FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2011
Nigeria, others to benefit from World Bank's $300m agric facility l.ayi Adeloye
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo,
WELVE countries in the West African sub-region are to benefit from a World Bank-assisted regional agricultural project, under the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme. According to the April edition of the Nigerian South African Chamber of Commerce's bulletin, Nigeria is one of the countries to benefit from the $300m facility. Other
Benin, Gambia and Niger. The Economic Commun ity of West African States is expected to contribute $30m of the facility, with the balance of $l5m to be put down by the Nigerian International Development Agency, and $6m to be raised from free grants to the Global Food
T
countries under the scheme
are Ghana, Mail, Senegal, Cote d' ivoire, Burkina Faso,
received the approval of the board of the World Bank to participate in the programme, is expected to utilise the facility to boost its productivity as weU as create direct employment for about 1.5 million local
farmers, especially youths and women.
World Bank's task team leader for the programme, Abdoulaye Toure, who led a team of agricultural experts to Nigeria, was quoted to have said that the project
had started yielding results in some participating African countries, such as Mali, where technologies developed for rice had helped raise farm productivity from two to nine tonnes per hectare, with Nigeria's farm productivity
currently put at 2.5 tonnes per hectare. "Nigeria, which will share $51m in WAPPP package, will pay back only the interest-free $15m to the IDA in 40 years, with a grace period of 10 years," Toure said.
r-~~~<n~~=--=~
Crisis Response Programme.
Nigeria contributes between 60 and 65 per cent of ECOWAS funds . According to the bulletin, Nigeria, which has already
Vegetable farmers want soft loan from Gombe Govt EGETABLE farmers in V Kwadon, in the YamaltuDeba Local Government area of Gombe, say they need soft loans to be able to purchase irrigation pumps. The News agency of Nigeria reports that Kwandon is a popular vegetable farming town. of The . Chairman the Vegetable Farmers Association, Malam Dabo Umar, said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Kwandon, Gombe. Umar said that no fewer than 200 farmers cultivated about 600 hectares of with vegetables yearly during the dry and rainy seasons. "We sell between 20 and 30 pick-up vans of varieties of vegetables, namely: spinach, cabbage, lettuce, water leaf and onions daily during the dry season. "The quantity increases
to between 30 and 40 vans dur.ing rainy season".
he
said.
Umar
explained
that
their customers came rrom
the neighbouring states of Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, as well as other local government areas of the state every morning to purchase vegetables. Apart from irrigation pumps, Umar said that the association
also
needed
pesticides and fertiliser. "One of our problems is pests which ravage our crops almost all year round. "We really need some assistance to address the problem because our crops are basically leaves and once destroyed, we lose out completely. "As for fertiliser, the quantity given to us is always insufficient. A bag is given to 10 farmers to share, which is not enough for even subsistence farming, talk less of farmers feeding the society," he argued. He also stressed the need for improved seeds and seedlings.
L-R: The Manager, 'Chaopraya Restaurant Limited, Mr. Noi Netthip; Chaiman, Rev. Segun Agbetuyi; and Diredor, Mrs TItiiayo Agbetuyi, during a news conference on the company's first anniversary, in Lagos... recently.
Fanners scramble for manure due to fertiliser scarcity UE to the delay in the distribution of fertiliser D in Zamfara, farmers in the state are now scrambling for waste and animal dung to prepare thejr farmlands for th e 2011 planting season .
