How concession for Nigeria’s silos can work – Experts

…Many remain moribund despite massive investment Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have warned that the present arrangement to concession the nation’s silos may not give the expected result if farmers are not adequately involved in the process. Silos are built mainly to store excess grains or fermented feed known as silage. Government usually buys grains […]

…Many remain moribund despite massive investment

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have warned that the present arrangement to concession the nation’s silos may not give the expected result if farmers are not adequately involved in the process.

Silos are built mainly to store excess grains or fermented feed known as silage.

Government usually buys grains off farmers during bumper harvest and stores them in the silos. The grains are released to the public at a time of shortages, famine or during war.

There are over 30 silos owned by the Federal Government in the states. Private agencies own smaller silos.

Investigation, however, revealed that many of the silos are either moribund or concessioned without much impact.

The Federal Government, in 2018, agreed to concession 20 of its silos to make them more effective and generate revenue.

But experts in the sector are warning that the concession arrangement can only give the desired result if the farmers are carried along.

Mr. Ade Ayomi, an agriculturist in Oyo State, told one of our correspondents on phone that when concessioned, the silos would be in the hands of private operators who might not buy the farm produce from the farmers at good prices.

“The cost of production is high for farmers now, especially when you talk about inputs, and with absence of an effective marketing board, some of these private operators may not buy the produce well from the farmers, and this will discourage production,’’ he said.

Tosin Ademuyiwa, the Special Assistant on Agriculture to Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, also shared the belief, saying the silos earlier concessioned in Ogun State were not giving the expected result.

“The concession is not working because farmers were not carried along in the arrangement,’’ he said.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the farmers were not really benefiting from the concession arrangement because the cost of production of grains was usually higher than the prices offered by the management of the silos.

Despite massive investment, many silos remain moribund

Despite massive investment by the Federal Government in building silos to boost food security, many of the facilities which are in bad condition have become moribund.

Our correspondent in Jos, Plateau State, reports that many of the silos in the state have not been functioning for the past four years.

There are presently 10 silos in Plateau State and they are strategically located around the Bukuru Highway in Jos South Local Government Area.

At the time of visiting some of the facilities yesterday, our correspondent observed that they have been deserted with only security men at the gates.

Reports from Kano indicate that the Federal Government’s 25,000-metric tonne capacity silo in Gaya area has not been put to use.

Mohammed Shehu Adamu, the state’s Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, said the silo was awaiting commissioning.

The grain silo in Kujama, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State is also not in use.

Located about 20 kilometres to Kaduna, the silos are still standing, but no activity is going on there.

Our correspondent learnt that the facility was buillt during the administration of Balarabe Musa as governor in partnership with a Hungarian firm, ICTC.

However, over the years, the facility began to atrophy as grains were not stored and the firm managing the silo packed out and left.

A resident of the area told our correspondent that nobody was using the place even though the storage facilities were still there.

However, the Federal Government’s silo in Dutsin-Ma area of Katsina State is said to be functioning.

Our correspondent in the state reports that there are grains presently being stored at the over 25,000-metric tonne capacity silo.

A survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) across some South West states and Kwara revealed that the poor state of the facilities and lack of synergy between farmers and management of the silos had been impeding the cause of food security.

In Ogun, the 45 silos, most of which were built during the old Western Region Government, have become moribund.

The Special Assistant on Agriculture to Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, Mr. Tosin Ademuyiwa, confirmed to NAN that “none of the silos is functioning.”

In Oyo State, many of the silos located in farm settlements across the state have become moribund, including those in Saki, Monatan, Ogbomoso and Iseyin.

The outgoing administration of Abiola Ajimobi, however, is constructing a 10,000-metric tonne automated silo in Oyo town which is nearing completion.

But Mr. John Olateru, the Oyo State AFAN chairman, insisted that there were only two silos in the state in use.

Similarly, Alhaji lsiaku Adam, the Chairman of the Kwara House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture, said there was no collaboration or synergy between the management of the Federal Government-owned silos in the state and the state Ministry of Agriculture.

He said the silos, located in Oke-Oyi, headquarters of Ilorin East Local Government Area, were not living up to expectation.

Mrs. Benedicta Falodun, acting manager of the Federal Government Silo in Ondo State, said there was no activity in the facility because of the ongoing concession of silos across the country.

Mr. Emmanuel Giwa, former AFAN chairman in Ondo State, also said the silo located in Akure was not beneficial to most farmers in the state.

In Ado-Ekiti, the 100,000-metric tonnne capacity silo started since 2010 is yet to be completed.

A visit by NAN’s correspondent to the site located on the Federal Polytechnic Road, Ado-Ekiti, revealed that the site was moribund.

A commercial farmer, Mr. Jinadu Olorunnisola, said the abandoned silo project negatively affected food security programme of government in that part of the country.

The new Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Folorunso Olabode, who was sworn-in by Gov. Kayode Fayemi two weeks ago, said he had just resumed duty and would need time to study what went wrong with the federal project.

But in Osun, NAN reports that some of the silos are in good condition and have been leased to farmers.

Dr. Bukola Aluko, the Coordinating Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the state, said there were 92 silos across the state.

Report from Cross River State indicates that lack of electricity rendered the silos inoperative.

Mr. Iwara Bassey, the state Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, painted the sorry state of silos in the state.

He said although the silos were not on concession, plans in the past to do that did not go through.

In Delta, the silos have reportedly been sold off to the private sector by the state government since the management failed to generate revenue to sustain their operations.

Mr. Jerry Ossai, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Delta, alleged that the state government sold it in the 90s to the private sector.

Reports from Bayelsa and Rivers states show that there are no silos in the two states.

Mr. Ezeikel Ogbianko, the Chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Bayelsa, said silos had not existed in any area of the state.

“We heard some time ago that the contract was awarded in 2009, but up to now, nothing has been done at the area where they said the silo was sited,’’ he claimed.

In Rivers State, investigation indicated that there was no visible silo in the state.

Dr. Awotien George, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture in Rivers State University (RSU), Port Harcourt, confirmed the situation in an interview with NAN.

Our silos are functional, await concession, FG insists

The Director in charge of the Strategic Grains Reserve, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Haruna Sule Abutu, said the silos were functional and about to be restructured for concession.

Mr. Abutu, however, told Daily Trust that he could not reveal the content of the silos as it is a national security issues that needed clearance from the appropriate superior.

The Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said a public forum would be called soon on the concession of some of the silos to make them more effective.