mE GUAROlAN,Sawrdall SeptembeT 15. 2012

NEWSFEATURE

Rice cultMtltdby S,0I1hai Farm. allhe Adanl Farm Senlemem

'Re living Ada- "ce Farro Key:To Nigeria's Quest or Food Sufficiency' The Ada-Rice Fann at Adani in Uzo-Uwani Local Council Area of Enugu State, established in the early 60's was up to 1980 a major producer of rice species that were well sought after across Nigeria The farm has since gone moribund throwing hundreds of people out of job and dr, stically cutting down the rice production capacity of the country. (lNYEDIKA AGBEDO, who visited the place, recently, writes that reliving the tann will go a long way in reducing poverty and reversing the aJanning level of food importation in the country, especially riCI:.

that was established in Ildanlln the J)resent day "When the place beame moribund, there was a Uz<>-lJwanllocal Go\Iunment ........ oC Enugu kind oC re-organisation that aU~ the local State by the former premier of the defunct people to furm there. The Mlnisay brought Eastern region, MJchaeJ Okp.lra. The project. somebody to ~ the (;um sernMlellt ilIld which col/ersa nel Irrigation area ofl,OOO the people were pilyingannuaUy per plot of land hectares, has been abaitdoned for more than 20 allotted to them Tliat was the praakr until ye.lrs.Meanwhlle. when Irwasfunctlona\, rice 50nghal CilIlle In thlUUgh the EnuguSlategov-was produced In tons at the farm. emment under the CUlreD[ dispensation to ret>-According a former sta1f of Mark:r, Mr. duistian ovate the place. They renovated some oC the van­

Onah, the problem oC the estabUshment stalled dallsed structures there and also bullt new ones. afrer the expatriateS, who helped to sa It up and They also brought elear1cIty to the setuement had been managing It:, lenin theearlyl980S. 50, there Is new UCe at thrsettlemenl but there Is "I jolnedAda-Rice in 1974 and roseto the position nothing likeAda-Riceanymore N_ "'''grow oflrrlgatlon Officer. I continued working in that rice. onions. tomato, watennclon. cucumber, capacity WIt» the place I!YeJltuaUy fokkd up pepper, maize, okro and yarn. among other more mat 20 years ago and we,~lhrown out crops." of job. El<Wunlfe was, hO\\le\ler, quick to call on the

E fthat.1l.d !hat Nigena basadequale anbIe land and

u good dimare to roduce

pie food lot ~neeming poP~tlon, one ofthrmajOrprob msronfrontingthecounay Is food inseruril}\EentGoodlUckJOnathait had through thtl A mlstet of Slate Cor AgriculIUR and raJ ~lopmem.AlhaJI BUkarl1jan~wh ledhlmalUlesecond edition of ('Ie ~I fishing Festival. recently. dJsdosed thaI till' ounay's food 1m ns are 8f""32t an ustafnable r,u., or:: per cent ann N 1ekss, receuesnmatespulthenumber

of hungry people til Nigeria at CM'f 5] million. which is aboul30 r er cent of thr counay's lOIaI population of ~hly 150 mUllon; and 52 per cent live under the poverty line. The abolle Sliltis­tics ~ no one HI doubt that the counay is In a ~ need of a Ufelne In the agricultural sector. But R!CXlrds show'NI NIgeria was self sufi.

dent In food prodl aion and was Indeed a nel exponerol food ID other regions of the conti­nem In the I950S and 1960s. ~ changed dramatlcaLy Cor \h.. worse foUowlOg the global econorruc crisis th! l hit developl ng counn1es beglnnlrlg:rom th 'late \97OS onward n,e dis­CIMIJ' or c:n.o<k oU md rising ~nue from the country's p<troleUlll SfCtOTencoural!ed official nrgIect orthe agrk u1tura1 sector an<! turned

