By Olanrewaju Lawal
A few years ago, the Federal Government, under the leadership of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, invited the white farmers who had been asked to leave Zimbabwe by the government of Robert Mugabe.
The former president had asked the Kwara state government, led by Governor Bukola Saraki, to give the farmers some acres of land for commercial farming. Since then, the farmers quartered at Shonga, in Edu local government of the state have continued to grow and harvest crops and animals such as maize, millet, rice, cassava, plantains and poultry.
Journalists in the state recently toured the area to assess how well or otherwise the project had fared and discovered that the commercial agriculture initiative, which effectively started in the state on 13, 000 hectares of land, in an area at the bank of River Niger in Shonga, has yielded encouraging dividends, despite the fact that at the initial stage, the initiative was characterised by criticisms, as many did not know the visitors’ intentions.
Speaking with journalists, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Prof.
Mohammed Gana-Yisa, said one of the reasons for establishing commercial farm was to achieve food security and create job opportunities.
He said: “The administration has recorded more than what it set out to achieve, in the sense that from crop cultivation, government has moved up to agro-industries at Shonga; and, more importantly, the fact that commercial agriculture which was initiated in Kwara state has made federal government to initiate steps to bring commercial agriculture to all parts of the country.”
“Today, from Shonga to other farms these crops are cultivated in large quantities to the extent that Kwara state has become the source of raw materials for other food industries in other states of the federation.
“I want to say clearly that more commercial farms have been established in the state because of the conducive environment that was created by the government. Most of the farms have been moving from mere cultivation to processing,’’ he said.
Continuing, he explained: “Today, we have a modern gari processing facility for quality gari production. Also, the Coga Farms has bought equipment for the production of starch and flour. They are only waiting for the government to assist them with provision of water, so that they can start processing these products.”
Governor Saraki, while speaking on the farmers’ location during an unscheduled inspection visit to the area, said: “The choice of the location is deliberate. It is now an incorporated company with shareholders and board of directors. It has three syndicated groups: Diary, Poultry and the Mixed Farming groups.
Peoples Daily learnt that the Mixed Farming group in the farm has, so far, cultivated a total of 4, 453 hectares of land.
Also, the Diary syndicate has over 800 heads of cattle with the capacity of producing 50, 000 litres of milk a day, while the current production level is 7, 500 litres of fresh milk a day. These products are already being sold in the local markets in various parts of the state.
The state government is also providing fresh milk and supplying to pupils in primary and junior secondary schools, and some selected institutions in the state.
On June 6, the poultry outputs recorded a major breakthrough when it commenced the production on its 10, 000 frozen chickens per day factory located in the farm.
Fielding questions from newsmen shortly after the inspection, Governor Saraki expressed satisfaction with what the infant processing factory has been able to achieve within the short period of commencing production.
He said: “With the success story of Shonga Farms and the Dairy factory, as well as the new chicken processing factory just coming on board, I am very optimistic that agriculture is capable of diversifying the economy.”
The governor noted that the farm would be used to reduce and check the country’s over dependence on oil and unemployment, particularly among the youths, saying: “This part is a proof that it can be done and a challenge to other parts of the country.”
Saraki emphasised the farm’s multiplier effects on the economy, saying that processed frozen chickens from the farm would be supplied to household, retail shops, super markets within the state and its environs.
Speaking with journalists, the Factory’s Leader and Head of Operations, Mr Piet Dutoit, explained that the plant was currently producing 2,500 processed frozen chickens per day, but that the factory had the capacity to step - up to 10,000 chickens per day.
He said the farm had, so far, engaged 42 workers, “who are all natives of the host community,’’ adding that more hands would still be required as the farm continued to expand.
Detoit disclosed that the factory had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with about four firms on marketing of its product within and outside the state.
He, however, said commercial partners from the south-east and south-south geo-political zones of the country had already signified interest in doing business with the farm as distributors, adding that the International Market had been placed on the waiting-list in order to satisfy the local market first.
The General Manager, in charge of processing, Morne Vander Merwe, assured the people that frozen chickens from Shonga Poultry Farms are of good quality that could compete favourably with frozen chickens from any part of the world, noting that the farm would not compromise standards.
Merwe said: “Currently, we have got four partners in the project, and each has one fully operational chicken house; each house has the capacity to house 25,000 chickens. Three chicken houses per farm is our target.
The equipment for those houses have been shipped into the country. Ultimately, we hope to have 400, 000 birds in the four farms.”
They (poultry farmers) explained that their target in the first phase “is the production of 2, 500 chickens per day, afterwards I want to increase the capacity to 5, 000, and then to 7, 500, which is the capacity of the current plant. After that, we will increase the plant’s cooling system, and then increase production to 10, 000 daily.We have got marketing assistance based in Ilorin.”
He said: “We have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with some promo food in the north, south-south and south-west regions of Nigeria.
Obviously, this is a new enterprise, but a lot of people still want to come to the table. We will be having a self-distribution of the products, but unfortunately, our buyers are predominantly people demanding either one or two kilos.
“However, we are out to sell at whole rates. Interestingly, the various states chambers of industry, mines and agriculture in the country have shown massive interest in our products. They want to sign MoU for distribution with us. Soprite and KFC foods wants to do business with us, and, for us, that is good news because that is big money,’’ he added.
“Even the state chairman of fast foods and catering association of Nigeria has disclosed the association’s willingness to partner with us. When we become up and kicking, we will also join the poultry association of Nigeria,” he stressed.
On the target consumers of the processed chickens they emphasised that “the products of the plant are not meant for export. A lot of legislation is attached to exportation.
“The internal demand in the country has been very phenomenal. Therefore, the local market is our target audience. We will focus on Ilorin and the whole of Kwara state before we think about other states. Although we cannot totally ignore exportation, we will do that in some years to come.”
According to him, it has not been a bed of roses as the company, just like any fledgling firm, reeks under the heavy hammer of some seemingly insurmountable challenges.
“Unfortunately, money is my major challenge. We need operating capital, and that runs into millions of the Naira. I also need packaging materials, which are not available locally. The first batch of 20,000 birds is in the region of N2.2million.In fact, everything here costs money,’’ he said.
“The other thing is manpower training. You don’t expect local employees to take on the speed of big processing chicken factory overnight. They have to be taught, shown and physically trained before they can do the job right,” he added.
While commending the operators for using modern and latest technologies, Governor Saraki noted that the development was like a practical demonstration of using agriculture and agro-allied concerns to drive the economy.
According to him, “with the success story of Shonga farm and the dairy factory, as well as the coming on board of the new chicken processing factory, I am very optimistic that agriculture is capable of diversifying the economy, thereby reducing the country’s overdependence on oil. This is a proof that it can be done and a challenge to other parts of the country.”
He also said processed chickens from the farm would be supplied to households, retail shops, and supermarkets across the state.
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