Business Eye

Thursday, 07 June 2012 | Administrator

Pastoral resolve (PARE) set to address challenges of pastoralists

Bature , 57 of Okari village in Nassarawa state, says their cattle have no place to graze, “everywhere have been fenced by farm owners and land owners”. Every day, 21 million nomadic pastoralists like Bature are faced with not only the problem of poor access to grazing land for livestock but with the anguish of insecurity, conflicts with farming communities, poor access to water, inadequate access to health and education among others.

The Pastoral Resolve (PARE), a charity organi...

Re-visiting the Nigerian textile industry

Monday, 05 March 2012 | Yomi Ojo

The foremost textile mill in Nigeria, the Kaduna Textile Mill, started operations in 1956 in Kaduna. According to available data, by 1987 the Nigerian textile market had grown to be the third largest in Africa, attracting investment from India and China, with over 170 vibrant textile mills and about 600,000 skilled and unskilled labour earning their living through it. This golden era saw the sector boasting of an annual turnover of $8.95 billion and generating 25 percent of the manufacturing Gro...

New policy on agriculture will be helpful to the economy

Sunday, 22 January 2012 | Administrator

If you are a farmer, the moment you've been waiting for is around the corner. And if you are an unemployed graduate, the job that has eluded you for years could soon sprout up in this sector: agriculture. Government's pronouncements in this year's budget present a new vista of hope to all, but more than words will be needed to make the intention a reality.

After many years of living in denial and prevarication, the Nigerian government has finally come to terms with the importance of agriculture i...

Time To Restore A Lost Glory

Wednesday, 09 November 2011 | By Chris Eze

Despite the overbearing presence of crude oil in Nigeria's revenue profile, cocoa has managed to remain a significant contributor to the nation's foreign exchange stream and holding on to its position as the leading non-oil revenue earner. In 2010 for instance exports of raw and processed cocoa, as well as related products, accounted for 35 percent out of a total of $2.32 billion non-oil revenue earned by the country that year. It has remained the second-biggest foreign exchange earner for Nige...

A Boost For Agriculture

Wednesday, 01 June 2011 | Frank Onuoha

The lingering crisis of non-availability of fertilizer to farmers might soon be a thing of the past if the recent move by Notore Chemical Industries is anything to go by

For many years, both small and large scale farmers have complained of their inability to access affordable fertiliser to aid crop production. The Federal Government has equally tried to subsidise fertiliser to make it more affordable. In 2010, the Federal Government spent N22.30 billion to subsidise 900,000 tonnes of fertilizer, ...

Central Bank goes to the Farms

Thursday, 19 May 2011 | Frank Onuoha

The agric sector of the economy is set to witness a huge boost as financial institutions increase lending to domestic players in the sector

On Tuesday 5, April 2011 the Bankers Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, shortly after its 302nd meeting, held at the apex bank's headquarters in Abuja, disclosed that the total loan portfolio of Deposit Money Banks in the country available to the agricultural sector was now 2%, up from 1%. The destination, according to the Governor of the Central Bank ...

Africa's Food Crisis: Priority should be local needs, not foreign exports

Sunday, 24 April 2011 | Frank Onuoha

Robert Kouton, Director of Information, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Benin Republic bares his mind in an interview with Business Eye's Frank Onuoha on Benin Republic's efforts in facing down hunger

Why Benin Republic is turning to agriculture.

It is very difficult to say because almost everything is going down. The people are seeking a way out and so they think it is better for them to go to agricultural production like the cultivation of cotton, cashew and bananas because it is more con...

A Looming food Crisis

Thursday, 03 March 2011 | Onuoha Frank

Drastic situations, they say demands drastic action. The European Union, EU, leaders gave vent to this saying on Tuesday 22nd February, 2011, when they gathered Brussels, Belgium to vote on admitting genetically modified material into animal feed import to cushion the effect of rising global food prices. Analysts say the move could herald a new shift in the bloc's attitude to biotechnology as it has maintained until now, a zero-tolerance for genetically modified foods or imports.

In a related de...

FG and Kwara State are unfair to Local Farmers

Tuesday, 29 March 2011 | Frank Onuoha

Dr. Ezekiel Okeade Idowu, Associate Professor of Agriculture Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He spoke with Business Eye’s Frank Eleanya on the challenges of the Nigerian Agricultural sector and the failure of successive governments to give clear and sustainable policy direction.

BE: What is the mandate of the agriculture economist?

As an agric economist, we manage the resources in agriculture from production up to the consumer levels, resources that are used for production, resourc...