Vang uard. M O N DAV. OCTOBER 15.2012 - 35
People in B H"I'fUeSS
Fi nan cial\fdnguard BY EBELB ORA.KPO
it. I . Pelum/ SMiU Arfbls1..,.1:111. is Ih. GroupMIIDaging Dlredor 01 OguBlllod Fv_.J l ocill.d In I/e-Ogbo. (}sun Stale MJd / lJO.pJoI/iU'III 10 lbildiHI, Oyo SI./e. The OSc. AllaobloJogygTildllille frollJ lbe ObiIleDli AWoJOM'O Uni.'enity. De-II". in IJJbdul with FJ•••cJ.J ~"iIngllilrd, s.Jd Mlbougb be 1s • .Javb/o/ogist.1' prolusJolJ., bul I~JD!1ls bh pss/DD so b e Is ilIMlfllubyc.JJhJg_
Arlbisid.
M"O
My target is 1m hectares of farmland - PELUMI ARIBISALA their cass a va , wate rmelon, dug their flS h pond 11lere IS a medJca! doctor a mong them He was the but to d ig hIS pond and sta rted With about 2,000 fingerling ' a nd now, we have about .II of them that are mlo fish produdlon. They will not do It the Ulual way, we are looking at bnnglOg technology mto everytlLng we
prr.lu-s 10 . .
W IN if I.r.u rather lbiUI lUI .grlad/urist ~~ 01 lbe desire loidMlJIy ..fib lb" peopll!. 1I0/ell lbilt Nigma
can gellera/e o.'e.r SO per ~I 01 bu budget fro. agdad/UTe wllldn if spM:e 01 1t!D II lb. got'e,.".,y t _d peopltl iIrd seriolH. /!xcupls:
fl.'. -
run.
do "I have programmes/propos-
als and a lot of dungs that t have designed that if we have
MotivaHGII: According to Mr. Munu Arl-
a leriousgovenunent or senOUi orgaruJlatlon/group that win buy lOtO it, Within a space oJ about five - ten years, we can be generating more. than half of the country '. budget trom the programmes and they are firmly rooted to a'lncullure.·
bLSaJa who manages a 300acre farmland, what reaUy tniKIe him go into fanrung was
the dream of making Africa self.. ufticient in lood produc-
tion to put the lie to the un· pression created by western media that the African continent and its people are a hungry and depnved lot "What reaUy motIVated me mto agnculture was the fact that I hate It when I watch CNN or 8BC and they .how us as hungry people , They make us look like we do not have ..nyttung whereas In Alnca, we have both natwal and human resources In abundance . In fact, the western world depends on Afnca. N a result of that, J took It upon myselI that t want to see a day that I will be able to say that from my (ann, 1 am feeding Arnca, at leAlt once every w~k.. That is my dream, my vtSlon and my goaJ and I am really working towards that." he .ald How It UJ .Uri.ed: Narrated Arib lsala, "One th.U1g I b~eve I. t,hat you always need a .houlder to.tand on .0 that you can see far. A1 the .ame ume, the shoulder may not be finanCial, I have abrotherwhoownedabou110 acres of land on which he had planned to buUd a hospital and I asked him to let me use the land Although he refused mittally, he eventuaUy released It to me I .tarted With oU palm and today, I have about 30 acres covered With oil palm and the whole farm is about 300 acres. It i •• ull very .mall because my target lS to have one million hectares of farmland. We have cas.ava, especially the yellow vitamin A big..(ortified vanety from H'IIrvestPlu. , plantatn, mai2.e. vegetables etc. My Idea 01 ill farm lS a
~ I know what I can do to help a state generate more than they are getting from federal allocation; I know what I can do to help Nigeria be at the forefront of every facet of agriculture complete 'arm, people call It integrated farmmg but J call It /armocultwe whereby ~ erything you do on the farm 11 use.ful on the farm From yow crop, you feed your animals and from the animals, you generate waste and you go mto waste management '"We produce biogas and we grow medianal mushrooms on water hyaantb. rice .traw, and sugarcane baggasse_We use every waste we can generate from tbe farm . We do crop production and arumal husba,ndry J started With snails , we also have gras.cutten:, a few cow. and soon, we WlIJ go lOto fishery lind piggery, We. have quite a number of dungs ; anything you clln find on a farm, when you get to us, you will find it " "lRWng: ' 1 tr~n people on everything I do We lramed some corps members dunng the onenUI ' lion programme in Oyo a nd
