FCTA boosts farmers with N500m agric loans

The Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Mrs Olajumoke Akinjide said that the administration  has disbursed over N500 million to farmers under the agriculture loan scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of measures to boost agriculture development and food supply in the territory.

Akinjide made this known to NaijaAgroNet during a visit by the management team of Bank of Agriculture (BOA) led by the Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Santuraki, to her office in Abuja and stressed that Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has entered into a public private partnership (PPP) agreement with an Israeli Firm, SEC Equipment, to build an Agriculture Services and Training Centre in Abuja.

She informed the BOA boss, that in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, the FCTA is committed to the development of viable agricultural entrepreneurship through provision of free technical expertise and farm subsidies and to also make the sector attractive to youths and women.

NaijaAgroNet noted that FCTA would partner with the Bank of Agriculture to grow the agriculture sector and ensured that the Agriculture Services and Training Centre, when completed and operational, would become a one-stop agriculture centre in Nigeria.

Santuraki, explained that the visit by the management team was to strengthen the partnership between the bank and the FCT Administration in the areas of agricultural financing for the benefit of farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs in the capital territory.

“We have noted the giant strides that the Administration is taking to build a virile economy in FCT using agriculture as the foundation. Your effort is most appropriate at this time in the history of Nigeria when agriculture is occupying an important place in the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda,” Santuraki said.

He explained that BOA had granted agriculture loans of over N50 billion to support the agribusiness in the last 10 years, created 6,000 enterprises, six million direct and indirect jobs and added that the bank  is in a better position to manage funds earmarked by FCTA for agricultural development and poverty alleviation in the FCT.

Anthony Nwakaegho/GEE/NaijaAgroNet

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Livestock union tasks Rivers govt on modern abattoir

The Chairman of Trans Amadi Goat Butchers Union, Trans Amadi abattoir, Rivers State, Chief Agudichi Orji has called on the Rivers State Government to redeem its promise of building a modern abattoir for livestock butchers and traders at the Trans Amadi slaughter market, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Orji said that the butchers are desirous of such a modern abattoir that would boost the activities at the market, being one of the viable abattoirs in the state.

The chairman of Trans Amadi Goat Butchers Union applauded the administration of Governor Chibuike Amaechi for providing water within the abattoir which has strengthened the butchers in ensuring the cleanliness of the area.

He commended  the activities of the veterinary officers who ensures  that quality live stocks were sold in the market, and added that anybody  caught doing the contrary in the market would be suspended or made to pay fine.

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*Gov. Amechi

Jigawa Fadama distributes tube wells, water pump to farmers

The Fadama Desk Officer in charge of Fadama III programme in Jigawa, Malam Umar Babaji said that it has distributed tube wells and water pumps to selected dry season farmers in Guri Local Government Area of the state, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Babaji, said this  known while distributing the items to the farmers in Guri and stressed that  10 tube wells, 10 water pumps, fertilisers, seeds and work bulls were distributed to the farmers to enable them engage in irrigation activities.

NaijaAgroNet noted that the beneficiaries were selected from the Lafiya Fadama Community Association (FCA), while the gesture is to enhance agricultural activity of the farmers in the state.

However Babaji, did not disclose the details of the cost of the items, he explained that the inputs were given to the farmers under a soft loan revolving scheme in order to enhance their access to fertilisers and other inputs.

He called on the beneficiaries to ensure prompt repayment of the loan to enhance participation in the programme, while one of the beneficiaries Malam Ibrahim Hausawa pledged that they will put the items to effective use.

* Anthony Nwakaegho/GEE/NaijaAgroNet with additional reports from Nigerian Observer

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Lagos reiterates commitment to agricultural development

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The Lagos State Government has reiterated its commitment to continue to implement projects and programmes that are aimed towards ensuring the provision of enabling environment for agricultural development in the State.

Speaking at the 2013 Annual Farmers Forum organized in commemoration of this year’s World Food Day, Commisioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, represented by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Government on Agriculture, Dr Nureni Funsho,  said that government is collaborating with other development partners particularly the World Bank in the FADAMA and Commercial Agriculture Development Projects through which many farmers are supported with high subsidizied inputs and infrastructure.

The Farmers Forum, NaijaAgroNet learnt is organized as an interactive forum between government and all stakeholders such as crop farmers, livestock farmers, aquaculturists, agroprocessors and the general public to dialogue and get feedbacks on government programmes and interventions.

The Commissioner said food security is one of the cardinal programmes of the present administration and assured farmers in the state that the Ministry is committed to injecting maximum impact into their lives.

 He commended the Chairman of Ojo Local Government Area, Hon. Mursiq Durosinmi  for hosting the event and for his  council  been the most steadfast in terms of support to agriculture among the Local Government and Local Government Council Development Area in theState.

