“…The recent protest was about hunger in the land, we don’t need a prophet to tell us that we are having problem feeding ourselves. It is high time the government declared emergency on food production. We all need to rise up and get involved in agriculture.”
Mr. Wale Ojo is a Nigerian farmer who believes the way to food sufficiency in the country is to redirect the focus of the youths towards agriculture. In this interview with OLAWALE LAMINA, Editor-in-Chief of The Pinnacle Times, the former Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter bares his mind on critical issues surrounding the sector, including corruption and the need to step up security and enhance farmers incentives among other solutions.
Excerpts:
Can you give a brief rundown of your profile ?
My name is Wale Ojo. I am a farmer with specialisation in the aspect of Poultry farming. I was the chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria. (Lagos Chapter, Eti Osa/Epe Zone)
What motivated your interest in the aspect of farming you have chosen?
I came in into the poultry business about 20 years ago. I developed interest in raising of birds and fish farming, but later concentrated on poultry because of my passion for birds and egg production.
What is your take on the high cost of poultry feeds/products and the way forward in addressing it?
When I came into the poultry business, cost of feeds was very cheap and affordable, but government neglect of certain things has been responsible for the rise in the cost of poultry and fish feeds.
What are the common challenges faced by poultry farmers in Nigeria today?
Some of the major challenges faced by poultry farmers today amongst several others include, funding, infrastructure, logistics and various taxes both legal and illegal by the police, customs, area boys, street urchins and agberos.
Nigeria now has the Ministry of Livestock Development, despite existing Ministry of Agriculture, any political undertones and what implications, positive and negative?
The creation of a new ministry of livestock to me is more of political agenda rather than means to improve agriculture. We already have a ministry in charge of farmers, that ministry needs to be rejigged and there is the need to remove corrupt officers who are busy collecting inputs meant for farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture is one of the most corrupt ministries, but the government is not looking that way or they themselves are too busy with something else.
How can the government successfully address food inflation in Nigeria, against the backdrop of the hunger protests that started at the beginning of this month of August ?
For us as a nation to fight hunger and poverty, a lot of our young people have to return to agriculture. I recommend the template to Mr. Raji Fashola, the former Governor of Largos State. He created farm settlement in Epe, a lot of graduates were given birds, feeds, accommodations etc,. to boost egg production, and the price of eggs went down. We can do same in different aspects of agriculture. There are lots of young people out there roaming around, we need to get them fully engaged to reduce employment challenges.
What is your view about the removal and later the suspension of import duties on essential food items?
The suspension or the temporal removal of import duties on essential food items will only bring about partial relief. We are in a serious crisis, the suspension should have been extended for more than 2 (two)years until we can conveniently feed ourselves.
What are steps to achieve food sufficiency in the country, amid security issues in regions where agriculture is the main occupation, like the North East, Plateau, Benue etc?
Some of the steps that must be taken by the government to boost agriculture and to make sure Nigeria can feed her people and also export to other nations include adequate security, no nation plays with the lives of farmers and then escapes hunger; let the government ensure the provisions of cheap and affordable inputs and equipment to farmers without discrimination: prosecution of government officials found to be corrupt in the distribution of government incentives to farmers.
What is your take on the recent palliative measures, the donation of 20 trucks of rice to sub-nationals?
I have mentioned this point at several fora, a lot of civil servants or officials are circumventing government efforts, I am yet to be proven otherwise. If they are not dealt with we are not going to see any significant changes. Unless we remove these canker worms we are going to be moving in a circle.
On the palliatives being said to be given to people, the question we should ask those in charge is that can they provide us documents or records of people that have gotten the palliatives. I have said it several times, palliatives is another way of making government officials richer in a corrupt way. The politicians use palliatives to deceive the gullible citizens. I have never believed in palliatives, rather the government should bring about policies that will make the economy better and the multiplier effect will be felt by everyone.
How wold you assess government plans to convert unused military lands to farmlands in Nigeria ?
There are lot of hectares and acres of land lying fallow, they should be converted into arable farmlands to grow what we can eat. The recent protest was about hunger in the land, we don’t need a prophet to tell us that we are having problem feeding ourselves. It is high time the government declared emergency on food production. We all need to rise up and get involved in agriculture.
Can you speak about poultry farming and cost of eggs and chicken – an egg is now between N150 and N200 and an average life chicken is N5,000 and N6,000, what are the challenges?
In the Poultry sector where I belong, Maize and Soya are the main ingredients in production of feeds for chicken, government needs to provide security for farmers to assess their farms, deal with kidnappers, bandits and those stopping farmers from accessing their farms. Such elements should not be pampered, they are supposed to be dealt with in accordance to the law of the land, in addition, government should make loans available to sincere, verified farmers, not political or portfolio farmers. Farmers Bank should be established mainly for farmers to save and access soft loans to boost their production as well as help them in expansion.
As a farmer what are your own peculiar challenges and how might government ( local, state and federal )address such problems for people in your category?
As a farmer, I am passionate about food production, I see a lot of people who are interested in getting involved in agriculture especially in the Poultry Business, we want to assist some of them that are actually serious, one of the major challenges is securing lands for production, I want to appeal to our government, not to allocate all the available lands for estate moguls. Farm clusters can be developed in every local government so interested young people can key in. Doing this will reduce unemployment. End.
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