Kwara advance

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

I see that the Governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, is doing in Kwara State exactly what should be getting done in Kano State. He is revolutionising farming in Kwara into major production and he will make Kwara the most prosperous state in Nigeria by doing so.

Dave McEwan Hill

[gogannaka]

Do you mean by inviting the outcasted zimbabwean farmers to kwara,he's doin a good job?
Mr. dave i'm not being racist but if the people of Zimbabwe can chase them out of their country the way they did  then nothing will stop Nigerians from doing worse.............
The good part of it is that once they start farming in Nigeria,it'll be a challenge to the Nigerian business Elites.Maybe if they see the fruits the Farmers start to reap, they'll consider farming as a fruitful business...

[alhaji_aminu]

Hi there.

No Dave I Disagree. It is hard for someone like you to fanthom but there is a 'nationalistic-pride' issue here. Let's not forget who these farmers are. They are ardent anti-independence groups who opposed any sense of freedom for the black Zimbabweans.
side note: I am sure you remembered the bickering in the UK when El Fayed bought Harrods.
This does not in anyway mean what Mugabe is doing is right. Infact what Mugabe is doing is illegal and reprehensible.
It must be noted however, that in the case of Kwara, the White farmers are invited as opposed to their coming as colonialists, with all its racial and economic implications.

I wish Kwara all the best of luck but I dont think kano need foreigners in this sphere. This is something we can do with effective management and accountability.

I hope it happens soon.

CIAO

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

I agree with you both.
It would be good if Nigeria (and Kano State) did it themselves.
When can I expect a start to be made in Kano?

I don't think you should have problem about bringing in foreign expertise (and let's put aside whether they are white farmers or blue farmers or whatever colour they are). The important thing is that the expertise they are hired to bring has to be learned and used to the benefit of the nation.
I have very little sympathy with the displaced white landowners from Zimbabwe. To a considerable extent they are getting what they deserve but let us not forget that the British Government made a promise to Zimbabwe that British money would be made available to move Zimbabwe farm land back into the control of Zimbabweans but that the promise was never fulfilled.
That said, Mugabe's regime is a murderous tyranny and he has destroyed the economy of what was Africa's most prosperous state. It is the people of Zimbabwe that are now strarving - not the displaced white farmers.

I have no problem with much of the new industry in my country being Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese or American. These people coming to Kwara are not coming as colonisers. Kwara is in charge. They are being hired to provide a useful service.

[Eskimo]

No racism...bro G-naka..."I am not a racist...."..lol...then what are you?
A beg jo! These farmers ( I refuse to call them white farmers) will change farming in Kwara State and I hope Nigeria in General.

What ever they do in Zimbabwe they cant do it here..We will only get the benefit of their modern farming and it may stimulate growth in that sector since our local farmer depend heavily on government..and the government cares little about modern farming. They are more worried about subsidizing fertilizer and waste of money just like Shekarau is doing. Maitaining very old way of farming..very adamic!

[mallamt]

This is exactly one of our major problems we bury our heads in the sand and ring out semantics we must admit it when we can not do things and allow those that have the skills and ability to do them correctly and well to come in

Do you mean by inviting the outcasted zimbabwean farmers to kwara,he's doin a good job?
Mr. dave i'm not being racist but if the people of Zimbabwe can chase them out of their country the way they did then nothing will stop Nigerians from doing worse.............
The good part of it is that once they start farming in Nigeria,it'll be a challenge to the Nigerian business Elites.Maybe if they see the fruits the Farmers start to reap, they'll consider farming as a fruitful business...

I am really baffled at how gogannaka came to this authoroutative statement that the farmers are outcasted zimbabweans.  Then he goes on to suggest that they may be bringing a much need challenge to the nigerian ellite, so does that mean there coming is good? please have a consistent position.

Hi there.

No Dave I Disagree. It is hard for someone like you to fanthom but there is a 'nationalistic-pride' issue here. Let's not forget who these farmers are. They are ardent anti-independence groups who opposed any sense of freedom for the black Zimbabweans.
side note: I am sure you remembered the bickering in the UK when El Fayed bought Harrods.
This does not in anyway mean what Mugabe is doing is right. Infact what Mugabe is doing is illegal and reprehensible.
It must be noted however, that in the case of Kwara, the White farmers are invited as opposed to their coming as colonialists, with all its racial and economic implications.

I wish Kwara all the best of luck but I dont think kano need foreigners in this sphere. This is something we can do with effective management and accountability.

I hope it happens soon.

