₦airaland Forum

asha 80:
anambra is a bit more thickly populated than imo and abia so it is the same thing.however you know how land issues are in the south east.you really have to negotiate with the owners(both individual and communities) to get land there.

Where I come from, you hardly find community agricultural land. Every arable lands, even forests, are privately owned

Onlytruth:
Posted by: abouzaid
hehehe!
I support abouzaid on this one. BTW I don't think there is scarcity of land in Igboland for agriculture.
There may not be enough for wastage  but that's it! I don't buy this scarcity of land in the East theory one bit.
Large tracts of land are lying idle in Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi (the areas I'm very familiar with). I don't know about Imo and Abia areas.
I'm also eying farming in the East, and I will find more than enough land for it!

There is land shortage, as supported by many qualified studies. A simple look in a Nigerian map will answer your question too. In addition, it is worsened by land fragmentation pattern which works against mechanized agriculture. Igbos have enough land for subsistence agriculture but not enough for large-scale mechanized ventures. Those so-called idle land you see in Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi  are how many in terms of hectarage compared to similarly idle land in the North and SW?

deleted

The six most staple food crops in Igboland are

Cassava
Rice
Yam
Beans
Plantain
Leafy vegetables (especially ugu)

And of course, meat and fish (though not crops)

None of those come (exclusively, or at all) from the northern part of Nigeria

Yam is grown everywhere in Nigeria but the far north; beans is from other WA countries though imported via northern Nigeria. I give it to them on meat.

I need anyone to prove me wrong.

All Igbo states are correctly described as agrarian. But the high population densities in many of them makes the little available land unusable for large scale agriculture

Imo state:

Agriculture and Forestry: The Imo State economy depends primarily on agriculture and commerce and the chief occupation of the people is farming. Their cash crops include oil palm, raffia palm, rice, groundnut, melon, cotton, cocoa, rubber, maize, et cetera. Food crops such as yam, cassa va, cocoyam and maize are also produced in large quantities.

http://www.onlinenigeria.com/links/imoadv.asp?blurb=272


Abia State:

Crude oil and gas production is a prominent activity, as it contributes to 39% of the GDP.[7] Representing 27% of the GDP,[7] agriculture, which employs 70% [7] of the state workforce, is the second economic sector of Abia. With its adequate seasonal rainfall, Abia has much arable land that produces yams, maize, potatoes, rice, cashews, plantains, and cassava. Abia also has large crude oil deposits. The manufacturing sector only accounts for 2% of the GDP.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abia_State

Enugu State

:

Economically, the state is predominantly rural and agrarian, with a substantial proportion of its working population engaged in farming, although trading (18.8%) and services (12.9%) are also important. In the urban areas trading is the dominant occupation, followed by services. A small proportion of the population is also engaged in manufacturing activities, with the most pronounced among them located in Enugu, Oji, Ohebedim and Nsukka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enugu_State

Anambra State

Furthermore, Anambra state is a state that has many other resources in terms of agro-based activities like fishery and farming, as well as land cultivated for pasturing and animal husbandry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anambra_State

Ebonyi State

The people of this state are Igbos with several dialects. The people of Ebonyi State are predominantly farmers. Main crops obtained in this state are palm produce, cocoa, maize, groundnut, rice, yam, plantain, banana, cassava, melon, sugarcane, local beans, fruits and vegetables. Fishing is also carried out in Afikpo.

http://www.icsn.co.uk/page.php?pageID=ebonyi

alj_harem:
I can see that comprehension is your problem. Ok I would break it down for you

1. Other groups are more ready to go into farming than easterners.

2. Not all food stuff are grown in the south. Items like Pepper, onions etc are north foods

3. This those not mean the SWerners are not farmer but would also eat food produces from other regions. This trade between the North and SW has been going for generation even before Usman dan Folio times and before Nigeria. You can read it up

4. I gave those examples to tell you of some of the farmlands in the SW which is still operational and generating a lot of revenue for the country.

5. The easterners are not lazy only that they are not really responsive to farming compare to banking jobs or businesses.

6. Comparing that to the SW or north, yes those places, you would see farmland everywhere unless you go to the large cities/states like lagos, abuja and kano the capital.

I hope I have made myself clear and stop be paranoid.

Your posts are as senseless as ever. What evidence do you have that the Igbo population go into agriculture less than others? Why are all those motor park touts in the SW not going into farming despite all the available land? Why are all those almajiris and boko Harams in the North not doing same? So because Igbos eat some food from the North, they are not farmers of other food crops? Who farms the oil palm, cassava, plantains, vegetables and fruits that Igbos do not get from elsewhere? Do you know of any Igbo family in Igboland without at least one farmer in it? Between Igbo and Yoruba who are more into banking? I am done with you before you infect me with your stupidity.

