investi SUNDAY)f,TRUST Sunct.y. ~ 21. 2012

Food • • ISIS:

Government plans massive food import as farmers fear poor yields after devastating floods, while corruption-infested multi-billion naira silos projects are without grains By TMopbU .... Abbah. lnnall AddNlyo. Yutb,' .. It. Ibrahim , KaUhuo. INDlliJ M~uhlt. Bu-nlft KdIbi ,rwt Ahmed Mohammed. Baudll

F anncnm Tofllrdand Kor. ~ 0( ICUSMIa Local GoTnnmmt Mf:A of ICalRrul State may noi be able to karTtSl one·thlrd of ~ of thdr )'ftI1y crops Ihis year - no

thank. 10 the diluter thai dovetaikd the ke tVn and windstonn. whkh dcstroJaI thdr farmlands.. s.,,*, Trw. hu kvnL

AJ 11 ramI oj the dlsutCT. mMC ol the UrJMn raJ \hilt they would M abk: 10 conltibulc Just little 10 lhe food bMIttt of the (ountry. 11 Ntu.lion thlt could lead 10 food .upply criJiJ. AJ lit the luI count, 207 r.rmbnch wen dat~ In Tolanl. whIle in Jto(. 'rillAp; CWft 500 (u mLa.ntb ~ raftFd briM I« raiQ. TbC" IlnIlIUaI ~ ~ for juft aU minutes. auordln& to the YiJIAF hAd of Kol .. AJhaiI bb!'u BdIo KoC .. Vh1ual1y. the enlire (umlandJ in the hro communitieJ ~rcaITtctcd bythcalamlty It. loW of laol the l4 LGA5ofKabin.l Saatcwrn&.....tllkd by flood and Bin mated disuler thb ynr. with Man! and Mal Aduwa local JO"'ttnmenl arcu kkntlfied as word hh anaL Il~, mot( of the Carmen who

The flood and the poor harvest this year have raised questions over the storage silos project purportedly executed across the country since 2009

~ with OW" ~ bdln-ed that the quantum ollhc ~au...t br the f\ood and flood ,dated dlNster would no! CII~

KriouJ harm 10 lhe lUte, )"C'1I.ty hannt..

AIhaJi AdamI! ,ibUo loId our conupondml !hat -&en In the a1fmtd rillap. II Is not

e'm')'body thal b alTulN.. Ifat',ln Jjbl., for inltana, we arE Up«lins a bumpn hart'\'tt Ibit JUr h«euJe we did not UpE:rImcE Rood. I am lUre tIw .storr will bE tIw lamE in most of thor: arut that an' not affecttd by thE diAslff 1'lM FuntUi zone. onJr tbrE'E local JO"-cmmEnlJ wert affectEd and tht noocb affecttd only hotuts. not rarmland!:"

Compkmmtl"l Ilblai Ykw. anothn rannn, Malam YIIIU! MUla, Aid Wltb ouption of KuAda Local (iovunmmt Am. whEn I« taln des~ IarJe numMn of rannlandJ In Kof. and Toflni Yill'-P (armns In thE mnlinins 11 affec:ltd local panmmt .reu would atW ~ MIme rum produce.. HE rnnlfbd that "tJw dlJastn will DOlUlUe any thortfaD or rood ittmJI in tht St.a1t IblJ yur" Abo. the Killi,.,. StalE Commwlonn for Apiculturt. AIhIJI Musa Adlmu. aid the: damagt cauwd by flood would not affe<1 tht ynrl, prnductlon or the allIE, uytna "when thE unfortunate Inddml occurrtd tIw stilE ~ hid t.un ~ ~ 01 conlrollms tht mUllion"