Then comes myadudu with his own, I really wonder how many of these farmers myadudu knows personally to the point he knows that they are anti independence group.  So are this farmers not carrying on with their livelihood in an indipendent Zimbabwe?  May be alot of us do not really know what the issue is in Zimbabwe that Mugabe is fighting.  As dave said and in summary an agreement with respect to land was reached with the British govt and they did not meet their own end of the bargain.  The farmers are only victims of the failure of the british govt.

We have shown as a country our incapability to run agriculture on a commercial level as seen in countries like zimbabwe, if we were capable, we would not have been courting them or any other country to come and assist us in any way in commercial farming, this is a fact and a fact we must accept.  We can draw up all the theories and explanations we want to, our incompetence and incapability has seen us in the current situation. We can not blame dictatorships, communism, population etc for our inability to graduate into commercial farming it is simply our incompetence.  There is a farm owned by UAC started in zaria area, two britons were brought to set it up sometime in the late '80's.  Within 3 years the farm was farm was producing extremely well and making a profit it was set up fantastically and at the end of their contracts the britons left, infact the Manager (John) was then taken to Kenya to implement the same for UAC.  The farm was handed over to Nigerian management, today it is a wasted land nothing is happening there.

So let us wish Kwara state all the best and let us really start considering bringing in forigners to run other aspects of our country which we have shown great incapability to run.  Just as a foot note  I hope forumites are aware that nigeria was one of the first african countries to have mobile phones, south africa today is miles ahead of nigeria in that technology.  Nitel had the monopoly of the service for decades and everyone told us how difficult it was to implement mobile telephony in nigeria, MTN (a forigein company) came in and within one year rolled out more lines than Nitel had in over a decade.  Nitel as of today with all the govt support in terms of funds is still unable to compete with MTN in nigeria.

[alhaji_aminu]

hi
mallamt you know I like you for one thing- your irrational thought process when someone discusses anything not to your liking. I am sure that isnt a virtue, but if it really is then more power to you.
anyway, in response to my post you said
  "I really wonder how many of these farmers myadudu knows   personally to the point he knows that they are anti independence group"
And I answer, is there a 'threshold-knowledge' requirement before one can write about the issue in question?
And secondly, you seem to be saying that since the white farmers are seeking their livelihood in an independent country then there position as overlords is rather trivial? No can say, mallamt. The basis of white people residing in Zimbabwe is one fraught with prejudice and oppresion. It is a fact that whites own 70% of the fertile land in that country. A country which they weren't invited to but they, nonetheless, 'illegally' and 'criminally' colonised.
You can have your opinions on whether serfdom (suffered by the black peasants) is not caused by white farmers; But this much is clear: the white farmers in Zimbabwe weren't interested in Rhodesia becoming independent. And most of those white farmers now are the one holding the lands in Zimbabwe
auguspeilt!

[Indabawa]

I think all the semantics about foreing farmers does not even arise,in my opinion.

All along i was having the belief that Nigeria had passed the era of being dependant on almost everything.However it seems, the present crop of leaders are preoccuppieid whith the sole aim of mortgaging the country to thier foreing accomplices.

It is my belief that it is not by inviting marcenary farmers from Zimbabwe or anywhere for that matter ,that will make us to boost our food production.

Where was the Bukolas when Nigeria succeessfully produced a high yielding palm seedling which malasia adopted and now as a result became a leading exporter of palm oil?

Likewise,have already forgotten when Kano state was poised to become a laeding producer and exporeter of wheat but fpr the American blacckmail?

[Indabawa]

I think all the semantics about foreing farmers does not even arise,in my opinion.

All along i was having the belief that Nigeria had passed the era of being dependant on almost everything.However it seems, the present crop of leaders are preoccuppied whith the sole aim of mortgaging the country to thier foreing accomplices.

It is my belief that it is not by inviting marcenary farmers from Zimbabwe or anywhere for that matter ,that will make us to boost our food production.

Where was the Bukolas when Nigeria succeessfully produced a high yielding palm seedling, which malasia adopted and now as a result became a leading exporter of palm oil?

Likewise,have we already forgotten when Kano state was poised to become a leading producer and exporeter of wheat, but for the American blackmail?

Therefore,it is not by inviting  marcenary farmers that our Agriculture is to be rejuvenated.Our only option is to look inwards.We have done it before and we can do it again.

The examlpe of Kano state should be applauded.Kano with over 97% of its land under cultivation, resorted to a carefully planned soil nutrification.Hence, the massive procurement and subsidisation of fertiliser this farming season.

