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Heritage Bank Plc recently signed a N232 million pilot phase of Out-growers Agreement with Biase Plantations Limited (BPL) and its joint venture partner, PZ Wilmar Limited.   Ifie Sekibo  MD/CEO, Heritage Bank Speaking on the significance of the agreement signed at the bank’s headquarters in Lagos, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, MD/CEO of Heritage Bank, said the bank understands the need to support businesses in the agriculture sector in view of the sector’s importance to the sustainable development of Nigeria. While assuring the company of the necessary financial and investment advisory support to Biase, Sekibo who was represented by Mr. Jude Monye, Executive Director, Business Banking and Mrs. Adaeze Udensi, Executive Director, Retail & SME Bank, said the initiative was taken to support the effort by the government towards diversifying the aggregate economy. Mr. Ahmad Mustaffa Goh, General Manager of Biase Plantations Limited, said, “Today marks a milestone in the actualizatio

Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said recently that Nigerians, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, deserve good, safe and quality agricultural outputs for consumption.   Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development  As a follow up to this, the minister said in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital that the government will soon embark on a nationwide advocacy tour of the six geo-political zones on agricultural quality control and standardization. The tour will address issues leading to the ban imposed by the European Union (EU) of the country’s agricultural produce in the international market, Ogbeh said. The minister told reporters that the quality control of Nigeria’s commodities starts from the field operations, including land clearing, soil testing, seed selection, varietal selection, chemical application, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and post-harvest operations. “There is no time than now to mainstream

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has extended this year’s N-Power application by two weeks. The application portal at www.npower.gov.ng would now close on July 27. Last year, the Federal Government undertook the largest post-tertiary recruitment exercise in Africa when it engaged 200,000 young Nigerians in the N-Power Volunteer Corps Programme.   Acting President Yemi Osinbajo In partnership with state governments, these 200,000 young Nigerians were deployed to public primary schools, primary healthcare centres and agriculture development project centres in all the local government areas in the country. The Federal Government’s strategy uses the large volunteer workforce to address some of the perennial problems besetting the country- unmanned classrooms due to low teacher to pupil ratio in public primary schools; high rate of preventable diseases; lack of science and knowledge to bolster agriculture production. This year, N-Power is recruiting an additional 300,000 to b

Borno State Government has distributed fertilisers and other farming inputs to 5,000 rice farmers for the 2017 cropping season under the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP). The benefiting farmers were drawn from Jere, Konduga, Biu and Shani Local Government Areas of the state. Governor Kashim Shettima who disclosed this at the launching of the exercise in Gongonlon Zabalmari Rice Plantation, Jere Local Government Area, said the state government aimed to boost agricultural production by assisting the rice farmers. Alhaji Muhammad Dili, Commissioner for Agriculture, said all farmers who registered under ABP would be provided with fertilisers, seeds, chemicals, water pumps, knapsack sprayers and funds to pay for ploughing, harrowing, harvesting as well as produce packaging and transportation. Dili said “We are starting with four local government areas, following the return of peace and improved the security situation. The programme will later be expande

As part of the Anchor Borrowers Programme, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved a N660 million ($1.9 million) loan for 3,479 farmers in Gombe State.  Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor Sani Chobe, Head of Development Finance, Gombe State office of CBN who disclosed this at a sensitization workshop recently, explained that the loan was given to farmers who applied for the funding in the first and second batches and will be distributed through the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) starting from next week. Chobe said the loans were supposed to have been distributed earlier but were delayed due to a large number of farmers applying for the facility. President Muhammadu Buhari, on November 17, 2015, launched the CBN Anchor Borrowers' Programme to provide farm inputs in kind and cash to small farmers to boost production of agricultural commodities, increase banks’ financing to the agricultural sector, among others. The apex bank in May, said it had disbursed N33.34 billion