On 11K conlrary. Malin! Gabchm. KIdi Torlni told our rq>«tn that of the dght

farmlands 1K cultiYated tim JUr. he (>nl,. hartuttd kst lhan 100 baIa of mUkt. CCM'n and btaru and mllu Tolanl explainEd Ihlt. In pn'rioUJ ynn, he IUllvnttd no kst ,b.n 5,000 baIa or thE ~tiotwd rarm

p",d .. " Another farmer. Mal.m Adamu 0.00

Toran! AkI, '" was banoatln& 011 the 81"n1I8E 120 bQr. of mUId. and com In prniou. ,....r ... but this ynr I wuonl,.ablctouUfivelMla 10 IIIJ' home after huYaUnJ period. Fot co(lon. I harvesttd onl,. a ton IS aplmt thE thrE'E 10 four tom J uK<! to hanut annuaJlr on lhe avttIge"

Oabo added that manr of bill roIlt'lJUCI could not harvesl • tbird of thc:i, u!UlI Innual outpul Ihl' )"tIr. urins "thty h .... e kJst all thdr r.rm rrodua to lhe dlu.sIEr Motl of the alJec:l~ I'umns in this wi. ~ darted KndinS thcir chiIdrm to cilia Iw Kano. Abu;" t...p.. Pun Harcourt and KadUfUI 10 ward! (Of odd Job- MI th.1 they can .utlln IlKir famUIa lill nat ynf"

Malam bowl Y.u Is a Jarwc IC&Ic coclon rarmn In the rilllSC lIE was h.arYCSllns bdWttn 10 and 15 too. of cOIIon an nu.uy HE told our rrportn that foBowinS tht dJAIICT. he was able 10 ~ om,. fiY'E u o of

COfud. on JNIge 1

SUNDAYJ2,rnuST Sunday, October 21, 2012

Contd. from page 6

<:otton thil ynr. Th~ ~ Mad of Tofan! IMagajln.

TofiIJU). San.! Albaji Kofa I'lld SIUlday 1hut that none of the allec;ted rarm~ an harvest 10 bues tbb year. following the disaster of Ice rain and willli5lonn thai affected virtually the entire farmIan<h in the vilb.ge.

He said. '"We haft $Imed feeling me C~nlCQ ()( the tWastB In this rilIage beull5e .. me pmplc havt: started bqging for food. ..tille othtn have brgun ID send thdr children 10 dtie5 In .KlI.n::h (or odd jobs." he said.

Kor. bunented thus "tell me how can a bradwlnntr or. J()..mcmbt.r Wnily house sU5lain the howe after he had lost all1lO$t the entire fum produce 10 W disaster? We hlllve. fumer who ~ 10 harvullOO 10 500 bales of assorted grahu millet. oorn and beans annuaJly. bul ended up FUng 10 or less thb ynr. The situation Is a1annlng In Tarant I have losl two farmlands 10 the dlStilcr l.u( )'Uf,1 cu1liVilled fJVC and a half 10IU of coUon. 11 bags of usortcd beam and 311 bags of nuhe In one of I~ {arm$, but this ynr I got thr« Ngs of COIlon. one bag of bnm and thrtt-and-, halfbags of maIu.." ~I added that -If II were not bffaUK I

haft 0100 mearu of income, I would have b«n In Abuj. by now searching for l Job to feed my famlly,llke many othervlll~gen.w

Commenting the on rdlef materials donated. Kofa commended Governor Ibrahlm Shema. Kusada local ~t council the Distria Head of Kus.da and BdlcjiD-Kauina, Aihaji Nuhu Yashc for thar concern 10 11K victims of the disaster. He said KuHcb local government council has donated to the vlctlrru of the dlsutn and so also the District Head..

For thc.tatepttnment. he added. wane ofGovttnOr Shem.a'.s $pedal Adv\sc'n. one Hajlya BI1ld, who invited III to her howe told us that rdki'malerials comprising JO bap of maIu, JO bap or millet, 30 ba.g_ of rice. 10 carlons ofmllk. 10 carlons oCsup' ~d 10 cartons each of,wm and gmundnUI 011 ~~ ~Ieascd to the Kusada Local Government "'~.

He c:alI«I on the state government to usbt Yklinu of the disaster wtth moK food items, panlcularly millel, maize and rom. saying wthe oonum of the aIfeettd people wu not clothing matmab, blankelJ and or pmvillioru lueh as delugent,.oap and milk; our maln COrKern 1I food Items."

