Honourable Abdul Oroh, Edo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources in this interview with EBOJELE AKHERE PATRICK explains government strategy to boost agriculture in the state, the challenges of the past and the prospects for the future. Excerpts:
Edo State was once major contributor to the agricultural development of the country. How will you rate the state now?
Edo State is enormously blessed with favourable agro ecological zones in the South, Central and North that favours the growth of all kinds of food and cash crops. It is one of the most endowed in Nigeria in terms of good weather, widespread water bodies and all other ecological parts that makes it a major producer of food and cash crops in the country.
It is also true that over time, there was a decline in the emphasis in agriculture nationally and not just in Edo State because of crude oil but now there is a growing realisation that we should revive agriculture to provide food security. But you will notice that in Edo State, like most states in the country, there are moribund agricultural projects that used to do well. You have the Agbede-Wareke Farms, the Leventis Farms in Agenebode and the Cattle Farm in Ubiaja. These were various initiatives spearheaded by the government of the day to grow agriculture in Edo State and at a time some of these projects were privatized, and declined for whatever reasons even though they were in private hands. So it became so scandalous that we have to be importing rice to distribute and sell to the public like it was done under the former Governor Oserheimen Osunbor administration when we can grow enough rice in Edo State to feed the country and even for export.
Edo State has gone into agreement with various institutions like the Federal Government, NDDC, IFAD, and ECOWAS and also under the FADAMA projects. These projects would have raised a lot of food security of our various commodities of our rural farmers but the government did not pay the counterpart funds. And because of that, our ADP became a thing of the past when the World Bank stopped funding it and it used to be cited as one of the best in the South-South, geo-political zone.
So, we faced all these challenges, many of these farms were privatized, some of the farms collapsed like the Igara Cattle Ranch where there is no single cattle and most of the agricultural structures and equipment that were needed by the rural farmers became a major challenge when we came to start virtually from the scratch and you know the governor said he was going to use a combination of tools to fight poverty. Agriculture was one of them, not just to provide food security for our people but to provide employment for youths. A situation where you go to the market and virtually everything you see rice, bread, fish, tomatoe paste and all that are imported is unacceptable. It was a scandal and in Edo State, we believe that it was necessary for us to engage it, to deal with it, and work to restore the glory that agriculture and what agriculture should naturally do for our people and that is to raise their income and to create jobs for the youths.
So what we have done is a strategic plan, that we help restore agriculture in Edo State and that is for agriculture not to be only a major player in our economy but to create jobs, fight poverty, to help create opportunity for agro processes and develop the value chain of our agricultural products and also to play a prominent role at the national level in terms of what is produced in Edo State. So we have worked that out and we are engaging the issues, we are perfecting those plans. First and foremost, we want to revive all those moribund projects. We have invited many of the stakeholders, we have been talking with those who are controlling those agricultural projects and many of them have responded. For instance, we have written to Leventis Farms and the governor is going to meet with them very soon and they have indicated that they are ready to revive the farms and to put in more capital. That farm is about 13,000 hectares in Agenebode. We are getting inquires from people in respect to Igara Cattle Ranch and others.
The idea is to see how we can get them functional again. Then based on the baseline studies and plans that we have done, we want to be able to respond to enquiries from investors. For instance, if you want to go into rice farming, where is the land, how useful is the land, how much of it is available. This goes for other crops. So we are working hard to get this information and to work with various stakeholders so that we can have a roadmap in reviving agriculture in the state. We also realise that our farmers are ageing and there is need for us to replenish, to get young people to embrace agriculture, so we have decided to train some of our youths. So far, we have trained about 460 youths in various aspects of agriculture.
Does that include the Libyan returnees?
Not yet, we have just signed their files and we are working on it. They are also going to be trained before they are released. Right now, about 180 youths are also undergoing training in all the 18 local government areas of Edo State. Once they pass out, we will also work out something for them, and help them get loans. Our plan is for them to able to set up farms on their own and maybe employ just a few. That programme is called Edo Youth Agro Business Initiative a.k.a Comrade Farmers.
As for our rural farmers, we are re organising our Agricultural Development Programme, ADP to be able to give them full extension services as they were doing in the past. Most of our equipments, caterpillars, tractors; the governor released about N40 million last year to repair them, and also to buy new implements. We also gave them fertilizers last year. We gave them about 7,000 tonnes of fertilizers which were sold to farmers and they were not hijacked or sold to farmers elsewhere or to contractors. They were sold in all the local government areas and we ensured that no farmer got more than 6 bags of fertilizers at 30 per cent subsidy. Basically, we have also been engaging the rural farmers. Last year, we gave about N1 billion to 720 cooperatives and we have also given about N326 million through other sources like FADAMA. The state governor has also paid most of the counterpart funds that were hitherto not paid by previous administration under IFAD, RUTTIN, FADAMA projects.
