CARF-FSD launches nationwide survey to assess impact of zero import tariff on Nigeria’s rice sector - NaijaAgroNet

The Competitive African Rice Forum for Sustainable Development (CARF-FSD), serving as the national chapter of the ECOWAS Rice Observatory in Nigeria, has officially launched a nationwide impact assessment survey to evaluate the operational effects of the Federal Government's Zero Import Tariff policy on the country’s rice value chain, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The survey targets primary stakeholders across the agribusiness ecosystem, including smallholder farmers, commercial millers, processors, seed producers, distributors, and agro-dealers; to collect first-hand field data on how the temporary duty exemption is altering market dynamics, local production capacity, and food security.

Ghana plans ban on rice importation by 2022 - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The Republic of Ghana has set a three-year target for the country to put a stop to rice importation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was disclosed by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Kennedy Nyarko Osei.

Osei said Ghana was working round the clock to stop the importation of rice into the county based on recent projections.

The Deputy Minister revealed this in an interview with Kwame Tutu on “Anopa Nkomo” on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7.

Osei, whose position was published on the website of Kingdom FM 107.7, said: “We import billion dollars of rice into the country, but the Agric Ministry, led by Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is determined that by the end of 2022 we will stop importing rice from other countries based on our projections.

“The two crops we are focusing on are rice and soya; soya because of the poultry industry and rice because of import substitution.”

It will be recalled that Ghana recently put pressure on Nigeria to open its borders for goods from other countries.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had ordered the closure of Nigeria’s borders to stem the importation of goods with local substitutes, especially rice.

Reports had it that the Republic of Benin, which does not consume parboiled rice, is the perhaps the largest importer of the rice type through its ports.

The border closure came after years of ban by the Central Bank of Nigeria of access to foreign exchange by importers of 43 prohibited products.

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, retired Colonel Hameed Ali, said within one week of the closure of Nigeria’s borders, over 500,000 bags of locally manufactured rice that had been lying in warehouses of the producers were sold.

According to available information, rice constitutes 82 per cent Ghana’s import, accounting for $1 billion.

The amount was at almost 2 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product, according to Ghana’s Deputy Trades Minister, Robert Ahomka Lindsay.

Osei told Kingdom FM 107.7 further: “Changing the structure of our economy through diversification and value addition will not happen overnight.

“It remains a major pre-occupation of the government because it is our pathway to reduce dependency, expand the economy, create jobs, increase exports, reduce imports and support the value of our currency.”

It would be recalled that Afriyie-Akoto had told the West African nation of plans to cut food importation through a flagship programme: Planting for Food and Jobs.

The programme is expected to provide farmers fertilizers at low rates to help boost local yield.

The subsidised rate, which is 50 per cent, is catered for by the Government as an incentive to smallholder farmers.

So far, farmers who used to produce three bags of rice per acre in the past, now produce 10 bags.

The ripple effect has led to the creation of more jobs as the need for hired hands in the harvesting and processing of farm produce has spiked.

Jobs created as at 2017 stood at 745,000, which is now improving to 900,000, according to the Minister of Agriculture.

In addition to this, a spinoff of the programme, tagged: “Rearing for food and jobs,” is set to begin.

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Expert advises on protecting rice plants by exploiting natural defences - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

An analysis of the chemical signals sent out by rice plants under attack by the brown planthopper could help in natural control of this insect pest.

Researchers in Indonesia have deciphered the chemical cues used by rice to attract a parasitoid that helps fight off the plant’s predator. The researchers created a system to imitate these cues, which could help investigate similar interactions in other crops and possible sources of non-toxic pest control.
 
Rice is a staple food, relied upon by half the global population. The brown planthopper is one of rice’s most destructive pests, causing damage by wounding the stem of the plants to lay the eggs for the next attack and by transmitting viruses that attack the plant.
 
Researchers from Universitas Negeri Malang and the Indonesian Sweetener and Fibre Crops Research Institute led by Dr. Surjani Wonorahardjo, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia, wanted to see if they could target the brown planthopper without using pesticides known to harm the environment. To do this, they investigated the so-called ‘tritrophic interaction’ between rice, the brown planthopper and the parasitoids that prey on the brown planthopper’s eggs.
 
They extracted samples from rice infected by the brown planthopper and analysed their chemical makeup. They then compared this to what they found in samples taken from healthy rice, identifying the chemical differences between healthy and infested rice.
 