Spcaldng to 5101ndDy Trw!, the awc's CommIsslonn for Environment, AlhaJi Aminu ibrahim Safaoa.. said gawl'lllnCnt has donaltd N6 million and N4 mUllon to the twuwonthH arnsofMai Aduw. and Marrl local govttTIlDmt m:u respectively, whiJe the rat ofthe 16 affected local goveriuncnl arcu wac ..uocattd N2.5 million each.

In KcbbI Stale, farmen arc still counting their IoSKS few months after flood washed uny their farmlancb.. At the peak of this year's rainy .ason In August the ltate witn~ itII own share of flood. Many mmlandJ and residential howa WO'e

dcstroorN In parts of the state. SpcalUns to Sunday TrIU' . a (anner,

Alhajl Yabbu Saidu, said the nood wuhed away more than half of hb farm101.fldJ. He said he wu planning to tabulate the loss incurred from the flood dlll'iJll the dry ICIUOO farmlng. Last ynr, I got 300 bass of grains but thb rae so far I got only ISO on the same farmland.. Wlurot J 1m"'C3ltd on the farm WI yell was the urne wllh what 1 spent this ycu; he Pld..

On his part, • leader of onion fatmers in AliCfQ Loc:al Government Area. AlbaJI Uba Sarld. laid though onkm if a drr 5Cl!On crop. their p-aiJlJ were krloully .fleeted by the flood. He Aid, -We thank Allah f"<K everything. lbc major crop we plant bcrc is onion, but becaIuc it Is a dry KlSOO product wepllllt~DJ loaugmcnllL Thbrcar.apart from the problem of flood, we hlld IlCUIC

. R@mnanu ofthefarmlands d@stroyed byk@raln lnTofan l villitg@

• Malam Adamu DaboTofanl. I fal"ffifl

• Comparattve pricH of bask food Items

shortage of fcrtillKt, which aiso .dvcrsdy afTectJ our output.w

BUI the ~tc'1 CommlssJoDCT Col­Agricullure. AIhaji Sud O. Kany&. said the . tate government had put In plKc measUref lo ..... bt fanncn recover the loa they Incunm. AccordIng to him. wWe were sensitised carlla before the Dood disaster. So. both the 1IIIe govcmmcnt ~d the farmers

took measures to contain It. HowCVtt. it ..erecled the Carmen, ILl many of their fannlandJ were dcstroyai To asslJt them, ~ have Introduced drr KISOD farming. We lie encouraging md JUPPOf1Ing Carmen to go inlo Irrigation farming In order 10 rccln'Cr the damap a nued by the flood disuter,W he Wd.

7 investigation BlGSIOSY

Empty grain slorage sUos despite over N 140bn investment

The flood and the poor ~ this year have r'Iiscd quC$tIolU over the .tonge 111m rrojcc1 purpontdly execuled acrou the country since 2009. During the late Pmlklenl Umaru MuSIl Va"adua adminlstl"llilon, I

whopping SUIll ofN50 bil!kln was Included in the 2009 budgc1 rrojcdlons of the Fcdenli Ministry of AgrkuilllrC and ...... lIer IUosourcC$ for the corulructkm of gnln storage silos KrOll the counlry. By 2010. rcporu taid III

addltlonll N96 billion had been relcutd, malting alotll oCNI46 billKKl At th,lllme il WI.lI proJccted thll ongoing silos rro;ccts and the construction of new ones in order to bolster food security Wll5 meant 10 !"lI5C

the national strategic slorage Olpacily to I million lonna.

The origlna1lnlention was 10 h~ve the grain .torage JilOIIoated In different grains producing states. among thun Elil!. Kcbbi, Zamfara, BOfJKl, Imo. Fer and Blyd .. State$. They ~~ supposed to have 100.000 metric 10nnC$ capacity. Other silo. with the slOf1lj:e Olpadly of 25.000 metric 10nnC$ were to be corutnKted In Yobc, Baudd. Osun. NlIlnwa, Tanbt., Ogun. Anambn. Kogi. Sokoco. Ahn lbom. Adamaw.. Kana and lCatsina Stales. 1bc silos WCTC meanl 10 Iton rke. beans. maiu, ~ beans, millet, wheal. and other food items.

