NIGERIA HAS ENOUGH FOOD: THE PROBLEM IS MIDDLEMAN

News Ghana
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A lot has been said about agriculture being the next mainstay of the Nigerian economy. All sorts of economic pontificates on agriculture have inundated the nations’ economic space and yet the common man spends a large percentage of his income on food. A family of five spends average of N15000 of his N18000 minimum wage on food and the food must have more of carbohydrates than proteins and vegetables minus meat. That is why there is so much hunger and anger on the streets of Nigeria. The case is not so with the developed economies. Food is ridiculously cheap in Europe, America and North Africa. The naira equivalent of what would feed a family of five for a month in Tunisia cannot feed the same in Nigeria for a week. Even in South Africa food is cheap and affordable. The imperative of making basic food supply affordable to the masses is the prerequisite of every responsible government. It is so basic that inability to address it could trigger social upheavals.

Governments all over the climes where the peoples interest is paramount pays a sort of agricultural subsidies to farmers and those in the agricultural business. This is a way of supplementing farmers’ income and maintaining price stability. In 2010 the European Union spent over E39billion Euros on direct subsidies to farmers while the United States spent $20billion dollars on farm income stabilization subsidies to farmers. All these are attempts to make food produce affordable and available.

In Nigeria the major problem is not the supply but the affordability. Nigeria presently has enough food to feed the populace, the problem is the middleman. The middleman is the bridge between the farmer and the market place. In the Nigerian context it is the businessman who goes to the hinterland to purchase the agricultural products from the farmer in the village market and transports same to the markets where the final consumer gets it. The middleman have made the cost of food beyond the reach of the common man . Staple crops like rice, beans, maize , millet, cassava are very cheap in the north. Yam, cassava, plantain and others are cheap in some parts of the south and middle belt regions of Nigeria. In the areas of primary production it is ridiculously cheap while in the areas of primary consumption it is very costly.

Basket of onion bought by a middleman at Shinkafi market in Zamfara state costs N600 naira. By the time it gets to Onitsha in Anambra State the price isN6000. This is 1000% increase. Goat is sold for N5000 in Sabon ?Birni market in Sokoto state but it gets to Lagos and is sold for N16,000 ,that is 320% increase. Basket of tomato goes for N300 in Kano and is sold for N2000 in Abuja that is 667% increase. Between the farmer and the market trader the final cost to the consumer is skyrocketed. I have observed this trend for years and hoped endlessly that the concerned authorities would do something about the greedy middleman and all we hear is usual pontificate about agriculture and the new economic base of Nigeria. If the middleman will reduce his margin on agricultural produce the price of foodstuff will become cheaper and affordable.

The second tyranny of the middleman is that he pays peanuts to farmers. The poor farmer toils all year round and all he gets for a bag of beans is about N3,000 naira and the struggle continues. The compensation is not enough to meet other basic needs of live and the farmer continues in poverty until their ward refuses to take to the vocation of the farmer and rushes to the city in search of what doesn’t exist. Any year there is bumper harvest, the farmer is poorest and as such local farmers do not wish for bumper harvest. They prefer moderate harvest because the excess supply during bumper periods further drives down their economic rewards.

The third tyranny of the middleman is the lack of provision of storage facilities. Some of these middlemen are big time multimillionaires and they can never offer advice or assistance to the poor farmer on how to preserve their agricultural products. Tomatoes for instance could be cheap during its season the price goes up during off season. If the middleman could research, assist, advice or help the farmer with community based infrastructure, technique and science of food preservation, there will be price stability all year round. The poor farmer would be assured of steady and stable price. The middleman will have none of these, during harvest period he buys very cheap and during off season he still buys cheap, either way he wins.

The middleman has his own tales to tell. He blames the deplorable condition of roads from the hinterland to the originating cities and then to the final destinations as reasons for the cost inflation. The deplorable road conditions constantly damages the vehicles and at times the haulage spends days on a one-day journey. The need to bribe the security agencies on various check points throughout the journey. From kano to Port Harcourt there are about 100 police check points and the transporter will part with N200 on most of them , if they are stopped by Road Safety Officials or Vehicle Inspectors they will cough out N1000 to continue. The State Veterinary Task Force or more appropriately task force touts will collect N1000 at each boundary. Then they keep aside some money in case they meet armed robbers on the road. The middleman attributes these risks as part of the reason for the exploitation of the farmer.

