TIlE GUJ\llOW,I, Sunday, October 16, 2011
SUNDAYMAGAZlNE
113
__ Nigeria's Food Ga$s~va 'tuber: .: __ ._ .._. . '. ____ .~ __ .. Importation Hi(rl . IllCOInc Po1l'nt ial Thrown O V<"Thod rd
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rltycan be addu~!'~~ by r~udngpoveltlt acc~ibi1lt1'of ho.mholds roadequaleand nutritious lood alilhe lime. • U nOlhlng is done about Lhe shortfc1IIs, it may soo~r tJ lJn exprct:~ btcome too InlJi. cate to manage.
-"PO'" " Nigeria is a net bod impaner.
• FOOd e:cpon tTilde was betwoeen 0.04m and 035m dUl1ng 1993-2001.
~~FOOdJ'l"odu ctionforlncrrased
- Food production mustgrowcoflSlstendy well abOve deml.f"d to briilge shortfalls.
n BlDES. on October4, 20U, au National J.}5takeholders' \Vorkshop on ~Iollmenl or Aquacu l tu~V.alue dlaln, the A~culru~ foollnlster <llso mu:rated thal Nigena spent about NIOO billion on the impon:alion of rlOlen flSh In 101(1. While lamenting the shortfall or flSh supply in theoounI ry. he noted that the ~umated annual fish deman d Is about1.66 million itS agalnstlhe annual domestic production of aboul 0.78 millior.givinga demand-supply gap of about 1.8 million mctrictoru.. The minister. rep~nt~ by lhe Penmnent Sccre:tiIryln the ministry. Or. Ezekiel O}"emom~ disclos"!'d th,u Nigeria itnlJOlts ~r 780,000 metric tons of frozen fish annu<llly from Europe, Latill America and the Eastern (ountrlu He regrrtt~ tha t.theshortf.all
ROM the peasant fanne.r'sJ)Osition, all cassa· va (ould do and has ~n Oing Is provide sustenance for the: family from its pnxluru lIkegarri, 'a{un, (ufu and abdcha (tapioca) When the.re Is 01 bumper harvest and the fannerflas mo~ than enough, the prlces of the proc~sed products sem to the local mar· kers crash to lhe palm of discouragemelllthe~a rter.l h e (uitivation is pur In limbo for fear of labour wi thout commensurate
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income. Perhaps, .after about two seasons of staying aWilY from consistent cultivalion, the prices go up itS a result of sc.1rcity, then they return. Even wilh this fitful production, th e count·ry ranks among th e top three biggest casSilva p roducers In [he wor ld. of course this cannol go without the outstanding work that has ~n done by the Intemational lnrutute of Tropical Agricu lture (IrrA), lbadan in boosting production of the tuber. However, In 2001 the Obasanjo ad m inistration took a Step tha[would have turned around fortunl.'l of the fanner and nauon If the policy on lhe oopwasSlIstil ined. The president at the UrnI' Connulated a policy
policy Inconsistencies would not k~p the projectanoaL CASSAVA Is j>eriShable as Its moisture (On· that would commercia lise cassava produclentls very hl~l (between GO and 70 per tion and lake it beyond local consumption. cent) and difllcult to preserve without adeIn 2001 the production was about 34 mil· quate techno logy. This has ope n~ it up to lion metric tons (MY) and increOised to 37.9 being expioltedby middleme n who buy milliol: MT In 2001. An ave:ra&,: yield of 10.83 cheap and have: the ability to process to MT per hectare was employed in the cultivaother intermediate orena producu that lion of 3.t25 million hectares. attract better prices and income. BuOyed by the h uge production o f the tuber. Only recently, NI$erla's Agriculture miniS· the0b.1s..1njoadminlStTation aimed at mak· ter, Dr.Akillwunml Adcslnil proj' ectsthat ing the crop an export commodity with a fanners em earn up to $450 mj lion view to generating fiV(' billion NOilra annually. (N675bn) under the cassava tra nsfonnatl on Aside the primary p roducts from the ruber, agenda. To achieve th is, the ministerSOlid the p lan is to make a number of va l ue...add~ government would pm In pl.a(e a Market Items as secondary products t hat ;ue able to and Trade Development Corporation OIttract forel!;n exchange to the cou ntry. fMlOC)ln the value dlain of cassava mar· These a re ChIPS, pellets, nour, adheslvn, alco- ketlng to e nsure an dfKtl ve market dlain. hol, and starch tha i are vital raw materi.als In the plan, ove:r 1..2 million jobs are expettneeded in industrial production In food and ed to be creotted both on and off fann. NO\v, fenllndustries OImong others. an IncreOl.scd produ(tMty lJ.1sed on 12.5 tons To re.alise lhis objective:, there WilS lIe~ to per heaare under the inftlath'e, seems to deve lop the domestic muket lhal would give a new bite. Hopefully, 'a new generation pla(e a greater demand on the produ({, of c.aSsaVil farmers, oriented towards com· diversify its use and create nationa l policies mercial prOlluction and farm business' that win enil'IOce cassava deve lopment. The would fly the new flag of President government at the time sought to do this but 10nOithan's revamped focus on the tuber.