For I1\'Cr 20 yell'S now. government had made pllflf to bulld.ilos In order to boo$l food security. but the protect has all ... ,. been bung.ltd due 10 corruption. For Imllnce, a cue lnWII.ring a Iilos meant to be built in Akwa Ibomhad 10 bclaitcn to 1II Abu~ IlIgh Court over In IIICJaUon that the toIIl mils construcUon had been :nfl.Itcd by over N500 million. Also. In 20 I 0, there ,",ere allegations .plnst the Minlru'y of Agricullure that the sum ofN96 blUlon had been removed from Ecological Funds to fund the SI105 proJcct. but the grain .no. un not bccn 00NIructm.

In Baudd StaIr, thc~ arc fow vain ailOL ~ b one In Bolo. one In Baochl. one In Al:atc. A N 1.5 billIon.was W'lI rKCfItJy bulll br the Federal ~cnl at WaiIo YiIlage in Ganjuw. Local Go¥uruncnt Ana .

A SUllor offidaJ in the Bauchl Stile Agricultural Dcvdopmcnt ProJecu laid the Silos In Bauchl had no pains because s-unmcnl bur- grains if therr lie surplus aft£r l\arft$ting. He said the lut lime the stale government pu.nhaKd surpllII grains \oBI in 2008 and It wu IO&d to fanners II JUbskUud rates. But &inc.c thcn.lOftTnmcnl

Contel on page 8

investigat ion 8 BIG STOBY

SUNDAy.eTRUST 5uoo.y, October 21, 2012

'There'll be poor harvest in Taraba this year' Taraba state's Commissioner for Information, Mr Emmanuel Belio, said the state is one of the worst hit in the flood cri sis rocking the nation. and this could lead to famine. Excerpt:

By Ism.i1. Adebaro

Your MailE U Aid to H La ~ - 8 "

alt~o( .I.t~ hit by thb f]ooclJ.. b tha i the true pk turet

Wdl. TanbanJ an: vny J11Ilcful to P~lEni GoodJud: jonathan for coru1dmnl \U as • bmdkiM}' of the funch meant (or flood rictinu. We got the N400 million meant (or atates In the -B-c:akpy. And we are cunentiy UJI"I it 10 brin& bKk hope" 10 lhow hit by this dlsuln-. H.vi", Mid that, lhe truth b th.t Tanh. Stale 110M ohhe wont hi! placcsln the country lllls b not dillkuh 10 ~ Ant. lhe state has the longeR ruttch of Rivn Ben~ RiYn Iknuc may hi"" been named titer BenuCSC.lt, but tM bulk. the- JonteM JCtt1ch of that rfvoer b In Taabf, State. And It runs throua,houl lhe ....

So you can imagine the amount of devaJtaUons It would CflutC us as the tide rllel.. Many town$ and communiUa an: lituatcd lIon, thit tlvtt. Many of than hi"" been submnJed We ha\l\' hundrcdt of thousands of lnte:malJy Dbp!aad Penom. The ltalhtia an Kal"f. EYUI the praidtnt acknowlcdJCd the magnitude' I'm spcaklng .,

He was almoat I1lO\'ed 10 Inn i.n the camp he \'\sited and whtn he spoke. JUU could ace he was ftI"'T touched. In Taru,., ~ s lmrlr have. Katrina-Iilu: aluatMm on our hands. Markets. cu1vttts. Iivatocb,

Food crisis: No grains in over N 140bn silos across Nigeria

(Of1td. from ~ 7 bas not bousht pains from farmn1 and WE don ' I know what will happen thil ynr beOluw fIoodJ haVE washed .way many mml.mds. We (ur that th~ may be no surplus pm.. nft\ all the Wallo silos an .waltlng commbskmlng. The siaff added that tometlma .dlos are used to keql pilgrim. lulPF after theil relum (rom

pfIgrnmge in Saudi Anbialn order to aecun thdr propertioeI.

