OND~Y;UUNE
44
4; 20fT
• Empowermtmt: lagos Senator distributes rm Inputs to re.idents
ENATOR Gbmga Ashafa. represenlJl1g Lagos East Senatorial ['Ilsl riel at the weekend rnar~ ed tus first year stewardshtp at lb" senatewtlh the dlstrlbutlon 01 various empowerment mateials includ-
S
Ing farm mput'lll! part of MOperahOD back to farm programme The crop farmir 9 lOpuls donated were~ 10 bllQS of ferti· lizen:, cassava stalks. plantain M
sucker, nuw:e s.oeds. herbicides, Jm&psact :;prayer, hoe and cuUa.!lIues
Ashala. who Deted that the gesture """as 10 fu1 Llment of his
electoral promiss, stressed that the chall~le plagwng the pobty Willi lh! 1mbalance 01 resources cettralization versus responsibility decentrallsatJon. He Hld lhdt lh~ mantra on food and food secunty has not changed; a COWltry that can not feed her cltinms can not protect them der1ves ibl root from descent meal from the body" Asbala mainlaiJ eel that WIth m.tlIJIID
There is still wide gap in Nigerian meat market - Mafindi ... plans multi million naira modern abattoir 'C.JE 'ell.! you proudly tho' ~ .I.he 15 a farmer in a 5Odely when monyare shy 10 be
ByOlASUNIVNMI AKONf
the over 18
Agric
people
the stale, the Sloille laces
GMI'CMl'.oLIn% need to go bad to farm many people M'l! slufted wrote coUar Job! tbat nonenstent
Jlgawa govt releases N709.6m to procure fertiliser HE J}gawa 'Iovemment T bas N109.6 million for plOCUlemenl of 6,000 released
the
metnc tomes of euorted fertillsen lor fBnuers Ir U)e: state Tbe State Comnussioner- for InfonnaUOn. VO:.Jth and Sports, AJhaJi Babandl n,rarum, disdosed in an inten-it........ recenUy mDu...
Ibralwn explauled that the fertilisers would be distributed to lanners for this year's (armmg season alsub!idJsed rates He S&d that NHmillion had alsobem ..~1 brinigation IadlJUes 1ft Mlga Local Governmenl Area of the It ale. TIle omUOlRnOIlef noted that fanning m thearea. n"ohun oJ.. I dJscbed that. N31 1 million 'Was
set aside lor the ministJy of agnrulture am natural embark on agriculttlral ero1ermon programme in the:rtat.e.
associaled with the profession. but who ....-auld not be It you are In Ule poaWon of Alhall Taflda Mafindi, the chairman of FA/'-tAG-JAL farm$. One 01 the farnUl 15 sitting on an expan.sreof 15,000 hectares of land In Jikwoyi, a suburl> of AhuJO and the other farm
In Taroba state is OYer 36, 000 hectares The larm is ho:J' to over 1,500 roWe and over 50 staff engaged lor di((erent oct.ivWeli ill thf!' Iorm On a visit to Ule JikwO)'llarm recenUy, Matlndl look out time 10 have a chat WJth JJMOH BABA11JNDE as he 5UpeM~d work on the modem abaltoir that Is being erected 'he farm by 80nle Chinese Here is an excerpt
a'
OD reuon for- investing in modem abattoir and animal busbandry
We are investing in thiS modem abattoir, bec::ause the demand for meat in the country has not been meant. The protem needs of the country is lD the region of 2O"r. and there 15 up to 80% left to be meant., so it 15 a market that 15 readily available and anybody !lave any problein.' •• • The only problem you will have 15 how to sort out yourself by produang what the people want hygIenically, then It will Oy and the -sky 15 thellmit. Uyou go to anycoc:ktail pMty, and you sf!e ten trays of food items brought in. four out of these food Items are protentaus food like meat, fish and before the other SlX trays are consumed. these four are gone beca use the demands are very \ugh On the funding of lbe abattoirprojed "T"'hose of us who have 10 1 vested 10 the agncultura.1 sector are very few because of low support (rom government and related agencies. I single-handedly finance my project here without any support whatsoever from anybody or government except for agnc loan I got and it's for the proposed abattoir market. We slllrted modestly, we accessedcommBCal agncu1turalloan 10 tbe tune of N250m (rom the First bank , then I mtroduced my own penonal money to the tune of N600m and that is what has gone in
and I hope at the end of the day wecomeout with what can
take care of Nigerians On the fadlilies allhe abidloIr
The challenges are real What we have here are two Lines and three receJ.ving faal.llles. 11us lrneyou see here are for processing rams and goats. And the other line goats and the middle line is ~ splitter Wlit where tbecow 'NI1I be processed, then you have a filter where they are selected forconsumpllon Those that will be certified (orconswnption and UIOSe that Wlll nol be certified for human consumpllon go m for leeding of dogs and II not certJ.fied for consumpllon at all they go mto the mcmerator
A fier that. we have four
.t-\thiJ1mg morns, Ule floors
Me being done and the chillmg rooms are for reducmg the meat to minus 30 degrees wiUun 30mm so thai you don't loss the nutrient, the content and everythlng. We also have the proc:essmg unns after the cold rooms where the meat IS split to what is demanded whether fillet, mmce meat or any other type of meat that 15 demanded for will be done there What we are gomg to produce here are going into intematiooal market. 10 we have te cold store It and get It to the costumer m the nght qualIty Even the local consumer tnJght want to pick his meat well processed lor his table On the sources of goat,
!
ment of Babagmda there was an orgarusallon for provision of farm lands, we need 10 re.. acbvate It and that cannot be done commercially, it has to be done as LVenture capllal for a long lime investment from govenunent for whoever deades to have a commeroalIy VIable fann. because for you to -'!an'~U~~ !'.esti8.J.'~ wastage and no loss f you Me gomg to plant I maize, you need the populallon , because you have if
sheep ilDd cow Nlgena has enough sheep, goal or cow for any company, the materials are there, the only Uung we are creating IS the enVIronmentally hygtenIC procesStng That IS what we are selhng to the customers If you VLSit any abaUoir m Nigena today, you may disUJte meat forever That is the difference we are creating What we are gOing to give Ule consumer at the end ollbe day IS hyqienicaUy processed. certilled meat, because we are gomg to be cerWied here m Nigeria and all mternationa.1 lood certifymg bodies. They are gomg to come here to eerWy us so thai we can have access to different markets. O n how 10 get the private sector involved in processing It 15 to cluster and investment in farm l'Ivallabllity, this when you use the available hmd we have today, thaI 15 properly cleared, root removed, stump surveyed I know under the govern-
an hectare and you are planting one mO;!ter apart thai means there 'NI1I be 100 plants by 100 plants that means you have 1000 sluck to produce comb, but Uyou haves!X mches which 15 15Ocm, you have 600 by 600 in one hectare which will give you 360,000 cobs of maize 10 one hectare, that will allow you to produce 15tonnes per hectare and the tradtllonal one allows you to produce one tonne per hecI,,",
Vou cannot compare the result of the two What about the by-products? the grass that comes out of tbis that you process into cattle feed. if you have 1000, an hectare will not gtve you one tonne but 11 you have 360,000, an hectare can give you five tones of hay, then you don't need to Sf!e the magic there for- the produdJon of catUe when you mil: the byproducts With molasses. and other addibves l.i.k.e palm kernel cake, ground nul cake, coUon seed cake and you feed yourcetUe.