How 10 biggest farm owners contribute to Nigeria’s food sufficiency

 

By Nneka Nwogwugwu, Abuja

Production of Food and cash crops in Nigeria have not only been a sole responsibility of the Federal government because of some positive contributions by private businesses owned by prominent Nigerians.

Unaware to some Nigerians, different foods, livestock and sea foods are being produced by most of these farms which are owned by prominent Nigerians who have aided in local production of foods, thus contributing to Nigeria’s food security.

These farms include: Ebele Integrated Farms Limited, Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Ltd, Atiku Abubakar Farms, Maizube Farms, Dangote farms Limited, Anadariye farms, Sebore farms, Kereksuk Rice Farm, Nagari Group and Adapalm mills Nigeria limited.

Below is a compilation by Naturenews, of 10 biggest farms and owners who have contributed to Nigeria’s food sufficiency.

1.Ebele Integrated farms Limited is a farm owned by the Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan. It was founded in 2015 and located at Aviation Village, behind the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to a report by Daily Trust in 2016, the farmland, measuring 95.88 hectares was specifically allocated to Ebele Integrated Farms Limited by FCTA on March 8, 2012.

Records at the commission indicated that the nature of business the company was registered to execute are: “To carry on the business of agricultural and mechanical farming in all its branches (which include but not limited to) crop farming, rearing of livestock, feed milling, arable and fruit farming, manufacturing and distribution of agric products, flour merchants, poultry farming, animal husbandry, fish farming, deep sea fishing, trawling and to sell and deal in same etc.”

The farm sells more than 8,000 kilogrammes of fish to wholesale buyers on a weekly basis. The fishes are divided into the large-sized ones which weigh 2kg and above, medium-sized that weigh somewhere between 1kg and 2kg and the small-sized which weigh below a kilogramme.

2.Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited was established in 1979 by the former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The farms offer some of the best poultry products in the market along with pork, rabbit and grasscutter to consumers. They also provide tools, machinery and services to help grow agri-business for small scale business owners.

It is located at Km 5 Idiroko road, behind General Hospital Ota. P.O. box 90 Ota, Sango Ota Ogun state and the production of agricultural goods is carried out on more than 30 thousand hectares of land.

3.Another farm contributing to Nigeria’s food sufficiency is the farm established by former Vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar.

The former vice president, who runs chains of businesses, delved into agriculture business by acquiring 2,500 hectares of land near his home country, Yola, according to a report by Business Insider, Pulse Nigeria in 2018.

Atiku who is also the owner of Adama beverages, also opened Chicken Cottage – an international fast food brand in Yola. Four years ago, Atiku on a visit to his farm, said,  " On my recent visit to my farm, I was introduced to our new brood of ostriches and chicken. We are constantly working to improve the pace of growth, which is important for food security."

 “In such an economy a major decline in oil revenues, for instance, will have some impact on the economy and the nation’s fiscal health, but not in a manner that becomes a national crisis.’’

Atiku also disclosed his feed mill in his facebook post in 2014. He wrote, ‘’I'm currently in the farm just outside Yola, inspecting progress with the feed mill. We're almost done!

‘’The hard work of coordinating feedstock production with local farmers has also begun. ‘Let's not just talk about agriculture. We must lead by example, and drive local investment.’’

4.Dangote Tomatoes Processing Limited, owned by the younger brother of Africa’s richest man, Mr. Sani Dangote, in January, 2020, unveiled a N2.8 billion greenhouse nursery in Kano to supply the best quality tomato seedlings to Nigerian farmers.

Speaking on the project in Lagos, Sani Dangote said the nursery is designed to use the automated Pat Moose planting technology, the first of its kind in Nigeria.

According to him, the plant has the capacity to process 350 million tonnes of hybrid tomato seedlings per season enabling the planting of 12,000 hectares of tomato farm.

 “We have created capacity to triple tomato production, attaining self-sufficiency in tomato production as well as potentially exporting surplus to neighboring countries.

