Why farm estates, mechanization are game-changers in agribusiness in Enugu, by Commissioner

Patrick Nwabueze Ubru, commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation Enugu State, in this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO spoke on the efforts of the state government to steer agriculture away from mere subsistence farming to a big revenue-earner that will handsomely contribute to the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) and to the gross domestic product (GDP). He spoke about the newly introduced innovations such as the farm estates, the tractor assembly company to enhance agric mechanisation, the nurturing and distribution of high-yielding seedlings, the land bank, agreement with firms to off-take farmers’ produce, among many others. Excerpts:

Kindly speak briefly on the policy of the state government on agriculture?

You can cast your mind back to pre-election, the governor was very explicit in his campaign manifesto on what he would do in the agriculture sector. He said he was going to revive agriculture- to cause a rebirth in agriculture and in doing that that agriculture must be fully mechanised, that it must go beyond subsistence farming to becoming business. He was very clear and intentional about all that. First, with the policy of land bank where we have the ambitious target of adding 300,000 hectares to the existing 115 hectares controlled by largely smallholder farmers (that made it difficult for us to even produce for our own immediate consumption). So, we needed to expand our land size in line with our enlarging population. The last time land was delineated in Enugu dates back to 1969 during the Michael Okpara era, and we cannot continue with that small size and His Excellency understood this very well. So, the land bank was a very important policy of the government and I can tell you comfortably that communities are donating land for the land bank. We have in excess of 130,000 now, and we have also allocated some portions of the land to commercial farmers. If you go to Ikem-Nkwo, where we allocated 15,000 acres to Ugwu Anama Farms Ltd – it is an agreement between the Enugu State and Ugwu Anama Farms.

As I speak to you, 2,000 hectares have been cleared; 450 hectares have been cultivated with cassava. For us, that is one of the latest single plantations of cassava that we have. You can see the resultant effect of bringing down the price of garri. Within the production of the cassava, we have also now established the cassava processing/frying points there in Ikem-Nkwo. That is to complement other processing units we have at Nenwe in Aninri LGA. And also supporting what we did between 2023 when His Excellency took over on the cassava to bio-ethanol value chain development anchored by BioSource because it is a tripartite arrangement between the state government and local government. We did a thousand hectares of cassava, projecting the TM 419 (high-yielding and disease-resistant) species. In Enugu now, that is what we have. We have also graduated to becoming a seed-multiplying state through that arrangement. We can beat our chest that we have done a number of things- this initiative of His Excellency, the land bank initiative, the Enugu produce, the cassava to bio-ethanol initiative- we are the largest producer of cassava. The Federal Ministry of Budget visited us and we took them to the site and they saw the farmland and the cassava.

We were conducted round some tractors and were told some others were being expected. The state government is planning to begin to assemble tractors in line with its policy to boost mechanized agriculture. The question is, how would the tractors be deployed and how would the beneficiaries be determined to ensure efficient deployment?

I have spoken about what we are doing already in agriculture. How do we now mechanise agriculture? That’s why the tractor assembly plant is coming up. The governor promised Enugu people of a thousand tractors- hundred heads have already arrived and another one hundred are on the way; the remaining 800 will be assembled here. The speed of work going on there is an indication that everything will be ready for commissioning in a matter of days.

Read also: Enugu farm estates: A blueprint for agricultural transformation

What will be the modalities for the distribution of the tractors? Is it going to be to political friends, party men/women?

Please, I want everybody to dissociate this government from what happened in the past. This is a different government with a different concept and approach to everything and governance generally. Now, part of the strategy is the farm estate. We have 260 farm estates that are being established and these farm estates will utilise these tractors, because in every farm estate, we have provided tractor shade and warehouse. So, those tractors will be allocated to the farm estates. And again, the government is also setting up an asset-leasing company.

You know, in the past, which was also a wonderful initiative, we had Enugu Tractor-hiring Services, but now, it is going to be private sector-driven on a large scale. An asset-leasing company that will manage these tractors, aside the tractors that would be at the farm estates. But everything will be managed so that we can trace the tractors. So that they can be geo-fenced and we know where they are. For this government, I am not afraid of anything because it is the kind of government I prayed for- it is policy-driven; it is very focused, intentional in everything it is doing. I have told you about the land bank initiative; cassava to bio-ethanol initiative and the farm estate initiative which is a game-changer in our agricultural policy in the state- we are producing far beyond our local consumption capacity, because we are taking care of the entre value chain, be it cassava, cocoa, oil palm, soy bean, cashew, etc.

What is the state of the farm estates that were recently launched; when are they all taking off?

You know, we have the prototype that has taken off; that is where we are going to do our input distribution. All the farmers are coming to that farm estate. We no longer go to Okpara Square; we will go to the farm estate because that is the future. We have about eight of them that have already started. The farm estate initiative is to a great extent our solution to the farmers-herders clash, because farmers will be clustered in a particular place and also be provided with security. This is an end-to-end approach. They will be provided with local security; the farmers will also be provided with improved seeds; even access to market because the Enugu State Marketing Company will also serve as an off-taker- they will sign off-take agreement with the farmers. So, you won’t say you are producing but you are not having access to market. And government is providing tractors- so, the issue of drudgery; the issue of looking at agriculture as a tedious venture no longer arises. Because it is very important that that happens so that we have standard produce for export. As it stands today, we have started exporting cassava to China, but we need to standardize our production and that can only happen when we have an organized PPP arrangement.

