Agrocare Govt's Inmfferenee Stalls Agrie Research, Fooa seCurity, Says-Don L
By Olukayode Oyeleye
ACK o f readiness to utilise the results of agricultural research by various governments in Nigeria has contributed greatly to the failure of agro-based small and medium scale enterprises in the country. Professor Benjamin Adefemi Ogunboded e mad e t his known on Tu esday while giving his inaugural lecture at the Obafe mi Awolowo University,lIe Ife. Professor Og unbodede's lecture, the 238'" in the series of ina ugural lectures in the unive rsity was on "gene interplay for food security and national developmenr." It was a lecture given to highlig ht the modest accomplishment that the university, in collabora tio n with its sa tellite, the Ibadan-based Institute of Agric ultural Research a nd Training (II AR&T), has made in crop breeding and the positive changes these have broug ht about in ensuring food security.
Ogunbodede, a plant breeder, lamented that, "because of the lack of political will , coupled with non-provision of conducive environment for small and medium enterprises to thrive, most of such results are still gathering dust on the shelf." The professor illustrated his point by using maize and kenaf breeding as examples. He said maize "remains the pivot of the livestock industry" and "as such, establishment of feed mills will be profitable" while "entrepreneurs can eve n process the maize crop and residue into cattle and other ruminants feed during the dry season." He described "the most critical raw material related problem in the pu lp, paper and publishing sector" as revolving "around the so urcing of the local fibre pulp." The quality of paper produced from kenaf, he said, "is in all respects superi or" and newsprint from
kenaf produced paper with acceptable characteristics such as high brightl1ess, lower ink density and rub-off than standard newsprint." He lamented that "since the jure bag facrary in Badagry, Lagos State, closed down decades ago, nothing much has been done to resuscita te it, despite his conviction that "kenaf is indeed a crop that can revolutionise the agricultural, newsprint packaging as well as the build ing sub-sector of the Nigerian economy." Ogunbodede listed th e achievements he has recorded alone or in conjunction with other researchers over the years and attempted to establish their releva nce to food security. "The advent of a very d es tructive ru st disease of maize incited by Puccinia polysora in 1950," he said, "called a ttention to the im portance of plant breeding and ge-
netic improvement of important crop va rieties." Subsequentl y, "organised approach rawa rds a system atic study of mai ze was established" and "two varieties have been offiCially released to the Nigerian farmers by the National Variety Release Committee in 1985." On ke naf, the professor said a variety(lfe Ken' 400), one of those "isolated arrer many cycles of selection," has been "offiCially released ra the Nigerian farmers by the National Variety Release Committee in the year 2005. He added that "two new high fibre yield stability have re cently been develqped in the instirute." . He therefore obselved that "there is still the need for more in-depth research to enhance food security as well as information dissemination to resou rce-poor fa rmers who still produce70 per cehrof the nation's food staples."
Kwara's Ex-commissioner Canvasses Support For Agric From Abiodun Fagbeml, lIorin
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immediate past commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Kwara State, Professor Mohammed Issa Gana, has said tha t a ve ritable commercial agriculture in Nigeria could only be feasible if the nation's commercial banks would reduce their collaterals for the potential large scale farmers. Gana, while delivering a keynote address on Commercial Agriculture in Nigeria bankrolled by the Agri cultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI) 1I0rin recently, said no nation could thrive in commercial ag ri c ul ~ ture with the present lending rates of the nation's commercial banks. He therefore called for an understanding of the concerned banks that agriculture is peculiar, requiring a longer duration, especially when cash crops are involved, before any meaningful harvest could be carried out. Tne event held at the ARMTI campus, was the opening ceremony of a two-day training of directors of Human Resources Development. It was attended byover60 participants across the counny The ex-commissioner sa id, "while credit faciliri es are essential in commercial farming all over the world, rhese, unfortunately, have always been a major problem for us in Nigeria. This is so because our banks do not understand how farmers could assess credit facilities. "This is a sad development bur it is the路real situation of events. An average large scale commercial farmer will ordina rily req uire low interest rates and opportunity for him to enjoy a long term repayment of the loan," Gana stressed. He identified ot.hers as large arable land, technologicallmow-how, irrigation system, power, and creation of avenue forstorage facilities. Regretra bly, he disclosed that the nation has 99 million hectares of fertile land, 30 per cent of which are presently under cultivation. Besides, he sharply criticised the high level of unemployment among Nigerian agricultural graduates who could have been trained as commercial agricultural experts. For him, Nigerian government has no justification for importation of rice valued at billions of An1erican dollars. He said if the rice plantation belts in both Niger and Kwara states were harnessed and well funded, they have the capacities to produce enough rice for the entire West African countries. Iii his remarks the Kwara State Head of Service,A1haji Dabarako Mohammed, said the agricultural sector still remains the fulcrum of the nation's economy, justifying the huge resources expended on commercial agriculture in the state by the government of the outgoing Governor, Bukola,Saraki. The acting director of ARMTJ, Dr. Oladele Windapo, said the most critical factor that could not be undermined in the concept of commercial agriculture remained the human resource to drive the concept. He added tI,at'we must be determined to evolve relevant and regular capacity building programmes that wiTI produce capable hands to facilitate Out desire for food production in commercial quantity both for local consumption and export . purposes."