They created a porous material from rice husk and soaked different pieces in chemicals extracted from either healthy or infected rice. In laboratory tests, the parasites were more attracted to the material infused with the infested sample. They also attached infused materials to posts and placed them outside in a rice field. Again, they found more parasitoids on the infected sample, but the researchers observed that the effect wore off over five days, so the samples effectively had an expiration date.
 
The results, published in the Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology, could guide further trials to see if applying the chemical cue could actually reduce the pest’s destruction of rice paddies; and if so, to what degree. The use of analytical chemistry offers insights into the mechanisms underlying these interactions and detect small changes taking place in great detail. 

They note that their technique exploring the interaction between plant, pest and the pest’s own predator on a chemical level requires further refinement, but could eventually be applied to other agricultural crops and potentially reduce the use of harmful pesticides.
 
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Pix: Dr. Surjani Wonorahardjo, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia.

Workshop participants confirm capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

Participants at a three-day workshop by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) rose affirm that there are capacity gaps on cassava, maize, rice and cattle farmers, reports NaijaAgroNet.

They also reaffirmed FARA readiness to leverage Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme to support the African Development Bank and the Regional Agricultural Transformation Programmes supported by the World Bank, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is in addition to partnership mapping of FARA’s Holistic Empowerment for Livelihood Programme (HELP), describing it as an opportunity matrix on available partnerships and training opportunities in Brazil, Cuba, Egypt & India, will be used to develop HELP country-based approach capacity building and innovation network that feed into the larger initiatives.

Speaking at the workshop, the Executive Director of FARA, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, declared that the march towards a food secure Africa and meeting the overarching developmental targets requires holistic capacity development approach to strengthen individual, organizational and systemic capacities.

FARA he said, recognizes the South-South collaboration framework as an important vehicle, stressing that the philosophy behind HELP is the promotion of triangular collaboration involving the private sector, universities/research centres and policy makers among African countries and their counter parts in the so-called South, based on solidarity that breaks the traditional donor-recipient relationship, under a win-win situation.

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Dangote rice targets 1m tonnes in 2018, launches youth graduates farm project @Kogi

NaijaAgroNet:

A multi-million Naira Youth Farming Initiative that will engage teeming unemployed Nigerian graduates in rice farming has been launched by the Dangote Rice Limited in Kogi State, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as the company says its preparing to hit the market with One million metric tons of Dangote rice in 2018.

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by Francis Awowole-Browne, informed that the Dangote Youth Rice Farm project, mainly an out-grower scheme for youths only was flagged off at the Lower Niger River Basin Authority, Kampe, Ejiba in Yagba West local government area of the state where youth have embarked on rice cultivation over 100 hectares of land.

He quoted Group Executive Director at Dangote, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, as saying that the rice farm project, was preceded by a special training for the youth farmers on the dynamics of the rice farming, will see the youths cultivating the rice paddy on a 100 hectares of land, which will then be bought over by the company for processing.

Under the scheme, he explained that the Dangote Rice Company would provide the seedling, anti-pest-chemicals, and fertilizers while the Basing Authority provided the land for the young farmers.

Mr. Edwin explained that the project is a new dimension to the efforts by the pan-African conglomerate, the Dangote Group, at ensuring food security and creating job opportunities in Nigeria especially for the youths saying this Initiative is in line with the vision and commitment of Dangote Industries Limited to create a new generation of agri-preneur that will revolutionize the Nigerian agricultural sector.

“We believe skill, knowledge, enabling environment, collaboration and linkages along the value chain are driving forces for economic empowerment and social development in line with the Federal Government policies. This project will address the skills gap in local rice production among unemployed youths by providing technical, organisational and financial requirements.”

He said it would also enhance domestic rice production to cover the large gap between demand and domestic production and to increase self-sufficiency of Nigeria and substitute imported rice by quality Nigerian rice brands.

Mr. Edwin disclosed that most modern rice mills in Nigeria presently operate at not more than 20% capacity utilization due mainly to lack of good quality paddy and that Dangote Rice aimed to change this situation developing and adapting out-grower schemes. According to him, the Dangote Rice Company plans to set up a 150,000 metric tons integrated rice mill and sale one million mt of parboiled rice by 2018.