The flagrant importation of parboiled rice has not helped the local food industry. There are enough rice farms in Abakaliki, Adani in Ebonyi and Anambra States respectively that all they need is infrastructure for sieving stones out of the rice and they could in alliance with other rice producing states feed the nation feed the nation.

In 2003, President Obasanjo inaugurated the cassava revolution, this same theory President Goodluck have recycled. Billions of naira was spent on the cassava campaign. There was no plan on how to store the cassava, no marketing strategy, no export strategy, nothing except go and plant cassava. A lot of farmers invested thousands, millions and hundreds of millions in the cassava theory and the following year their loss was innumerable because the harvest outstripped the demands. Some of these cassava investors are still hiding from the financial institutions that offered them credit facilities till date. This new agricultural jamboree is not the problem of food affordability in Nigeria , it is the middleman. The federal government should address the middleman and the risks faced by the middleman and before we know it the farmer, the middleman and the final consumer will become equal beneficiaries of affordable food supply in Nigeria.

In 2010 the Federal Government introduced N200 billion naira Consumer Agric Credit Scheme. The farmers couldn’t access the funds. The part disbursed was given to politicians with the collusion of bank officials. Politicians used the diverted funds to build emergency estates all over the country while others used theirs for other businesses. If the federal government could set up bodies to ensure that loans are given to farmers and not politicians, and offers scientific assistance, marketing and storage assistance to farmers as well as checkmate the middleman then food supply in the nation will equally become affordable.

By: Obinna Akukwe
Financial/IT consultant.

CLOGSAG On WarPath

Daily Guide Africa
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Some CLOGSAG members at the press conference. Inset: Isaac Bampoe Addo

THE NATIONAL Executive Committee of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana, (CLOGSAG) has threatened to declare a nationwide sit-down strike with effect from February 9, 2012.

The leaders of CLOGSAG noted that the strike would remain indefinite until government addressed anomalies in the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

CLOGSAG claimed it had discovered inconsistencies in the application of the principles underlying the SSSS.

Wearing red hand bands while some CLOGSAG members had tied red scarves around their necks, the leaders of the association told media practitioners in Accra that there were overlaps with respect to the salaries of workers who had been placed below level 21 of the salary structure, while those at the higher levels had a consistent salary.

“This implies that the structure has been massaged to the disadvantages of our members,” said Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG.

With effect from Thursday, all GLOGSAG members had been directed by their leaders to continue wearing red bands and hoist red flags at all offices until government addressed their concern.

“We are not operating a Single Spine Salary Structure,” the CLOGSAG executive secretary said.

He explained that a non-overlapping salary structure had been applied to sectors of the public while other sectors were on a salary structure which combined overlapping and non-overlapping levels.

The distorted SSSS, which remains the basis for payments of salaries, are genuine concerns that had been ignored all this while.

“These genuine concerns that had been ignored all this while should not continue and we call on government to ensure, as a matter of urgency, that equity and fairness prevails in salaries and conditions of service for all public sector workers”, Mr. Addo noted.

The irate public workers said some members of CLOGSAG had since September 2011 not been migrated onto the SSSS.

Workers who have not been migrated include internal auditors, some staff of the Lands Commission and the Accounting Class of the Association.

Efforts such as a meeting with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare and the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, according to the leadership of CLOGSAG, had proved futile.

Disclosing portions of issues discussed at a meeting of the national executive committee of CLOGSAG on Friday January 20, 2012, Mr. Addo said the top-up allowance introduced to mitigate the negative and insignificant changes as was done for other public service institutions as a result of expectations among public officers, had not been applied to CLOGSAG.

“There has been incomplete migration of Civil and Local Government Staff onto the SSSS even though it has been repeatedly announced by government that all public sector officers will be placed on the SSSS by December 2011”, Mr. Addo noted.