HO'WOtt, tht: SUlci Information Offiur Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Abdu Sale said "In B.lKld State all ow lib are functioning and pttnment purchucd gnilU aitef harvut. and ~ are now In the period ofhanatinJ crops.,.

In Kaduna Stale, silos buil l lin« 2009 have been lying emrtr Thlff yean; aner ... commwXKIIDJ. Jht: one In A"llRn MaiJim. lama'a Local Goftmmmt Am, Birnln Gwvt in 81min Gwarl LGA and that In Saminilb In l.cte LGA ha~ been abandoned. A rukic:nt of Angwan MatgRo. one Nuhu Ba .... had complained 10 our COITeIpOndcnt thus· "'No lingle grain had been stored hen' linee the commisdonlns In Fflwuuy 2009, The few hap of grains which ""'Cfe iodscd for lallng during the commissioning have deayed. We lRnt GowmoI' Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa to awinJ Into action by enslUing that work

• EmlNlnuet Bello

bridges..JChools. chun:bcl. mosques, roads. dinla and 1&rF hectares o( farmlandJ had all been washed away. We arc a state of 16 kKaI government una. Nine out of theK have becn badly affected. The worst thinl it the prospcd of'. famine b«aUJC flshing pondJ ha~ been washed away and fumen no longer ha..e fvnu 10 10 to. Take one loa!

commmca al the IlIos b«aUJC lhe: problem moM fllfm('f'$i.n K-duna State have II ladr. places 10 sto~ they uceu produce, A lot set _ted along the line. The piKe that II supposed to hetp the rumen prCKJTC their food had been tak.m 0Wtt by II'UtC:S. These wdl. planned flowen In tho: pnmlses of the vain ai10s arC' now iosInl ma~ u the

governmmt area. ArOO Kola, for eumple The~ a~ OV'C'r 7,611 ¥k1ims th~ among whom arc ),762 IDP'I Now Ihi. plac:e is Jarrdy agrarian, just hke E'Yff)'WhetC dK In the stile AIIn(MI ali lhe fannland. here have been 1wqJ! off ThaI place is now faced with the prospccu O{. (armine.. We ba\~ doK 10 5O~. lf}'OU look ... all these flgurts. JOU would .pte with metbat it isonrwhclming.

So why h..,e you not made the A. Ilu I bdieve It is partly bccallJe of the low

publicity and may be tht totl o( InlCfUt lobbying ~ arC' not used to doing In Tanba. The problem is howt'f'tI g1arinl and WI thout even $boullng too much aboul!t, ~ ,houId mUK thai T .... ba would ha..e been ","ont hit.. 8«aUK _ arC' an agrvIan Siale We: also haY(' fish We an abo doinl nnythlng to devc:1op our tourism potmllab. So Ihis is ¥CI"J'dcva.tlltlng.

Wh.1 an you thell doinlabout lit We sot the runds from the federal

go¥'CITlIIlent and ~ now have three maim

The worst thing is the prospect of a famine because fishing ponds have been washed away and farmers no longer have farms to go

ndnlly ls gradualty bc:c.omlng mfe:sted with ,nUes,.-

SImMy Tnul learned that of the: 21 staff employed 10 worlt lithe lrains centre, only one elderly nwl, • K'CUrilY guard, Is remaining'" hls post.. Othen had left In ~arch of grcc:ntr pastures.

lusl as It it In Bauchi and Kaduna, so

comnullca worlullg round the doc..k 10 nuu~ !hal flood vkllfm are well laken CIIre of 1bc depuly gm"ttnor ollhe Slate iJ In dalJC of the main commttlte When he was inaugurating the commilltc' (;.o,vnor Danbaba Oanfulani Suntat said the job wu aclually one fOf evrryonc in the lIate He E'I"m Jaid that the commisliorlen .nd adv-aKn dwuld taU mon~ from thtlr pocktts to help the Y\cllnu.. Itre5linglhat II was II()I. JUS! a job fOt" SEMA