“Furthermore, this nursery will produce the highest quality tomato seedling available meaning that the farmers can grow the highest yield tomatoes. Currently, the yields produced by Nigerian farmers are less than the global standard. As a result, farmers will be able to earn more income from selling higher volumes of harvests each season.

“Nigeria is on a trajectory to becoming self-sufficient in rice, tomatoes and poultry production. This means that millions of jobs will be created for her citizens,” Sani Dangote explained.

5.General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s farm, Maizube Farms in Sabon Daga, along Minna-Bida Road, in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State is a farm that produces dairy products.

According to a Niger State journalist, George Daniya in his report in 2016, said ‘’Maizube Farms is a blessing to Niger State and the world; it has been a source of employment to many and nourishment for many in the state and beyond. Yoghurt, one of the products from his farm, is a probiotic food, a detoxifying agent, very rich in calcium, and therefore good for the bones.’’

Asides diary production, he also cultivates oranges, grapes and bananas. His farm also runs seminars and workshops on soil testing, horticulture, dairy farming, among others. He said that his farm deals with both private and public agriculture establishments.

He set up Maizube Primary School, situated inside the farm, to provide tuition-free, qualitative education for the children of his host community as corporate social responsibility.

6.Anadariya farms is a large livestock farm owned by the young and enterprising Usman Dantata Jr. The large poultry farm, which is located in Tiga, Bebeji local government area of Kano State, was started by the late business sage of Kano, Alhaji Usman Sanusi Dantata of the Dantata dynasty, in the 1960s. Anadariya Farms thrived well in poultry produce. For instance, it was noted for exporting poultry birds and eggs to Saudi Arabia twice a week using a Boeing 747 plane.

The commercial operations of the farm include a hatchery, production of broilers and layers, the production of feeds and the processing and sale of poultry products.

It also has an online shop (shop.anadariya.com) where it sells its products to consumers.

7.  Sebore farms is another mechanized farm in Nigeria owned by former governor of Adamawa state, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd). The farm runs a sustainable crossbreeding programme of his local cattle also in the production of horticultural crops. Nyako owns the largest mango farm in Nigeria, leading to his being popularly known as Baba Mai Mangoro (BMM). Exotic mangoes from his mango orchard of 50, 000 trees were first exported to Europe in 1993.

8. Rotimi Williams, a former journalist, is the owner of Kereksuk Rice Farm, the second largest commercial rice farm in Nigeria by land size. His farm, which is situated in Nasarawa state in northern Nigeria, currently sits on 45,000 hectares and employs more than 600 natives of Nasarawa.

Williams who resigned from Euromoney Magazine, currently owns the second largest rice farm in Nigeria, in an interview with Forbes in 2016, revealed that he learnt farming on google.

He said, ‘’As everyone thinks you need a special degree in agriculture to be a farmer, but I always tell them the truth, I learnt it all on Google.  I downloaded every article I could find on rice production, consumed it and then practiced it in the fields.

Kereksuk Rice Farm annually produces over 8,000 metric tons of rice a year.

9. Nagari Integrated Farms, a branch of Nagari group, owned by the former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is a farm that is dedicated to providing quality services in Dairy, Fresh Farm Produce, Abattoir and Flour Milling.

Nagari Group, with its operational corporate headquarters in Keffi, Nasarawa State, has expanded and reinvented itself over the decades to become one of Africa's most dynamic and reputable far.

Nagari Integrated Dairy is one of the farms currently being operated in the country on a commercial level. It is reputed to be one of the largest single integrated dairy farms in Africa. It covers 1,200 hectares of land and has 7,000 Holstein cattle.

10. Finally a major source of palm oil production in Nigeria is the Adapalm mills Nigeria limited, established in 1979,in Ohaji Imo State Nigeria.

Adapalm, a vast area of oil palm plantation, established by the first Civilian Governor of Imo State, the late Chief Sam Mbakwe, was aimed at raising the economy of the state, but the estate, now known as Imo Palm Plantation, is overgrown by weeds, while every other ancillary to it is grounded.