By Stella Danso Addai

2 Cops In Court For Wee

Daily Guide Africa
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Ghana Police Logo

Two policemen, who allegedly assisted two drug dealers to carry out their activities, have appeared before the Ho Circuit Court.

They are Constable Justice Sakyi, 29, stationed at Kpeve Police Station and Constable Kwaku Akuffo, 28, of Peki Police Station.

A computer engineer, Boniface Agbozo, 28, and a petty trader Prince Ofori, 31, also faced charges.

They all pleaded not guilty to three charges of conspiracy to trade in narcotics, possessing and transporting narcotic drugs.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Agboado told the court that on December 31, 2011, Boniface and Prince Ofori went to a village near Kpando and bought parcels of Indian hemp worth GH?400 from an unidentified person.

The Regional Patrol team had information about the activities of the suspects and told Constable Sakyi, who was on duty at the Peki-Ayensu Police Barrier with Constable Kwaku Akuffo that an unidentified black Benz vehicle from Have with two occupants was moving towards the barrier.

Accordingly, the patrol team instructed the policemen on duty to intercept the vehicle and arrest the occupants.

On receipt of the message, Constable Sakyi refused to inform the sergeant, but conspired with Akuffo to assist the suspected drug dealers.

Eventually when the Benz vehicle with registration number GR 3535 T arrived at the check-point, the occupants, Agbozo and Ofori told Sakyi that they were transporting 15 parcels of Indian hemp to Accra.

The two policemen therefore agreed to help the suspects to discharge the drug into a nearby bush to outwit the patrol team. The plan was successfully executed.

The patrol team, which could not locate any exhibit, decided to arrest the two businessmen for further investigations.

On the way, Boniface Agbozo broke down and narrated the incident to the officers, but Sakyi denied knowledge of matter.

Sakyi, after thorough interrogation, admitted his involvement and informed them that they had “relocated” the drug.

He finally led the police to retrieve the exhibit.

The accused persons were remanded into custody to re-appear in two weeks’ time, while the exhibits were sent to Accra for forensic examination.

 From Fred Duodu, Ho

Niger Emergency Appeal: Over 3 million at risk as food crisis looms

APO
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Niger Emergency Appeal: Over 3 million at risk as food crisis looms

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 30, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Over three million people in Niger are facing the risk of severe food shortages with poor harvests, resulting from erratic rainfall and pest attacks, contributing to a looming humanitarian and food crisis in the country.

Rising food prices and already chronic levels of malnutrition, particularly amongst children, are also compounding the crisis which is affecting many regions of the country. The six most affected regions of Niger being targeted by the Red Cross are Tillabery, Dosso, Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Diffa.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has today launched an emergency appeal for 3,7 million Swiss francs (USD 4 million/ EUR 3.1 million) to help the Red Cross in Niger to assist 350,000 people.

“The food crisis will further weaken people who have not yet recovered from the food crisis of 2010, and who have already exhausted all their coping mechanisms” explained Nathalie Bonvin, regional food security delegate, for the IFRC in Dakar.

Funds from the appeal will be used to distribute emergency food, and seeds and tools to vulnerable people and to support health centres in providing nutritional services to affected communities. Through the “cash for work” program, jobs will be created providing cash for communities whilst also improving the environment for increased agricultural production and access to water. The Niger Red Cross will also provide cash to the most vulnerable, who cannot work but have access to markets to buy food supplies.

“The situation began to deteriorate with households who have no cereals left in stock” said Yayé Mounkaila, Food Security and Program Coordinator of the Niger Red Cross “Poor households have had to use their reserves stocks. At that point they have become more vulnerable and at risk of increased malnutrition and health impacts.”

Rates of acute and chronic malnutrition among children under five in Niger are systematically high. With the situation worsening, the last week of 2011 saw 3,245 cases of severely malnourished children being referred to Intensive Nutritional Recovery Centres and 6,278 moderately malnourished diagnosed and referred.

