised climate control system. There is a biosecurity measure to prevent the birds from contacting diseases
like bird flu. Before visitors enter the poultry house, they must be 9uarantined. With bio-security you can not stock your birds in different ages. 'All in, all out that is the saying.' They are due for slaughtering when they are twenty- nine days old. It takes five days for them to be slaughtered. By then, every life weight will be 125 kg." Jouner said that between the four poUltry farmers they tried to stock their day-old chicks 14 days intervals. "We are not here to produce layers. We just want to specialize in broilers that is all. I bought this stock (Hubbard Flex) from Sam Farms in Offa, Kwara State. "In this country; heat is a problem. But we have overcome that challenges witli climate control shed. You need to cool the animal down. At day one, the chicks are kept at 31 degree temperatu reo Every other day the temperature drops by a half degree. From the elghth-day they reqUired 22 and half degrees temperature. Consistent power supply, he said, is very important Jouner advised out-growers, to listen to experts while rearing their birds. "There is need for medication at regular intervals. We have about eighty people working with me. It is this eighty people that will transfer the technology to the local communities; he said. For the sake of effective bio-security, he counselled that local birds should not be reared close to poultry farms. "So you have to be one or two kilometres from the village for bio-security to be effective. I cannot go from my farm to another farm with the same clothes I use on my farm. I must change my clothes and take a shower before I can go to another person's farm. Bio-security is a problem to poultry farmers all over the world." He added that the mortality rate for his birds is below 2.5 per cent "We are 97.5 per cent successful. This shed can take up to twenty four thousand birds at a go; he stressed. Another Poultry farmer, Hunter Coetzee (Rihunt Farm or Farm One) revealed that the project is challenging but there is prospeq "-', in the poultty industry; "In Zimbabwe, we have established mar- . kets. Here the farmers have to be personally involved in marketing. Here, you have a lot of middle men who want to purchase from you and re-sell. That is challenging because there is this notion that this is a govemment project and poeple should get everything cheap or they don't need to pay for the products. But the government only implemented or facilitated the project The farms are not the properties of the government "We have to educate the people that it is a private enterprise and people have to pay for the products. Unfortunate, that is not how the people perceive it But the press misquote me all the time. That is why I don't like to talk to the press again." he said. Coetzee said that it will take anotherlO to 15 years to develop the land for commerdal agriculture. "We don't have irtigation. That is an area the government is to contribute. This project can be replicated in other states if the government can provide the land and if the banks can understand how to give loans for commercial agriculture." He urged commercial poultry farmers to guide against bird Ou by using bio-security in their farms. "You have to manage your birds so that they don't have diseases. You don't allow just any路 body to enter your farm. One has to get up and move on again. I was removed from my farm in Zimbabwe, I come here to keep going again.l don't fear bird flu; he said. Three of them are dairy farmers (Mr. Allan Jack, Paul Retziaff and Dan Swart). They own Shonga Dairies, where they produce fresh milk and yoghurt At the Dairy section the white farmers have exotic breed'cows and up- to- date equipment to produce milk Continued on page 8