"When Ada-Rke was CunctJorung. the place was a Federal Government to rehabilitale the Ada-Rlce Nigena into a net 'm~of f~. The ~er community oCIts own. As a tum Smlement.il farm. saying thatdomg so would goa long way of~ture.AklnwumJ Adesma, recently dis- was a soun:rof pride to theagrlrultural sector of to ensure fOOd security In Nlgena dosed that Nlge:rla spends NL3 trillion a year this coun!J)l The potentials and acrual produc· He saki: "A functional Ad;HUce can feed the (J11OfIO thanS8.2 blDion)lmpoIting basic food tion oCthe farm was enormous. WI! bad enoulth whole nation.IC thegoyemment renovaresAda-Items like fish, rice and suga& Also, MARKETS, a tractors and tractor coupled Implements ana Rice well, it Is going to be ~ to hunger In USAJJ)funded Of1!aDIsation that seeks to bulldozers. and we "",.. farming aU year round. this countl)l:Therewill notbe the need forany. irn=lse farm prodUctiVIty puts Ni erla as the We had many traUm with which we transpOned body to ImR"" nce Into this COUO!J)lI wori<ed world'ssecon<HaIgest rice unporrer, noting (lroc:=ed rice to IMgos fOTsale.And right hereal with thedefunetAda-RIcr for years and lam sure thaI the counay ronsumes twO mUIIon metric Adan!. people were wmlng from Pan Harroun. of what I am saying beause there have been tons of m peryear from countries like China Kaduna and aU partS of the country 10 buy rice Improvements in IiIrmlng in the past twO and ThaIland. from the Carm.Butltlsall hlstol)lnowand there decades. if you see the yam h.uvested by50nghai The problem Isrompoun<:led by the fuet thaI Is nothing UkeAd;HUce now Wliattheyhave last year, some oC them were as big as tree minks. despIte the placeoC agrtrultu~ asa source of there IlO\\' Is 50nghal Farms. which is an fnltlallve 50, if the government really funors the renova-employment and a means oClivelihood Cor of the Enugu State go...emmenl." On;ih said. tion of this place as importanl and elIects thaI, more !han 70 l1ercrnt of the productively Another SIiIff of the defunct Ada-Rlcr Fann who sud, thaI It Is no longer a state government engaged popuIatlon, It recrives less than 10 per now wor!cs with Songhal Farms, M& Ekwunlfe affair, then there will much food In this cottn!J)l-cent of me annual budgetal)l.aUocatlons. Nnalue sald:°t wurk with Songha! currently; the For Onah,govemment should go beyond reh.l-Underfundlng In this regar<lts central to the cr1- new company that Is now farmmg at the Ai:la-Rlce bWtating Aila-Rice and set up an agncultural sis oC food produroonaild food security In setUement. Howrve~ t worked with Ada-Rlcr Institution In the settlement. Onah, who lament· NIgerl;L This tl<J?1a1ns the perslsteDce 01 poverty untO It became moribund. The place was boom- ed that Adani, the host communIty oC the settl'" across tile length and breadth of tllecOun!J)l Ing when the JapaDeSl! managed It. Then, the lrrt- ment, has suffered a lot oC underdevelovmem A rea!1l! IIIsltlO the hda-Rlce Farm at Adanlln gation channel was very functional and it was since Ada-Rlcr became moribund. 1lOI.G thaI

Uzo-UwanI LocaICoundl oCEnuguSlate by The IlOTHtOP IiInning. But when NIgerianS lOOk CM'f, many other farmseulemenrs t1tal wen:esOO Gu.mifan dearly showed the connections the placr stalled gomg down unmedlatel)l Usbei:l by the defunct Eastern Reglon are now between dwindling food produaion capaary. initially; the plaoi was Well funded and running playing host to hlgherlnstitutlonsof agrirul-rising Cood prices and dependency on food very weD but soon after they took over, the ture. Importatlon. Nigerian funorSelln and tIie place started going "Adanl people are rnostIv rice Carmen. The land

T1le Guardian learnt that Ada-Rlce Fann was down graduaUyuntO it <YeJltiJally became mori~ Is naturally suitable for tfun and that Is why most established In 1962 as pan of a farm seulernenl bund In 1982. farmeIS here are Intom fanning. There are also

1l-IE GUARDIAN, Saturtia)I September 15,2012

NE~SFEATURE

Adani Rice Farmers Wait On GovemmentTo Re\rive Ada-Rice Farm fannsforyam cas>a,oa,malzeandothercrops but ~ is iras far as the JI"OQIe are concerned But the closure of o\(lol-Rk:r aIfectrd our produc· tIon so much. We ha~ bern finding farming dlf· 6cult There R.we be~n no tra~ It Is now thai Sonllhal people came thaI ~ swted getting rclJeT 10 mal nogard. Another problem Is the scarcity of fertillzec ~ if II comes. 10 aa:ess II Isa problem beal19'o{the bottlenecks irMlM<i.As, resull, wtdon'l rertillzeourcrops al the appropliale tI me. "Besides. Adi.,1 ",as very hvely when Ada-Rice

was functioning. oO~enl paId a 101 of atten· tIon tothetCl~ma"lC weenjovrdaloto(soc!aI ammltles. BUI todil\, lust look at the road to Adanl alone aud y>l will know thaI the deadl o( Ada-Rice led tt. tht neJdea of AdanL lbe (aa tI1al many other fann ~uements established by Okpara havt been n mrd 10 hilther Institutions o( asu1culrul'els a (u "tiler proor o( neglect TIle Mlcllael OIq:ara Urrl JUSllyo( Agriculture, Umudlkr.1s a ready "",,"pi .. So, what has hap­penrd to Adt-RJao f \ Ye have enough land here. about SIX mllt"S sq'J<lre or more. w'fuch can acrommodalP any hgher instltutlon.like a un~ ~Iy of agirulnlP' orschool of 1111g.,tlon," he submitted.

