Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has taken Niger state to the next level of food production through numerous initiatives in less than one year. AIDELOJE OJO reports on the ongoing revolution in the state.
Few days ago, the Old Minna Airport in Niger state was a beehive of activities as engineers assembled imported agricultural machineries bought by the state government.
The engineers were tasked to assemble those thousands of the agro-allied machineries to meet up the schedule of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was to commission the tractors on Monday March 11, 2024. Therefore, moments after arriving at the airport, President Tinubu Flagged-off the commissioning in line with the Agricultural Mechanisation Revolution of Farmer Bago who vowed to end food insecurity in Nigeria. Apart from throwing federal might behind the state government in the agricultural revolution, President Tinubu stated that a comprehensive programme aimed at solving the problems of cattle rustling and grazing reserves fueling farmers/herders conflict would soon be implemented.
He said, “The federal government would also partner with Niger state to banish hunger from the country through agro- mechanised and dry season irrigation farming.”
Tinubu commended Governor Bago for embarking on the determination to be the leader in feeding the nation.
Agriculture as key component of government
When Governor Bago decided to call himself ‘the farmer governor’ few months after assumption of office, not a few took him seriously. Many even challenged him to show his agricultural prowess having not be known to own any farm not to talk of domineering the arena; however, the governor took many by surprise when agriculture got a significant share of the 2024 budget with allocation of over N43.5 billion.
Analysts believe that the governor has passion for agriculture and that with proportional political will, he would be able to clinically execute the blueprint on agro- mechanised farming revolution capable of feeding the hungry nation. To him, the initiative is a modest contribution to infrastructure and agricultural development as encapsulated in the New Niger Agenda.
He said, “For us, agriculture is key to our commitment to addressing the challenges in critical sectors of our economy and we shall seize every opportunity for the attainment of growth and engender prosperity for the people of our beloved state and by extension our dear country, Nigeria.”
Therefore, when he was invited to the podium at the flag-off, the elated governor was glowing with the smile and confidence of an achiever.
Agriculture pundits are convinced that Bago has shown enough commitments on the project devoid of lip service. According to an agriculture expert, Adamu Umaru, Niger state has the capacity to lead the nation in food production, if the right incentives are provided. “This is exactly what Governor Bago is doing now. Niger state has comparative advantage in the production of many food crops including yam, millet, rice and other sorghum, in addition to having vast fertile land ready for cultivation.”
He noted that harnessing the state’s agricultural resources as initiated is the way forward in solving food crisis currently ravaging the nation.
Inside Niger Special Agro- Processing Free Zone
Many who have been wondering what triggered the beehive of activities at the Old Airport don’t need to look too far in order to satisfy their curiosity. This is because the governor provided the answer when he said during the president’s visit that, “I thank President Tinubu for approving the airport now named after him as a special Agro-Processing Free Zone.”
He went further to give specific details of what the free zone is all about, saying, “In this free zone, we have 3,000 hectares of land where 1,000 is dedicated for greenhouses; 1,000 for dairy and meat processing and the other 1,000 hectares for Agro-processing storage, aggregation and other value chain development components.”
Speaking on the potentials in the beef and dairy industry in the state, he said the state sells about 500,000 cattle every week, adding that, “The agro-processing zone would allow easy exportation of frozen meats instead of live cattle and also create value-chain as well as employment.”
Massive infrastructural development in the zone
Massive infrastructural development has been earmarked for the Agro-Processing Free Zone by the state government as some of the infrastructural designs are being fine-tuned. Example of such is unhinderd water supply. Accordingly, the government has already factored-in the construction of irrigation channel to pump water from Shiroro Dam.
