Cross River invests N6bn, begins massive cultivation of farm produce

• Clears 12,000 ha for rice, cassava, maize, wheat 
• To engage 4,000 as onboarding out-growers 

Ben Eguzozie, in Calabar

Cross River, a littoral state has flagged off land clearing and development of 12,000 hectares of farmland for onboarding out-growers. The out-growers would cultivate rice, maize, cassava, wheat, coffee and cowpea.

Cross River is a major producer of many agro products such as: rice, cassava, banana, maize, pineapple, cocoa, timber, among many others. Coffee is grown in small quantities around the Obudu Mountain area. So far, not much investment has been put into these by any government in the state. This time, Governor Bassey Otu is set to take coffee production up the scale.

The governor could also look into the other crops, some of which grow and waste in the bushes in Boki, Bekwarra, Obudu, Ogoja, Etung, before they could be taken to the market, due to bad and inaccessible roads in the LGAs.

With N6 billion as seed investment, Governor Otu says at least 4,000 people would be engaged in the agribusiness project as onboarding out-growers.

The governor, speaking at Efeidem community in Odukpani Local Government Area, by far the largest LGA in landmass in the state, said the farming project was a partnership with the Nigerian Agricultural Mechaniation and Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL). NAMEL, as the technical partner of the project, would provide the machineries needed.

Nigeria grows two coffee varieties — Arabica, grown on the Mambilla plateau (covering Taraba and Plateau states), and Obudu; while Robusta is produced in a number of low altitude places. But only the Mambilla plateau coffee is prominent, where freshly and carefully selected Arabica beans are planted by trained farmers on the plateau in Taraba State. Here, the beans are nurtured, processed clinically and stored to preserve its aroma, taste, flavour and nutrients.

With a total land size of 2.2 million hectares, and with three agro-ecological regions, of which 1.8 million hectares is arable and suitable for a variety of crops, Cross River has the largest landmass in the entire South-South geopolitical zone.

For Governor Otu, his administration’s priority is to strengthen human capacity in agriculture, health, education and wealth creation, and making agriculture the fulcrum of the state’s economy.

“This project would take over 4,000 people out of the unemployment market. Wealth is going to be created in such an unprecedented manner. Gone are the days where Cross River is referred to as a poor state,” he said.

He assured the community the government was not coming to take their land, but rather “coming to empower you in a way that you will make money, as well as all the contributors to the value-chain would also make money. It is going to be a win-win for all”.

He reiterated his administration’s mantra of ‘People First,’ saying, no matter what a government does, if the people are not happy and strong, then the community, state or nation cannot grow.

A ‘son of the soil,’ he hails from Adiabo in Odukpani LGA. He charged his kinsmen to take the agribusiness project seriously, assuring that there are technical and extension officials who would be on ground to make sure the correct chemicals were applied to boost yield, to derive maximum benefits.

Recently, the state undertook soil investigation and mapping using its geographic information agency, CR-GIA, to determine what grows where. The governor believes the move is part of his administration’s move to launch Cross River into economic prosperity through agriculture.

Gill Nsa, chief press secretary to the governor, said the exercise is part of the state government’s ‘Project Grow’ initiative, a public private partnership (PPP) project facilitated by the state government to empower 100,000 agribusinesses, MSMEs and smallholder farmers (SHF) up to 40 percent youths and women across the 18 LGAs of the state.

Dennis Ikpali of the Project Grow, the driver of the initiative, said market dynamics drive the project to stimulate private sector investments in key agricultural value-chains — rice, maize, aquaculture, cassava and animal fodder.