‘I am setting up canned fish factory in Osun’

What are the crops that are commonly produced in Osun State?We produce cassava, maize, yam, cocoa, palm oil, cocoa yam among others.How about market for these agric produce?A large percentage of the agric produce of our farmers in Osun is consumed by Osun people. They are sold in various markets across the state. The state […]

What are the crops that are commonly produced in Osun State?
We produce cassava, maize, yam, cocoa, palm oil, cocoa yam among others.
How about market for these agric produce?
A large percentage of the agric produce of our farmers in Osun is consumed by Osun people. They are sold in various markets across the state. The state government is also providing free train transport for our farmers to take their farm produce from Osun to Lagos to sell.
Is the state government supporting farmers in Osun?
During the regime of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Osun State government invested so much in agriculture. The government distributed oil palm seedlings to farmers and also assisted plantain farmers. The state government also invested in piggery production and cattle breeding and poultry. The state government also in partnership with my farm, FEG Agro Farms Nigeria Limited, empowered 2,460 farmers on aquaculture to produce fish. We give fish to the farmers and also the feeds and we buy the fish from the farmers which we give to the state government for the Osun School Feeding programme. We also sell the fish to members of the public.
We are making effort to start exporting fish to other countries through a partnership with the Netherlands. Also, Osun State government has invested much in cocoa and cassava production. The government is also giving us subsidy in agrochemical and vitalizer and this has added value to the lives of farmers and banished hunger from this state.
How do you think agriculture can be sustained?
We must ensure that our youth develop interest in agric business and train them on modern farming through the technology. So, we must take agriculture serious. If we pay attention to agric in this country, it would be better for us. A country that cannot feed its people is not fit to be. I was among the delegates sent to Korea by federal government for training on aqua fish technology policy programme. We were trained on how we can do aquaculture and make money and we have been transferring the technology to our farmers. We shall train large number of youths and we hope the future of agric is bright with the involvement of those youth in agriculture.
What are the major agricultural activities in your own farm?
My farm, FEG Agro Farms Nigeria Limited, was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1984 and I’m the chairman of the company with my first daughter as the managing director. We are into oil palm plantation, maize cropping, cassava, plantain, piggery and fishery on 25 hectares of land with ponds dug to culture fish. We produce feeds to feed our fish and use the waste from our farm to feed our fish. We are about to start exporting our oil palm. We have been taking some of our products outside the country. We have registered the company in England as FEG Agro Farms International Limited to enable us market our products outside the country.
Is there any collaboration among AFAN members?
Farmers from the eight states came together to set up the integrated farming system that involves all aspects of the agricultural value chain designed to promote agribusiness in Nigeria. The farmers in the scheme are members of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) from Ekiti, Lagos, Kogi, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states. This new initiative was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as a limited liability company that would be known as ELKO Agro Allied Industry Limited.
What is the modality for the operation of ELKO?
Different commodities have been selected for each state. These commodities in which each state has comparable and competitive advantages which have been identified and processing sites for each commodity have been identified. Also, bankable feasibility study and business plans for the processing of each commodity have been commissioned. Farmers in each state will be responsible for providing the raw materials required by each processing plant. We assured the farmers that commodities delivered to the processing plant will be paid for at the prevailing prices in the market which would cover the production costs of the farmer and leave a profit margin. Farmers in each state will have the first priority in marketing the finished products.
What is the vision of ELKO?
The vision of the ELKO Integrated Agro Allied Industry Limited is to become a foremost indigenous integrated agribusiness organisation with a long-term objective of developing subsidiary companies that would eventually be registered for each commodity. The move is very imperative given the plight of farmers in terms of price war in the value chain. In fact, data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria showed that by the second half of 2013, almost 80% of the raw materials used by food processing companies were sourced locally. The farmers pay expensively for imported agricultural inputs; we pay for labour, we have no access to funds, we are subjected to poor infrastructural facilities including bad roads to farms, epileptic electricity supply and lack of portable water supply, yet, when we harvest, they would buy the produce at price below the production cost and we are forced to sell just to avoid further losses since there are no storage facilities.
To make matters worse, high proportion of intervention funds made available by multilateral financial institutions and the federal government, usually end up in the hands of ‘executive farmers, portfolio carrying farmers’ who neither have farms nor grow any commodity. Farmers are working from hand to mouth without any hope of breaking the vicious poverty cycle. Every member of AFAN in each of the eight states is an automatic shareholder in the ELKO.
I urge farmers in the eight states to complete their membership registration exercise without delay. It is expected that farmers in the eight states will produce, process, package and market their products for local and international markets, thus eliminating the role of the middle men. This will enable farmers to make good profit in their farming business and also eliminate the usual wastage resulting from glut during harvesting period. This is in line with modern practice in agribusiness whereby farmers produce and add value to their product and market them.
How did you come about the idea of canned catfish?
The initiative was developed to further diversify the processing of catfish for easy consumption by the people and for exportation. FEG-Agro Farms Nigeria Limited plans to install a plant to process canned cat fish. There is no doubt in the fact that this initiative would boost aquaculture business and make positive impact on the Nigerian economy. The innovation was developed by Nigeria Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) Lagos, which is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. I urge fish farmers in Osun State to redouble their efforts in cat fish production. I can assure them of standby market when the factory fully takes off. It is unfortunate that Nigeria was spending over $700 million on fish importation. Fish importation is not good for the economy of the nation. Nigeria is capable of producing the fish that will feed Nigerians and even export fish, thereby boosting the nation’s economy.