The Dangote Group boss stated that the decision of the management to start the project was driven by two factors, one of which is the need for youth employment through empowerment to go into agriculture. “The youths are more vulnerable to crimes and other social vices when they have nothing to engage them and this in turn affect the nation negatively.

“The second factor is the need to strengthen the on-going efforts at producing rice for self-sufficiency so that we can save foreign exchange. By the time we will be doing one million metric tons of rice next year, no less than three million jobs would been created along the value chain.”

Mr. Edwin said the Kogi pilot project will cover four season of two years and will be launched in four other states soon.

In his own remark, the Managing Director of Dangote Rice, Mr. Robert Coleman urged the youth farmers to concentrate on the project and pay attention to details so that they would come out with good paddy yield.

He congratulated the farmers for the decision to partner with Dangote Rice noting that they have a solid source of livelihood for themselves and members of their families if they give their all for the success of the scheme.

The Coordinator of the youth farmers, Umar Etudaye thanked the management of Dangote Rice for believing in them and engaging them for the project. He promised that they would deliver on the mandate given to them on the project.

He stated that the scheme is a practical step towards nation building because it’s the youths, who constitute 40 per cent of the population, would build the nation and only the youths that are empowered and gainfully employed could do that.

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Make rice value chain sustainable – IRRI, FOA

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have called for making of rice value chains sustainable, reports NaijaAgroNet.

In a joint press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet gathered that in many countries around the world rice is a staple crop for food security and consumption trends are growing.

“At the same time rice production is vulnerable to the increasing impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events such as droughts and floods,” the press statement read.

NaijaAgroNet reports that both FAO and IRRI are actively promoting more sustainable rice practices throughout the value chain - production, marketing and consumption - to optimize its nutritional properties and as a means of improving livelihoods and tackling poverty, particularly in rural areas.  

FAO has developed the Regional Rice Initiative for Asia and Pacific which promotes enhanced crop resilience while increasing efficiency and farmers' income. In Africa and in Latin America the UN agency is engaged in scientific and technical cooperation including the sharing of technologies and best practices to increase production and productivity, including reduction of post-harvest losses and improved grain quality.

IRRI is engaged in strengthening capacities of all rice sector actors through its capacity development activities, including IRRI Education and the Sustainable Rice Platform.

The Sustainable Rice Platform is a global alliance to promote resource efficiency and sustainability in trade flows, production and consumption operations, and supply chains in the global rice sector. The Sustainable Rice Platform recently established the world's first standard for sustainable rice. Through the Sustainable Rice Platform, IRRI aims to use environmental and socio-economic benchmarks to maintain yields for rice smallholders, reduce the environmental footprint of rice cultivation and meet consumer needs for food safety and quality.

NaijaAgroNet noted that at the same time, IRRI Education works to build capacity through-out IRRI's extensive partnership network.

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Pix: Rice varities courtesy IRRI

LAKE rice makes a debut in Lagos

NaijaAgroNet:

The Executive Governors of Lagos and Kebbi States, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode and Alhaji Atiku Bagudu have formally unveiled the anticipated Lagos-Kebbi Rice labelled LAKE Rice in Lagos, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Performing this ceremony in Lagos, Wednesday, Gov. Ambode said that the partnership which culminated into the launch was not only designed to ensure food security, but to showcase the ability of Nigeria to become a producing nation.

He also said at the Lagos House that the development was historic for both states and Nigeria, as the rice would not only be sold at highly reduced price, compared to what obtains in the market, but is also very fresh and safe for consumption.

“Today is an historic day for Lagos and Kebbi States. In March 2016, we signed an MOU with an understanding that we, being proudly Nigeria, we want to come out with what is made in Nigeria and what is good in Nigeria. We took all that President Muhammadu Buhari said that we need to grow our food and we decided that we will prove a point and that is what today is all about.

“LAKE RICE is of good quality. The major difference between LAKE RICE and the ones imported is that the imported has a minimum storage of five to six years storage life span, but LAKE RICE is fresh,” the Governor said.

He said the partnership would in the nearest future lead to an expansion of production of the rice, saying that Lagos has the largest consumption market.

Governor Ambode explained that the 50kg will sell for N12, 000, the 25kg would go for N6, 000 and 10kg for N2,500, stressing that for now, an individual would only be allowed to purchase a bag to enable it go round.