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PUOTO: COUR1ES't' fU41 OOUGBEMI
Agric Minister Promises Change Ity~~
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According to Adesillo.lo, the mnsfonnatioo agenda calls forurgeted Intl'n"l!nUons to In(rea.secllklenq and prolitability along dle value-added (halns of
thar,Uileed,dlerewili beadWW! within ash:lrttime Heundl'nlCOl"Cd hlsc:onfidw.'ellyllstingthe;ums in th~(rops. \vhk.tl hehasbroughtaOO.rtD"l'leIrmwnrlon. p.tttku- On rice, he saki. -our 11m b.1n1e Is [0 make NIgeria larlyilttheln5tJtWooalle\,u majcI"!Rpt!la:nlDwls se.lf.suffident In rice production wllhi n four years. dr~dtlrmintstlyintosb:regkm.radt CUrrenUy we Import 500,000 Mr of brown rice from tDbeheadedbvadbutol: outlilde the counll)l. \\'e wi ll redu("C this [0 zero by 2013 and ~ will shift to domestia.lly producro , havecanfed outrrujorlnsdtulionaJ (hang~ Involving transformational poliCies and organlsa· brown rice. This ;llone wlll save w N50 billion curre ntlybeJngspent Importing bl"O\vn rice.." tional changes in pIaa-." Before nO'o'o\ he said, no 'T1{l:World rood 5'.lll1mlt Of 1996 deOned The seconil bayttle. said tile mlnJter .sv.riI1 focus on .!. food security as ais tlng ·when all people at one has done this:"1am decenmllslng tile endre assn .... NIgeria Is the largest producer oC assava in of agriculture There will be six ~11iI! ministry all Uml!S ha~ a((e-s to sufficient.Si!..re, nutridirectOR to~ the programmes" and i1npJe- the world with J4 million Mf but oonlributes zero tious food to malnt,,-In II he.1lthy and active mentation wiD be done witJi stltts on the grnunc.i penentin tenns or value OIdded in dobal trade. "1M: life. ~ -"loci tile mlnistTywUl monitorwhat Is being "'~11 fQCU50n at.lting new-end usesTorCilSSilVil~. Commonly, LheroiCeplorfood srcurity Is done.The mlnISlt'rcontinued: "OUr third area of battle Is defined as filCl udin~ boLh physi~1 and ecoKlrghum totrilrufonn the nonJleaSland nonJl west. Atlhe weekend, the minister told T1l eGu.mli.1n nomiCilCCess to fooii lhat ml'(!tli people's of the prt':!!denllal retrcatwhere-the prlvates«- Currentl)( woJ'kls,ua n advanced state to re l ~~ new dietary needsasw"C!1 as their food prere~nces. tor said this 15 the best II\alean happen toagriall. hl~·yleld[n&. solldtum hybrids in 20U, whl(h wUl In many(ount:ries. heah•.h problems related ture. We have done a lot of consultation wllh the r.use the yield of fanners by five times from less than LO dietary excess all'an ever.j~lng l.h~at. people. We are already ImplemenUng the pro05 ton per hecta~ (lu) to 1.5 tons per ha~. In fact. mainutritioll OInd foodborn edlarrhoea ~nmu" being talked aboUL On maize, the/m inister, he disclosed that wotit Is have become double burden. The government, through the tr.msfonnation going on -to re.ich a total of 100,000 ranners In u Food s«urlty Is bullton tJlI~ pi\l;trs; ;!gt'lIda.looks forward mgenerating -over 3.5 mil· sUtes. Each folnntf" 15 being targeted to produce on • rued awfJ!bllity: !:ufficient quantities of lion Jobs !"rom the rtce. C;U5;lva, sorghum, cocoa 3h.aofland,thwa total of600,000 hawill bemvef!d food avallable on a ':onslslmt basis. and ootton value (hairu, wltJl rruny more lobs to In lhe firstyeuand ~ need a total or 12, 000 meu1c • fOcdaccess: hi!.