Borno Set To Boost Fish Production – Commissioner

The Borno Government on Tuesday restated its commitment to boost fish production in the state and create job opportunities for youths.
Alhaji Umar Sandabe, Commissioner for Animal and Fisheries Development, told newsmen on Tuesday in Maiduguri.
He said the ministry had trained scores of youths in fish farming with a view to boosting its production in the state.
Sandabe said that the state government had provided new facilities at the Fish Hatchery Complex to enhance favourable and suitable environment for the production of fish.
“We have hatchery machines capable of producing ten thousand fingerlings as well as seven concrete fish ponds, a bore hole and overhead tank as well as 18 fish ponds constructed to boost the production of table size fish for sell.” he said.
According to him, the state is a home of fish production, adding that fish hatcheries will be established across the state in order to maintain its position as a fish producing state in the country.
“This hatchery was acquired by Gov. Kashim Shettima administration to produce fingerlings and table-sized fish for sale to the public at subsidised rate as more people are running away from beef to fish and vegetables nowadays,” he said.
According to the commissioner, plans are underway to also resuscitate the Maiduguri Dairy Plant, which has remained dormant for many years.
He said plans had also reached advanced stage to acquire more cows for the purpose of obtaining raw milk for the dairy plant, to boost the economy of the state.(NAN)

Is Agricultural Equipment Hiring Centres Another Policy Statement?

The minister of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, had in an interactive session with mechanisation partners in February said, “after the expressions of interest published in various media, the 80 agriculture and equipment hiring entreprises (AEHE) will be handed over to the winners by early April to commence operations for the 2014 farming season.
“For the 2014 farming season, N1billon has been approved for the growth enhancement scheme (GES) on mechanisation. Farmers will only pay 50 per cent of the cost of taking off while the mechanisation GES will cover the other 50 per cent.”
Sadly the farming season is here but the AEHE is yet to kick off. It will be unfortunate if these promises become just a policy statement as the call for practicing agriculture as a business rather than a development activity has taken root and farmers are keen to expand their activities.
The need for government to fulfil all its obligations and ensure that the agriculture sector is redeemed becomes a necessity for it to successfully achieve the goals of the agricultural transformation agenda which is aimed at eradicating hunger and creating jobs for the huge number of unemployed Nigerians both in the rural and urban areas.
In an interview with the national financial secretary,  All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Tunde Aronsanye, he noted that “youths are shying away from farm work because of the way agriculture is still being practiced. For instance, there is about one tractor to 500/1000 farmers which is grossly inadequate. We have  situations where farmers pay for tractor services in April only to have access to it in September. So the way farming is practiced is still not attractive to get our youths  to join in unlike other professions. But in our own little way, we are trying to showcase the potential of agriculture to the youths through sensitisation and workshops. We are also appealing to the government through the ATA to make farming more attractive.”
While it is estimated that the current level of mechanisation in Nigeria is 0.03hp/ha, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the UN recommends 1.5hp/ha. It is estimated that the total number of tractors in the country are about 30,000 and over 50 per cent of those are in a bad shape and so not functional.
The AEHEs are established and managed by the federal government in partnership with the private sector, while the financing is also a partnership between the federal government and the Bank of Agriculture to provide mechanised services to farmers at a token. It is expected that the government will provide 35 per cent of the loans, Bank of Agriculture 35 per cent, agro-machinery vendors 10 per cent and service provider operators (SPOs) 20 per cent equity.
To kick-start the implementation of the framework, the Adesina, through the ministry, approved an intervention scheme of N3.6 billion to serve as a pilot fund, stating that “each of the AEHE is to be equipped with five units of tractors, five units of power tillers, and various harvest and post-harvest equipment will be off-taken by SPOs from the private sector using the refinancing credit facility window of the scheme on a demand-driven basis.”
He said, “Each centre costs an average of N43 million and SPOs will provide 20 per cent equity to start up an AEHE. The balance of 80 per cent jointly financed by the PPP will be repaid over four years with a seven per cent interest as cost of fund. The 35 per cent government counterpart fund has two years moratorium on both capital and interest.
“The GES has been expanded beyond seeds and fertilisers, to provide mechanisation subsidy to assist Nigerian farmers access mechanisation services from these centres. Farmers will receive their mechanisation support as electronic vouchers on their mobile phones which they will use to pay for mechanised services at the registered AEHEs.”
Adesina had earlier said “We are not unaware of the challenges that has bedeviled the mechanisation sector in the past years. In spite of government’s past efforts at subsidising the cost of tractors at 45 per cent of the original cost, the desired impact has not been created as the small scale farmers that produce 80 per cent of our food still have very little or no access to these subsidised machinery.”