He also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for supporting the collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi, just as he disclosed that the Federal Government has donated two rice mills to the State Government to increase production of rice next year.

In his remarks, Governor Bagudu, recollected how the collaboration started with a discussion between him and Governor Ambode during a meeting in Abuja, pointing out that the partnership was a confirmation of both State Governments’ commitment to the agenda of making Nigeria a big market in Africa.

Equally, he said while Kebbi State has comparative advantage in area of rice production, Lagos boasts of the largest consumption market, saying that the LAKE RICE can stand any integrity test in Nigeria.

“Our rice is of quality. I am proud of this joint venture. We can do more with other commodities like Cocoa, Soya beans and Sorghum and I am very glad that we are launching the LAKE RICE today,” Bagudu said.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Food Security, Ganiyu Okanlawon Sanni, who disclosed the process of purchasing the rice, said collection would be allowed after payment at designated banks or through POS, while an individual would only be allowed to buy one bag at a time to make the product reach vast majority of the people.

In Lagos East Senatorial District, Sanni said the rice would be available for sale at Odogunyan Farm Service Centre in Ikorodu; Temu Farm Service Centre in Epe; Naforiji Town Hall in Eredo; Magbon Alade School in Ibeju and SUBEB Premises in Maryland.

In Lagos West, the Special Adviser to the Governor said the rice would be available for sale at LSADA Farm Service Centre, Oko-Baba in Agege; LAISA in Ojo; Coconut House in Mowo; Farm Service Centre, Marina in Badagry and Ikeja Grammar School in Oshodi.

According to him, in Lagos Central, the rice would be available for sale at Agric Area Office in Ajah; LASTMA Works Yard in Adeniji/Freeman, Lagos Island; Alakoto Senior High School, Tolu in Ajegunle; Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere and Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre (Rowe Park) in Yaba.

He said officials of the Committee set up by government to monitor and be in charge of the sale would be present at all the centres from Tuesday, while payment can be made to bank officials at the centres, after which the product would be given to buyers.

“Slip will be given to each customer willing to buy indicating the quantum of rice the buyer wishes to buy and we will also have officers from the bank at each of the centres where people can make payment and confirmation can be done immediately. Once they pay and we are very sure they have made payment, the bag of whatever quantum they have paid for will be given to them there and then and so we will continue this exercise until we are satisfied that Lagosians are very much satisfied based on our promise,” he said.

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Rice production breaks new record with 496m tonnes

NaijaAgroNet:

The rice production globally is expected to hit a new record this year at almost 496 million tonnes, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), this is owing to favourable weather conditions in much of Asia and on more United States (U.S.) farmers shifting to the crop as a result of its more attractive relative price.

NaijaAgroNet also reports that FAO did not materially change its forecast for world cereal utilization in the coming year, which is expected to grow by 1.6 per cent, led by maize - and to some extent lower-quality wheat supplies - used as animal feed.

The FAO trade forecast for cereals in 2016/17 has been scaled up by almost 9 million tonnes on the back of abundant export availabilities of wheat and coarse grains. 

 

On the coarse grain global output for 2016, NaijaAgroNet reports that estimated 1,329 million tonnes, 2.1 per cent higher than in 2015, buoyed by higher forecast maize output in several countries, in particular the U.S.

Further, NaijaAgroNet reports that the wheat output forecast was also raised to 741 million tonnes, driven by large upward revisions to projections for Australia, North America, India and the Russian Federation. Russia is poised to become the world's largest wheat exporter in 2016/17, overtaking the European Union, where wet weather has hampered this year's crops.

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To avoid bag of rice @N40k, emulate Anambra agriculture agenda

NaijaAgroNet:

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has warned Nigerians to prioritize agriculture and start rice production by emulating Anambra State, if a bag of rice will not cost upto N40,000 by December 2016, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Saturday, the Minister said that Nigeria spends about $22bn a year on importation of food into the country.

“For your information, we spend about $22bn a year importing food into Nigeria. We know how many more dollars they bought and that is why you see the price of rice going up. Price of rice was may be N12,000 some months ago, but it is now about N26,000 and if we don’t start producing, by December it could be N40,000. 

Rice, he said, matures in three months, so, this is a wake-up call for Bayelsa people to take the four farms we have seriously. The federal government has four farms in the state in our records. 

