Niger takes over farms for crop processing zone

Speaking on the proposed Niger State staple top processing zone located in Badegi, the Commisioner for Agriculture Ibrahim Ahmed Matane said the project would be focused only on the production of rice. He said:  “We have already gotten in 250 hectares in a core area within Badegi. Badegi has been selected because of its strategic […]

Speaking on the proposed Niger State staple top processing zone located in Badegi, the Commisioner for Agriculture Ibrahim Ahmed Matane said the project would be focused only on the production of rice.
He said:  “We have already gotten in 250 hectares in a core area within Badegi. Badegi has been selected because of its strategic nature. It is the hub for rice production in the state. There is the presence of National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI), road network as well as railroad. Now 250 hectares was provided by the host community who did not ask for any compensation”.
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has already commissioned United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to pilot the development of the project.
He added: “So far, a final copy of the master plan has already been prepared and it is going to be presented to Nigelites. What the master plans entails is, it has already captured the ecological characteristics of the 30 kilometres radius, captured the nature and status of the current enterprises of the kind of crops that are being produced within that area. It also captured the major infrastructures what needs to be done.”
Matane said that if the zone is completed, there will be a lot of activities, adding: “There is also going to be a provision of housing estates, you are going to have quite a number of activities going around the area. This concept would improve the level of employment, income of participants within the value added chain, in this case rice.”
The commissioner stressed that the “the communities are already enthusiastic because they believe it is one of the unprecedented intervention that will ever come to the people in a state like our own.”
On how soon the project will start, the Niger State Director of Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Bello Salihu, said  the staple processing zone will commence operation  in one or two years from now.
He said the project is a private sector driven, adding that the federal government will provide infrastructure for the zone while state government is expected to provide the land and the Land Right Deed.
He said that the federal government has entered into partnership with the Peoples Republic of China for the manufacturing of 100 units of rice milling machines for distribution across the country.
Salihu added that “international financial institutions like African Development Bank and World Bank are also expected to assist in the provision of infrastructure.”
The director said that out of the 30 kilometres radius of land acquired, only 15 hectares where the factory will be cited was donated to government as the remaining hectares will be used by the people of the host community as rice out-growers.
According to him, during harvest, the company in the processing zone will add 10 percent premium on whatever the out-growers produced.
He said any interested investor should make a payment of 25 percent of whatever amount planned to be invested while the remaining 75 percent could be secured through bank loan.
He said: “The project is supported by Nigerian Incentives Base Risk Sharing by Agricultural Lending and guaranteed by Central Bank of Nigeria.”
Shuaibu Badagi, a farmer from Badegi told Daily Trust that he was aware of the project because a portion of their family farm land was taken over by the government.
On whether his community has donated the land to the government for the project, Badegi said he was not aware of that.
“I doubt if it is a donation because the expectation in the community is that the land owners will be compensated,” he said.
Also contacted, the chairman of the state chapter of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Umar Aliyu, said they were contacted at the initial stage of the project but since then, there has not been any communication with the authorities.