Employs over 600 Nigerians, hopes to get govt support

By Gabriel Ewepu – Keffi

This was made known by the National Coordinator and Managing Director, NFGCS, Retson Tedheke, while briefing journalists on the journey and progress made so far on the cooperative’s 3, 500 hectares of land sitting in a village called Ga’ate, in Sabon Gida of Kukona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

According to Tedheke who is an ex-militant and agitator of the Niger Delta region said the farm project commenced in 2017 after President Muhammadu Buhari charged young people to go into agriculture, and that the vision made him leave activism and militancy to form a formidable agricultural farmers’ cooperative and that led to the establishment of the over 3, 500 hectare farmland of mixed cropping at Ga’ate.

He also explained that in 2017, the cooperative was able to approach Kiya-Kiya Bits Limited, which is a lending alternative that lent it N1.5 million used in clearing about 10 hectares of farmland they leased from the community around the farm including staff welfare.

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He further stated that the membership of the cooperative cuts across the 36 states of the federation including Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, and others.

It would be recalled that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, recently visited the farm and evaluated the investment in the farm as worth N1 billion, which is obviously over N2 billion worth with evidence to show.

He said: “The N1.5 million was to start a foundation because as a Cooperative you need to bring Nigerians from all over the world to join and become members of the cooperative, that was the objective for us, so Kiya-Kiya became a foundation upon which the cooperative stood, they gave us N1.5 million which was supposed to take care of about 10 days of clearing of the land.

“A tractor clears a hectare of land per day, so with N1.5 million, our calculation was that we are going to clear at least 10 hectares from the 3 hectares the community gave to us and the 50 hectares we lease immediately.

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“So, we paid N1.2 million for bulldozers and we had the rest coming in for staff welfare and the rest. Before the end of May 2017, members of the cooperative had contributed over 10 million, just between April and May from N1.5 million, we generated over N1 million, before August, other members within the cooperative who believed in the dream had brought in over N100 million within a period of 4 months. So, N1.5 million was the originating seed that was how we started.”

According to him, there are over 1000 animals as livestock, 100 tonnes per day rice mill, construction of facilities to accommodate 10,000 animals soon.

He also disclosed that the Cooperative is working assiduously to partner with the Nasarawa State government to expand the kenaf farm to 1, 000 hectares that would be used for the production of POP lines, material for plumbing, jute bags, and others. He added that the fish farm will soon be expanded to the production of that will range in thousands.

He explained that since they came in for the farm business there has not been farmer-herder clash because the cattle in the farm are taken care of by Fulanis because they understand the cattle and they also provide security, also fine is been paid by any herder whose cows stray and destroy farms, and so the herders are careful since from beginning they were made to be part of the agreement which they strictly adhere to.

He also said there are no interventions from the government yet at both the federal, state and local government levels. According to him, the Governor of Nasarawa State has promised to put the access road in shape and the cooperative is working on how to connect the farm with power supply, meanwhile the farm is running of diesel-powered plants daily.

He added that the rice produced in the farm is one of the best in the country with demand ranging from over 2, 500 bags of rice called Gaate Gold.

However, according to the NFGCS boss in 2017, the cooperative planted only maize, whose harvest was, challenged crash in price, but the shock was absorbed after Kiya-kiya Bit Limited came in to support.

Meanwhile, the Head of Risk, NFGCS, Abiodun Olajide, said that “The first year we cultivated about 2, 500 farmland of maize. In the second year of farming we diversified that into beni-seed, yam, soya beans, knave, rice, turmeric and in the last two years we have been cultivating about 3, 500 farmlands of mixed crops.

“We are also into production as well because all of the things we harvest we process them; drying, cleaning, bagging, and making them ready for off-taking and as well for export.

“Since inception, the cooperative has not received any form of loan or funding from the mainstream financial institutions. All we have had from them in that community are just promises. Many of them have visited and assessed the work on the ground. There has been no financial intervention from Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.”

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