Bishop David Oyedepo, President Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) Worldwide, has said Nigeria’s dependence on imported agriculture produce is unacceptable and dangerous.   Bishop David Oyedepo  President Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) Worldwide Oyedepo who made his views on Nigeria’s agriculture sector known in his remarks at Landmark University’s Convocation Lecture in Kwara State recently said it is unfortunate that a country that is enormously blessed like Nigeria should be able to feed its citizens. The clergyman said neglect of agriculture is tantamount to mortgaging the future of Nigeria. “We must shift from theory to things that address human issues. We need to come back to the real issues confronting use. We need to start creating solutions. A country that is enormously blessed as Nigeria has no basis to import chickens from any part of the world. “We must invest in agricultural service to create the future of our dream and that is raw agricultural pra

China-Africa Machinery Corporation (CAMACO) has agreed to supply of tractors to eight states in the northern part of the country in fulfillment of an agreement by the Chinese government with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to fund the mechanisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to the tune of $4.5 billion.   President Muhammadu Buhari and his Chinese counterpart Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, inaugurated the implementation committees on the Agricultural Mechanization System (AMS) in Abuja recently. Speaking at the ceremony, Ogbeh lamented the situation whereby the country has less than 30,000 tractors when the minimum requirement as at today should be a million tractors at the minimum. “This partnership with CAMACO is an attempt to catch up with our shortfalls in tractors and increase our mechanization to make it easier for agriculture to take place. Increased mechanization is even more important now that we are trying

Mr Jude Nwankwo, Acting Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme, Anambra State, has said the state government plans to commence export of rice in 2018.   Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State Nwankwo who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Awka, the Anambra State capital, at the weekend said rice export will begin after the 2017 harvest, adding that the state will produce more than 500,000 tonnes of rice in the 2017 harvest year based on projections from the field. He said the figure would be 300, 000 higher than what was recorded in 2016. “In 2016, we projected 180, 000 metric tonnes of rice, but we surpassed it by 20, 000. In 2017 our target is to produce 500, 000 metric tonnes of rice, but the information from the field indicates that the figure will even go higher again’’, he said. He said the government is supporting more rice farmers to cultivate rice in Orumba North, Ayame­lum, Awka North, Anam­bra East and Ana

In a bid to play a positive role in tackling the excruciating shortage of dollars in the economy, Dangote Group has announced plans to invest $3.8 billion in sugar and rice as well as $800 million in dairy production in the next three years.   Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Dangote Group Edwin Devakumar, Executive Director, Dangote, who disclosed this recently in Lagos, said the company will increase its annual production of sugar from the current 100,000 tonnes to 1.5 million metric tonnes by 2020. He added that the company also intends to increase its rice production by 1 million tonnes and add 50,000 cattle that are capable of producing 500 million litres of milk a year by 2019. A lack of foreign exchange means companies are struggling to pay for imported goods, increasing the burden on local agriculture to meet demand for food from Nigeria’s population of more than 180 million, Devakumar said. “All raw sugar has to be imported today, same thing for flour milling,” he said.

Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, President of Yam Growers Association of Nigeria (YAGAN), has cried out over the non-inclusion of YAGAN members in the highly publicised yam export drive by the Federal Government. Idris who was speaking to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja said the government’s failure to carry YAGAN along in its yam export initiative is regrettable. According to him, “We are the growers and the producers, we know where it pinches and what to do to fill the gaps; everything is not about research alone, we should be considered relevant to the project,’’ he said. Idris noted that the Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme (TCNYEP), in its assignment, liaised with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) and other relevant stakeholders. He then wondered why the committee failed to obtain the input of YAGAN in working out a framework. He described the yam export drive as a l