An in vestigatio n by the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau, the state capital, on Wednesday, revealed
that animal wastes, especially chicken droplet, was currently being sold for between Nl,BOO and N2 ,OOO per lOOkg bag. Alhaji Barau Yusuf, one of the animal waste dealers, told NAN that his business had witnessed a boom as the demand by farmers had increased because fertiliser was not
Freight ,forwarders' tribunal not meant to hunt members - Chairman HAIRMAN of Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Alhaji Hakeem Olanre~aju , has said that the essence of inaugurating a Freight Forwarders' Disciplinary Tribunal is not to jail erring forwarders . Olanrewaju told newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos that ¡ the tribunal was
C
to ensure that practitioners
respect the rules that govern the practice of the profession . "The tribunal will, however,
mete
out
appropriate penalties to any erring member after the induction. "Even though the Federal Government has inaugurat';d the Freight Forwarders' Investigative Panel and the Freight Forwarders tribunal, no registered member will be subjected to investigation and punishment. . ~â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘" He added, "This will only take place when the 4,000 registered freight forwarders have been
properly induded. the "Before of commencement appropriate sanctions, we will first organise compliance courses for the registered freight forwarders . "The aim is to enable them understand what is expected of them," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted
Olanrewaju as saying. He said that the consultative forum would bring the council closer to stakeholders and be a rallying point for all freight forwarders. "With the establishment of the forum, it is expected that issues like fixing appropriate freight forwarding charges
and rates will be taken care of and this is why we have brought in everybody to be a part of it, " he explained. On the fate of practitioners who did not verify their documents last year when the verification exercise was
conducted, Olanrewaju said another round of verification exercise had commenced.
forthcoming . "When we started the business some months ago, we hardly sold one tonne in a day; but since
the beginning of April , when we started recording rainfall, more farmers troop from all over the state and even neighouring states to patronise us ," he said. A large-scale farmer,
Alhaji Ibrahim Garba , also told NAN that farmers had found manure to be cost-effective and as such animal scrambled for wastes .
"Our best bet is to resort
to
manure
since
there is no fertiliser from the government yet; and we cannot afford the commodity from the parallel market, " he said. Commenting on
KFC urged to maintain customer-centred approach to business Ronke Badmus
C
USTOMERS of KFC Fast
Food Restaurant chain
in the country have asked the company to maintain its customer-focused approach to business. Over 3,000 customers, who benefitted from the KFC's "MO FOOD, MO GIFTS" Easter promotion, according to a statement on Thursday, urged the company to device several means of keeping its customers. The Head , Marketing, KFC, Mr. Vikram Varma, said the promotion , which
started on April 22 this year, said the promo was geared towards adding more fun and excitement to customers' eating~out experience, in
addition to celebrating with
gifts. By Saturday, April 23, in some of the outlets, gifts had already been exhausted, leacling KFC officials to improvise by giving out free soft twirls and other items."
the customers on the occasion
One of the customers,
of Easter. him , According to combination of movie tickets, several KFC branded diaries and merchandise and other
who won gifts at the Surulere
gifts were won .
He said, "From Friday, the first day of the promotion, excited customers was seen queueing up in order to make
purchases that would qualify them for instant and assured
outlet and was quoted as
asking KFC to always satisfy its customers, Mrs. Katherine
Williams, said, "It has been so exciting. I love KFC's chicken and winning something for buying what I enjoy eating is just a plus-plus. " Another customer, Mr. Tosin Omolola, who won a movie ticket at the Allen
outlet, said the exercise was
a good one, urged that KFC should continue with the customer-centred approach in its business decisions.
the delay in fertiliser distribution, Alhaji Yahaya Labbo, the Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Agriculture , attributed the development to the ongoing transition in the state . NAN reports that the Mahmud Shinkafi administration will give way to the incoming Governorelect, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari , by the end of the month . Labbo said that although Shinkafi had planned the fertiliser distribution for April, the traditional period for the sale of the commodity, the exercise was jettisoned following the outcome of the April 26 governorship election. "Right now, we don't know how much fertiliser will be distributed to farmers and when, because the administration is tranSiting to the newly' elected government , and every government has its own policies" . he said .
The permanent secretary also confirmed that some unspecified quantity of fertiliser was looted from
. The Chief Executive Officer, Devyani Int Nigeria Limited, franchisee of KFC in Nigeria, Mr. Vishal Kapur, assured customers that the company would always put customers at the fore front
in Gusau , Gummi and Tsafe due to the riot ariSing from the outcome of the
of every business decision,
election.
adding that KFC in Nigeria would continue to up the stakes in the provision of freshly made foods which meet international standards and quality.
He, however, said that the government had set up
government~owned
stores
a committee to ascertain
the quantity of fertiliser carted away from the stores during the incident.