KanoOnline.com Forum

kai jama'a, no one is talking about the problem of
food scarcity which we have already started to
experience, even at an early stage.  Abi its because
most of the guys here are Tuzurayes and Gaurayes.

Earlier this week, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Sayyida
Ruma while facing a Committee of Law Makers declared
that the country would soon experience a sharp rise in
prices of food commodities due to shortage of manpower.

Dr. Sayyadi Ruma said, "Nigeria has 74 million hectares
of arable land but only 34 million hectares are being utilised.
We require 2.5 million metric tones of rice annually and
our local rice production is not up to 500,000 metric tones
per year. This is because we have also not fully utilised
our potentials in irrigation farming. We have 2.5 million
hecters of irrigation land, of which not up to 220,000 is
covered."

He also stresses that "There are only 30,000 tractors
operating in Nigeria – a density of 0.2 tractors, which
serves about 14 million farming families in the country.
This is against about 4 million tractors in India".

I dont know how we are going to handle this food crisis
especially putting into consideration how our Governments
take issues with unseriousness.

What do we think is the solution?

I say we start storing then.

I have been feeling apprehensive ever since this shortage of food crisis  came to the fore. Its really scary. Its not affecting Nigeria only, it is all over the world. Here in Nigeria, we are not prepared at all for this crisis. The only short term way out at the moment is for us to have an excellent rainy season so that the crops this yr will be better than last yr. The other thing is that there needs to be a rehaul on how farmers get their fertilizer. The business of fertilizer is only second to the business of selling crude in Nigeria. Its a disgrace that fertilizer has become a commodity whereby those in power extract the maximum amount of  its value as a commodity before it reaches the farmer who by then cannot afford it. Or like I was hearing yesterday in the news that several farmers get to share 1 bag of fertilizer amongst themselves as part of govt's allocation and subsidy while  what they need for optimal yield is on average  10 bags of fertilizer per farmer. Kai! Even if u decide to give it to the dagatai, its still the same old story, they give it to those whom they favor and sell the rest on the black market.
One thing again, I seemed to recall in my undergrad days when I studied soil or agricultural production or some such, that I was told in one of the lectures that tractors as we know them are not suitable for tilling our types of soil because they make the soil more friable, and I'd always wondered then how one could speed up the process of tilling and sowing if one couldnt use tractor, since manually its really time consuming and debilitating work. Well at any rate, there is always a motorized plough, attached to a bicycle (or a motorized bicycle).
We should go back to using organic fertilizer, although one of my colleagues when we discussed this said that it wasnt so possible now to immediately switch to using organic fertilizers because the soil had become something or other cant remember the term he used, but what he was trying to say was that the soil has to be slowly dechemicalized from NPK saturation, before organic fertilizers can become effective on the soil. Its kind of like a catch 22 situation without the absurdity that goes with a catch 22 situation.
Anyway long term solutions... engage more in agri-sylvicultural practices, that's the best solution, and our farmers have been practicing this consciously or subconsciously for decades  but it seems that the practices are being abandoned or ppl have not cottoned on to the relationship between agriculture and sylviculture. At best in Nigeria, they exist mostly between the pages of sch text books.

What does this sylviculture mean?

DB everybody is concerned about htis food crisis.
The whole thing somehow took the world unawares. Like nobody saw it coming.
As much as the climate change,chinese and indian economies,high cost of oil contribute to the food crisis, so also has the world bank. Infact the IMF/world bank's contribution to the crisis cannot be underestimated.
These are the institutions that hitherto discouraged governments from giving out subsides to agriculture (a policy the Obasanjo administration quickly adopted).
They made governments to exessively reduce thier spending on agriculture. Now these same institutions are trying to raise a meagre $500 million which will be provided as subsidy to farmers across the developing world. This is what i call Flip-Flopping.

I'm glad the developed world is getting a feel of the food crisis, maybe now they will see how important it is to address the climate change.

In Nigeria there is a need for serious prayers.The minister of finance just recently hinted that the price of rice will go up.This has prompted the commodity traders to start hoarding foodstuff.

The minister of agriculture has said that government will have to provide both a short and long term solution to the problem. I was surprised when he said that the country does not have stock of rice(the most staple food) in its strategic food reserve.

Alot needs to be done to tackle this problem. Maybe now,the government will see a need to invest in agriculture.

Quote from: gogannaka on April 17, 2008, 11:40:19 AM
What does this sylviculture mean?

I'd just finished writing the word on one separate paper with a thought of checking its meaning either from thefreedictionary.com site or when I get home then I see you too were asking of its meaning.

