…farmers ignorant of different levels, components of agric financing – Dr Akinwunmi

By Gabriel Ewepu

AS Nigerians yearn for more production and farmers hope for increased productivity, Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria, TOPAN, has urged the Federal Government to focus on the tomato value chain and other horticultural commodities.

Speaking during a media briefing ahead of a conference on tomato value chain set to hold on March 22, 2024 in Abuja, the National President, TOPAN, Oyeleke Job, explained that the conference and exhibition are basically to draw government’s attention to the tomato value chain.

According to Job, over 600 participants are being expected from different States to attend the Conference, and it would be an avenue and opportunity to address issues concerning the small scale farmers including transportation, input supply, policies, and also exhibition by different companies.

He said: “We want to make sure that the government pays attention to the tomato value chain and the entire horticulture sector in Nigeria because the government is not really paying more attention to the sector, and this sector can provide a huge income base to Nigeria’s national income.

“So this conference is calling the attention of government that this sector can also be a very good sector that can increase the country’s GDP when it comes to production, improved production if more effort is put into the sector on increasing the productivity of small scale farmers.

“Also, we want to show the transportation system how it can reduce the cost of market linkage between one state to the other.

“We have keyed into the emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu on the agricultural sector, but what we are demanding is that the government and other stakeholders should focus attention on the horticultural subsector.

“Our conference is to bring to the knowledge of the President that horticultural subsector has the potential to generate jobs, foreign exchange and boost food security including increasing the GDP if attention is given to the farmers in it.”

Meanwhile, the TOPAN boss said the current tomato production in Nigeria by small scaleh farmers stands at 26 tonnes per hectare, of which 1,500 hectares of tomato are being cultivated in Kano, and will be harvested by the end of March 2024.

However, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Financing and Partnerships Africa Limited, Finpar, Emmanuel Akinwumi, pointed out that most farmers in Nigeria are not aware of different levels and components of agric financing, therefore have been limited to old sources of finance.

Akinwumi also said his company is going to showcase various streams of agricultural financing at the conference in order to create awareness of different components of finance in the sector.

“The role of my company for the oncoming event is embedded in the name of the company; financing and partnerships. These are the two areas and components that I believe are very relevant to the development of agribusiness and food security in the country.

“On the financing side, I want to come around and network, and encourage our farmers and other stakeholders that there are different levels, components of financing that our people don’t explore.

“For instance, when they talk about financing, their mind goes to what can we get from the government as handouts? Maybe it comes from fertilizer or other inputs. The other issue is they think about where can we get loans? Whereas there other areas of financing that are well known to them, one of those areas is equity. There are some private equity companies that are interested in collaborating with farmers and practitioners to make their life less miserable.

“Those equity holders do not only bring money to the table. They bring technology, expertise and best practices around the world to the table, and they encourage small scale farmers to make them feel important.

“They encourage collaboration like in TOPAN, it is supposed to be a cooperative kind of arrangement where they come together and do great things together because two heads are better than one.

“TOPAN as I see it, has a lot of members. The presence of my company will encourage them to upscale to become economic partners instead of social partners because they are like social partners.

“When they become economic partners, they can become shareholders of a commercially vibrant entity that will have access to facilities, inputs, technology, market linkage and they can do great together the way the cooperative society in Italy owns the largest tomato factory in Europe, and it is owned by farmers and are the shareholders and such can be replicated in Nigeria as well.

“TOPAN is a cooperative, and through Finpar, we can give them advisory services and support them to become a commercially vibrant organisation, and proud owner of a tomato factory in the nearest future and that is what we want them to be”, he added.

Meanwhile, the Director, Center for Food Safety and Agricultural Research, British-Canadian University, Obudu, Cross River State, Prof Qurisstuberg Amua, explained that it became necessary for the Institute to disseminate its findings and proffer solutions to challenges in the sector.

“We have carried out socio-cultural and scientific research on the disadvantages that local and indigenous farmers face. For example, you cannot improve agriculture or improve food production without improving the livelihood of the farmers who are the people that crop the crops. So we will be coming with that knowledge.

“We will also be coming with the platform to educate all stakeholders on the areas of intervention that we upped the game in food production, in agricultural activities, such that government and other stakeholders will stop beating or punching into the air but punching at the right targets that will produce the right results to change the narrative of the food challenge in terms of scarcity in terms of quality within the Nigerian context”, Amua said.