This is unprecedented attempt at sourcing  the fertiliser so as to make it available to the farmers.Notably also, the 50% subsidy on the commodity has never been recorded anywhere in Nigeria.This inspite the common refrain of Obasanjo Government in which they continously tell Nigerians that subsidy is no longer tanable,while a monumental rip-off is being perpetrated under the guise of privatisation.

The Shekarau Government has also procured and distributed Tractors and Agro-chemicals to the local farmers at affordable prices.

The state Agricultural and Rural Development Authurity(KNARDA) has also been adequately funded, so as to aggressively reach to the farming families with new research findings; through the agencie's extention agents.

I believe these are the methods that we need to encourage our various state Governments, as it will afford our teeming youth to be slelf employed.

Relying on foreing farmers will only worsen our socio-economic situation since the farmers will come with a large reserve of capital and may eventually, therefore, relegate our farmers to become slaves in their own country.

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

That is very good news about Kano State and I am glad to hear it.
The farmers coming to Kwara however do not have large amounts of capital and they are not coming to own land. They are being hired to use their expertise to the benefit of Kwara State. As I said before Kwara State is fully in charge of the programme not the incoming farmers.

[EMTL]

That is very good news about Kano State and I am glad to hear it.
The farmers coming to Kwara however do not have large amounts of capital and they are not coming to own land. They are being hired to use their expertise to the benefit of Kwara State. As I said before Kwara State is fully in charge of the programme not the incoming farmers.

May be kwara state may need to import farmers..... certainly my state Katsina does not need to import 'problems' from Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uk, etc.

[waz]

Everyone seems to concentrate on the race of the farmers and who's in charge,what about the consequences?
Doesn't anyone consider the impact of all this import of farmers and modern tech on our local farmers,crops and economy? The more farmers we import the more cast away our local farmers will become, and we all know modern means of farming need less labour for their operxn.So in our traditional farming setup where it may take 10 people to farm a piece of land there's now maybe just 2 ppl and 1 overseer-what happens to the rest? They join the booming market of unemployment ofcourse! and every1 knows what that results. Eventhough our farming methods are old i believe right now they're the best option for our people, and rather than importing farmers it would be better to import the technology and let our people gradually adapt to it-why does Nigeria even need to look outside for investers why can't we help our farmers and industrialists within the country to help promote farming.
Furthermore,we all know that these farmers are only interested in producing cash crops which can be limited to the likes of cotton ,tobacco,rice etc so where does that leave our local crops-probably extinct in a few years.
Finally, in response to what someone said about the farmers not been from Zimbabwe, even if the farmers aren't outcast farmers from Zimbabwe,they are farmers from  southern African countries including Zimbabwe.Oh and the fact that those that may come to Kwara have small capital and aren't coming to own land doesn't mean they're some angels of mercy coming for the kwarans benefit. Do you really believe that the farmers are gonna come get some borrowed farms set everything up and just pack up and leave us to reap the benefits? Hell,with the way everything seems to be auctioned in Nigeria don't be surprised when at the end of the day they not only get to own the farms and the benefits but also the local farmers!

[Eskimo]

Haba malam waziri and all the rest,
How can you even think that by introducing the modern farming our local farmers are in danger! why wont they modernize too? or do you suggest that we shall continue as we are importing wheat and rice and major stable foods.
You contradict yourself by saying they will push our local farmers who according to you are mainly food crop farmers into unemployment when the cash crop farming is modernized!
It will create more job oppurtunity instead as some unemployed will now get employed in the modern cash crop farming.

[waz]

Haba malam waziri and all the rest,
How can you even think that by introducing the modern farming our local farmers are in danger! why wont they modernize too? or do you suggest that we shall continue as we are importing wheat and rice and major stable foods.
You contradict yourself by saying they will push our local farmers who according to you are mainly food crop farmers into unemployment when the cash crop farming is modernized!
It will create more job oppurtunity instead as some unemployed will now get employed in the modern cash crop farming.

That was the suggestion, that the govt help our farmers and local industries modernise. And how do you possibly see the creation of job opportunities in cash crop farming,who will get emloyed, a few people to run the machines or tractors at the expense of the many that'll lose their livelihood?
And by the way when these cash crops like rice and wheat are produced they will continue to be imported coz they're not likely going to be sold to smallscale retailers in the country,they will be exported and Nigeria will still have to import them. So which do you think is worse:the fact that Nigeria now imports foods it doesn't produce, or that soon it'll have to import food that was grown in it's land and taken overseas?

[waz]

Haba malam waziri .

Seems like we've got a case of mistaken identity, well for the record i'm not a mallam and not the waziri you might think.