Search NaijaAgroNet

Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Nigeria, first African country to develop e-wallet -Minister


Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said that Nigeria is the first country in Africa to develop the e-wallet for input delivery to farmers which in turn generated  a total savings of N25 million in 2012 for the  federal government.
Adesina disclosed this at the second EU-Nigeria Business Forum that was held in Lagos, and explained the government was losing about N26.3 million annually to corruption before the introduction of the e-wallet scheme for distribution of fertilisers and seedlings to farmers.

NaijaAgro Net recalls from the minister that the federal government decided to reach farmers directly using mobile phones, which allow it to send farmers electronic vouchers to buy seeds and fertilisers, created the first national data base for farmers with identity cards and biometric information which allows the ministry to give their information to banks to open up the financial space.

"There is no reason why Nigeria is not self-sufficient in many of its food products and our goals are to achieve 20 million metric tonnes of domestic food supply by 2015, to create jobs and of course to create wealth,” Adesina said.

The Chairman of the EU-Nigerian Business forum, Mr. Andre Ronne described the forum as an exchange platform  to consolidate, leverage, improve, harness and deepen economic and business relations and opportunities that between Nigeria and EU member states.


The Trade Counselor for the EU trade delegation, Mr. Massimo De Luca said the Nigerian market was important to the region as conference was expected to create the enabler for viable engagements that will boost good services, quality products and effective operations within the country and EU members’ states.

NaijaAgroNet
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
pix: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Researchers target at agribusiness


Research activities in the agricultural sector over the last 12 months are majorly targeted at improving productivity of the sector as well as improving the lives of farmers, particularly the small holder farmers.
Just recently was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), to unleash the potential of agriculture and natural resources in Africa.
The MoU is to help in building the critical human capital to address present and future challenges like climate change, pest and disease of the agricultural sector. It will also look into the development of the sector while engaging the youths and giving them the needed tools to be fruitful.
The 2012 edition of Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21) held in June in Uganda had over 300 global leading cassava researchers in attendance who discussed the ways to improve productivity of cassava with the use of scientific research and development approach.
As a body working on research and development of cassava crop, GCP21 has 45 member institutions conducting research about the crop.
NaijaAgroNet recalled that researchers at the GCP21 urge concerned stakeholders dialogue with farmers and other stakeholders using scientific and technical meetings that farmers can actually leverage on research and development for a better productivity.
Other issues discussed during the conference include seeking smart strategies, funding opportunities and catalyzing solutions to tackle technical challenges like cassava genomics, and bringing about a significant transformation in cassava in order to impact people’s lives, especially those that depend on the crop for survival.
On the other side, The Wellcome Trust late 2011 granted the sum of £500,000 about N128.044 million for a research on how humans influence domestic dogs.
The study which happens to be the largest studies into the relationship between man and dog looked into the way man breed, feed, train and socialize with dogs.
Also earlier in 2012, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) hosted a gathering of United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentarians and Civil Servants, African farmers, international donors and scientists which called for a reshape of agricultural research which would serve as developmental goals and work towards public good.
Items that topped the agenda of the gathering include plant breeding and seed selection, options for managing soil fertility, options for developing accessible markets, ways of governing, organising, funding and practising research.
The types of policies needed to transform Africa’s agriculture, comprising changes to tenure, subsidies and investment were also discussed.

Yinka Awosanya/LS
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Monday, November 5, 2012