LOL. Thats what they say it means: The cultivation of forest trees for timber or other purposes; forestry; arboriculture. But still Aunt Husnaa is needed to explain it a bit more.


And to the thread's issue, as also mentioned Husnaa that this is not only affecting Nigeria but world generally. Thus I've heard of it from many media both local and international...thats the matter has been a for-front problem surfacing the world. Sincerely, I feel there is nothing human or at least I could do to stop it but prayer. And people of government should do everything to, lets say, minimize it. But its jarabawa from God.

Allah ka kawo sauki, amin.

The Malthus theory of populaton states that population would increase at a geometric rate and the food supply at an arithmetic rate.

That is what is happening.

Hakkun ya sadiki - maza naf'alu al'an.

kai ashe har yanzu larabcin bai mutu ba.

Quote from: gogannaka on April 19, 2008, 05:29:29 PM
The Malthus theory of populaton states that population would increase at a geometric rate and the food supply at an arithmetic rate.

That is what is happening.

We've gone past that GGNK, this is different. Besides, Malthus's theories belong in the same rubbish bin as Darwin's theories of evolution. The world's population has stabilized somewhat and great strides have been made in genetically engineered food products that increase at a quasi geometric rate at least. The latest is the GM foods. I really really wont be surprized if this current scarcity in world food is a conspiracy to get ppl to accept GM foods if they have no other alternative, since there is a stiff resistance to it.... think about it....why is it that it is only the developing nations that are being worst hit by the scarcity? I even heard someone the other day on DW TV saying that food prices shouldnt come down in the third world, but there should be more investments in the third world agric sector... Well good and fine.. at least soaring food prices can help farmers in the third world that is in theory. But the main culprit is not economics really, but climate change for the worse which to say the least was INDUCED by the developed economies that practice conspicuous consumption habits and spew out green house gases all over the globe. So I think it is rather a vicious cycle because the initial impetus for investing in the agric sector has been pulled out from under the third world farmers, so what is happening right now is not helping them either. Take for example the case of chicken farmers.. there is no grain to feed the chickens.. so on what base does the chicken farmer stand in order to rear his chickens when the food they need to grow is not available? so how can soaring food prices help him?
anyway.. let me go joo for the mean time. I am stealing time that i dont have to talk here.

FG to import N80bn rice     
Written by AbdulFattah Olajide     
Wednesday, 30 April 2008 
Daily Trust Newspaper

The Federal Government yesterday expressed grave concern over rising food prices in the country and ordered the immediate importation of 500,000 metric tones of rice at an estimated cost of N80 billion in order to ameliorate the situation. It also ordered the immediate release of an additional 11,000 metric tones of assorted grain from the nation's strategic reserve.

Ondo State Governor Chief Olusegun Agagu, together with his Kano and Akwa Ibom States counterparts and Minister of Agriculture Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma, announced the measures at the State House, Abuja soon after President Umaru Musa Yar'adua held an emergency meeting with state

governors over food security and power. Agagu said the "alarming increase in food prices" and the "diminishing availability of food" in the country have reached an "emergency" situation.

"Although we cannot say there is famine in Nigeria yet, the prices of foodstuff are going up and the availability in a number of places is diminishing, and that as a responsive government we must take immediate measures to address this ugly trend. Measures that will be implemented in the short term, medium and long term to ensure that Nigerians do not starve", he said.

As a long term measure for combating the food crisis, he said 1.68 per cent of the Federation Account dedicated to natural resources development would be dedicated to the development of agriculture and production of food over the next four years.

He said, "Mr. President announced that the 1.68 per cent from the Federation Account dedicated to Natural Resources Development Fund will be dedicated towards the development of agriculture and production of food over the next four years. As at now, the account has N80 billion and as the account grows every year through the contribution of 1.68 per cent from the Federation Account, it will be dedicated to ensuring that in the medium and long term, Nigeria produces enough food for herself and for export. The details of this programme will be worked out between the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources and state governors within a short period of time."

Governor Agagu said the 500,000 tones of rice would be imported from Thailand. He said, "A number of countries have stopped export of rice, with the exception of Thailand that has dedicated about 3.9 million metric tones of rice to African countries which are more vulnerable and are depending so much on the importation of rice. So one of the options that Nigeria is working towards is the possibility of an import from Thailand. Already, Thailand is supporting a rice producing group (Stallion Group) in large scale rice production in Nigeria because this is one of the medium term solutions that are to be put in place immediately in order to make sure that in the short term of one, two or three years we would have made certain level of guaranteeing rice as a commodity, taking into consideration our heavy dependency on rice."