NaijaAgroNet was informed by SSA to Agriculture that Wednesday 23^rd October 2013, is the date set aside for this Year’s World Food Day/Agric show celebration at De-Blue Roof, LTV 8 Ikeja, noting that the change in the date of this year’s celebration is as a result of the Eid-El-kabir (Ileya Festival) which falls on the 15^th and 16^th of October, the usual date for the annual celebration.

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pix: Lagos State Gov. Raji Fashola

UNCTAD warns of rural poverty

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD's) has warned that continuous rural poverty, persistent hunger and growing populations, must be treated as a collective crisis, or the world will face economic imbalance, NaijaAgroNet report.

UNCTAD made this known in its trade and environment report 2013 sub titled, "Wake up before it is too late: Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate" and said that urgent and far-reaching action is needed before climate change begins to cause major disruptions to agriculture, especially in developing countries.

The report pinpointed that vulnerability to increased frequency and intensity of droughts and floods in East Africa with a population of approximately 130 million people has continued to suffocate the region's economic growth due to the imbalance between climate change, food security and trade.

The Minister of State for Water and Environment, Flavia Munaaba, said that food availability is already being affected through reduced production, poor storage and inefficient processing and stressed that there was need to adapt policies that will mitigate the effects of climate change to prevent the disastrous effect of food security and livelihoods of rural people.

"It is not good for you to put a policy in place and don't implement it. A good policy is verified through implementation. We want policies that we can see on the ground. The EAC is not operating in utopia. We need a climate resilient EAC that will address climate change in the context of green economy, job creations, sustainability and inclusiveness," said Prof Godwell Nhamo, a Climate Change and Green Economy specialist from the University of South Africa.

NaijaAgroNet noted that the forum was organised under the Promoting Agriculture, Climate and Trade linkages in the East African Community (PACT EAC) project, a regional initiative led by CUTS International in collaboration with other partners and found that despite commitments to implement trade policy measures to ensure regional food security, government interventions often disrupt competitive market conditions and encourage corrupt practices.

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Guanah charges FG to establish rice mills

Anthony Nwakagho/NaijaAgroNet

The Chairman, Raymos Guanah Farms (RGF) Mr Raymos Guanah has called on the Federal Government to establish rice mills in the rice-producing states in the country.

Guanah made the call in Asaba, Delta State, stressing that establishing rice mills would alleviate the burden of rice farmers looking for where to process their products and add value to their products.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that Guanah, who was the former Commissioner for Lands and Survey in Delta, that it’s also necessary for government to establish post-harvest storage facilities across the country to enable farmers preserve their products.

He charged government to ban importation of rice, subsidise agro-chemicals and farm implements to aid small scale farmers as only the provision of subsidy on fertilisers is not enough to boost rice farming.

He lamented that even though the country is blessed with arable land the greatest challenge faced by small scale farmers in the country was lack of government’s assistance and advised against politicising agriculture.

NaijaAgroNet noted from this technocrat turned farmer that it would be laudable for government to find ways of engaging members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in farming instead of allowing them to cluster in government offices doing nothing.

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New technology turns water pollution into fertilizer

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

A representative of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Robert F. Kennedy Jr has said that a new technology planned for the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant will remove nutrient pollution from wastewater and convert it to pellets to be sold as fertilizer for crops and lawns, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Kennedy Jr made this assertion  at the Water Environment Federation’s 86th Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference at McCormick Place and stressed that the technology  which was developed by Canadian-based Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technology, Inc.,  will be installed and operational in 2015 at an estimated cost of $30 million and a payback time of as little as three years.

NaijaAgroNet learnt from the late son of late Sen. Robert Kennedy and member of Ostara’s board of directors that “Crystal Green, Ostara’s fertilizer company will purchase the product at $400 per ton from the water reclamation district and use the advanced nutrient recovery technology not onlyreduces nutrient load but to protect precious area waterways that are part of Mississippi River basin, while producing approximately 10,000 to 15,000 tons of fertilizer annually.

 Ostara’s Chief Technology Officer and company co-founder, Ahren Britton explained that Crystal Green will bag the fertilizer and sell it to consumers ranging from farmers to gardeners to golf course managers, while the revenue would be used to offset the operation costs of the facility.

NaijaAgroNetrecorded from Britton that the wastewatercontaining phosphorous and nitrogen in the form of ammonia,enters Ostara's reactor where it mixes with magnesium, driving the chemical reaction that crystallizes the nutrients between five and 10 days which could remove up to 90 percent of phosphorous and 40 percent of the ammonia.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the major source of nutrient pollution which includes agriculture, wastewater and storm water causes algae blooms in lakes, rivers, killing off fish and other aquatic wildlife, devastating the ecosystem and also responsible for a dead zone larger than Connecticut in the Gulf of Mexico, where virtually nothing can live.

It was further revealed that the crystal form of the Crystal Green fertilizer is a case of one man’s waste is another man’s fertilizer as it helps to combat nutrient pollution, rather than quickly dissolving in water, breaks down slowly in response to acids produced by the plant as it grows which in turn reduces leaching into groundwater and runoff of excess nutrients, and that means fewer fertilizer applications are necessary.