The Niger Red Cross, with support from the IFRC and other partners from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, has responded for many years to the food crises that regularly hit Niger and will build on that experience in its response to this crisis. Some of its long term food security programmes provided effective protection to communities, indicating that a more sustainable approach pays off. “If we act now, we can mitigate the impacts of this drought by increasing community resilience and saving lives,” said Pierre Kana, IFRC country representative in Niger. “But we also need to ensure that we advocate and raise funds to support longer-term interventions that will reduce the communities’ food insecurity in the future.”

Many countries across the Sahel risk a major food crisis if urgent measures are not taken. The most affected countries are Niger, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and localized areas in Senegal. The IFRC has already launched a preliminary emergency appeal for Mauritania and sent money from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to the other at risk countries.

SOURCE 

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

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Statement by the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative, on Madagascar

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Statement by the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative, on Madagascar

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, January 30, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, issued the following statement today:

“The High Representative, who has followed with concern the recent events surrounding the return of former president Ravalomanana to Madagascar, reaffirms her support for SADC’s mediation efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in Madagascar.

She notes and supports, in its entirety, the statement of the SADC Ministerial Committee of

the Organ Troika dated 26 January 2012, stressing the importance for all political parties in

Madagascar to accelerate the implementation of key elements in the roadmap, within the time

allowed and in keeping with the letter and spirit of the roadmap.

The High Representative, who was pleased with the satisfactory progress made to date on the

gradual establishment of the transition institutions, reiterates the EU’s willingness to give political and financial support to the ongoing transition process, in close cooperation with the international community, provided that this process is consensual and leads to the holding of credible, free and transparent elections allowing a swift return to constitutional order.”

SOURCE 

European Union

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Uchumi Supermarkets of Kenya First-Half Profit Increases 26%

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Uchumi Supermarkets Ltd. (UCSP), Kenya’s only publicly traded retail chain, said profit in the first half of its financial year rose 26 percent.

Pretax income for the six months through December climbed to 204.3 million shillings ($2.4 million) compared with 162.2 million shillings a year earlier, while sales jumped to 7.5 billion shillings from 5.8 billion shillings, the company said in a statement distributed by e-mail by the Nairobi Securities Exchange today.

The company’s shares gained the most in a week, rising 0.7 percent to 7.50 shillings by the 3 p.m. close in the capital, Nairobi.

Uchumi resumed trading on the Kenyan bourse on May 31 after being suspended when it went into receivership in June 2006 with debts of 2.2 billion shillings, of which 957 million shillings was owed to Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. and PTA Bank Ltd. The company emerged from receivership in March 2010, after most of its debts were cleared and others converted into shares.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at [email protected]

Bloomberg

Obama Bumps Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ Sales by 490%

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Al Green and Barack Obama

Al Green and Barack Obama. Getty Images

Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” got a sales boost last week from an unlikely source — President Barack Obama.

A video of the president singing the first line of the song at a Jan. 19 fund-raising event went viral the next day, sparking a 490% weekly sales increase for the song. It sold 16,000 downloads in the week ending Jan. 22 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Al Green, A&R Execs & Artists Sound Off on Obama’s Performance

It’s the best sales week for the song since SoundScan began tracking downloads in 2003.

The fundraiser took place at New York’s Apollo Theater, where Green was also making an appearance. As Obama took to the stage, he noted Green’s presence in the room and surprised the crowd (and his aides) with a bit of his crooning.

“Those guys didn’t think I would do it,” joked Obama, gesturing to his staffers on the side of the stage. “I told you I was going to do it. The Sandman did not come out.”

While there are multiple videos of the moment on YouTube, the most-viewed clip has been watched more than 4 million times.

by Keith Caulfield, Billboard

6 Gomoa Chiefs Sacked

Daily Guide Africa
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Obrempong Krampah

The Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Council has sacked six chiefs in the traditional area for allegedly showing disrespect to the presidency of the Council and acknowledging Gomoa Afransi as traditional area.  

Gomoa has two traditional councils, namely Gomoa Ajumako and Gomoa Akyempim.

The six were Odikro of Afransi, Nana Ogyeedom Obrenu Kwesi Atta VI, Odikro of Dahom, Nana Kwaaprah IV, Odikro of Lome, Nana Ayeredu Nyarko, Odikro of Achiase, Nana Okuru-BaahV, Odikro of Gyaman, Nana Efua Koba II and Odikro of Beseadze, Gyetuah I.

