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Monarch cautions against reliance on Zimbabwean farmers
Monday, September 18, 2006 - NIGERIA GUARDIAN
A TRADITIONAL ruler in Kwara State, Dr. Haliru Yahayah, has asked state governments to be wary of using Zimbabwean farmers to develop agriculture.

Yahayah, who is the Emir of Tshonga in Edu Local Council of Kwara State, feared that the move by other states to engage foreigners in the sector could harm the interest of local farmers.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend in Yshonga, that if all the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) go into commercial farming, local farmers would be put out of business.

The Emir said although if managed well, such an effort could lead to more production of food but warned that chances were that it could also result in massive output without the necessary value added.

He was reacting to the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Saka Onimago's remarks, that there was an urgent need to replicate what was on the ground in Tshonga in other states of the federation.

The commissioner said Nasarawa State had also invited some of the farmers from Zimbabwe and they had commenced agricultural production in Panda development area.

He added that Kaduna and some other state governments had planned a similar exercise, which would come on stream before the end of the year.

The Kwara State government and commercial farmer's union from Zimbabwe in July 2004, signed a collaborative agriculture agreement.

In pursuance of the agreement, the government undertook to grant a leasehold of agricultural land approximately 1,000 hectares to each of the 13 white Zimbabwean farmers.

Yahayah said before embarking on such venture to achieve growth rate, what was on ground must be measured while government must empower local farmers because of their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said the government must first work towards increasing the local farmers' production, with adequate provision of modern farm inputs for high yields. He said the greatest challenge for now should be creating an enabling environment for local farmers, review the agricultural policy that included availability of essential input, capacity building, technology, rural infrastructure and access to funds.