Plight of Taraba farmers over land ceded to Dominion Farms

In February, 2012, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Taraba State Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dominion Farms Limited to begin large scale rice production in Taraba State.The over 30,000 hectares of land situated in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State is expected […]

In February, 2012, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Taraba State Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dominion Farms Limited to begin large scale rice production in Taraba State.
The over 30,000 hectares of land situated in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State is expected to cut down rice importation by 15 % and generate employment for thousand of youths when fully operational.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had wooed the Kenya-based American investor, Calvin Burgess, to begin massive cultivation and processing of rice in Nigeria, similar to the type he operates in Kenya.
The rice project was designed to be fully irrigated and capable of producing 2.4 million crop cycles per year, according to agric experts.
The Minister for Agriculture Dr Akinwumi Adesina said during the signing of the MoU that approximately 300,000 tonnes of rice will be produced annually for the Nigerian marketplace, which now imports approximately 2 million tonnes of rice annually.
Our correspondent reliably gathered from sources that under the MoU, the Taraba State Government is expected to take care of land compensation for local farmers, construct access road to the farm for easy transportation, provide security for the farm and construct silos for rice storage, amongst others.
The Dominion Farm, on its part, was to build a training school in the area where farmers can be trained on modern methods of rice farming, encourage local farmers to be out growers and build social infrastructure such as electricity, water, school and health centre for the benefit of the host community.
Taraba State Government, in meeting parts of its obligations, has commenced construction work on the access road linking to Dominion Farms in Gassol town.
Dominion Farms has so far trained 50 young men from the state in Kenya for six months to keep them abreast of modern farming techniques, including tractor operation, irrigation systems and farm management, amongst others.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Farm, Calvin Burgess, has also mobilised necessary farm equipment, including tractors, rice milling machines and irrigation facilities to the farm in Gasssol to begin full farming activities, according to officials at the state ministry of agriculture.
But about three years after the farmland was ceded to the American rice farmer, affected land owners said they are yet to be paid compensation.
It was gathered that the nonpayment of compensations to local farmers and attendant complaints have hampered the takeoff of farming activities at the Dominion Farms in Gassol.
Cross section of farmers who spoke on the situation, expressed grief over the takeover of their farmland without any compensation paid them.
One of the affected farmers, 57 year old Sule Buba who is also the village head of Wuro Kessum, told our correspondent that he had been living and farming in the area for over 20 years.
Buba said before his land was ceded to Dominion Farm, he used to plant rice, guinea corn and maize.
According to him, he used to harvest as much as 40 bags of rice and 15 bags of guinea corn at the end of each farming season.
Buba said he is now managing to cultivate a small piece of land to feed his family of six and other dependants.
He said the ceded land was his ancestral farmland and called government to settle the issue of compensation without further delay.
Buba said the community is an agrarian one with large numbers of farmers depending on their land for survival.
He said people of the community will not be against the project provided that affected farmers are paid adequate compensations and given opportunity to work on the farm in addition to provision of basic social amenities as promised.
On his part, Malam Danladi Jallo said: “We were happy when we heard of the coming of the Dominion Farms not knowing it was for the selfish interest of some few members of the state, federal government and the foreigner in charge of the Dominion Farms. Our land is very rich and good. We produce a lot of different crops here like rice, beans, Guinea corn, cassava, soya beans, millet, yam as well as fish farming and the rearing of animals like goats, sheep and cattle. But since Dominion Farms people arrived with their machines and some of their working equipment we were asked to stop our farm work and even leave our lands as the land is completely given to the Dominion Farms project.”
Another farmer, Mahdi Danladi, said he has been cultivating rice and maize in the area for the past five years and recorded good yields.
He said he was stopped from farming on the land when the government handed over the place to Calvin for mechanised rice farming.
Danladi said he used to harvest between 60 and 70 bags of rice and about 50 bags of maize during each year’s harvest.
He complained that with the takeover of his farmland, he has been adversely affected, saying that he had no other place to carry out his farming activities.
Danladi said some government officials came to the community sometimes ago to make assessment of the ceded farmland for payment of compensations but they were yet to get anything.
According to him, promises were made concerning adequate compensation for their lands, building of schools, roads, and hospitals and a farm training centre, and employment of local people when Dominion Farms and government agencies initially visited the area, but they were yet to see fulfillment of such promises.
But desk officer in charge of Dominion Farms at the state ministry of agriculture, Alhaji Umar Musa, said that government is working to ensure that affected farmers are compensated.
Umar explained that the ministry’s mandate is to create an atmosphere for agricultural investment in Taraba State so as to contribute to food production and to minimise the rate of food importation.
He said: “The Dominion Farms project is what the state has been yearning for years.”
Umar maintained that the project will help Taraba State reduce rice importation and enable it to export to neighbouring countries.
He cited the case of Dominion Farms’ activities in Kenya, where it was able to produce rice for export, using only 7,000ha, adding with 30,000 ha available for Dominion Farms in Taraba, Nigeria, would experience sufficiency in rice production when fully operational.
He stated that Dominion Farms has received a Certificate of Occupancy for the land it occupies in Gassol community, adding that the state has the potential to give out two million hectares but it only gave 30,000ha.
Umar also noted that arrangements have been made by the state to pay the host communities compensation.
According to him, the state bureau for land and survey has done the necessary evaluation and submitted a report to the state government for consideration.
He said that the amount contained in the evaluation report is huge and the state has thus resolved to pay the compensation to the communities in installments.
Umar said that the state is making arrangements to construct major roads in Gassol as provided for in the MOU, adding that plans have been made for farmers to work with Dominion Farms so that they will be able to gather enough seeds to feed their families.
He said that his ministry’s main concern is to see Dominion Farms able to carry out its work so as to boost rice and fish production to make Taraba an exporting state.
Musa also maintained that the local farmers will be part of the farming process as the Dominion Farms project proceeds, urging them to cooperate with the farm to succeed.
Although our correspondent could not get reactions from management of Dominion Farm over the impasse, a source close to the farm alleged that some ‘rice cartels’ in the country who don’t want the country to stop rice importation have been fighting against the take off of the farm.
It was gathered that such cartels are trying to pitch the locals against the farm management even when the issue of compensation does not concern Dominion Farms but state government.
According to the source, other states are desirous for the Dominion Farms to move there, adding that if the issue is not well handled, Taraba might lose such a massive investment opportunity.