This, according to the governor, would irrigate expansive lands servicing millions of farmers in clusters. The governor also confirmed that his administration has entered a 100m dollars deal with a Saudi irrigation firm for both Batati and the Airport Irrigations Projects. It was learnt that irrigation equipments have been installed to service the greenhouse farming on essential vegetables and fruits in the free zone. This was confirmed a few days ago when the governor inspected the free zone. “This water irrigation would be drawn to the Special Agro-Processing Free Zone from Shiroro Dam. In addition, 8,000 mgwt of power would be provided at the Airport City Project. This will surely attract a lot of investments into the state.”
It was gathered that the Batati and Airport City Irrigation Projects are designed to cover 23,000 hectares of land with the capacity to produce 250,000mt of food. So far, surveyors and other environmental experts have been deployed to perfect the maps and designs of other essential facilities that are of international standards as required in Agro-Processing Free Zones.
Investors besiege Niger
As a result of all these, investors are rushing to grab the business opportunities provided by the state government. Blueprint checks reveal that Governor Bago had recently been involved in trips abroad to woo investors into the state and such trips are yielding dividends as shown by the volume of investors arriving the state for businesses. Even critics of the governor now agree that the trips were not wasted afterwards.
The USA and USA NEXIM have entered the state to finance the agricultural revolution especially in the provision of latest version of mechanised farming equipments notably thrillers, planters and harvesters, the reason for which Governor Bago said he is satisfied with the response of investors to the call by the state government.
While interacting with some investors at the Government House Minna recently, he said, “We have gone round the world looking for investments and it is manifesting. Let me thank the US government and US NEXIM for agreeing to finance us the way they are doing. We have more initiatives in agriculture and I am sure once we finish with this project, we would seek further partnership in other sectors.”
Not only foreign investors have been coming to the state. Lagos state government few weeks ago entered the list of partners on agriculture particularly on paddy rice production. The state government signed a multi-billion naira Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lagos Rice Company and Lagos Commodity Future Exchange. In the components of the MoU, Niger Foods Limited would produce 300,000 tons of rice on 20,000 hectares of farm estate in Niger while the Lagos Rice Company would off-take the rice and the Lagos Commodity Exchange would support the project with N100 billion.
The chairman, Niger Foods Security Systems and Logistics Company, Sammy Adigun signed on behalf of the state government while the CEO of Lagos Rice Company Dr Oluwarotimi Fashola and the CEO of Lagos Commodity and Future Exchange, Dr Akinsola Akeredolu signed on behalf of Lagos state government. Speaking at the event, Bago explained that the agreement is in tandem with President Tinubu’s food security agenda, adding that it would to a greater extent empower farmers in the state. According to him, “A similar agreement would soon be signed with the Ogun state government. This administration is ready to collaborate with other state governments for mutual benefits and will also do its best to ensure the private sector thrives.”
Also in separate remarks, Dr Fashola and Akeredolu commended the governor for his dogged efforts at revamping the agricultural sector which has over the years been neglected.
Mixed reaction
There is however mixed reaction as analysts expressed fear that local farmers in the state might be schemed out if the government does not pay specific attention to them. A Minna based businessman, Abubakar Usman said, “This revolution in agriculture is now a household discussions in Niger state and beyond but the big question is how are we going to benefit from it as a people and local farmers?”
In the same vain, another farmer resident in Suleja, Raphael Denis argued that there are some clauses in the agreements with foreign investors that do not favour the indigenous farmers.
He said the arrangement whereby a farmer gets the tractors to cultivate and pays back with 60 percent of his total yields for the year may heighten food scarcity as such produce would not be available in local markets. He advised the government to fine-tune some of the agreements to make them more friendly to the people.
Also a few days ago, Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RMAN) came out to accuse the governor of not giving it due recognition in the entire agriculture revolution agenda.
Engineer Adam Daban of the association expressed worry over the lack of pudding in the state for their mills to function even at minimal capacity.
“Our mills are closing down for lack of access to paddy and this is a serious threat to food security in the state. Unfortunately, it appears that the governor is not aware of our existence in the state. However we want to let him know that we exist in the state and that we have invested in over 30 mills with the capacity to produce 100,000 metric tons of rice per day.”
