Coy provides farmers opportunities in cash crops

Madaki Agro Services Limited is one of the new agro companies redefining the Nigerian agribusiness space with a model that looks at both production, processing and farmers’ rewarding investment opportunities.  The company acquired 10,000 hectares of farm land in Ganjuwa LGA of Bauchi State for growing cash crops, which include soya beans, groundnuts, wheat, rice, […]

Madaki Agro Services Limited is one of the new agro companies redefining the Nigerian agribusiness space with a model that looks at both production, processing and farmers’ rewarding investment opportunities.

 The company acquired 10,000 hectares of farm land in Ganjuwa LGA of Bauchi State for growing cash crops, which include soya beans, groundnuts, wheat, rice, sorghum, cowpeas, sesame seeds and maize.

 During a media tour of the farms in Bauchi State over the weekend, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Akubo Adegbe, said their agribusiness model was to plant and harvest three cycles in a year – one rain-fed and two dry season cycles.

“Now, we are about to commence land preparation and clearing on 20,000 hectares for the planting of soya beans for the 2018 rainy season. We are looking for investors for 5,000 hectares out of the targeted hectarage,” he said.

 The agro-allied company boss stated that the planting and harvesting cycles for the rain-fed season sets June/July for planting and October/November for harvest.

 The first dry season planting starts December/January with March/April for harvest; planting for the second dry season begins February/March and the harvest is done in May/June.

Chairman of the company, Dr Muyi Aina, said they are also an anchor/aggregator of small-holder farmers under the Anchor Borrower programme principally designed to empower communities and create wealth for rural farmers.

 Dr Aina stressed the investment opportunity in soya beans, adding that Nigeria is the second largest producer of soya beans in sub-Saharan Africa.

 He however noted that “In 2016, the country only produced about 680,000MT of soya beans, though our annual consumption demand is 2.2 million MT (MMT).”