\'trg sufficient resources to come from other\'aJue ch.alns tha.t will be(omplet- tons of certified Improved seeds for lOll. We envisage obelin appropnatr: fOods for a nutJidousdieL ed soon~slilted themlnller. Headded that~.P!'o" thatabout .. ometrlctonsoCfoundadOOSl!'eclswiUbe gnmme will provide over )OObiliion NaIia (USll ha~ from our fiekis In Mokwa, Zaria, Funtua • Food l!..ceapprel!l late use based on kllowledge of basic nutn~on and cart'. as ....'1'11 asade- billion) or addition<li income in the hOImis of and Sam.lrab this month.~. Nigerla.n fanners.~ Adeslna sIad. "Cotton will be given attenUon "in the quateW"ater and sallitalion.
tion. He 51.1[00 lhati!.n (st1mat~ 10 million NlgeriansO)uld be acti~ly engaged in the upstream and downstnam 0I1"eaS of fishcri~ operatio ns. whim could also provide raw matenals for the ar imal feeds induSU)l.
oonh tilS( anti north W"C:it,~ he saki. ~ding Ihat the "tnnsfonnallon plans will In(l'ease e..T])Orts ~n fold frem 20,000 MTto 140,000 MT by 1015, enabling Nlgerta to ~Inlt.s le.ading position In WestMrkiJ.1111s wUl be a<:hlevt'd through adoptio n or new Im prO\ord varlelles of cotton, Improvement In quality and fe\itaUsation or the cononginnl!ries-. To In(~ase cCN:Q;l producUvilY. he no(m, "wI!\vill dev"Clop tailored cocoa fert.iliscrblends to r.Jpidly Impl"lM!:ylelds from 300kg per ha to sookg per ha. We will ~lse new fillandng from lhe GlPltal markets to revitalise the ~ 5ecIOf. The mnsronnalion of the CO((JOl sect.orwlil (reate 360,000 jobsby20t5~.
And on Bsllet)\ he s.aJd, -me fish mnsronnation agenda plans to Inmase .annual fish production from thecummt production ofO.i8M ~rr[(lJ.oM MT in ordt'rto adlleve sdr 5UITiCIerK)' In fish production and supply by the ~ar lOtS. Th15: win be achiem:I through fish farm estate de\""Clopment; fish seeds and reed mill ~Iopment: fish pen and a.geculru~development and fish pon..tJar· vest managt'mentand marketing progmnmes". With r"CSpectto llvestocksub-sector,tfle mininer Indicated tllat -the IIV1':Stock transfonn;arion progtOIrnme plans toamlf'\""C self ruffidency in me~ t and Ii\~ production by lOIS thmu2h Invest· menlln the livestock \aluernaln on the following programmes promoting large K~!e Ih'eStoci( fanning In five geo«ologlcal zones of oompalr live; upgrade of loa! b~ tJlroUgh selt'CtfVe b~ing ~nd arondal insemlnadon: expandln! hau:hery aJ»dty to achiev"C haldllng oT 25 ml lion day old" chicks, (broilen and 1a}WS per week by lOIS); Cll"panston of sm.allholder and perturban rattelllngschemes; ronlJOl ortr;msboundary anlrTlOll disUses and 1n0NSe vacdnation roy. erage from cumnt35 t095 percenl by20tS."