Government intervention needed in produce marketing

Government authorities have been urged to bring back the agriculture produce marketing boards and provision of point-of-sale services to save large-scale farms in Nigeria.

Mike Elechi, chief executive, Vintage Farms and Products Limited, located in Elele, Rivers State, said the lack or inadequate outlets for sales of produce was stifling production by causing wastes to big-time farmers, saying Nigerian universities had proved incapable of doing proper soil testing for long-term farming.

Speaking with BusinessDay in his expansive farms in Elele, Elechi, said the problem bulk producers have is distribution and point-of-sale, saying the farmers should be able to concentrate on production while other agencies take the responsibility of the sales of the produce, as was the case in South Africa and other advanced countries. “I was in South Africa for an agricultural show and saw what they did. The farmer produces, somebody or an agency comes to pick it up, weighs it and, sends it for packaging, and to the market built by the Johannesburg city and sells after packaging. The farmer is only a producer; our problem remains the point for sales,” Elechi said.

Calling for return of the produce board system, Elechi regretted the role of market unions and the police. “I used to produce okra, cucumber and water melon. They carried them to Mile 3 Market in Port Harcourt. When my driver got there the market police arrested him that he was not a union member. Can you imagine? By the time he brought them back they were all rotten, that is the problem and that is why I don’t produce water melon, cucumber and okra again.”

According to him, produce boards have a huge role to play, as the ministry of trade and commerce had big roles to play also, saying “they should be made to go out and do their job. That is why they are there, that is why the ministry is there. What is the function of the staff there if they don’t go and meet the farmers?”

He said he served for two months as permanent secretary in that ministry and saw rot, and just as he was about to change things, he was removed. Taking a swipe at young graduates, he said they were sceptical. “I have them in my fish farm (IT ones). I have seen what they are doing; some of them are not serious. They just want to pass through here just to get their papers and go. Even those undergoing National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme are just here to mark time and go. Only one of them is serious here, he is the manager for the farm. He actually produces, and does everything on fishery. Before then, I used to get consultants from the Northern part of the country to do it. The problem is there is no encouragement from the Nigerian government.”

Explaining their attitude, he declared: “Farming has no profit in Nigeria. That is why young graduates do not go into farming. And my experience here is that the highest challenge of a farmer is human capital and not finance. Whether the young graduate or the labourer, nobody wants to be a farmer. Every person is looking on oil and politics and that is the problem.”

The government does not encourage those who are into agribusiness because, “if you sell your products definitely you would want to plant more but when you produce and you do not sell and you have people working for you, they must be paid,” he said.

On loans, he was even more sceptical. “They tell you that they give loans. It is just political loans. People who benefit from it are those who do not have an acre of farm land.”

He was also sad that there was no place to do proper soil test in Nigeria, except to go to South Africa, saying he tried most of the universities around and they failed, even when he was a permanent secretary, as the tests were required to do long-term farming of some crops such as pineapple.

By: Ignatius Chukwu & Saby Elemba