"The average land you see in Bayelsa can grow rice, so the colonial masters were not wrong in their assessment when they said Niger Delta could feed not only Nigerian but also the entire West Africa sub-region,” he said.

The minister lamented that unfortunately, agriculture till today, is not a priority of the Niger Delta as far as the state governments are concerned because of oil.

Lokpobiri also said the states in the Niger Delta were yet to give priority to agriculture the way the North-West states such as Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano as well as other states like Lagos, Ebonyi, Anambra, prioritised it.

He said Anambra State, for instance, was not owing salaries despite the fact that it does not have oil but raking in money by merely exporting vegetables.

Culled from The Vanguard:

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Pix: Senator Heineken Lokpobiri

Rice production: Ebonyi pays N87.1m IFAD’s counterpart fund

NaijaAgroNet:

The Ebonyi State government has paid N87.1million as one year counterpart fund to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to boost rice production in the state, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Affirming this, Sunday, the state Programme Coordinator of IFAD, Mr Sunday Ituma, disclosed this in Abakaliki, the state capital, at the conclusion of its national office assessment of some rice production and processing clusters across the state.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports, he said, the intervention, would also cover the production and processing of crops like cassava and yam as well as general agricultural enhancement.

He commended the government for the prompt release of fund and promised IFAD`s readiness to partner with the government to achieve its rice production and other objectives.

Ituma also told the visiting team that the state office had intensified its drive to reduce poverty among farmers through increase agricultural production in the state.

“We have strived to enhance income and food security of the poor and rural households engaged in production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in targeted local government areas on a sustainable basis.

“The programme targets small-holder farmers engaged in rice and cassava value chain in the councils, as we provide them with improved seedlings, fertiliser and agro chemicals, among others at highly subsidised rates,’’ he said.

“Adequate enhancement would be made in creating awareness of IFAD’s intervention to farmers, especially on requirements from them and the intervention’s time frame.

“We, however, appeal to the national office to assist us with irrigation facilities to ensure all season farming and modalities to check flooding which submerge cultivated rice and other produce farmlands,’’ he said.

He said he led the IFAD team to assess rice clusters Ikwo, Izzi, Ezillo local government areas and the Abakaliki Rice Mill Company, among other areas.

Equally, Dr Samuel Eremie, Leader of the IFAD National Office team, commended the Ebonyi Office of the organisation for its efforts and outlined areas of defects, sustenance and overall improvement.

“It was observed that one of your greatest challenges is how to get water off the fields, especially rice farms during flooding but we assure you that the problem will be effectively tackled.

“You should, however, seek other ways of driving the rice production, processing and markets in the state and not depend entirely on the government to ensure stability.

Prof. Jones Nlemchi, another member of the team, also commended the Ebonyi IFAD Office but urged it to involve more women and youths in the various rice production and processing clusters.

“The beneficiaries should be adequately informed on the contents of IFAD interventions and what it requires of them for effective collaboration.

“You should also ensure adequate data reportage and collation so that documented data would be the same with information obtained from the fields,’’ he said.

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FG agricultural incentive expands rice production - Study

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The implementation of the Federal Government’s incentives on agriculture, otherwise known as Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) has led to the expansion of rice production and changed perception that local rice is ‘inferior’ rice with stones and unsavoury odour.

Investigations by NaijaAgroNet revealed that in response to government policy and incentives for rice, 14 large-scale integrated rice mills were established by the private sector in two years, producing international quality long-grained parboiled rice.

The rice which is said to be in the market are well-packaged, long grained parboiled local rice, from Kano (Umza rice), Ebonyi (Ebony rice), Benue State (Mikap rice), are tastier and healthier than imported rice which are often 15 years old rice dumped on the Nigerian market. 

It was further revealed that, Dominion Farms, a foreign investor, has invested $40 million (N6442, 000,000) in a commercial rice farm, and 30,000 ha field, including community out-grower farms in Taraba State would hit the market in 2014. Olam has expanded its rice cultivation by 10,000 ha, in response to the policy incentives by the government. 

Lagos State Government is said to have recently bought seventeen trailer loads of paddy rice from Kebbi state, to Lagos to mill in the rice mill set up by the Lagos state government instead of importing brown rice from Thailand and India.