Vice chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, lie Ife, Professor Michael Faborode (right), Director of the Institute Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T) ,lbadan, and Mr. Dotun Awoyemi, director of academic affairs of the university afler Ihe presentation of the inaugural lecture by Professor Ogu"nbodede in li e Ite las 1Tuesday. PHOTO: OlUKAYODE OYElEYE
ECOWAS Trade Scheme, AFailure, Say Stakeholders By Gbenga Sala"
E ECOWAS Trade tiberalisation Sc heme (ETLS), a mechanism to facilitate trade within the region towards fast-tracking economic integration among member states, has been scored low. This assessment was made known recently in Lagos during a workshop organised by Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) as stakeholders in the regional trade sector explored ways to maximising the benefits of the ECOWAS TIS in Nigeria. Countries around the world have continued to form themselves into regiona l blocks for politica l and economic devel-' opment. One of su ch unions is the Economic Community of West Africa States '(ECOWAS), a regional body of countries in West Africa, set up to protect the interest of members against other bodies. When ECOWAS was established, the vision of the founding fathers was for the region to attain socia-economic integration by creating a custom union or free trade area and atraining free movement and establish ment of the people of the subregion. To further deepen the economic integration of the re-
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gion, ECOWAS leaders came up with a policy on ETLS as a mechanism to facilitate trade within the region towa rds fast-tracking the achievement of economic integration among me mber states. ETIS, which was set up in 1988 was the focu s of the Lagos workshop. Although all the speakers at the workshop ag reed tha t the regional body needs to co llaborate through the encouragement of inter-border trade on goods produced by member countri es, their common ve rdict was that the policy has not worked because member states have fail ed to fully impleme nt it even after their leaders have acceded to, and signed up to, the ETIS procedure. They expressed doubt in government's sin cerity about the implementation of the policy, which is not on ly negatively affect businessmen but also the government which loses huge revenue to informal business, beSides not encouraging export. ETL~ is a policy meant for total remov.al and elimination of customs duties and taxes, removal of non-tariff barriers to intracommllnity trade and establishment of a common external tariff on goods produced in countries of memoer states .
The Minister of Sta te for Comm erce and Industry, losephine Tapgun, who ope ned the workshop, commend ed the organisers of the workshop as she noted tha t the topic was ve ry relevant to the country's d etermination to promote regional trade. The minister, however, ide ntified that the various challenges presently experienced in the implementation of the ETLS should be seen as common to all and that a ll stakeholders must work together towards enhanCing intra-regional trade by effectively participating in the ETLS, adhering to the rul es and regulations. Tapgun disclosed that the federal government was a lready taking measures that will enable the private sector effectively benefit from the ETLS as well as othe,r preferential trade arrangements that are being negotiated , including the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) also being negotiated between the Europea n Union and West Africa. -. "The present administration remains reso lu te and committed to ensuring that its ongOing reforms aimed at creating a vibrant private sector and stimulating growth in the national
eco nomy, a re vigorously pursued," Tapgun noted. In his welcome address, the executive director of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, (NEPC), Mr. David Adulugba, commenting on the ETLS procedu re, revealed that afte r the policy became o perational over 1411 products from Nigeria had so far been admitted while Nigerian companies represent 50 per cent of companies a nd 40 per cent products in the scheme respectively. And just like th e minister and other stake holders, Adulugba a lso stated that "i n spite of the numerous benefits accruing from ETLS, the scheme has, regrertably, been marred by barriers to movement o f goads due to road blocks at border posts, rejection of some products by m ember states from total tariff exemption even after admission of companies into the scheme while some member states have introduced some difficult barriers to trade against the spirit of the ECOWAS protocols." To accelerate the integration process in order ra promote the goals and objectiyes of the ECOWAS Treaty, he suggested that realisation of a common currency within t he' sub-regiori CONTlNUEO ON PAGE 74