But SEMA 100 tw been dTC:Clive Before they got the funds from tho!, fnlua! JOVttnmml, SF-Mil. In conjunction WIth NF_MA had done ita best. Bul the 'IOIume of this crlsu Is enormous. Evom at the federal ICTd, the pre:sldmt hu co me: up wilh Ihe Oangole body II is our hope thl! the Danpte te.m would .. ubi Ta" in more: waT' than one

But wh. t II the HSUJ"&nce tha t the ¥idlml would l et the llceded usitl. ncc from the:sc fundi..

Our JO¥'Cfnor Wall ¥fty empmtk about thlt. He Mld he would pcnonall)' monitor the monE'f and II would be strictly ustd for what it is mrant.. So _ are monitoring the: funds 10 ClUUre judkious dtspcnAtkJn.

Besides, we have chuted the media 10 be the nsk eyes u ~ 10 IIbout udng the fund$. II would be acen u olinl blood money for anyone to misaprroprialE thiJ money. That II why OUI rdief matcrial commillce tw mapped out all it wanl,lo buy ransml from rarm Implcmcnu to oooIung utensils

We are ~ Flinl AshinS nets and hooks We also Intend 10 Jive rnI cuh 10 houKhoIdt to see If they an IWI bulldms thcl.r U¥a .galn. Anyone who touchet; this kind of money II qu&Jifkd to be ailed '" mw'derEI People arc Plffcrlns and I bdlc:ve no one would be wicUd as 10 embct.z.lc that JOfI 0{ money,

Is the story or the ,1JOt; built In many other wtcs. Sunday r,wt j ma:u rnnkd thai the t.ikN In Malturdi, Jknue Stale, It on: gnUns far below III capacity The Jik>s in l..afia, Nuara,q Stile arc still under cOlUlruclion. In Eltni SUle. the one coruuuctcd Uonl the

(ontd. 0f1 ~ 9

SUNDAYlf,TRUST Sunday, October 21, 2012

Food crisis: No grains in over Nl40bn silos across Nigeria Contd. from page 8

Ffilcn1 Polyt~c Road, Ado Ekiti has ~en lying thrre empty, as no activities ace taking place a! Iu lite..

All'lIt'fTIpU made byour rt-porlfiS 10 find out what quantitia of gr.tlnl gOftl'1U[)Cnl hILI a' Its grains le:HTVe cenlru IlCro!l$ the CQuntry did nOI yield positive raulu. After 5C'ndi og a questionnaire to Inc offil;r of the Minuter of ",,"iculture.nd ,ftET W3ltlng (or many boun WI Friday 10 obtain respoJUeS to the questioN. out reponer l"U told that no orrlda.l wmud 10 comment on 0Ul' queries..

Gpnmmr:nl's approach to imminent food crisis

The ftdnal pt'rnmcnl has lold Nlgrnan. not 10 pank over the speculations Ih.1 there may be food crisis or famine following the muslve destruction done to farm pmduu by floods ICfOU the country b«:aUM' It hu ahndy pUlln place a Flood Recovar Food Production plan 10lupport Carmen in the flood affected aras.

The Minister of Agriculture and RIll1II IRvdopmcnt, Dr Aklnwumi Adeshlna made thi& dlsdomn: during the Natiorul

AgriruhuraJ show hdd In Nasanwa Slilte 00 October 13. 2012. He added thll wOen the flood wattr recedes, 80vcrnmenl will embark on .11ood rrteNKm food production intavl:IlUon.