The SongbaJ InIl:Iatll., IN 2010.lhe ::nugll SClr. g"'"eI11menrembarked on what the Go~rJlo)r.Sullh,," Chime descrtbed as a 'sllem revolution" In the agrlculrural sector In the sate, 'NhldJ lSabnedal600stlngthea~ cultural fortunes o( :he sar. throu~ mecha­ntsed CarrrunR..1o pUmlll of me initlaove.me gtM:ITImenllias bef n partneJing Songhai AgrIculOlrallnstJtul'. Porro NOYO, Benin Republic. through II hich il has tralnrd aboul m youth graduale"far",ers who fully acquired inodem fanning bu .... ledge. alOtudes and finesse. ~el~l!'f11 has also established t\W workl<lass ram I settlements Ihrough the lnstltute,on,ofwhldlIs localrd InAdan~ alule old Adanl Farm Sl!tthmenr. where Ada-Rlce was also localrd. 7he Guanllm ob!a~ that buc for the dec!­sionofthesr.atrgov~llOsltemefarmal the Adani Farm Settlement, the 011<. ... bubbling farm!ng conU11UDi~ ' could have grown lmo a thidt:biish by no findings shoWed tI1alali me farm buDdingsa[ th,defuiJaAda-Rice, Iodud· ing mac:hIneiles. were all vandaltsed afler It breame tnOI1bund. , \Iso vanda1tsed was (he giant rice mll as nolhing was found In the buikIlng housing II, which in Itself has become lM'rgrowtJ hy wtt(h A villager. IIho did lloi wan! his name In plint,

told the Cui!niLm U Jar"there was no secu lily In theplac:e~"" Ada-Ricrclosed down. I have Ilin goOOaulholitythat !OI11ebodycame herewith a papersomel1rne oll!\'as a proofmalgovernrnent had sold the ~ nli111D him and carted it away; So, that is ~Il th~ is nothing mere. MOreO\1!r, a11lhe parked buD~ JUtS and tractors were knocI<:rd dOlYn~:an:ed away by thieves. who branded them sera So So, It will be difficult to blingAda-Rlce 10 lire. But i( go'JNT1menl is determined they 1 acrually do lilat" Anot:her souncr ed:"Tbe current lice mill

insIalledbySong Is lust a conage lice mill when compared wi h lbeonetl1arwas here when we IW Ada-~ce That one was a lrench tier mill You JUSl lin}<lllf harvestrd lice al one end and go 10 e other end and collect your processed rU But lhal thqo have now Is just a small plant.. EIo-erytl1 ng Is done virtually man~ Iy excopl the mtUin,. The only Casc!natlng (ea· ture !his one has~"1iIt II dMflmes. ThaI said, we thank dr En Slace &O"'ffiIDl'nI for the eII'orIlO maI<L' the ace functional again:

WbarTheGrad~>atmenSay 7heG~~u~l thatthegrad~rerumers trainrd by the Enu!!,J Siare lI"""mmenlsome of who hin." Ixen ~ '" to me farm are 001100 comromrb~ "'llb t1jeentlre InltJatilll:. lbelr s~n. who Ill! ddrd anonymity (or Ihe fear olv1ctimlsallon. salIl "we are wasting here beca~ once you al < 001 practising whal you !earnt, you are weanng. ThaI is whalls happen­ing to us IiI!IlI now.' He said: "ff1e EnUg\1 State government asslsled

usafterourgradwt on froin the universities and tralnrd us a[(tw· Songhai li'aInlngCentre In I'Ilrt NoYO. The objet r:n., is thaI we win be .xposed 10 commet:Jal integratrd agriculOlll'

whereby you cultivate crops. ~ the produru 10 feed iM animals and ~ Ule waste produas 10 (eed the crops. So. when we came back from the tTiIlnlng.1he gtM:lTlmenl said "'" should come here.. ·H""""""f, rm thinkmg tI1at I( the 68 o( us tI1al

are here should really go toto totegrated a~ culture, the facllll:les on ground will nol .chl~ that purpose. What Is on ground here nolY Is only enough for tTiIlnlng and not (or comrnerdalagriculrure.l( we are to go inlO commercial agncullure,melJYeStOCk and the crop fields will not be suffiClen! ID aa:ommo­date us.1( il \\'ere where they do comrnerdallsa­tion reaJl~ one person can contTOl the entire IIvt'SIDck field fur Instance.. "So, whal we are say tog Is that the Federal