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved 179 business plans for 29 rice farmers’ cluster groups in Abia State as part of measures to boost rice production in the state. Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor Mrs. Ezinne Otuka, Abia State Project Coordinator of FADAMA, disclosed this at the flag off of the implementation of the FADAMA Additional Financing Project at the Ministry for Agriculture in Umuahia, adding that the rice cluster group is made up of 1,200 rice farmers across the state. “We have 179 approved beneficiaries of their business plan for rice production under our crop calendar and there are about 29 rice clusters making up of about 1200  farm groups in that cluster. We have just flagged off the rice production and we believe that by the time of harvest in Abia State for 2017 we will be able to have 22 million paddies of rice in tons from the people that we have empowered today. “For us to talk about cassava and ice production in the State, we have to start with

The Federal Government is to start distribution of farm inputs to farmers for the 2017 wet season farming in August, Mr Ohiare Jatto, an official, says.   Audu Ogbeh Minister of Agric & Rural Devt Mr Ohiare Jatto, the Director, Farm Input Support Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja recently. He said no fewer than 300,000 to 500,000 farmers across the country would benefit from the programme. Jatto said the setback experienced in the distribution of the inputs, under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, was as due to the delay in the release of the 2017 budget. “We still owe agro dealers a lot of money and we want to clear the debt as soon as we have money to enable them to participate in the programme,’’ he said. Jatto said although the Federal Government had settled part of the debt owed during the 2014 wet season and 2014/2015 dry season farming,

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, have appealed to Nigerians to support government’s agricultural development efforts aimed at enhancing food sufficiency.   Oyo State governor They made the appeal during a courtesy call on Ajimobi by Ogbeh who was at the Government House in Ibadan on a two-day working visit and a week-long visit to the South-West region of the country. Ogbeh said the nation had and still has all it takes to be food-sufficient and also be an agricultural-produce exporting country rather than be a nation that thrives on importation. “Expending $22 billion on importing food into the country on an annual basis is highly ridiculous, particularly in Nigeria, where we can produce enough for consumption and to export,’’ he said. He said Oyo State has very rich agricultural potential and powerful possibilities in agriculture to enhance food sufficiency and boost the nation’s exporting s

Mr. Ayoola Oduntan, President, Poultry Association of Nigeria, has called on the Federal Government to intervene and do something urgently to bring down interest rates available for lending to the agricultural sector. Oduntan who made the call at the 2017 Poultry Summit in Lagos recently said, “High interest rate is still hindering the growth of the poultry sector. I am not aware of anywhere in the world where farmers pay up to 27 per cent as interest rate. If they take such loans, they will end up working for the banks because 27 per cent interest rate is not viable for the industry.” He added that the industry is also currently battling with the low purchasing power of consumers due to the high inflation rate, maintaining that poultry farmers had continued to record low sales in eggs and chickens. “We have had probably the worst egg glut in the past two decades and the last aggregate we gathered reveals that we have in excess of over N 1billion worth of unsold frozen

By Audu Ogbeh It is quite clear that the era of oil and gas as the mainstay of our economy is gone. A few days ago, India announced that, by 2030, there will be no petrol or diesel-driven vehicle in India. Everything will be electrical. And that is India. You can be sure the Chinese will do the same shortly. As for Germany, a law is coming up to say that, by 2030, there will be no hydrocarbon in use. And, you can be sure that the United States has other plans. So, what is left for us? Agriculture!   Audu Ogbeh Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development And, we can’t continue to think that there is a Nigerian standard and other standards. There is one standard, and it has to be worldwide. It isn’t just about exports. It is about our own health and our nutrition security. Moving away from just eating much to eating well, there is a big difference between both. There was a Greek doctor who lived during 4th Century BC. He made a comment in 390 BC, saying “let food be your med

Olusegun Awolowo, Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says the Federal Government has developed “Conduits of Excellence (CoE)’’ to ensure consistent and stringent quality management for all exportable products.   Olusegun Awolowo Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council Awolowo told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja recently that the Federal Government had also set up a committee for the realisation of the objective. According to him, the committee will work under the technical guidance of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). He said the committee would also develop the code of practice and Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, for production and processing of selected products. Awolowo explained that government initiated the National Quality Infrastructure Project, NQIP, and conduit of excellence to ensure that an enabling environment and materials were provided to enhance quality and standards. Acc