He did not write those. The illiterate journalist did

The North provides some (meat, tomato, pepper, onions) not all (garri, plantain, fish, palm oil, snail, rice, fruits, etc) food items to the south. They are able to do so not because they love agriculture, but because they have enough land to do so on a somewhat large scale, and also owing to extensive illiteracy, they have lesser options to pursue.

Yams are produced by all regions, except far North
Indeed, most of the beans we eat come from other WA countries, not Northern Nigeria
Most of the rice consumed by Nigerians are imported from Thailand

alj_harem:
Exactly, we are still saying the same thing

What the south cannot grow, the north does. It does not mean the yorubas are lazy as well, it just means that what cannot be grown in the south, it can be grown in the north.

You are a fool. We are not saying the same thing because when I asked:

Which Nigerian ethnic group likes farming as a profession? Is the choice of a profession now a tribal thing or an individual thing?

You responded to me directly

Middle-belters, Fulani and Yorubas

Middle-belt gives 70% of Nigerian food tell today

the fulanis are herdmen

In states like Ondo, Osun and ekiti, majority of the yam, ofada rice etc are produced from there

also you have to think of palm oil plantation, cocoa plantation, rubber plantation along side Obasanjo farm in Ota, cross river etc

Which means those ethnic groups like farming while Igbos do not. Which means Obasanjo = Yoruba ethnic group. Got it?

Have you heard of Imo modern poultry Avutu, and Ada Palm company in Ohaji, Imo State?

I am just listing these things to highlight that Igbos as a group have never detested agriculture.

How functional they are at present is a different story (afterall how many things in Nigeria are functional?)

alj_harem:
Middle-belters, Fulani and Yorubas

Middle-belt gives 70% of Nigerian food tell today

the fulanis are herdmen

In states like Ondo, Osun and ekiti, majority of the yam, ofada rice etc are produced from there

also you have to think of palm oil plantation, cocoa plantation, rubber plantation along side Obasanjo farm in Ota, cross river etc

As I said earlier it has nothing to do with Igbo per-say

try and comprehend what I am saying here

Igbos are not lazy, they rather go to business or better still be suppliers of those food products rather than be farmers. It is not a bad thing because also not every group in Nigeria would be farmer. We need some people to distribute the food don't we ?

they are equally as important as the farmers themselves isn't it ?

We Put Food On Your Table, Hausa Food Vendors Tell Yoruba Community

Sunday, 21 August 2011 00:00

From Martins Oloja, Abuja Bureau Chief (in Akure) News - National





TRUTH about the country’s diversity and interdependence came to the fore at the weekend during the installation of Dr. Deji Akinwalere as President of the Rotary Club of Akure.

Spokesperson of the Hausa community in the Ondo State capital and food vendor, Alhaji Aminu Jubril, who was invited to speak at the ceremony, told the audience in fluent English that without the Hausa and Fulani, it will be impossible to achieve food security in the south west.

At the event, which was attended by the Deji of Akure, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, Jubril said: “This is our planting season in the north west where we bring food to the south west. But then the foods we sell now are from the north central state of Benue. You know we put food on your table. Now, we are planting in the north west where we bring the food. Without the food from the north west, it will be difficult to get all the food items in the south west. We have lived peacefully with the people of Ondo in Akure. Yes, we put food on your table.”

The event featured donation towards the construction of a block of six classrooms in a secondary school at Imafon community, near Akure.

Other dignitaries in attendance were the chairman of the occasion, His Royal Majesty, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinrutan; leader of the Hausa community, Alhaji Mohammed Nalikoro; Commissioner of Works in the state, Engr Gboye Adegbenro, who represented Governor Mimiko; National President of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel among others.


http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58532:we-put-food-on-your-table-hausa-food-vendors-tell-yoruba-community&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Have you for example, heard of such modern Agricultural enterprise as the Abia Palm Oil Company Ltd., the Ogwe Modern Poultry Farms, and the Cashew Complex in Abia?

alj_harem:
Middle-belters, Fulani and Yorubas

Middle-belt gives 70% of Nigerian food tell today

the fulanis are herdmen

In states like Ondo, Osun and ekiti, majority of the yam, ofada rice etc are produced from there

also you have to think of palm oil plantation, cocoa plantation, rubber plantation along side Obasanjo farm in Ota, cross river etc

As I said earlier it has nothing to do with Igbo per-say

try and comprehend what I am saying here

Igbos are not lazy, they rather go to business or better still be suppliers of those food products rather than be farmers. It is not a bad thing because also not every group in Nigeria would be farmer. We need some people to distribute the food don't we ?

they are equally as important as the farmers themselves isn't it ?

So what about the majority of rice, Yam, Plantain, Palm oil, produced by Igbos in the East? Is Middle Belt a tribe?
If Yoruba produce that much food, why is food still scare in the West when supplies do not come from elsewhere?

alj_harem:
dude calm down and answer his question.

