Industry watcher x-rays FG’s fertiliser policy
The agricultural policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria, especially its effort at ending the age-long corrupt system of fertiliser distribution, has been commended by Friday Ejam, CEO of Jubuckz Nigeria Limited. Ejam gave the commendation at a four-day national workshop on food security which was jointly organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Federal Ministry of Health and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation at Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“For decades, the rich and powerful hijacked the subsidised fertilisers distribution. Government was not subsidising farmers; instead, it was subsidising corruption. High quality seeds and fertilisers that farmers needed to raise their farm productivity were taken over by the elite, the rich and politically powerful. Today, the story has changed; the government developed the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) that provided fertiliser and other farm inputs directly to farmers, thereby eliminating the role of middleman, where the corrupt practises resided,” he said.
He wants the government to attract the youths into the agricultural sector by collaborating with commercial banks to provide loans at single digit rates as well as to make them to have access to land. “I must further commend the Federal Government of Nigeria for programmes like YouWin, Sure-P and others like them. However, the Federal Government should ensure more agric-based entrepreneurs to join the sector. In addition to online registrations, YouWin and Sure-P should have offices in all the states to make these programmes more accessible to more young Nigerians,” he said.
Ejam said he had been in the forefront of those championing for the adoption of agribusiness as the major driver of the Nigerian economic growth, saying that Nigerian youths are losing out of the enormous opportunities in the sector due to a negative perception towards farming.
He believes that government policies should play a leading role in encouraging young people to go into agribusiness.
“Government should establish youth agriculture business investment initiative in the country. Take the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for instance, can serve as a platform. Instead of young graduates wasting an entire year doing next to nothing, the government should ensure that these youths get the needed training in both the operation and business of agriculture. By the time they finish the service year, you’ll discover that they would not head to the cities for white-collar jobs that are simply not there, they are ready for business,” he said.
The large-scale commercial farmer further said that access to funding, land and so forth were all within the power of the government to provide in order to encourage the youths.
Ejam, who spent close to a decade in the banking industry before he voluntarily resigned to explore the extremely large opportunities in agribusiness, said the Nigerian agricultural sector was rapidly transforming into a modernised, productive and competitive force. “The available opportunities in agriculture through agribusiness SMEs are enormous. The value chain in agribusiness consists of but not limited to farming, processing, preservation, storage, packaging, distribution, breeding, farm machinery, transportation, marketing, seed supply, and so forth.”
The Jubuckz boss believes that the energy, knowledge and enthusiasm of the youthful population hold the key that will unlock and boost food supply as well as grow the Nigerian economy. “The nature of global agricultural market is changing in terms of technology, quality and standards. I am one of those that believe that it is time for the bulk of the youths, many of whom are well educated and entrepreneurial, to step up and play key roles in the emerging opportunities. Agribusiness is a veritable platform to do that,” he said.
According to the entrepreneur, Jubockz Nigeria Limited is an integrated agribusiness company established to explore opportunities presented by virtue of Nigeria’s journey towards becoming agriculturally industrialized economy. He revealed that the company is focused on plantain farming and its food derivatives. This decision, he said, was borne out of a strong believe that plantain farming can boost job creation, youth empowerment and ultimately wealth creation.
Speaking of his company, Ejam revealed that Jubockz was started out of passion and drive to make a difference. The company, he said, has metamorphosed into a large plantain plantation of over 40 acres and still expanding, providing high quality nursery plantain suckers to support new farmers and processing of green/unripe plantains into African plantain flakes popularly known as “elubo agbagba” to prolong the shelf life and increase the economic value of plantain.
“At Jubockz plantain farm, we cultivate high yielding, disease resistant and early maturity plantain variety. We have plantain suckers in large quantity for supply. And our team of experience staff is available to handle the required labour, ranging from bush clearing, burning and so forth” he said. Jubockz also handle planting and after planting services like weeding, pruning, pest control using herbicide if required, application of fertilizers, pre-harvesting activities, actual harvesting process as well as sales and marketing of farm produce. Jubockz Nigeria Limited are also into the production of a brand of plantain flour known as JKB Plantain Flour as well as the training of would-be farmers who are interested in agribusiness,” he said.
FRANK UZUEGBUNAM