Hc said ~Lcl mc assure Nigerillls we shall nol have a food crull or faminc, We will recover from thc Rood, We have already SC'CUled 100 mclric Ions of lICedS of cltra· early maturing m.lz.c. which m.tufet In 60 da)". to plant on S.soo hactra of farm bnd.s in affected ar",. nu. wiD allow affected farmers to hav.: a Unac and fccd therrudva quickly Worc the IlQt planting season. Thb will producc 11 ,000 tons of ma.iu and will be complemmted with an addllkma.i 500,000 tons to be produced under Irrigation in the dry~'

The Minister ad~ that, in the put one Wttk. gowmmmi hQ mobiJizcd from "'ithin and outside Nisma, ovn 20,000 metrk Ions of rice ~ enough to plant <WO,OOO hectaret 01 rice (urn lands In nood affected areas. Thlt., he noted would allow the production of 1.1 mUlion mctrk tOIU of rice as govemmmt also plans to provide ~gs for cusava, yanu and a.iso make avaiJable food from tllC strategic grain

rl!lCrves 10 affected states. Dr Adeshina "ud ~wb.a[ doe$ thIS add

up to In terms of rood production for our country? When ~ started, WE informed the country thai we would add 20 million metric 10nJ offood to our domestic: food supply by 20 15. Today. from our dforts thlsyear alone. from maize. r ice. cassava and sorghum we uc adding I toW of 8.1 million mctrl' tons of~. Tha[ Is 41"oflhe IOlal target thoU we set for 2015-

He obsct'Vft! that as part of the nood rKOVC'ry food production initlativc, tM Ministry of AJric:ullun: will distribute 1,000 pumps to fuffift5 to UJoI! for flood n!Cession food production In the: dry snwn. -"Ole Agrkultural Transionnation Agenda In Nlgeri. IJ wrlI on course.. We have been able to .lIraet S 7,8 bU1Jon of privatc SoCcIor Inva~t commitments Into the Igriculture $CCIm- in the put one ya:r. Ibc World Bank is pnrridlnl $500 million. The Bill and McI1nda Gates foundation hav.: Idccted Nigeria as I priority country Cor Its investment in agriculture.. Ibc International Fund for AgrkuJturc Devdopment has put up S80 million. Tbc USAID tw committed S60 mUilon. And the DFlD, Ford Foundation

. Or "'kinwuml Adesirlll,. Minhtft of Agriculture and RUI'llI ~opment

and Rockefeller foundation h,v.: committed technkal suppon fadllllcs hc Slid.

IMore dams needed to boost rice production' Alhaji Abubakar Kaura Wodi is the National President of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN). In this interview, he explained how the torrential floods across the country affected rice farmers. Excerpts:

By Abubabr Sadlq bab

H ow did thU year'1 Rood affect nec rarmerd

In flCt. It ..... really dcvastalins. It dr:stroyrd • lot of our oops. Allhough, We'

know wt: an ulC'd to hrnng rJoods t:vety ynt. II has never come In thl.t magnitude. And tile unfortunate thing I.t that gowmments tried 10 warn people about It. but bccawc: of this ncgatiV'C attitudc of not bdining government official. statemcnts. IiumCfS didn't tue tnc warning seriously, Evm in Niger Republic. which I.t 1_ mountainous, flood cotmc and destroyed SO milfly things. The flood hit thc rice farmers hard.

Can you IlYe ru aampla of how it Iffected IpedIk !annen!

Tho5c: who farm along the rivrr banka wen mostly affecled.. Why it c:ame so dangcrousty was that. In tnc years past. floexls were: nCYtt In such magnitude. and therc w;u a Umit to the flood. I limit to which ria Carmen were used to. So, when gQftrnmcnt otrMials camc oot to IIlnowKe that thcrc was p, to be flood. nobody wu bothercd about it.