Now we know that rather than insult and be comparing, what you should be talking about is how our government can maximize the potential of farmland in ala igbo such as Abakaliki rice field and co.

We are all here to learn from each other, no point in insulting

We have corrected him by saying Igbos or easterners are no lazy but just do not like to chose farming as a profession which is ok.

Just shut up. Which Nigerian ethnic group likes farming as a profession? Is the choice of a profession now a tribal thing or an individual thing?

abouzaid:
@nchara if your observant, you would have noticed that i have changed the title of this thread some hours ago to just please the igbos but only you seems hell bent on derailing this thread despite my despite my pleas to you. Infact only you have been have been playing both opposition and defense and my brother it's not good. @ all on from my discussions with igbos, they always explain that why they are not farming is because of stressfull nature of the profession and low prestige accorded to it . It takes less than a hectare of land to run a modern poultry that give u over a million in annual revenue and only about 10 hectares for an oil palm plantation that will put millions per annum in your pockets so is land that  scarce in the east? Apart from some heavily populated parts of anambra i really found that hard to believe. Thanks to all contributors so far for being respectfull in their submissions. I guess i might stay back in the north and forget about moving back to the east.   @ okstol i'm already in the process of acquiring a large tract of land at igbariam next yr so i'm much aware of them, the article was intentionally meant to be bitter in order to generate the needed responce, once again i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings.

It is of no significance to me if you changed the title. The title change is even as cruel and bland as the original title, given your use of the word detest, which also again characterized Igbos falsely. You have already done the deed of characterizing all Igbos as lazy and detestful. I am an Igbo, so I have to debunk your silly characterizations as stridently as I have the time to do.

To begin with, you are clueless and half baked, given the fact that you do not know that farming (that is what your title talks about) is essentially different from poultry production. You are mixing everything up just to smear the Igbo. I have shown you a map of Nigeria (Igboland) and asked you to compare the land available to 30 million+ Igbos with respect to large scale agricultural activities by all of them (since your title talks about all Igbos). I have informed you that Igbo land holding system is fragmentative, such that you hardly find any single person holding several hectares of land in a single location. I am shell-shocked that you did not learn this at UNN in your Rural Sociology or Agricultural Economics class, or even observed it in your sojourn in Igboland. Still, I have posted several articles for you to read and educate yourself; yet you keep on parading your ‘I am-better-and-more-sensible-than-thou’ attitude. If you claim Igbos are not doing something, should you not prove that other Nigerians are doing it and doing it better? Why do you focus on Igbos in terms of agriculture? Is there any human being, even here in the States, who would not say, at first glance, that agriculture, especially crop production, is a hectic vocation?

If Igbos detest Agriculture as you claim, why does every single university in Igboland offer Agricultural courses, in addition to many specialized colleges of Agriculture in Anambra, Enugu Imo and Ebonyi? If Igbo families who have been farming and feeding themselves since Adam have the privilege to obtain large arable land, do you, in your mind, think they will not usurp that privilege? Do you know that a good number of Igbos are buying/renting land in states as far flung as Oyo, Benue, Ondo, Osun, Nassarawa and other places to farm?

Obiagu1:
. . . and where does the rice that goes to the mill comes from?

I wonder. So they will just be establishing rice mills without the rice to mill? Some people with their sense.

1960s photo of an Abakaliki rice field

http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!276057!0

Processor sees better fortune in rice cultivation

http://www.nigeriamarkets.org/files/upload/Processor%20sees%20better%20fortune%20in%20rice%20cultivation.pdf

Many Woes of Rice Farmers

http://www.tellng.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=606:many-woes-of-rice-farmers

ABAKALIKI RICE FARMER INCREASES YIELD, CREATES JOBS

http://www.nigeriamarkets.org/files/Nigeria%27s_Harvest_Vol_9_Ekha_Agro_Partnership.pdf

Response to Economic Incentive by Abakaliki Rice Farmers in Eastern Nigeria

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1236333

alj_harem:
Nchara can you show me a link of the rice fields of which Abakaliki rice is produced from

I learnt it is rice mill rather than Farmland, I might be grossly wrong but I would like to be sure. Thanks

Abakaliki is also the food basket of southern Nigeria. The city has been a leading producer of processed rice, yam, and cassava for decades. Newer technology recently introduced have enabled the modernisation of the city's rice mill complex for improved quality of rice processing. Following the creation of Ebonyi state in 1996 and its role as the administrative capital, the infrastructure and population of Abakaliki is ever on the increase. The huge incentives and tax holiday offered by Ebonyi state government to all major private investors have brought about a marked increase in new businesses in Abakaliki city. The city hosts a fertilizer blending plant. Abakaliki is also a haven of peace with little or no violent crime in the city. Abakaliki also hosts a Federal medical center, which has largely contributed to the affordability of public healthcare delivery in the city and the state. The Nkaliki poultry complex in Abakaliki is reputed to be among the largest poultry complex in the country. Just in the outskirts of the city lies one of the largest untapped limestone deposit zones in the country, measuring more than 2000 square kilometers. The Federal and state governments have recently granted licenses to private companies to establish cement companies within the area. In line with the Federal government economic reform programmes they have made the country self-sufficient in cement production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abakaliki

Obiagu1:
However, many easterner are farmers. I hope more easterners will become farmers.