To also be fair to the people of Enugu State, they have also given the governor all the support that he needs, because they have seen the sincerity of leadership in Enugu State. If you get to Ada Rice, government within one-year rehabilitated AdaRice. The canal was in bad shape when we came in, but we have rehabilitated the canal that will give rice all the year-round farming season. We have also recreated the Obinna Bridge that was an impediment to farmers to get into AdaRice. The government has done it with collaboration with our partners. What we are looking forward to in the nearest future is our 10,000-hectare ranch project in collaboration with L-PRES (World Bank agency), but government is taking a huge chunk; that is one of our strategies to increase our meat production.

Those palm plantations that were established during the Michael Okpara era; what is the government doing about them?

In Enugu we have Enugu State United Palm Production Limited. If you go there, rehabilitation is going on; it is sitting on 7,698 hectares. We have revived it. We are now replanting because some of those palms are over 40, 45 years, there is a replacement of those palms with better yielding variety and there is also expression of the farm, the same thing we are doing with cashew industry with 110 hectares in Eha and 470 hectares in another community. Cashew and cassava centres have been established in places like Nara, Adani, Ngwo, Orba, Agubuowa, Amechi, Ikpa Market-Nsukka, Udi, Eha-Amufu, Oduma and Akwarri in Eha-Alumona.

The government has signed agreement with the National Cashew Association who are now currently constructing the pre-fabricated domestic warehouse for cashew to off take the produce from them. If you go to that Premier Cashew, we also have a section of it for livestock which we have written to the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development for collaboration in rehabilitating them; inclusive of the one in Nsukka Local Government Area and the one at Uzo Uwani cattle ranch. While we are hoping that our collaboration with the Federal Government will happen, the state is moving ahead to establish a mega ranch.

Apart from the security arrangement that the state government has put in place for the farm estates and for other organised farming activities, what is the security guarantee for other farmers in the state engaged in subsistence farming, because it is said that insecurity has been a threat to meaningful farming activities across the country?

This government has zero tolerance for insecurity both in urban and rural areas. The case of Uzo Uwani, the moment we heard about the incident there, the government moved in immediately. If you go to Uzo Uwani now, you will see the presence of Distress Response Squad (DRS) with their vehicles, and all the vehicles have cameras to capture any incident that is happening. The government has also activated the police barracks at the camp in Uzo Uwani. Apart from what the state government is doing, the local government has also activated all the local vigilance groups; there is also close manning of flash points by security men. Now, come back to the rural communities- I come from Uzo Uwani- this security issue is not for state or local government alone; it is for everybody. With the support of the state government, everybody has gone to secure his place. It is good to have a government that has sense. We are going to farm without any disturbance; we can’t run away from the farm. Don’t also forget these are issues that have lingered for so many years.

But with the coming of this government, things are changing very fast, and a lot of things are being put in shape. If you go to Adani in Uzo-Uwani, you will see farmers clamouring to get portions of land. Every day they come to the ministry to get a portion of land at AdaRice to cultivate their rice; so, what does that tell you? That even in the face of what you hear or see on the social media that are not totally true, they are going about their business. Again, you need to put it on record that government is also organising their farm in well-organised way. We are also signing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with private organisations such as Fung Tai Engineering Nigeria Limited to develop 7,221 hectares in Uzo Uwani. They are mobilizing to start clearing and also to have their own security strategies and apparatus. The government is applying both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies in the fight against insecurity in the state.

What is the government policy on cocoa production?

There is Enugu State Cocoa Development initiative, the governor has approved and given directives that in less than three years our target is to have 3,000 hectares across the state planted with cocoa. This is just a pilot because we have comparative advantage in the production of cocoa, only that our people have not paid attention to it. But this government is paying attention to it. We are currently nursing 200,000 seedlings of cocoa at our nursery site on 20 hectares. Those cocoa seedlings are going to be planted at the farm estates. Every local government within that coast has been mandated to do one hundred hectares of cocoa plantation and you know what that means.

How would the state government ensure constant supply of quality seeds and seedlings to farmers?

We are building a seed gallery. The essence of agriculture is the quality of seed being planted. It is the quality of seed that determines output. That’s why we set up the seed lab so that every seed that comes into Enugu must be tested for the potency of that seed and we also set up seed gallery. I took part in the African Seed Connect last year and I told them we needed the presence of a seed company in Enugu State. The seed companies are now coming directly to Enugu so that we can trace where our seeds are coming from and the potency of the seeds.

Do you have the database of farmers and their associations in Enugu State?

When we came in there was nothing like database; so, at the instance of His Excellency, we opened a Registration Desk and began to register all the farmers of Enugu State. So, we have 67,000 farmers already registered with their names, phone numbers, their gender, age, everything. They are smallholder farmers and their cooperatives. We have registered 51 cooperatives and 67,000 small holder farmers across the value chain, up to getting the geo-coordinate of their farms; their NIN, etc. This is also what the federal government is adopting. How can you say you want to intervene and reach out to them if you do not know them? From the data, they get everything that the state wants to give out to them. The farmers do not need to know the governor, commissioner of anybody to get inputs. What they need to do is just to come and register as a farmer; we call them to come and take whatever they want that the governor is giving to them to support what they are doing. You do not need to know me as the commissioner to get government’s assistance that you deserve.