..NFGCS says it’s threat to local production
By Steve Agbota
Commercial farmers have called on the Federal Government to probe Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies at the seaport over an alleged import of seven ship-loads of maize from India by Olam Group.
The farmers who decried the import by Olam Group, a leading manufactuing, trading and importation chain, described it as a huge threat to the nation’s quest for food self-sufficiency through agricultural revolution of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, and urged it to bring those involved in the scam to book.
The farmers who took their protest to Abuja and Lagos recently called on President Buhari to investigate how such huge amount of imported grain would be allowed into the country in the full glare of Federal Government’s security agencies at a time the said crop can be produced locally.
They are worried, for instance, that agricultural products like tomatoes, pepper, onions, yam, cassava, wheat, beans and maize, among others, which can be produced locally are still being brought into the country by some importers, resulting to loss of jobs by Nigerians.
The farmers who spoke through their National Coordinator, Redson Tedheke, alleged that the seven vessels of maize were imported to feed the importer’s newly built feed mill factory in Kaduna.
With about 82 million hectares of arable land suitable for growing maize, the farmers wondered why the said firm was allowed to import the grains rather than partnering local farmers to cultivate at least one million hectares of farm land annually.
Speaking to Daily Sun on their plight, the farmers urged the Federal Government to act urgently by encouraging local production of maize and stopping its importation.
“Olam Farms has seven vessels loaded with imported maize not produced in West Africa but in India. Whatever the relationship, the government should not allow this maize to be sold here because it would kill local farming and the Nigerian economy,” they stated.
The Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS) National Coordinator, Redson Tedheke, bemoaned the massive importation of the product at a time the NFGCS and many local farmers have heeded the call by President Buhari, for the citizens to go back to the farm to feed Nigerians, stressing that his association has invested heavily in maize farming in particular.
He added: “The current price of maize in Nigeria is between N130,000 and N250,000 per tonne for local production. We gathered that the current landing cost of the maize imported by Olam is N40,000/tonne. But our fear is that the action will spell doom for farmers who are constrained by funding, lack of capacity of government agencies and the continuing war against army worms in the current farming season.”
He said NFGCS has spent more than N30 million battling army worm in its farms in Adamawa this year alone, stressing that governments subsidise farming in places like Indian and other developed economies by more than 40 to 60 per cent.
According to him, NFGCS is employing 250 staff today and is hoping to add a further 1,000 before the end of the year while it is currently opening up 2,000 hectares of new maize farmlands in Nasarawa and Adamawa states, beside cultivating 300 hectares that are almost ready for harvest.
Tedheke said, “we are informed that the Ministers of Agriculture and Finance have kicked against this import but the Nigerian Customs has cleared the audacious attempt at killing local farmers. #NFGCS and many small scale farmers will suffer for heeding our President’s call to farm if these seven vessels are sold in Nigeria.”
He hinted that the cooperative movement is capable of giving Olam about 50,000 tonnes of maize every quarter if it agrees to work with local farmers.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Managing Director of Peniel Gerar International Limited, Ojiefoh Enahoro Martins, has urged government to stop playing games with farmers because agriculture is a business and not a tradition.
He lamented: “This is harvest season for farmers. We invested so much in our farms as our government keeps singing chorus with agriculture, now it’s time to make money, reverse is the case. This import is going to crash the maize price for local farmers because it ought to have invested in our farmers if they have ready market for us and not importing maize into the country.
“This maize import is only good for poultry farmers but the question is, even when maize prices drop, poultry farmers price for chickens and eggs wouldn’t drop? Maize import could have been good during scarcity not surplus period.”
He said the seven vessels imported by Olam from India is a serious blow on poor farmers, as it shows the epileptic and unrealistic nature of government agenda for sustainable agriculture
Said he: “For us as farmers, we have learnt our lesson over time, that our governments are comedians, so we are smarter. We are not farming because governments are shouting, but we are farming because people must eat. Job creation through agro commodity trading is also affected and local agro commodity trading that could have generated more jobs now is going to crash too. Imagine how much Indian economy would have made. More money has been pumped into that country while more money is moved out of the country if they successfully sell the imported maize.
Efforts to get Olam’s spokesperson, Mr. Ade Adefeko, proved abortive, as he could neither pick his calls nor respond to text messages sent to him.