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World Bank, France boost agric sector with 37.4bn in Nigeria

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet                                                                                                

The World Bank Group and the French Development Agency have thrown their weight in supporting the development of rural communities and modernization of agriculture in Adamawa, Enugu, Osun and Niger states to the tune of US$230 million about N37.4 billion.

An online statement sent by Bamidele Oladokun of the World Bank Group and sighted by NaijaAgroNet said the bank is contributing $170 million while the French Development Agency is contributing $60 million under the Second Rural Access and Mobility Project. 

World Bank Director in Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly was quoted in the statement as saying, “agriculture remains the backbone of Nigeria’s rural economy and growth in the non-oil sector which can be accelerated by improving roads that are vital to increase agriculture productivity, access to health as well as education for rural communities.”

It also quoted Task Team Leader and World Bank Senior Infrastructure Economist, Mohammed Dalil Essakali, as saying that “the sooner these rural communities are provided with transport access under the project, the higher the chances that they will see real improvement in their access to social services and to opportunities to market their agriculture products, and hence increase their income.”

 The release read: “Building on the experience from the First Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP-1), that is rehabilitating more than 420 kilometers of rural roads and 130 river crossings in Kaduna State, the Second Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP-2) launched in Abuja will support rehabilitation, upgrading and maintenance of about 1,450 kilometers of rural roads and building 65 river crossings. 

The statement added that innovative community-based road maintenance schemes will involve local population in the design and operation of maintenance works, thus creating employment opportunities for men and women living along the roads to be rehabilitated.

*With additional report from BusinessDay

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pix: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Dev Dr. Akinwumi  Adesina

Zambian govt suspends e-voucher system for farmers

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

The Zambian Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Bob Sichinga said that the Zambian Government has suspended the implementation of the e-voucher system that was supposed to be used for small-scale farmers in accessing subsidised inputs under the Farmer Inputs Support Programme (FISP) due to inadequate logistics, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Bob Sichinga said the e-voucher which is an electronic system was set to be piloted in 10 districts this year and needed proper preparations by the Government and private suppliers before being implemented.

NaijaAgroNet noted that the government announced last year that it would use the electronic system for distribution of part of the subsidised inputs under the FISP as a pilot programme to replace the current scheme which benefits 900,000 small-scale farmers.

Sichinga explained during the launch of the ZNFU Lima scheme in Kabwe that about 241,000 out of the 900,000 under the FISP were expected to be covered by the electronic system before rolling out the programme to the whole country as the e-voucher system requires that private agro business houses have electronic register of the 241,000 farmers as well as electronic voucher, while farmers needed to have either a phone or a computer.

The scheme according to Minister Agriculture and Livestock required the Ministry of Agriculture to create a redemption fund which would be recovered by the private suppliers once the farmers acquired the inputs in their respective districts.

 “I have a computer background and when I looked at what had been prepared, I was not satisfied that we had a register of the 241,000 farmers; I was not satisfied that each of the targeted districts had telephone communication to send messages. I was also not satisfied that there was sufficient capacity to reach all the 241,000 farmers and because of this, it was not possible to implement the e-voucher system because even the ministry did not even have computers,” Sichinga said.

He, however, assured that his ministry was keen to implement the electronic system once all the necessary logistics and training had been done for all stakeholders including the private suppliers.

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Cross River, FG distribute 40,000 oil palm seedlings to farmers

Anthony Nwakaegho/NaijaAgroNet

Cross River State government in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has commenced the distribution of over 40,000 oil palm seedlings to farmers in Nsan Oil Palm site in Akamkpa Local Government and Igoli in Ogoja Local Government areas in the state.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr James Aniyom, said the oil palm transformation value chain was being supported by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in pursuance of the Federal Government Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)

Aniyom informed NaijaAgroNet that the objective of the programme is to increase vegetable oil production through increase of oil palm production and processing in order to achieve import substitution and cancel deficit of 300,00mt, which was annually met through import.

It will be recalled that under GES allocation, registered oil palm growers are entitled to 50 oil palm seedlings, which will be given to them free while other inputs like 1½ bags of NPK 12: 12; 17 fertiliser; ¼ bundle of wire collar and 2 litres of touch-down herbicide have been subsidised at 50 percent rate by both the federal and state government.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Akinwunni Adesina, represented by Cross River State Director, Federal Ministry Of Agriculture, Asibopong Bassey, said Nigeria produces about 1.3mt of oil palm and imports 300,000mt annually, amounting to $500 million in foreign exchange which the federal government has set out to bridge through ATA.

In his remark, the chairman of oil palm growers association, Cross River State, Owali Ilem, advised the Federal Government to show commitments to the agricultural sector by complying with AU Maputo declaration by allocating 10 percent of its annual budget to agriculture.

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pix: Cross River State Gov. Liyel Imoke