,
EkiU I tates . Those in EIoU have started thea mushroom cultivation . I allo trained them on waste management and they are dOing fine.. Those in Oyo State were trained on agriculture, waste management and other agro-<lllied related areas We. have about 30 ~ members from the NYSC farm in Iseytn that have dedded to go mto agnculture.. • They are fi n ancing it themlelve. but we are fa cilitating .ome things 'or them like getting Iractor from Oyo State Minil· uy of Agricu1. lure tree of chMge. They only fuel it We want to use them as a
model. They have planted
MydreilJa: -we are looking at acq uuing another 300-500 hectares 10 Iseym area We want to ensure that food 11 out of the lut of Nlgena', problems ~cently, at a three.-day conferl!r'lce 10 lagos, orgarused by the Commonwealth Youth Alliance lor Leadership and Develtopment lO Afnca, youths from aU ov~ Afnca came together to d IS' cussleadership and duvelopmental is.ues in Africa, While there, I10nned a grou1), 37 of us; and we wiU be working in synergy .0 that what I am doing In Nigeria, thl.'Y also Wlli be doing In then differ· ent countries We exchange Ideas and before you know It. we are feeding Africa We don' bave money but we have Ideas and we know thilt there are organlsauons thaI have Uus money And wanl to use it for agnculture.. It 11 nol JUit ideas on paper; ideas that have been working on t he
field . I e &1. II.yncultural revoluuon a M enVlJ"Onmental stewarcillup I tell people I am an ' grio.dtwal revolu borust &00 &1 1 ttnvtronmental Iteware .. be l aid InJtiAi c: Ir.1lilJ: Apart I f(lm UII! 10 acres he got fron )J.S blPlheJ;, Anbtsala .41d u w .. able to bwld on that bucalLle he. believes in plou,, ,hlng back his profit mtotheouslJ1l!SS NMyIOVest_ ment.t 'ategr is this: 00 not eat yow p.cofi always plough It back.. is .. geometric way of grow I1l9 CIIPlta!. I also got .ome mOllf!'Yltom farnLly and friends those that really be· Ueved 10 whal I was domg and tht, bdillVe I could do better. WaJ! ,able 10 put all these ( I og~ so any land I lee, I b llY and becaUl"e of my re.lalloll.lup ltItith the fannen and thtJ villagers, J did not really I ne to have the cash for the and AU t needed to do WillJ, 'bow them what I wanteo til d.) on the laoo. Once I IheM' mteresl on a piece (,f 'an4, I give them a busm!!.; s Iddll. ' I'm going to work o;lthu I.nd lor X number of 16.lrs Ihn IS the blUe money t have which I gener· ated frum DIY lann.' Then I pay tmm allde, we .ign the papen whlch they keep with their IL\ltyeJt TIlen in about one ye.u or 10, I am able to pay tht:.m tuBy" Regte(dr.g tbe average Nigerian'. mpal ience, he sald farmll ,g n ••ds pallence "'tbuths no ....wtays ane generally Jazr anct that is wby I go from place to place. usmg my
.t
own Ikry as an example to to-
.ptre them J have never received er..y ~&nt or loan from gOVl!mlDotnt If tbey bnng II, I have wbdt I WllI use It for I am 9Iven billions 01 j I already have
~::::~::,:,: tor the money I
I~
lcan dolo help a IIe ne.rate more than Magetliog from the fed a11";;.lIo,;. I ltnow what ao to help Nigena be 1~" .:'~::;;~~O:.' f So every lac11 money wue m agriculture you may have mon.tllI not lucceed
~;~~:'~':~Ican unandaddress food lOSe-
I!j
agricuU.urt'