Coscharis Farms eyes 500 tons of rice in Anambra

About 500 metric tons of rice are expected to be harvested from the 400 hectares of farmland developed and managed by Coscharis Farms Limited in Anaku, Ayamelum Council Area of Anambra State. This is even as the state recorded several cases of flood disasters during the year, particularly in the riverine areas where the farmland […]

About 500 metric tons of rice are expected to be harvested from the 400 hectares of farmland developed and managed by Coscharis Farms Limited in Anaku, Ayamelum Council Area of Anambra State.
This is even as the state recorded several cases of flood disasters during the year, particularly in the riverine areas where the farmland is located.
Coscharis Farms Limited, in conjunction with the Anambra State government, developed the farm worth over $200 million and is fully mechanised with not less than 70 state-of-the-art machines and equipment.
Speaking with our correspondent at the farm, the Site Manager, Prince Obidike, said the farm, which is the secret behind the Anambra rice success story that is currently competing with the foreign variety, cultivates two species – Faro 44 and Faro L-34.
“We are expecting not less than 500 metric tons of rice before the year runs out. It could have been more but for the flood which ravaged the area earlier in the year thereby affecting crop yield,” he said.
He said the farm had in its workforce not less than 1,500 farmers, predominantly indigenes of the community, including himself.
Obidike, who identified the access road to the farm as one of the major challenges confronting the farm, said the road had continued to pose a serious setback particularly in moving the products to the consumer.
He, however, noted that work was ongoing on the road with the recent intervention from the state government.   
“Last year, there was no access road to this place. There is a swamp along the road that makes it almost impassable even on foot or motorcycle. But presently, the government is working assiduously on the road to make it passable,” he noted.
The General Manager, Coscharis Farms, Limited, Bharat Bhushan, said the farm which was conceived about 29 years ago, took off in 2014 with 3.000 hectares of land.
He said the experimental farm has about 70 fully air-conditioned equipment, including the combined harvesters which guarantee sand-free rice that can favourably compete with the imported variety.
According to him, the firm is presently undergoing land-leveling as well as draining of excess water on the landscape to ensure an effective irrigation system, especially during the dry season to guarantee increase in yield.
Bhushan noted that the choice of siting of the farm in the community was informed by its large arable characteristics, adding that the farm had not only opened up markets in the area, but provided employment opportunities to many indigenes of the area.
Appreciating the support of both the federal and state governments, especially in terms of funding and provision of access road, he appealed for more financial support to enable the company meets with its targets. 
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, had during a fact-finding visit to the farm recently, said that the Buhari-led administration was investing heavily in agriculture due to his belief that unless Nigeria was able to feed its population, it cannot boast of being independent, adding that with what is happening in Anambra, the country would stop importing rice soon.
He lauded the working structure put in place by the state government which has energised the value chain in the rice subsection, saying the jobs already being created, especially for the youths, would give impetus to the federal government’s efforts at job creation.
Also speaking, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed the federal government’s plans to review for approval, the Anambra State government’s request for N5 billion loan for farmers for mechanised agriculture in the state.            
The minister said the visit was targeted at assessing the impact of the N2billion CBN-backed funds earlier provided to the farms and to unravel the state’s success story on rice production.