Bauchi, where farmers process, package, market their produce

Crops like rice are also not left out as most locally produced rice naturally more nutritious but less patronised compared to the imported variety simply because the Nigerian farmer thinks his job ends with the harvesting of his rice: others buy the unpeeled rice, process, package and market it and end up with higher gains […]

Crops like rice are also not left out as most locally produced rice naturally more nutritious but less patronised compared to the imported variety simply because the Nigerian farmer thinks his job ends with the harvesting of his rice: others buy the unpeeled rice, process, package and market it and end up with higher gains than the farmer.
Farmers in Bauchi State who operate under the Fadama 3 have broken the jinx by adding value to most of the crops they produce through the establishment of several industries in the local government areas of the state that process, package and market the products thereby maximizing profit for the farmers.   
Speaking to this reporter in Jama’are, Alhaji Ahmed Haladu Barau Jama’are, who held several positions in the Fadama farmers association before he became the national auditor of the association, said Fadama farmers in the state have established an effective value chain for most of their farm produce.
“In every local government area in this state, our Fadama farmers have one thing or the other that they produce in large quantity. So we decided to establish an industry in each of the local government areas in the state to process one farm produce or the other to add value to it.
“I am into the production of cassava, assorted vegetables, rice, maize and millet both during the wet and dry seasons. I am also a registered agro dealer that distributes fertilizer and seeds to farmers under the GES regime. During the dry season I distribute groundnut seeds, fertilizer and insecticides. During the wet season I distribute to crop farmers still under the GES.
“Frankly speaking, there is nowhere in Bauchi State that irrigation farming is done this much as is in Jama’are. Almost every household here is involved in it. You have gone round some parts of our farmlands and you have idea of what I am talking about. Our irrigation production is increasing every year because we do not have problem selling our farm produce.
“Fadama 3 farmers in the state with the support of Fadama 3 project set up Fadama farmers commodity centre in Bauchi where the produce of all our farmers’ micro processing industries in all the local government areas could be found for those interested to buy. We process produce of our farms, package them under very hygienic conditions and sell them in our shop at the centre,” he said.
When this reporter visited the Fadama farmers’ commodity centre in Bauchi, the Fadama 3 officer manning the centre, Zachariah Elisha, said while conducting this reporter round the center that everything being sold in the centre are products of Fadama 3 farmers in the state processed and packaged in their various factories across the state.
“The Fadama Users Groups (FUGs) in all the local government areas in the state teamed up to set up the Fadama farmers’ commodities centre. Farmers under the Fadama 3 contributed 10 percent while the Fadama 3 project assisted them with 90 percent of the total cost to establish value addition for their crops that include the assorted industries you find in the local government areas in the state and the commodity centre.
“Every Fadama farming community in the local government areas of this state has an industry that processes something. You can see this clean rice without any stone is being milled, de-stoned and bagged in 25 kilogramme bags in Dass by the Women Rice Farmers Association in the state. You can see these packs of Accha (white phonio) and maize flour is being processed in Bogoro because that is where they are produced in large quantity.
“Wheat flour is being processed in Shira Local Government Area of the state while millet, millet flour and processed dry fish come from Bauchi Local Government Area just as groundnut oil comes from Ganjuwa. We also have moringa seeds, moringa flour, and moringa oil from Warji. Moringa oil is being patronised because of its medicinal value as it is used in the treatment of ulcer, eye, ear and insect bite problems.
“This honey and beans flour you see come from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area while the sweet potato flour is processed in Toro local government which also produces and processes pure natural honey and this beniseed oil which is very good for people with diabetes comes from Ningi local government,” he said.
A Senior Communications Specialist with the World Bank, Obadiah Tohomdet in an online mail to Daily Trust stated that Fadama 1 project designed to support Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) in Nigeria started in 1993 in Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi and Sokoto states with a World Bank IDA credit of US$67.5 million.
“Fadama 2 was assisted and co-financed by the World Bank and African Development Bank from 2004 to 2009 with a total sum of US$100 million and US$42 million respectively. The project, whose main thrust, was “to sustainably increase the incomes of the Fadama users through empowering communities to take charge of their own development agenda” covered 18 states including the Federal Capital Territory.  These are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kastina, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau and Taraba.
“Fadama 3, implemented from 2009 to 2013, covered the whole states of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory. The current twist to the project is that, instead of designing Fadama four, a new dimension has been added to take Nigerian farmers to a higher level. This time, with Fadama III – additional financing to the tune of US$200 million, Nigerian farmers are being primed to take agriculture as business and for profit making rather than mere subsistence and income generation. By this, “cutlass and hoe” subsistence farmers in Nigeria are gradually being shoved aside and new generation of business-oriented agropreneurs are emerging,” the mail read in part.
Since the implementation of Fadama projects in the country in 1993, the project has attracted World Bank assistance to the tune of about US$617.5 million even as the projects are generally aimed at sustainably increasing the incomes of Fadama land and water users on sustainable basis as well as contributing to poverty reduction in rural areas, increased food security, creating employment and contributing to achieving the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).