[19 million farmers shut out of agric insurance]

More than 19 million commercial farmers in Nigeria, constituting 96.5 percent of the nation’s commercial farming community, are exposed to the hazards of bankruptcy should natural disasters strike, BusinessDay investigations have shown.

This is because of the estimated 20 million commercial farmers in the country, only 700,000 (about 3.5 percent) have accessed agricultural insurance in the last five years, leaving 19.3 million who do not have insurance cover. For these, should a natural disaster occur, the burden of relief would fall on government, family and friends, and where these fail, they would likely become indigent.

According to a recent report by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) – ‘Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2012 Survey’ – out of the 5.98 million rural adults that experienced agricultural risk that year, only 70,600 used insurance. As a result, federal and state governments concerned spent hundreds of millions of naira to mitigate the effect, while the businesses of uninsured farmers who did not get compensation crashed and they had to sell assets or borrow money from family and friends to start all over again.

The objective of the agricultural insurance scheme, which has been run in Nigeria since 1987 when the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) was established, is to provide financial support to all categories of farmers who take up insurance policies in the event of losses arising from natural disasters. It also increases the flow of agricultural credit from lending institutions to the farmers when farming businesses are insured as well as minimises or eliminates the need for emergency assistance provided by government following agricultural disasters.

However, research surveys indicate that there is very low awareness of the scheme by farmers and many enlightened farmers are very wary of taking agricultural insurance policies.

But Bitrus Pembi, head, corporate communications, NAIC, says the new management of NAIC, which came on board a few weeks ago, has designed a very strategic plan to increase awareness among farmers and the uptake of agricultural insurance by tapping into the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the current government.

“Apart from English, we have translated our leaflets and jingles into the three major Nigerian languages – Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba – and would be[19 million farmers shut out of agric insurance] (Continued)

Industry sources, however, believe there should be more companies to service the agricultural industry apart from NAIC, which started in 1987, and Industrial and General Insurance Company (IGI) which was given the go-ahead just last year by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

They also insist that the agricultural insurance market is still not competitive to insurance companies because the 50 percent subsidy provided by the Federal Government, in addition to the 25 percent subsidy provided by the state, are still given only through NAIC.

Therefore, farmers pay only 25 percent of their insurance premiums if they take up agric insurance with NAIC. But with IGI and any other entrant into the agric insurance industry, the farmers or agribusiness operators are expected to pay 100 percent.

These industry watchers, therefore, urge the removal of subsidies to liberalise the market. But the removal of subsidies is not a welcome development to many farmers.

“I rear broilers (chicken for meat) and so I have to buy a new stock of chicks every six weeks and I am expected to pay premium every time I procure a new stock. This is a heavy cost on my business due to the regularity of paying premiums. But NAIC pays when there are disasters,” says Olaseni Salako, a Lagos-based poultry farmer.

There are, however, so many complaints of non-payment of claims. Gani Abdulghaniyy Alabi-Ojolowo, a farmer says he and a group of farmers took insurance for the cultivation of cowpeas (beans) and it did not rain at the time expected due to climate change and they lost most of the crops as a result.

“But our application for claims was rejected by NAIC because they said we ought to have known that such a problem would arise and guard against it. I have never taken another agric insurance since then,” Alabi-Ojolowo says.