The Paramount Chief of Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Council, Obrempong Nyanful Krampah disclosed this during a meeting of the Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Council State at Gomoa Ekwamkrom in the Gomoa East District of the Central region on Friday.

Obrempong Krampah noted that regents in those areas had been mandated by the traditional council to act as chiefs since the affected persons breached their oath of allegiance to paramount stool of the traditional area.

The Paramount Chief further urged Ebusuapanyin to take the necessary steps to ensure sanity in their respective areas.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which Nana Kwesi Atta failed to heed the instruction of the Standing Committee of the Tradtional Council not to allow chiefs from the traditional area who are not from Afransi to be carried during the Afransi Akwanbo Festival.  

The Cow being slaughtered at Ekwamkrom

“The Odikro of Afransi for sometime now has been very adamant to the authority of the traditional council and is now seeking all means to be recognized as a paramount chief in Gomoa Afransi,” he said.

“His action is contrary to section 63(a) and (b) of the chieftaincy Act2008, Act 759” he added.

The Paramount Chief charged the chiefs in the area to regularly visit the various schools in the area to ensure that teachers always go to school to teach.

Obrempong Nyanful appealed to the District Assembly to establish mini libraries in all the communities to help students read more books.

He charged politicians not to incite the youth to do anything that will cause chaos ahead of this year’s elections.   

However a cow was slaughtered to signify that the chiefs had actually been sacked from the Tradtional council.

 From Sarah Owusu-Darlington, Gomoa Ajumako

TEWU of the UG refused to work in demand of arrears for the Single-Spine Salary structure

News Ghana
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Teachers and Educational Workers Union of UG Strikes

Accra , Jan 30, GNA -The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the University of Ghana (UG) on Monday locked offices and refused to work in demand of arrears for the Single-Spine Salary structure.
Students, prospective students and the general public who went there to seek information or enquire about admission processes were greeted with loud music at the main entrance while a red cloth hanged at the gate.
Most of the staff refused to talk to the GNA but one official who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said they were embarking on the strike  to press home their demand for arrears on the single spine salary structure and their 20 per cent salary increment which they said was long overdue.
Workers at the Institute of Adult Education were scattered with a few hanging around but none of them expressed readiness to speak to the media, a few however offered to help desperate students by explaining the situation to them.
A prospective student who expressed frustration at the situation said he had bought a form for a sandwich programme but could not access the online registration form.
He therefore decided to visit the campus to see if he could get help but met the situation, saying, “This is a worrying situation, we have already bought the forms and it is not fair to prospective students at all.”
The man who also refused to reveal his identity saying “My Sister I will be coming to work with them when I am admitted”. He expressed the hope that the problem would be resolved sooner than later.

As at 12.30pm when the GNA was leaving the campus the offices of the Institute of Adult Education and other offices were still locked.

Businesswoman allegedly defrauded a trader at Teshie of GHc13,000

News Ghana
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Businesswoman charged for an alleged fraud

Accra, Jan. 30, GNA – Essaba Mensah aka Nana Ama, a businesswoman who allegedly defrauded a trader at Teshie of GHc13,000 under the pretext of supplying her a container full of cow hide (Wele) from Kenya appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on Monday.
She pleaded not guilty to defrauding by false pretences and was granted GHC50,000 bail with two sureties to be justified.
The case has been adjourned to February 21.
The Prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kofi Blagodzi said the complainant was a trader who lived at Teshie whilst the accused was a businesswoman at Nungua.
He said on February 2, 2011, the accused approached the complainant saying  that she had a container full of cow hide (Wele) imported from Kenya and therefore needed cash of GHc13,000 to clear the products from the Takoradi Harbour and supplied her with the equivalent amount collected.
DSP Blagodzi said the complainant gave the money to the accused in the presence of a witness Asamoah Worlanyo but the accused failed to honour her promise, went into hiding and all efforts made by the complainant to trace her proved futile.
He said a report was made to the Police, the accused was arrested and detained for investigations.
The prosecutor said the accused in her caution statement admitted the offence and was  subsequently charged with the offence.

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