Nigerian government and its people have been charged to harness and invest heavily in the country’s agricultural potential to improve and better the lots of the citizenry.
The United State of America Charge d’Affaires, Mr David Greene, who gave the charge, stressed the need for maximum utilisation of the agric potential for the economic development of the country.
Greene spoke on Wednesday at Ipao Ekiti in Ikole Ekiti local government area of Ekiti State, where he led a team from the American Embassy on a visit to the Agbayewa Farms, a portfolio of Cavista Holdings in the State.
The US diplomat, who was accompanied by the Consul General of the American Embassy, William Stevens, and some top embassy officials to the farm, was received by the chairman of CAVISTA Holdings, who is also the chairman of Corporate Council on Africa, Mr John Niyi Olajide.
Greene described the farm as quite amazing, saying “it demonstrate what is capable.”
He said, “We are all aware of the security and food security concern in the country. Agriculture in Nigeria is a credible potential, but it is underutilised. So through this project, investment and leadership like this, I think the lives of a lot of Nigerians can be changed for the better.
“United States is doing a lot in the sector, of course, I can’t tell you exactly what we might do in the future with the farm, but we have got a lot of investment in dairy farm, cocoa production in Ekiti State and elsewhere, USAID’s feed the future is doing a lot for us with Nigerian producers and of course we collaborate very closely with the donors, World Bank and others but we really focus on solving the agriculture challenges.
“So, with kind of innovations you see here, we all need to work together for the benefit of Nigerians. Moreso, it going to help Nigerian lives, increase export yields, generally revolutionise the economy, given the potential the agriculture represents.”
He expressed his gladness over the opportunity to have more understanding about the cassava and yam harvest, workings as well as how United States could be helpful with the need during an exhibition of crops and machineries at the farm.
“We are looking forward to following up and coming back and seeing how the project expands to change the life of a lot of people in Ekiti State,” he added.
The chairman of CAVISTA Holdings, Olajide, said the tag line of the organisation is ‘creating values and transforming lives’.
He said they were investing in Ekiti State majorly to create job and to increase farmers’ crop yield.
“So, the investment is all about job and to create more opportunities for a lot of people. We are doing experiment on cassava that can help farmers improve the yield. The local farmers here are doing eight tonnes per hectare yield, we have experiment we are doing – 35, 40 tonnes per hectare, those seedlings are given to the farmers to improve their lives. We also have our grower programme farmers. A typical famer can do one, two hectares on their own but with the support from Agbeyewa Farms, they can do up to 10 hectares and get better yield.”
The CAVISTA chairman, who said a ready market will be provided for farmers in the state and losses on farm produce will be eradicated, added, “One important thing is that, these farmers always struggle to get access to the market, so we are working on the early stages of cassava revolution project of public partnership with the state government.
“They want to get atleast 100 thousand hectares of cassava cultivated in the state and the good news is that all the cassava cultivated and everything that our hardworking Ekiti farmers do will have ready market and all would be bought by us and processed.
“There is a story about 60 per cent post-harvest loss. Our goal is zero post-harvest loss, so that Ekiti farmers can create wealth through farming. ‘Farmers are kings’ so says a popular saying. In deed, we want to ensure that farmers are kings. So when we have farmers in Ekiti, they could become wealthy through farming. This is exactly what we intend to in Ekiti and by the special grace of God as we are joining hands with the government and our partners in America, all of these would be made possible.”
He said investment in agriculture and job creation were necessary antidotes to kidnapping and other security challenges in the country.
“The key to address all these insecurity is investment. The place we are used to be a kidnapping haven in Ekiti state. But look at what we have been able to do in that hundreds of hectares cultivated here. This is not where kidnappers come to. So, economic investment and job creation are the key to addressing insecurity,” he noted.
He said over 400 persons work on the farm on daily basis, adding that, “In different times, thousands of people have worked on the farm and our goal is to make sure we employ tens of thousands more. We wouldn’t have to employ all of them as they can work as outgrowers in our ecosystem. But like I said earlier, everything they produce we would buy.”
He added, “Agbeyewa is spearheading the development of vibrant and inclusive agro-allied with business model centered around the cultivation, aggregation and distribution of three key crops: Cassava, Yam and Maize. In addition to this, cultivate a diverse range of crops such as vegetables, tomatoes, pepper, plantain, melon and many more.”
He added that the footprint of the farm spans over 15,000 hectares in Ekiti State, with 8,000 hectares actively under cultivation.
Also speaking, the Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture said the state was partnering with the farm by signing up a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for them to do inclusivity for the farmers in the state.
“We have seen what has been done here, so we can replicate it in any part of the state and bring our our farmers within that space helping them to have the good natural practices and their market is already guaranteed.
“What the administration of Governor Biodun Oyebanji is doing now is clearing land for cluster farming and it is designed to replicate what you are seeing here. We are not taking over their land but to make it productive because productivity has to be entrenched in our land in natural production activities .
“We are also providing other necessary infrastructure, especially security. Policemen, soldiers and other security agents and the local government is supporting them with local hunters, vigilante. They have been experiencing zero security threat because the investment here has actually driven away insecurity.”