IFAD projects in Yemen worth $230m

Nwanze, IFAD President

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has valued its projects in the west Asian country of Yemen to the tune of $230million, about N36.19 billion.
The United Nations’ specialised agency’s recent pledge to support agriculture and rural development in Yemen to the tune of $41million, brings the total investments in the country’s projects to $230million, as at September 2012
Of the total sum, $130 million was co-financed from domestic sources and the rest by external financiers, such as the European Union, International sDB and World Bank.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that some of the previous projects co-financed by IFAD in the Asian country include a $32.9, about N5.17billion Fisheries Investment Project in 2010, a project which benefited small-scale fishers, their associations as well as poor households that want to engage in aquaculture.
IFAD came up with the Fisheries investment project in a bid to improve the economic status of small-scale fishers through the creation of sustainable and diversified economic opportunities for poor women and men alike with special focus on the development of value chain development.
One of the numerous projects that sum IFAD’s financial commitment to N36.19billion includes the Economic Opportunities Programme early in 2010, which seek to create economic opportunities for the rural poor while working with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to significantly reduce poverty.
The economic opportunities programme, NaijaAgroNet further gathered also assisted landless households to develop the value chains for coffee, honey and horticulture products, being the three high-value agriculture commodities for some of the selected areas for the project.
IFAD in collaboration with the Government of Yemen introduced a private-sector-led approach to development operations with the economic opportunities programme.
The programme also established a private-public partnership to effectively, efficiently and transparently manage development resources and create synergies, whilst women constituted the key target group for the micro-business.
NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that projects by IFAD in Yemen have supported more than 1.2 million poor women and men alike, helping them build resilience to shocks and conflict, and at the same time improving their household food security and incomes.
However, the new pledge by IFAD will also allow the scaling up of successful investments to cater for additional communities and introduce innovations with the IFAD supported country programmes.
The investments according to IFAD are expected to stimulate rural economic growth and job creation for additional one million poor women and men in the rural areas.
Yemen was one of the first countries to receive financing from the UN specialized agency at the early period of its establishment.
IFAD as an international financial institution created in 1977 as a result of the outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference with the aim of financing agricultural development projects targeted at food production in developing countries, has since inception being working towards the eradication of poverty and food insecurity in developing nations of the world.


Yinka Awosanya
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Cereal price remain high in Nigeria despite good harvest

Maize Plant

Despite a bountiful harvest in 2011 in Nigeria, the market price of cereal is still on the upward trend.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that the forecast for cereals production for 2012 set a new record at 2,371 million tonnes as against 2,344 million tonnes of 2011.
Resources made available to NaijaAgroNet by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) revealed that the growing price of cereal is attributable to the removal of fuel subsidy in the early days of 2012 by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Other factors responsible for the price hike include civil strive and insecurity in the northern part of the country, strong cereal demand from the brewing as well as the huge demand from poultry sector.
NaijaAgroNet further gathered that in spite of the huge record forecast, the Sahel belt still has a reduction in cereal production which also affected supplies.
Ironically, FAO affirmed that some sub-regions recorded price reductions during the early period of the harvest season, citing an instance with Damanau International Market in Kano, which recorded the highest decline in the West Africa region within this period.
According the UN agency, Dawanau International Market recorded a 12 per cent and 15 per cent decline in the prices of maize and sorghum respectively compared a month prior to harvest.


Yinka Awosanya/LS
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Food price index falls for the third consecutive month


The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Food Price Index, has declared the fall of food price index for the third consecutive month in the last six months.
FAO in its monthly assessment and analysis of prices of 55 food commodities indicated a drop of 1.8 per cent from 205 points in May, thereby dropping in three consecutive months from April 2012.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that a four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012; hence the index now stands at 15.4 per cent below its peak in February 2011.
A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO affirmed that the average prices of all commodity groups in the index were below May levels, with oils and fats recording the largest drop.
The United Nations' agency attributed the continuous drop in food price index to the continuous economic uncertainties. That adequate food supply prospects kept the index down although growing concerns over dry weather sent prices of some crops higher toward the end of the month.
NaijaAgroNet learnt that prices of food commodities have started rising again recently as a result of adverse weather and this may affect the rebound of the food price index in July.
FAO’s new production forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at 2 396 million tonnes, still a record level and against the previous forecast of 2,327 million tones.
Assessment by FAO also shows an adequate supply and demand situation in 2012/13 season which is traceable to the abundant supplies of rice as well as sufficient exportable supplies of wheat and coarse grains.
But grain prices were very volatile in June due to continuing dryness and above-average temperatures in most of the major maize growing regions of the United States. Adverse weather is diminishing prospects of an improvement in the maize supply situation and FAO is monitoring the development closely.
Commenting on the June Food Price Index, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said the agency has been actively involved in studying food price volatility and identifying appropriate policy responses.
“Our analytical work is helping to deepen the understanding of the nature, causes and impacts of volatility and of what governments and other stakeholders can do about it,” da Silva asserted.