Federal Government has completed the training of 774 Nigerians in the use of modern technologies in delivering extension services to farmers under its N-Power programme.   National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services Professor Mohammed Othman, Director General, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services, who stated this in a report on the programme said the trainees were drawn from all the local government areas in the country. National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services was responsible for the training programme tagged, ‘Agro Master Trainers.’ Othman said the exercise, which is part of an agricultural development plan being executed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, resulted in the training of 774 extension personnel to work as master trainers for the 30,000 youths engaged under the N-Power Agro Programme? He said “The agricultural sector is one of the critical sectors in the first p

Charles Asadu, professor of soil science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu State, has urged government at all levels use to mechanise agriculture as a tool to attract young people to the farms and change the economic narrative. Professor Asadu gave the advise while speaking on “Agricultural Policies, Programmes and Smallholder Farmers Systems vis-a-vis Food Security in Nigeria,” at the 2017 University Press Plc’s Authors’ Forum lecture in Ibadan, Oyo State, recently. He called on the government to map the country’s soil structure so that would-be farmers can have access to information on what to plant where and at what time of the year. He said Nigeria’s food problem is not insurmountable if adequate attention is paid to agricultural processes. According to him, farming techniques passed down from forefathers are no longer tenable in a modern world and unless conscious effort is made to transition to mechanised farming, young people would continue to give fa

In a bid to support farmers and domesticate rice production, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has said the state government borrowed N10 billion from the Federal Government to finance agricultural activities in the state. Umahi who disclosed this while speaking to newsmen in Abakaliki last week said the state government intends to boost rice production through the establishment of ‘Mega Rice Cities’ in all the local government areas of the state. “We have also borrowed some funds under CARTS from the Federal Government. We borrowed N2 Billion, we will be paying off in the next 3 months, of course we borrowed another N5 billion and another N3 billion. “We want to domesticate rice production in Ebonyi State and we are going beyond individual production. We are now beginning to see how we can institute what we call rice mega cities in each local government area where by we have 5,000 hectares of land dedicated for rice production in each of our local government areas.

Sesame farmers in Bauchi State have recorded about 300 per cent increase in production as a result of the two-way effort between OLAM Nigeria Limited and Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme (BSADP). Ronsha Tated, Kano Regional Office Manager of OLAM, who disclosed this in Ningi during the launching of OLAM Community Resource Services for farmers at the weekend said the collaborative relationship which started in 2008 raised the production per hectare in the state from 264kg/ha in 2008 to 850kg/ha in 2016. Tated said the company purchased over 11,000 metric tonnes of sesame worth N3.3 billion from farmers in the state last year while 650 sesame farmers are expected to receive quality seeds and fertilizer in the OLAM intervention programme this year. While commending OLAM for coming to the aid of farmers in the state, Yakubu Kirfi, Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Bauchi State, the state government is willing to collaborate on projects that

A study conducted by Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Market Development (MADE Programme) has showed that international development organisations as well as the Federal Government must refocus their policies on agriculture to reshape their interventions in order to mitigate the negative impact of Naira devaluation on growth in the sector. Speaking at the presentation of the findings in Abuja recently, Dara Akala, Executive Secretary of PIND, noted that the study examined effects of devaluation and related government trade restriction policies on four key agricultural value chains in the Niger Delta region, namely cassava, palm oil, aquaculture, and poultry. Akala said the study also looked at the impact on agricultural inputs and leather goods as well as market responses across the value chains to the income and substitution effects that arose from the price shocks as a result of the