Govmunenl can maJte Enugu Sta the rood baskel of the east The land spare here can achl~ tI1at The only Ullng Is that the space has not been d .... loped for all of us to Olin. So. om. are expecting the gtM:ITIrnenl to develop more hectares. at leas( 10 hectares each. where om. can do our crop produaion. We also expect the g<M!mrnenllO ~op ar least a pen of al1~ mal producnon. Ukr pau!CJ)\ tI1at can acrom­modale up to 5000 chida!ns. for each o( us. Then we have another pen for plW'Y and another pen for 6sheI)t In thalilke. If that Is done and "'" start at thall~ If )'Ou are dol ng om.l~ you .. ill be able 10 I~ It on your own. Thal will now embrac:eemrepreneurship. But as things are now; we are just watching; "'" have nO{ Slartrd reAlly. We are doing tice pro­duction here but only LS hectares Is allocated 10 each farmer and diat Is rain fed" While appreciating the Enugu Stale gOYerll­

ment for its gesture in tralnlng mem 10 become commeroal farmers. the source implored the gOll'l!lTl men I 10 develop the fadll­ties tharwoulil enable themachl .... thatobjec· tlYe. -we waOl ID Implore thaI we are here ready to embark on comrnertlillag1irulture, both planl and animal, bul the faciliUes have not been put 10 place at all They nerd 10 get us S1artrd; \\'e are wastlng here 6eca~ once you are not prac· tidngwhatyoulearnt,youare~g. lbat Is whalls happening to us right now" he said. The SOlIItl! DOled tI1at wun enough hectares

and a functlonallrrigatlon channel. "we can produce rtceuslngraln frd and lnigatlon and wim that we can produce ~ that can be exported to othei West African counOies. We have the training; the only thmg IS thal we don't have the em""""nnent' lbe sourtt further added: "President 10natl1an

should help US through the transformation agenda of his administration. We need farm machineries. We need harrows. rtdgers. plamers.!JaM,sters and other eqwpment These mings are very Important Wh~ are talki abOul commerc!allsatlon of a ru~ lUre. ~ mings are supPOSed 10 be place I( we have all these things. then our production will be "'IY high. And i( our production is hIgh, me food martage tI1alls ravaging the counny will come to an end. We expect: the Federal GoooJMlmenlto rorne 10 our aid"

RebabUitilllon or ~ In:Igatlon Project lnVI5tIg;!tIons by The GuardLm revealed thaI me contraa for the upgrading of the dam and canallsatlon for pro!l'" lnigation of !he Ada­RIce Farm was awarded 10 BUSOOR NlG. LID, a I'Iln Harcourt basrd collSlI\lction company by the Federal Mlnlst:r)'ofWarerResollfCes In 2008 al the sum or ~ N3.S billion. The MInister of w.tter Resources, MIS. Sarah Ochekpe, had rqlO<tMIy assured thaI the Fe<:kral Govmunent was commilted 10 com­pleting the projea 10 the nearest possIble lirne,'whensltevlslred the farm In }ulythls yea!: HoweYe~ 6ndings sbowed thaI nol much had been achieved on the project as the fann­ers sIIll depend solelyon rain 10 grow their crops. Meanwhile. there YIOf'e no signs tI1at woil< was on going on th~ projea as nelmer the contractor nor lIS equipmenl was seen on site when the GuarrJian visited; and !he farm. f1Ufe worried. "Tbegovemmenlshoukl step upanicn on the

Irrigation projett In fact.govmunenlshould tenninare that contract and give It ID a finn lhatcan ""erutr it"~ and eXpeditIously; If the current contraaof' should continue. with Whal

113

Only pieces of Iron are seen where the rice mill used 10 stand

Vandaf)sed buRdinp overgrown by Irees • common Siehl il l the Adani Rice farm

om. are seeing. thac project mIght not be dellYerrd In the next three years. The contTilCtor has han­died the project lOr about (OIIT years now: If a firm Is s{"""i!ng up to fouryears 10 rehabiliClIe an 1m· gallon chailOel. how lOng did It taU the firm thaI col1.5truCled 1110 execut .. Al the rate the project Is going. thelnigatlon will no! be used even In the next dry season. So, mese are the things thaI m11~ CIte against the objea:lYe:s forwhlch W!! are here.' said one o( me graduar. Canners. lbe slow pace of the rehabiliCltloo of me irriga­tion channel had attraard the attention of the HO\lSC!of RepresenCltives which on June 7. this

year. mandacrd Its Committee on Agriculrure and Waler Resourtes "tocondua an irM.5tIga­lion surrounding the failure o( me contractor to commence work despite huge sums of money released (or the work and rnakr ~ro-

~::a~~~:\!'~,:,,:e'i'lo~ has gone In its i~gatlons has J1O( hem made public bUI what Is dear is that rehabill· CIting the dam and the canals will go a long way In Increasing the yield of the current fariners at me Cairn while the Adan! people continue 10 await the return of Ada-llke.