Yinka Awosanya
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Capacity trends in Nigeria’s agro value chain


Ordinarily, a value chain depicts a chain of activities for a firm operating in a particular industry, like agriculture.
Typically, the agriculture activities very often start with the search for seedlings, followed by the fertilizer acquisition after the clearing of farm lands, only then can the seedlings be planted.
Nowadays, there are various sets of people who specialize in various farming including clearing of lands and in the eastern Nigeria, those are known as the ‘Abakalikis.’ They are also useful during the harvest seasons, according to Madam Okwy, rice farmer at Awba-Ofemili in Anambra State.
She says, another value chain of note are those who put the seedlings on the grounds or cleared farm land for such purposes and those usually coming from neighbour towns, where either wages for farm workers are very low or lack the relevant arable lands. These set of workers go to their home towns as soon as the planting season is over, but once its harvest time, they return.
The food industry has been severally described as a complex, and a collection of diverse businesses that congregate to supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population.
Therefore, it is pertinent to state that though subsistence farmers; those known to grow for self or mere family survival could be considered outside of the scope of the modern food industry, because their original plan was not to engage in large scale farming for commercial purposes.
So, food industry  could be rightly said to involve several stages including regulation at different levels; be it local, regional, national and international rules and regulations for food production and sales, consist of food quality and food safety, and industry lobbying activities.
And to unlock the potential of agriculture to create jobs, the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, disclosed that there is need to engage the energy, dynamism and entrepreneurship of the youth.
Adesina said that the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration no longer treats agriculture as a development programme, declaring that the goal of the government is to treat agriculture as a business and to make the nation an agriculturally industrialized economy.
To this end, he said that under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, this administration intends to add some 20 million tonnes of food to the domestic food supply with the creation of 3.5 million jobs in all the agriculture value chains before the end of year 2015.
Subsistence farming, he noted, is not viable to feed a nation, hence the importance of expanding the level of use of tractors in the country to boost the agriculture investment by small, medium and large scale farmers.
According to him, agriculture sector is the fastest in terms of employment generation, thus has the capacity to change the trend of economic growth in the country.
Adesina in his remarks at the Ekiti State’s Youth in Commercial Agribusiness Development Programme recently, noting that Governor Kayode Fayemi’s decision to involve the state’s youth in agriculture deserves commendation.
To raise the level of use of improved seeds, Adesina said his Ministry financed the entire seed supply for the country which amounts to N2.7 billion for the 2012 season, adding that the finance, is not from the government but the use of guarantees for banks to lend to seed companies.
Also, he affirmed that the Federal Government was able to secure financing for the supply of fertilizers for 2012, at the level of N27 billion from commercial banks using guarantees from the Ministry of Finance.
In a related development an agreement to establish and implement an agricultural development project was signed by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO).
Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, SMEDAN Director-General said the agreement, tagged SMEDAN-VSO Agro-Enterprise Project, is to engage women and youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years in agrobiz.
NaijaAgroNet learnt at the signing session that the agreement combines expertise of both bodies would add tremendous value to the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the nation’s economy.
The pilot programme, Umar revealed would be established in four states; Nasarawa, Ondo, Kaduna and Cross Rivers States. Pointing out, “Our organizations both share the same values in respect of assisting disadvantaged people. SMEDAN, as a gender-sensitive organization, with our high level of professionalism, has a lot to offer to this nation.”
It was not surprising therefore that a multi-million Naira assembly plant was being targeted, a North American company, AGCO which specializes in manufacturing of agricultural equipments, in anticipation of Nigeria’s dream to grow the sector with 300,000 within the next three years.
AGCO, DigitalSENSE News gathered, offers a full product line including tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage equipment, groundscare and implements through more than 8,500 independent dealers and distributors around the world.
DigitalSENSE News investigations also revealed that AGCO is likely to provide this number of tractors through its worldwide retail financing scheme known as Agricredit joint venture.
Experts at Investopedia says joint venture is the cooperation of two or more individuals or businesses in which each agrees to share profit, loss and control in a specific enterprise. Describing it as a good way for companies to partner without having to merge and are typically taxed as a partnership.
Affirming this development, Dr. Adesina, emphasised that AGCO is the largest manufacturer of Marcy Ferguson tractors globally and that Federal Government has advanced strategies for the establishment of assembly plants in the country following a discussion with the manufacturer in April.
“Nigeria needs at least 300,000 tractors, to enable our youth to get into agriculture as a business,” he declared, pointing out that already the Nigerian government has concluded farmers’ census, while introducing an agric-wallet and employment of 36 agriculture directors, who have been deployed nationwide at the state capitals.
As we look forward to a better youth empowerment with all these laudable government programmes, it is high-time to walk the talk, while the Universities of Agriculture across the country should take up adequate research initiatives on agricultural related products for better production at the end of every farming season.


... Linking agrobiz, people & technology