What dUaaMtoJll Ire: rkc fumc:n hl.,.ln, with pnm.mcntf

Already, we starliCd Idling thcm how 10 give morc priority to lhe mai.ntJ::na.nce of Irrigation fac:llIt1et across the country. We have over 90 irrigation fadlities in the country. I! the government can put them in proper condition by making them funellonaJ, farmen can uUIb:e them, and this would reduCC' the cffccu of floodJ. SccondJy, the only thing we can do 10 make sun: that

. ... lhaJI Abubaw KaUI'll Wadi, RifAN PfHideont

we improve Q[I our ria product.lon Is by xqulrin, techno&ogy that Is .ffordabk to our local farmers. 'This will enable our nec compete fnourably with Imported ~ And tht' 10ICk of KrioIWl_ on the plri of ~nrncnt to pvc: atttnlion 10.gricultUn: iufi'ecling food production In Nigeria. I can n:membC'J' In 2002, II I Federal Eucutlvt CoundJ m«ting. during tnc administration of former President Oluscgun ObaJan;o. I Insisted that hrmc.n couJd only opc:ralc if they were under a commodities U5OClatJon. That WI!I whalled him 10 C5tlbU$h f.rmen' commoditlesusoclallon. But Ihll WIt laler abandoned.

Whatstr.tllqicsarethcf.rmcnputlinl In placc 10 (0pC' up bcfort the nut KUDn'

What we arc trying to do now Is to Incrcasc oor (arms.. We haft to imp~ our dforts and to Wo tntn;Ml:uce rkc seeds that an producc fasler, qukkcr and bigher. It IUch ~ ue in placc. we will plant them bet~ September. Odobcr and November; we should ha~ harva[cd our rice. Already, we will be holding. mcding on Monday (tomorrow) between stale chairmen of our auodation from tncsll; gco-poUtlcallOlIC'S.. The m«ting w'J I hold in Ahuja to dcllbcnle .nd consldu OUT str.r.tcgles befurc wc prescnt our position tothe SOftmmmt on what they should do to prevent a recunenee.

In fact. the most Important thing is. we want government to provide us with Improved ~ings and proceasing macltlncs. so that we don't go through

middlemen beforc procCSJing rice. 11tb will also rcduce rlcc Importation. If we have thesc we un even aport rice.

Whal do you think .boot the improved Jeed.linp I1lnrnment plans to lntroduce to (umenf

Natura1ly. 1Igr1cultun: is a procC'5$ of tmprovcmcntIL1In whatever it is, thcrc mUSI

be JOmC lapses, Apart from the shortage in the quantit}' offood we produce, we also have the probkm 01 priet:, which we musl txkIe if we 1WIDt 10 improve the rice production. We hav.: to tmpro¥C thc type or our rkc and we nccd modern rice proccs.s.l"llcchniquC'S. This will reduce the hardship we faa

blt.u rice farmenln Nilcria that arc .ffected by the Rood at' jllll lOmet

In facl. o-vcr 60 pc:rcml of rice fumen In Nigeri. werc affected by tnc flood 1ICrOS5

the country. The flood submcrgcrl many rice fanna in T .... ba, Ilgawa. KogI andsomcother states. Most of our membcn were affected.

How would the deYlJtltion affect the l uppl}' .nd pricc of rlu thlt ycarr

Of course. thc flood ckva.oitation will affect lbe lurply and pricc of rice: especially in stales that arc mostly prD¥ided with rKe, IUch IJ Kogi, BcnucandTarabaStatC:l.. Othcr ntes in the South-Wcst are abo affected. That. why we Irc caJIInl on sovcmmcnl to make Irrigation I priority.

II then .n allcrnat.m to mauivc Impol1lUon oHoodr

There: Is no aitcrnalh-e. Thc only aitc:rnatlve II for govcmmcnt to Intmslfy efforts In Improvinl on IrrlpUon facilities so th.al rice fumcn can producc during thc dry SC'ISOn.. And kt me add that from what we h.v.: apcricIICed in this yc:u. thcrc is neN (or government 10 build more dllIl$ 10 that when waler is rcleucd. i[ ",ill Slon: In such dams, and later rdcucd during dry KISOn for farrncn to cultivate rice. This will hclp 1101. AI prClC'nl, the Fcdcr1lI Ministry of AgrkuitUfC Is not orgllliud I b.d said this be~rc the Scnatc CommlttC'C' on Agricultu~. What go-vcrnmenl needs to do is to havc an agriculturc commission, with lIS cha.irman and members compriSing people who ha~ apcrimce in fa.rming and farming techniqucs.