Pembi, however, says there are issues associated with agricultural insurance

FG Orders Closure Of Cold Rooms With Rotten Fish In Lagos

FG Orders Closure Of Cold Rooms With Rotten Fish In Lagos

Adesuwa Tsan And Edegbe Odemwingie, Ruth Tene Natsa

— March 28, 2014

The federal government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has ordered the immediate closure of all cold rooms found stockpiling expired or unwholesome fish in the country.
The directive was given by the minister, Dr Akinwumi Adesina shortly after inspecting a number of cold storage facilities operated by major fish importers in Lagos recently.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday, the ministry revealed that during the inspection, many of the importers/operators of the cold rooms abandoned their facilities, leaving behind only supervisors and menial workers, who were in no position to give material information on the products held in the facilities.
Against that backdrop, the minister directed the acting director of fisheries in the ministry, Mrs Foluke Areola, to mobilise officials to all frozen fish facilities to undertake a physical count of all such facilities, as well as conduct laboratory tests on products found in them, to ascertain whether or not they are safe for human consumption.
The statement revealed that preliminary assessments indicated that there are about 42 companies with cold storage facilities stocking fish and fish products in the Lagos area. These facilities have varying numbers of cold storage chains, with storage capacities ranging from 500 to 3,000 20kg cartons of fish. The preliminary assessment also revealed that a single cold room belonging to one company with seven subsidiaries contained 2,290 cartons of unwholesome fish, while another had 256 cartons of expired fish and 581 cartons of unwholesome fish.
During the 2nd Stakeholder’s Interactive Session on Re-Positioning of the Fisheries Sector recently, fish and fishery product retailers complained bitterly of sharp business practices by big fish importers, including dumping of unwholesome and expired fish products on the Nigerian market, as well as delving into retailing, which they claimed the importers’ licenses prohibit them from. The retailers further argued that in the process.
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25 Coastal Communities To Benefit From SEEFOR Project In Delta

25 Coastal Communities To Benefit From SEEFOR Project In Delta

NAN

— March 16, 2014

Twenty-five coastal communities in Delta are to benefit from the State Employment and Expenditure for Result (SEEFOR) project, being executed under Fadama 111 programme.
The Communication Officer, Fadama III project in Delta, Mr Donald Ojobo, stated this in Asaba in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Ojobo said that the benefiting communities were selected from five local government areas, pointing out that additional 20 communities from the area would also benefit later.
He listed the five coastal local government areas to benefit from the intervention project as Bomadi, Burutu, Udu, Warri South and Warri South.
He said that 20 of the 25 local government areas in the state had already benefited.
The communication officer said that the communities were selected through an approach that involved formal expression of interest.
He said that SEEFOR project had provided an opportunity for the local government areas to benefit from Fadama III projects in the state.
Ojobo said that 20 facilitators had been trained and equipped with working materials for the project, adding that sensitisation of the communities had commenced.
He said that as soon as the sensitisation was concluded, the facilitators would assist the communities to fashion out development plans before funding. (NAN)

FG Targets 8m Farmers For 2014 GES

FG Targets 8m Farmers For 2014 GES

Ruth Tene Natsa

— March 24, 2014

In pursuasion of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda(ATA) the Federal government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said it is targetting eight million (8m) registered farmers for the 2014 Growth Enhancement Support (GES) programme.
The GES programme is an innitiative of the federal government to supply fertilisers and high-yielding seeds and inputs to individual farmers using their phones or the electronic wallet system.
This was revealed by the director of Fertiliser, Mr Akinbolawa Osho at a press briefing in Abuja at the weekend, to announce  the Roll Out of the 2014 Wet Season GES programme in the Southern parts of the country.
According to Akinbolawa, “Even though 10.5 million farmers have been registered from 2012 till date and are all entitled to access the GES, FG is nonetheless targetting not less than 8 million and definitely not more than 10million farmers for the 2014 GES across the federation including Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.”
The director revealed that the Roll Out season which is set to be carried out in 2 phases will begin on Monday, March 24 and run for seven days across the Southern states, while the 2nd phase is set to commence on the first week of April across the central states, including Kogi, Kwara and Taraba whose ecologies are similar to those of the South.
He said “The need to target 8 million farmers followed the need to revalidate the data of registered farmers across the states to ensure that registered farmers are indeed residents of their localities.”
The director revealed that “For the 2014 wet season for food crops, farmers will pay only 10% of the total value, while the FG and states government will bridge the balance for farmers to access two 12.5kg of rice and 2 10.kg of maize as against cash crops farmers who will be expected to pay 20% of the total cost.”
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Kaduna Govt To Spend N2bn On SMEs, Agric

