‘Multinational companies are exploiting farmers’
What is your impression of the recent World Economic Forum held in Abuja and what are the implications for agriculture?As you all know these days, government agencies, sometimes, are interested in organising conferences to discuss issues and may be to make noise but I think now we should go beyond making noise. The whole world […]
What is your impression of the recent World Economic Forum held in Abuja and what are the implications for agriculture?
As you all know these days, government agencies, sometimes, are interested in organising conferences to discuss issues and may be to make noise but I think now we should go beyond making noise. The whole world had been invited to Nigeria to discuss about economy, especially that of Africa. The main aim of the World Economic Forum is to exploit many ways to grow the African economy. I think one way this would be described as a right step, if it will help in creating jobs for the youths. If there is increase in provision of social amenities and there is improvement in people’s lives. There is no way you can industrialise and grow this economy without agriculture, there is no way the economy can grow without creating conducive environment for farmers to be able to produce the products for various manufacturing companies. I have not seen a provision whereby government provides access roads to get input. So, as far as I am concerned, I don’t think what they are doing is for the benefit of the larger society, remember that about 70 percent of the population are farmers and about 90 percent out of this are subsistent farmers who do not have access to credit, input and information that will lead to high yield at the end of harvest. You may be surprised that the Commodity Brokers Association of Nigeria (CBAN) was not even invited to the World Economic Forum. Only people outside the country came and now they have gone back to their various countries. I cannot see the immediate impact of the WEF on the agricultural sector but may be in the long term.
Do you think huge investments made in agriculture by companies like Dangote and Olam will transform agriculture in the country?
Well, I am aware of what Dangote, Tony Elumelu and few other Nigerian entrepreneurs are doing in the agricultural sector which is commendable. But some of these multinational companies like Olam are exploiting farmers in the country. For example, Olam is a company from Asia; they do business and actually go to the grassroots. They know all the nook and crannies where farmers are in the North. But they refused to teach our farmers how to improve their farming activities so that they can have good seeds and quality yield. What they do is that they meet farmers and buy without any standardisation, whether the seeds are good or not, they don’t care, they will just buy. This is not what is obtainable in other countries of the world and even in some African countries like Ethiopia and Kenya. So, Olam buys at the same price and go to their companies and grade it and sell so that they will maximise profit. For us, what we’re after is for grassroots farmers to maximise whatever they earn so that if they farm this year, they can be able to farm next year but the reality is that most of them are farming at a loss due to lack of standardisation of prices of commodities.
What is Commodity Brokers Association doing to tackle this ugly trend?
As an association, what we have been doing is to enlighten the farmers. Three months ago, we were in Dawano market, in Kano, which is arguably the biggest commodity market in West Africa. We invited stakeholders and discussed with them and enlightened them on what the government is doing, especially with regards to the Nigeria Commodity Exchange and that soon it will be operational. We tried to meet governors in the North to inform them what is happening in the agriculture sector. But you know these are policies of government and If government is serious about this, it should embark on awareness campaign to enlighten Nigerian farmers on what they stand to benefit. We are worried and want to see our farmers benefit from what they are doing so that there will be improvement in farming activities
Many attribute the exploitation of rural farmers to lack of marketing boards. Do you agree?
Times have changed, the world has become very competitive and I don’t see it as necessary to have marketing boards because the world is now a global village. Recently, the minister of trade and investment formed a working group to look at the possibility of the workings of the Abuja Commodity and Security Exchange which has now been renamed the Nigeria Commodity Exchange. Although, I have been part of the working group in Abuja trying to work out a model and see how it will work efficiently just like how it is working in Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia and other parts of the world. If this platform is working and when farmers are sensitised and there are good roads and electricity, then there is no need for marketing boards. There should be competition and through that, people will easily know prices of commodities like cocoa, including their grades in India, China, among others daily.
How do you intend to assist farmers?
Well, what we do is to sensitise farmers on what to do to enable them put pressure on their various governments to assist them. On our part, we have written to the Central Bank of Nigeria and various state governments to see how we can collaborate to help farmers in this country so that farmers can find it easy to not only produce but to be able to sell their farm products. For instance, if you just produce and don’t know where to sell, if you know where to sell but you don’t know how to sell to get maximum profit of what you laboured for in a whole year, then, it is like you are just wasting your time. You may do it this year but next year you will not be able to do it.