In its effort to find a lasting solution to post-harvest losses of farm produce, the Lagos State Government has said it is considering plastic crates as alternatives for storage and transportation. Director of Agricultural Services in the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, represented by Mr. Adebisi Adegboye, stated this at the Capacity Building/Market Sensitisation on Produce Vehicle/ Crate Project held in partnership with the Union of Perishable Farm Produce Traders of Lagos State and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in Ikorodu, Lagos State. The awareness programme which was supported by the Postharvest Loss Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN), under GAIN is aimed at reducing losses associated with the use of the weaved raffia basket in the transportation and storage of farm produce in the country. Adegboye lamented the high level of food products waste due to poor storage and transportation method, adding that over 45 per cent of fruits, vegetables along

Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has secured approval to release three new high-yielding nutrient maize varieties for planting in Nigeria. IAR, in a statement in Lagos last week, said the approval was granted by the National Varietal Release Committee at the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology in Ibadan. The new maize varieties, the statement said, was developed in collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. The institute said the maize varieties tagged: SAMMAZ 52, SAMMAZ 53 and SAMMAZ 54 were offshoots of extensive “on-station, multi-locational and on-farm’’ evaluations with strong farmer participation. It said the varieties were desirable to many maize farmers, seed companies, and food processing entrepreneurs, agro-allied industries as well as consumers across Nigeria. “SAMMAZ 52 is an improvement over previously released varieties as a result of bio- for

Sen. Walid Jibrin, National Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged Nigerians to embrace cotton farming, considering its strategic importance in boosting revenue base of the country. Jibrin made the call last week in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nasarawa, Nasarawa Local Government area of the state. He said that if farmers and other Nigerians embrace cotton farming, it would fight unemployment, poverty, improve the revenue and the standard of living of the people and the country in general. “If Nigerians give attention to cotton farming, it will create employment for many youths, fight poverty, it could improve their standard of living as well as tackle social vices in the society,” he said. Jibrin said that no society could survive without agriculture. “Agriculture is the major source of livelihood of many families and its importance to the development of any society cannot be over-emphasised.’’ He a

Federal Government has said plans are underway to conduct a mass vaccination exercise on sheep and goats across the country in an effort to protect them from the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) disease which is currently ravaging some farms. PPR is an acute viral disease of goats and sheep characterised by fever, necrotic stomatitis, gastroenteritis, pneumonia, and sometimes death. Gideon Mshelbwala, Director, Pests Control Services Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who disclosed this in Abuja last week said the exercise which will commence soon will be a continuous one that will end in 2024. Mshelbwala said the department hopes to prevent the untimely deaths of 40 per cent of goats and sheep as the PPR disease is responsible for a similar number of deaths in the animals. According to him, the European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the African Union (AU) will support the Federal Government in the effort to

Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on job creation, has urged volunteer entrepreneurs to utilise the Federal Government’s Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) to boost their investments.   President Muhammadu Buhari He gave the advice recently in Uyo while addressing the seven N-Health volunteers at the Akwa Ibom Veterinary Clinic. Four of the seven volunteers at the clinic said that they invested their stipend on fish farming, dogs and goats rearing as well as poultry farming but were unable to expand their businesses due to the paucity of funds. Imoukhuede said the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration were particularly aimed at addressing joblessness and encouraging innovation and enterprise. According to him, the GEEP component of the SIPs offers soft loans to farmers and other business people to boost their enterprises. “Use GEEP to support your investments,’’ he urged the voluntee

Officials of the Michigan State University, United States, have expressed keen interest in collaborating with the Delta State Government to develop agriculture in the state.   Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State Source: nigeriantimes.ng Dr Oyinkan Tasie, leader of the delegation from the university’s Department of International Development, expressed the commitment in Asaba recently when they visited Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa. ‘‘We have come to seek partnership with the Delta State Government to see ways we can work together to develop institutions and manpower in the agricultural sector. Through the provision of training for efficient manpower development and improved best practices, we are optimistic that the programme, which will also run in six other states in Nigeria, would be a huge success. ‘‘Our partnership objective is to help formulate a viable agricultural policy for the state, through collaborative work with the state Ministry of Agriculture and Delta State Univ