Governor Chukwuma Soludo, in his inaugural address, expressed his strong willingness to embark on palm tree revolution by planting millions of the economic trees, the aim of which is to export palm products and fresh palm wine from the state.
The gesture is apt, especially this time that the African Development Bank, ADB’s Food and Agricultural programme targets the creation of four hundred thousand jobs in the country. Anambra State Government can take advantage of this opportunity by domesticating the programme to actualize its palm tree project with its bye-products as palm oil, palm kernel cake, palm kernel oil, palm wine, broom and baskets, also for exports.
In this agricultural sub-sector alone, thousands of Anambra youths could be gainfully employed, with the exploits of late Dr Michael Okpala modernistically replicated.
However, a man is more pleased with a good dinner on the table than a wife talking Greek. To reduce the soaring cost of food items in the market, there should also be an aggressive revolution in crop and livestock production, made to be cited in clusters for easy access by extension officers who must be retrained to meet up with the challenges of the 21st century agricultural practices.
In keeping with its policy of patronizing mainly made in Anambra products, local silos should be fabricated to preserve the excess agricultural products of famers for future sales; while drudgery in farm operation should be minimized with the introduction of local machineries.
Local manufacturing plants in the state should be encouraged to produce locally made tractors and trucks for hire or on hire purchase arrangements by farmers in order to increase production.
Compost manures, feces of livestock and other locally produced fertilizers should also serve as catalysts for bountiful harvest; with improved seedlings and species made available to the farmers by the Agricultural Development Program, ADP, and Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture.
Livestock production is another agricultural sub-sector that the new government should key into, if concerted efforts are made to subsidize the costs of feeds, such as massive production of crops and palm kernels to support the sub-sector. Attention to livestock production will increase the protein intake of the people, encourage export and increase the per capital income of farmers.
The government must also encourage subsistence agriculture, and provide incentives for people who take farming as a serious vocation. Schools and other institutions should also be encouraged to bring back the age-old school farm tradition.
No agricultural venture could be addressed effectively without proper funding; and as such, bureaucratic bottlenecks and impossible collaterals should be removed for easy and quick funding of agriculture; while there is a rising hope for farmers and indeed other producers of Anambra made products, as was promised by Professor Soludo, that he would be the “Chief Marketer” of all locally-made products from the state, provided they meet international comparative standards.
Ndi Anambra must now take advantage of Professor Soludo’s palm tree revolution as well as other agricultural ventures in order to build a livable and prosperous state for us all.
WRITTEN BY FIDELIS NWAKWESIL
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