Songhai Farm initiative suffers neglect in states

One of the biggest agro initiatives in the last decades is the multi-million naira Songhai Farm projects which some sates in the country tapped into. The projects are the brain-child of the Songhai Farm in Port-Novo, Benin Republic and developed by Reverend Father Godfrey Izamojo, a Nigerian. The concept of Songhai integrated farm looks at […]

One of the biggest agro initiatives in the last decades is the multi-million naira Songhai Farm projects which some sates in the country tapped into.
The projects are the brain-child of the Songhai Farm in Port-Novo, Benin Republic and developed by Reverend Father Godfrey Izamojo, a Nigerian.
The concept of Songhai integrated farm looks at agricultural production in a holistic manner – from production to processing, marketing as well as training.
 It is also a research ground and centre for agro skill acquisition for the youth who want to make money in agriculture.
The whole idea is to empower the youth to learn and be on the driver’s seat.
In 2011, some states in Nigeria concluded partnership agreement with the Benin Republic farm enterprise to set up an integrated farm system.
Some of the states that tapped into the Songhai Farm initiative included Delta, Rivers, Ogun, Katsina and Lagos states.
Although the initiative is noble, the project is in comatose in some states and barely surviving in others.
In Delta State, the Songhai-Delta, Amukpe, Sapele which was initiated by James Ibori’s administration in 2003, was designed to train young graduates and others to develop the knowledge and expertise in managing agro enterprises in order to be self-reliant.
The farm, which was located along the Amukpe-Eku road, seven kilometers from the Sapele city centre, sits on a 137-hectare of land. It has structures that can be compared to a university – administrative blocks, workshops, hostels, library, clinic, staff quarters, guest house, garden, super market and other buildings to accommodate other components of the farm’s operations.
Today, Songhai-Delta’s story is a tale of neglect amidst huge potentials for agro allied production not only in the South, but the whole of the country. Little wonder some observers concluded that the state government had withdrawn from the initiative.
Daily Trust investigation revealed neglect of what had been a hub for agro training, production and processing; now forced into a shadow of itself.
In Rivers State, our correspondent reports that the Executive Director of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, (RSSDA) – the agency that oversees the state’s Songhai Farm project, Mr. Larry Pepple, said the farm was undergoing transformation.
Mr. Pepple, who spoke to Daily Trust in Port Harcourt, said the withdrawal of the Port Novo consultants that managed the farm affected its survival.
He said that the larger part of funding of the farm was sponsored by the consultants, stressing that as soon as they pulled out, the state government started having problems with funding.
He, however, said the agency had drafted a proposal on how to resuscitate the farm, stressing that “we are considering the option of commercialising the farm or engaging private public partnership to manage the farm.”
He said the agency had received approval to clear the backlog of salaries owed workers, and that as soon as that was done the next option of resuscitating the farm would commence. 
The multi-million Songhai Farm was established by then governor Chibuike Amaechi (now Minister of Transport) in partnership with the Port Novo farm to complement the state government’s efforts in agricultural development as well as create jobs for the teeming Rivers youths.
But when Daily Trust visited the farm last week, the once bubbling Songhai Farm is in a desolate shape with a backlog of five months’ salary arrears of its staff.
A staff of the farm, who pleaded anonymity, blamed the withdrawal of its partners for its collapse. 
He said: “The farm was doing very well  when the partners were doing well but the place start having problem as soon as they left .Our salaries were paid as at when due. The livestock units were fully operational and hundreds of customers were coming to buy products. But as soon as the partners left, everything about the farm began to go down.” 
The Lagos Songhai Farm is located at Avia community, Igborosun, off Mowo, Badagary and spans through 250-hectares of land. It was designed as part of the Lagos State government Youth Empowerment Scheme, (YES) and planned to be the industrial park for agriculture in Lagos.The project is signed in 2012 by the state government and to be coordinated by Songhai Regional Centre, Porto Novo, Benin Republic to develop, equip and create job opportunities for farmers in the agricultural sector in the state.
Unfortunately, after three years of commencement, activities at the farm are yet to take full operation.
Currently, only a few fruits and some vegetables are being planted at the farm.
Some of the noticed fruits under plantation when Daily Trust visited the farm on Monday include watermelons, pineapples, cucumbers, tomatoes and vegetables. There is also catfish and Tilapia farming ongoing at the farm.
A staff of the farm, who craved anonymity, said the state government was supposed to take over the farm after five years under the project agreement but the farm is yet to be commissioned because it is still under construction.
He said though, the state Commissioner for Agricultural, Oluwatoyin Suarau Isiaka, has visited the farm three times this year but nothing is yet to materialize.
According to him, livestock was part of the initial activities at the farm while broiler and pigs were reared to test run poultry and piggery but wasn’t sustained due to lack of funds.
With low funding, the project is yet to achieve its objective of training farmers in a wide range of technologies to boost the production of vegetables, rice and livestock farming as well as providing jobs for youths under the state’s YES programme.
Initiative thrives in Katsina
Katsina State is, however, one of the few states where the Songhai Farm initiative is still surviving.
The initiative that started in 2012 in the state is an advanced integrated farming technique that covers all areas of farming with the full utilization of waste materials from the produce for further agricultural purposes.
Mr Amokaha Isaac Tersor is a senior staff in Songhai Farms, Funtua senatorial zone. He told Daily Trust that they were into production, training and research in sustainable agriculture.
The farm, according to Mr. Isaac, is also into both formal and informal training of youths and local farmers where techniques of modern farming are introduced to make them entrepreneurs for self-sustainability.
Daily Trust went round Songhai Farm in Mairuwa Dam, Funtua where it observed that different varieties of fruits such as guava, watermelon, mango and pineapple are being cultivated in the farm. An animal feeds factory was sighted in the farm where fish and poultry feeds were also processed.
Similarly, fruits retailers were seen trooping into the farm to purchase plantain, banana, guava and pawpaw.
Scholars from universities and other tertiary institutions around the state periodically visit Songhai Farms in Dutsinma and Funtua for excursion and agricultural research in the establishment.
Mr Tersor pointed out that the people of Katsina State who are predominantly farmers will fully exploit the fortunes of Songhai Farms as soon as all the needed infrastructures are fully put in place, adding that “harsh weather and short period of rainfall are affecting Songhai’s plan of production round the year but we are working round the clock to overcome the challenges.”
In Ogun, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun told Daily Trust that the state government had pulled out of the Songhai initiative.
Details of the project could not be provided as when the commissioner  was contacted via her mobile phone, she only said, “actually, it was during the period of my predecessor that the state government showed interest in the project, but, we have pulled out of it.”
The commissioner upon further enquiry explained that, the state pulled out when it was carefully studied that the terms and conditions were not in the interest of the state.
Mrs Sokefun, however, hinted that there were other alternatives which the state had ventured into.