‘Apathy is the bane of horticulture industry in Nigeria’

Many people think horticulture is just about flowers, can you briefly comment on that?Horticulture is that aspect of agriculture that deals with the production of fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables, and also ornamentals, generally called flowers. A lot of people have actually shown apathy to the horticulture industry because they feel horticulture is […]

Many people think horticulture is just about flowers, can you briefly comment on that?
Horticulture is that aspect of agriculture that deals with the production of fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables, and also ornamentals, generally called flowers. A lot of people have actually shown apathy to the horticulture industry because they feel horticulture is just planting of flowers alone. Horticulture is one of the most important aspects of agriculture and a very big agribusiness. The horticulture industry is the highest employer of labour in many economies. In Kenya, horticulture engages about 4 million people; 2 million directly and 2 million indirectly.
What is your business in the horticulture industry?
As a consultant, I worked with the current Minister of Agriculture as his consultant and adviser on what we call the horticulture value chain. I worked with horticulture value chain for two years on full-time basis before I now started working on part-time basis. My business in the horticulture industry is to; one, educate Nigerians about the importance of that aspect of agriculture, and also to ensure that the fresh produce sector is vigorously developed because it is comatose due to apathy, as I said earlier. As a development horticulturist, we want to re-awaken this giant. We want Nigerians to know the great advantages that are inherent in the fresh produce sector.
How long have you been in the fresh produce sector?
I have been practicing horticulture for the past 21 years. I left school and went straight into practice. I served in Katsina under the World Bank project known as Katsina State Agricultural  and Rural Development Authority (KATARDA). We planted large number of trees because horticulture is also about planting of trees which is known as arboriculture. So, we planted trees from Katsina to Kano because of desert encroachment. I started the horticulture programme from there and now my passion for the industry has even surpassed what I imagined.
What impact have you made in the horticulture industry over the years?
When I was full-time with the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, we undertook a study of the areas Nigeria has comparative advantage. We also went outside Nigeria, for instance, we visited Kenya and we brought the Kenyans in. To our consternation, the Kenyans were shocked to the bone that we have wonderful structures to enhance production of horticulture and we left it and we are running a mono-economy. As a matter of fact, I took them to Jos and they wept because the weather in Jos is synonymous with what they have in Nairobi. And our roses in Jos are better in colour, in texture and in touch than that one of Kenya. And I will tell that Kenya has now surpassed Holland in the area of cut-flower or rose exportation. They get about N2.7 billion every year from the exportation of cut-flower across the length and breadth of the world.
We also went to Casablanca in Morocco when we discovered that our onion in Nigeria was actually becoming a glut. Farmers do not know where to sell them and it needed preservation. We went there and discovered that we can preserve onions for nine months. We came back and did a report to the governor of Kebbi State because the place they produce a lot of onions in Nigeria is Aliero in that state. We then took 200 farmers from there to Casablanca to learn how to preserve onions and they have started doing it.
Part of the impact made is that we have also been able to awaken the consciousness of Nigerians to start eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. We have been making progress but I must confess that it is slow due to the apathy, which I always emphasise that Nigerians have shown to horticulture.
What is your relationship with producers, processors and end-users of horticultural produce in Nigeria?
We are definitely working very hard especially in the area of sensitisation and advocacy. Let me tell you one sad thing. We are the largest producer of tomato in Africa and the 8th largest in the world, but every year we import tomato paste to the tune of N17 billion . We are developing other people’s economy and our own is remaining the way it is because we don’t even have one functional tomato processing plant in Nigeria. All of them are moribund.
Horticultural crops are fragile and therefore, need a lot of processing and preservation. But that is lacking in our value chain and that’s why we are trying to make a lot of sensitisation and advocacy to make farmers, processors, end-users and others know because information is key to development.
What are the major challenges facing the industry?
The biggest challenge is apathy. People need to be sensitised so that they can appreciate that the horticulture industry is one of the biggest industries that can give quick returns on investment and generate a lot of jobs. The industry needs to be harmonised as well to function effectively. Colossal wastage is also another challenge that must be addressed through investment in processing and preservation as I earlier mentioned.
Do you think the government has done enough in creating enabling environment for the development of the horticulture industry in the country?
That’s a very good question. Well, in the ministry of agric, we know that this is the very first time we are having the horticulture value chain and we carried out a lot of research and visits across the length and breadth of Nigeria. There is also what we call the presidential initiative on fresh produce which was launched in 2013.
The government has started a roadmap to develop the sector but they have to do more in the area of making sure that horticultural crops farmers, including fresh produce farmers, are aggregated so that they can know their number, size of their farms and other necessary data. They should give people the opportunity to process, preserve and export by providing machines, equipment and other facilities.