Kaduna Govt To Spend N2bn On SMEs, Agric

Agency Report

— March 31, 2014

The Kaduna State Government said it would soon commence the disbursement of N2 billion for the development of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.
The Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Ismaila Aliyu, disclosed this on Monday in Kaduna at a workshop for managers of micro finance banks from the 23 local governments in the state.
He said the money would also be used to finance agricultural activities.
According to him, the aim is to promote economic activities and open up new areas of employment.
Aliyu said the Bank of Agriculture and the state government had already contributed N500 million each under a programme tagged, `Farmers Entrepreneurship Scheme’, to boost agricultural activities in the state.
The commissioner added that another one billion naira had been contributed by the Bank of Industry and the the state government for issuance to medium and small scale enterpreneurs as from April.
“Part of the conditions is that women would receive 60 per cent of the loan while the youth will get 40 per cent”, he said.
Aliyu said the workshop was meant to sensitise officials of the micro finance banks on the modalities for disbursing the loan and terms of recovery.
In a remark, Mr Edward Marsha, the Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Industrialization and Micro-Credit Management Board, commended the state government for the initiative, saying that it was the first of its kind.
Masha noted that micro finance banks have vital role to play in the development of MSME’s and urged the officials to be diligent in handling the loan process.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop has as its theme: “Lending Policy and Eligibility Criteria for Partner Micro finance Banks.” (NAN)
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STOAN Says Over 150 Shiploads Of Rice Diverted In Three Months

STOAN Says Over 150 Shiploads Of Rice Diverted In Three Months

NAN

— April 1, 2014

Some importers in Lagos were on Tuesday accused of diverting over 150 shiploads of rice to ports in Benin Republic, Cameroon, Accra and Togo.
Princess Vicky Haastrup, Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), made this known to newsmen in Lagos.
According to her, Nigeria lost about 600,000 metric tonnes of rice between January and March 2014 to neighbouring ports due to government’s 110 per cent duty on rice.
“This is becoming rather unfortunate. Our economy is bleeding because of this policy. The loss to other countries as a result of the high tariff on rice was over N300 billion in 2013.
“In the first quarter of this year alone, both government and private operators have lost at least N80 billion.
“Even the Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, admitted the shortcoming of this policy.
“The truth is that the policy has done more harm than good to our economy and government should waste no further time before reversing it,’’ Haastrup said.
She said that the revenues affected by the 110 per cent rice policy included those of the Nigeria Customs Service, terminal operators, dock workers and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Haastrup absolved the Customs for the high rate of smuggling of rice into Nigeria.
“It is wrong to blame Customs because it is doing its very best under the circumstance to check smuggling of rice into the country and that can be seen from the numerous seizures daily.’’
She said that smuggling would continue even if heavily armed officers were placed everywhere, since the local production was a far cry from the demand.
“There is a lot of pressure on Customs because the quantity of rice manufactured locally can only satisfy 30 per cent of local demand.
`Don’t forget that our neighbouring countries are profiting from the policy by dropping their own tariffs on rice and because they are benefitting; they are supporting these smugglers,’’ Haastrup said.
She said the 110 per cent policy would not encourage local production, but rather stifle it due to the high rate of smuggling.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in March, said the Federal Government was contemplating a downward review of tariff on imported rice.
Okonjo-Iweala, who disclosed this while answering questions at the ‘Budget 2014 Jam’ in Abuja, said that a drop in tariff would reduce smuggling of the commodity into the country.
She said that the existing 110 per cent duty on the importation of rice was encouraging smuggling of the commodity into the country.
The minister said that Nigeria was able to grow 1.1 million tonnes of rice following the introduction of the 110 per cent duty on the community.
She, however, said that the policy encouraged smuggling of rice into Nigeria because neighbouring countries had dropped their tariffs to 10 per cent.
“For rice, we decided to bring it down because we see that it is not working,” she said. (NAN)