NaijaAgroNet discovered that this paddy rice fields in Kebbi has stimulated the economy by adding N37 billion of incomes to farmers in Nigeria, created 467,000 jobs, while Lagos State sells the milled  paddy rice from Kebbi State that has come to be known as Eko rice.

 NaijaAgroNet

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pix: President Goodluck Jonathan

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.

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Global food prices drop by four per cent in May

A woman removing straw from rice with a broom in 

Kamangu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The global food prices have dropped sharply to four per cent in May as a result of the generally favourable supplies and strengthening of the United States (US) dollar.

The May edition of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisaiton Food (FAO) Price Index shows a sharp drop in international prices of food commodities by four per cent.

FAO informed NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that May food prices dropped to 204 points from 213, which is, 9 points down from April and the lowest level since September 2011; about 14 per cent below its peak in February 2011.

Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain analyst at FAO said crop prices have come down sharply from their peak level but still remain high and vulnerable due to risks related to weather conditions in the critical growing months ahead.

FAO's latest forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at a record level of 2.4 billion tonnes, 3.2 per cent higher than 2011 record.

A higher percentage of the increase, NaijaAgroNet gathered is expected to originate mainly from maize in the United States amid an early start of the planting season and prevailing favourable growing conditions.

However, with planting still to be completed and much of the crop at very early stages of development, the final outcome will depend greatly on weather conditions in the coming months.

The forecast of global rice production in 2012 is firmer and points to a 2.2 percent increase from 2011, to some 490 million tonnes, mostly reflecting larger plantings in Asia.

For wheat, latest indications point to a contraction of about 3 per cent in production in 2012, to 680 million tonnes, still well above the average of the past five years.

The global cereal utilization is predicted to expand by at least two per cent in 2012-2013 season; to 2 376 million tonnes, with feed utilization growing by 3.8 per cent, while food consumption is expected to increase by just over 1 per cent, thereby largely keeping pace with world population growth.

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AATF enters deal with Japan Tobacco on rice varieties

In order to develop varieties of rice in sub-Saharan Africa, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) has signed a license agreement with Japan Tobacco (JT), a leading international tobacco product company.

The license, as revealed in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, would enable smallholder farmers in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda to use JT's transformation technology to develop new rice varieties.

The project which seeks to address major constraints facing rice production in Sub-Sahara Africa region is tagged 'Nitrogen Use Efficient, Water Use Efficient and Salt Tolerant (NEWEST) Rice Project.' Japan Tobacco would also offer free technology in support of humanitarian aid projects.

Commenting on the agreement, AATF Executive Director, Dr. Denis Kyetere affirmed that slow growth in domestic rice production has contributed to the low output achieved by farmers in the region.

“Several factors are responsible for the low rice production. However, nitrogen deficiency and drought have been cited as leading constraints to upland rice production, while high salinity is increasingly becoming a major problem in many rice growing areas of Africa,” he noted.

NaijaAgroNet recollects that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) once revealed that rice production in the region has stagnated at about 14.5 million tonnes per year, which is against the annual consumption of 21 million tonnes, hence the need to boost production.

The license, JT’s Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Masamichi Terabatake said would also enable the use of JT's plant transformation technology for monocot species, PureIntro; developing and deploying the nitrogen efficient, water efficient, and salt tolerant rice products, free of royalties.

PureIntro is an agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation technology that is recognized worldwide as de facto standard for monocot transformation, which reduces development costs and time.

Additionally, PureIntro has been licensed by JT to more than 50 private and public entities worldwide for numerous monocots including maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, sugarcane, switchgrass, miscanthus, forage and turf.

JT’s plant biotechnology is independently managed from its core businesses including its tobacco business and food business, thus not applied to its product development conducted within those businesses.

AATF launched the NEWEST Rice for Africa Project in 2008 with the objective to transform some varieties of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) to improve their productivity in nitrogen-poor soils.

Experts say, provision of smallholder rice famers with higher yielding varieties are well adapted to the upland and lowland rice-growing areas in Africa, which also is another goal for establishing NEWEST.

Other partners in this private public partnership include Arcadia Biosciences who are providing access to traits that confer nitrogen use efficiency, water use efficiency and salt tolerance. The University of California is donating required plant transformation technologies. The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the national agricultural research institutes of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda will conduct the necessary field trials to test the performance of the new varieties.

The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and will initially be implemented over a 10-year period.

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