I think during my tenure so far, we have paid N224 million and some amount was paid before I came. Now we are able to disburse money to small scale farmers because we are able to pay our own counterpart funds to development partners like the World Bank, NDDC, IFAD, etc. If you look at our budget this year, there is a provision for us about N500 million to be able to buy tractors and other farm implements that will be deployed to the three senatorial districts for extension services to our farmers. These are the steps that we have taking and we are still in the early stages.
Our strategy is to be number one cocoa producer, but the problem we have is that we don’t have a single cocoa processing factory in Edo State and so we are not able to derive all the benefits we could get from the service chain. So most of our cocoa is taken to Ondo State for processing and export abroad and this is denying us a lot of revenue. We are also high up in terms of cashew, rubber and others. But we know that where we are now is not good enough but we know where we want to be and we want agriculture to be the major driver of the state economy and also we want to be a major player at both the national and international level.
Talking about major player, at a time cassava was a major national initiative by the Federal Government and lots of farming activities were carried out by Edo farmers. What is the situation like now?
Like I said, Edo State is still the largest producer of Cassava in the South-South zone but the price of Cassava fell because the value chain was not developed, because the farmers had produced so much and they couldn’t sell at premium to plough back to their investment. So they started getting discouraged because we don’t have the processing plants. So right now, we are trying to encourage them with the support from the Federal Government, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA Ibadan and other research institutes under the Federal Government cassava Transformation Agenda to produce Cassava for export in terms of chips, produce high quality flour for bread, biscuits and other confectionaries, sweeteners for beverages, breweries, starch, pharmaceuticals including garri which is our staple food, etc. So many of our registered cooperatives are producing cassava and we believe that this is the time we should raise the tempo. We are also working with the Federal Government in this regard.
What is the government doing about Urhonigbe rubber estate in Orhionmwon Local Government Area?
The government has approved the leasing. We want to concession it to private managers. We are getting proposals and I am sure very soon we will conclude the process of leasing it out. Like people are aware, most of the trees are 30 years old or more and they are declining in terms of productivity. We are working that out.
There is this talk within the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN-led government of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole places little or no emphasis on agriculture! (cuts in).
Let me just take it from there:- Under Osunbor administration, rather than growing rice, he was importing rice. Now we are growing rice, we are not importing rice. Under Osunbor administration and the previous PDP administration, not a single tractor or bulldozer was purchased in any of these ministries even the ones that were purchased had no implement. Many of them were supplied either by the Federal Government or through World Bank. Under the previous PDP administration in Edo State, agriculture collapsed. Now, we are not just trying to revive it, we have done a strategic plan and we are doing a baseline studies for the various crops to see how we can develop agriculture using a modern approach. Under the PDP administration, our farmers never saw and used fertilizers.
Once trucks were collected and the Federal Government deducted its own money from our allocation, they took them and sold to farmers or contractors outside the state. For instance, a bag of fertilizer that would sell for N2, 900 to farmers, they sold to farmers in northern states for over N7, 000. So sometimes they will make profits triple the price. That is like 300-400 per cent profit. But under this administration, we have been selling fertilizers to farmers right in their local government areas at a subsidized rate. Nobody can claim to be able to take a truck out of this state under my watch. The only person who tried it is under trial. Under the PDP, it was like gangsters seizing a state or looting it but under this administration we are transparent about it. Everything is done properly, and we don’t just embark on any project, we do a thorough planning to ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Because, like I said, all the various agricultural projects in the state collapsed under the PDP administration. Where is the Cassavita? Where is the juice plant in Ehor? Where is the fertilizer blending plant in Auchi? Even the Ewu Flour Mill which as established under the military regime has since collapsed. Because of that they have no moral justification, in fact they should hide their heads in shame. They have no right to say that this administration does not encourage agriculture. Our budget for this year is the highest in the history of this ministry.
Our farmers have always complained about grading of cocoa and this they do in Ondo State. What is the government doing about grading of cocoa in the state?
It’s troubling and I agree with the complaints of the farmers. And that confirms what I said that the PDP administration in the past did not show interest in the welfare of farmers and agriculture. That is why our farmers were taking our cocoa to Ondo State. This year, our governor has approved money for us to build needed facilities in various outlets in Okpella, Evbonogbon and other posts, and also approve all the facilities we require for grading of cocoa and also to ensure that what we export is of the highest quality and standard. In fact, our ambition is to have a cocoa processing plant in Edo State so that we don’t even need to export it as it is. Presently, we are negotiating with an investor who is trying to set up a processing plant at Sabongida –Ora. Secondly, we are trying to improve on our seedlings. There are about 9 new varieties of cocoa and by 18 to 25 months you start harvesting. Right now we produce about 55,000 metric tons and we are trying to raise that to about 250,000 tons between now and 2020. We want to be able to produce what the entire country produces in cocoa this year by 2020.By EBOJELE AKHERE PATRICK
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