According to him, one of the key decisions taken at the emergency meeting was "That there should be additional release from the strategic grain reserve of the country to augment supply, create more availability and therefore stem the alarming increase in food prices. We use the word additional because some quantum 40,000 metric tones had been released earlier but because it is now reaching an emergency situation we still have 11,000 metric tones available and that it will be released immediately."

Another major decision was "That to save the situation, and further ameliorate our condition, government will import 500,000 metric tones of rice immediately in addition to what we are producing at home now. We all know that several states in the country are rice growing, so we will encourage our people who are rice growing to grow more. The rains are here and rice takes about two to three months to mature, our people will be encouraged to grow more. But because we already envisage some short fall in supply, we therefore took a decision to import 500,000 metric tones of rice to be sold to our people at subsidized rates. These two measures are for the immediate term to dampen the escalating price in the markets and make food available to our people. People can shift from other food stuff that are expensive to rice. This is short term and we can't live on this forever."

The third decision, according to Agagu, was that "For the medium term, that is after three months, a very dramatic decision was taken that as a nation, take very drastic possible revolutionary steps to address the challenge of food production and food security in Nigeria. In this regard, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, with the states and research institutes to ensure that in the medium to long term, Nigeria will not produce only enough food for herself but should be in a position to export to other countries."

Apart from the decision to dedicate the Natural Resources Fund to agriculture, Agagu listed another major decision as, "State governors have been challenged to increase their budgetary allocations for agriculture substantially over the next four years. The contribution from the Federal Government in addition to the contributions from the state governments should definitely have very positive impact on our food production capabilities and food security will be addressed permanently."

Lastly, he said, "government also took a decision that it will put in place special measures that will ensure the sustenance and enforcement of policies and regulations of government. A number of policies and regulations that government has put in place are aimed at stimulating domestic production of food, and food products. We noticed that some of these policies and regulations have not been efficiently implemented, therefore government took a decision that it will put in place special measures to ensure such policies and regulations are implemented, obeyed and honoured by all. One of such is government's decision a few years back to ensure we create more room for the consumption of cassava, which our farmers grow a lot. That flour millers should include at least 10 per cent cassava flour in baking flour. We noticed that some millers have been obeying while others have not and so government took a decision that such measures that will enhance productivity should be pursued vigorously for the good of our farmers and our country."

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I think thats a good move by FG to shun out this ravaging calamity of food shortage in Nigeria. But one big problem is; that would not, unless if we are lucky enough, reach those that are due for the supply--masses. Amma Allah ya na gani. Allah bring bliss to our country, amin.

its too late for the Federal Government.  N80b wow, a good
money to be stolen without identification.

DB,

You should be optimistic!

I think the main forces behind the current food crisis are largely un-natural, or in other words economic. Climate change seems to be a secondary issue compared to the biofuel industry and the changing demands of an exploding middle class in Asia.

Husnaa i'm looking at it this way:
More people get richer in china,india and say Nigeria.
People get married or not and have kids.Population grows.
Rice (worlds staple food) consumption increases and the farmers have left the villages to come to the cities and work in industries(white collar) or do okada(in nigeria's case).
Only the old people are left and they can only produce 1/7 of what the youth could have produced.
Everyone buys a car or bike and oil gets scarce.
Europe starts using food to produce an alternative for fuel.(giving the food to the cars,how ironic)
The industries get higher demand for everything and they keep emmitting bad greenhouse gasses which cause climate change thus either reducing rainfall or increasing it beyond farming standards.

All in an effort to produce for a teeming,richer populace.
It goes on and on and on!


I hope the 80 billion naira aid will drastically help the nigerian situation.
A friend in lagos told me that Stallion group,who the government plans to use for the importation,had just ordered shiploads of rice when the finance minister made the statement about an increase in the price of rice. The management ordered that the rice be stored in the warehouse and not to be sold.
Shikenan yanzu when the govt says to stallion 'abeg import rice for us' they will just release the grains from the warehouse and be acting as if they have done the nation a favour.

Quote from: gogannaka on May 03, 2008, 04:42:26 PM
I hope the 80 billion naira aid will drastically help the nigerian situation.
A friend in lagos told me that Stallion group,who the government plans to use for the importation,had just ordered shiploads of rice when the finance minister made the statement about an increase in the price of rice. The management ordered that the rice be stored in the warehouse and not to be sold.
Shikenan yanzu when the govt says to stallion 'abeg import rice for us' they will just release the grains from the warehouse and be acting as if they have done the nation a favour.

Nigeria kenan. :o :o :o

Surprisingly i bought a bag of rice for N6500 on saturday.

Maybe the hoarders were frightened by the news of the 85 Billion Naira import.
Allah ya dada sawwake mana.