Is there any Igbo family you know living in Igboland that do not have farmers amongst them? All Igbo families are farmers but most of them are subsistence farmers, farming to the extent that  their land holding allows.

The OP is crassly misinformed or blatantly ignorant about what he is generalizing

Read about land problem as relates to mechanized agriculture in Igboland. Here Imo was used as a case study

http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/108934/2/42eze_Konkwo_orebiyi_kadiri.pdf

Enugu boosts mechanized farming with 27 tractors worth N79m
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/enugu-boosts-mechanized-farming-with-27-tractors-worth-n79m/

http://www.nrcri.gov.ng/

If Igbos are not farming to the extent land availability allows, this agricultural research institute will not be sighted in Igboland

Check a map of Nigeria and tell me how much land is available to Igbos for large-scale farming.

What is the North doing with all the land you see in that map?

Do you agree that some of the food the North boasts with are actually imported from other WA countries?

abouzaid:
@nchara  must everything be about tribal supremacy? I studied at nsukka and i saw low yielding wild palm trees not modern plantations with improved breed.most of what i saw as regards other crops were subsistence farms manned by old old folks because their children have all trooped to the city. Go to onitsha and u would those abakaliki and nsukka youths hawking gala rather than farming in their villages, this poor youths are also the ones more likely to engage in crimes or victimised by the onitsha police. Why can't they just go home and practise modern agriculture? And believe me the east have more than enough land to engage in modern mechanized agriculture. Nsukka is mostly thinly populated with a large mostly unoccupied jungle stretching from  ninth mile diversion upto enugu ezike into kogi state. I know what i am talking about

Then limit your observation to Nsukka and environ. You have no clue about agricultural activities elsewhere in Igboland.

You may try asking what you do not know about, rather than asserting falsely. Thank you. Onitsha is an urban center, yes? How many farming activities go on in urban Nigeria?

When you travel to the North from Nsukka, do you not see the millions of hectares of land left uncultivated?
How many hectares of forests do you not see between Benin and Lagos?

Useless thread.

abouzaid:
I have noticed how self styled biafrans have invaded all the nigerian electronic and print media often boasting of their ingenuity in weapon design or mathematics while the other tribes are nothing but beggars and terrorists but the irony of the whole situation is that the east is fed today by the north they look down on. Igbo,efik,ibibio etc have all grown too lazy to grow their own food, the result is that any time there is crises upnorth, the prices of food stuffs in the east doubles two times, just by effecting a 30 months food blockade in the east during the civil war, millions died from starvation in biafra. I have no doubt that if all easterners should go back home and biafra declared, It will take only six months of food blockade to kill millions in biafra and they will still surrender with out nigeria firing a single shot. The east have enough landmass to feed it self. It have enough rainfall to farm through out the year without fear of crop failure due drought. For example, maize is grown two times a year in the east and while it's grown only once here in the north yet the east gets it's supply of maize from the north. Is farming a sin in the east or do they no longer have honour in honest labour? The anambra state goverment, a short while ago acquired large number of tractors for farmers free use and shared out an annual revolving loan of #100 million naira to rice farmers to booster rice farming only for the farmers to move to the cities with the money to set up shops as traders with no background knowledge what else in trading, the result is that most of them closed shop just after one year as traders and the loan was never repaid for other farmers benefit. This clearly demonstrates the warped mentality of the average easterner, looking down on agriculture as a career fit only for almajiris and aboki. The most puzzling thing is that the average igbo man or woman will always tell you that agriculture is a highly profitable business citing the high cost of food stuffs in the east as evidence yet him or her would never undertake it as a career. This lack of interest in agriculture is the reason why eastern cities are filled with armies of youths who unable to achieve their get rich quick targets resorts to crime and prostitution.what good is your talked about education if it can not put food on your table considering that food is the most basic need of man? The biafrans of today are clearly on a path of self destruction if they should opt out of nigeria come the much prophesied year of 2015.( By east, i mean't the old eastern region and igbo speaking parts of delta and edo state)

Did you live in urban or rural Igboland? You claimed you have lived in Igboland yet you question the ability of Igbos to farm? Do you now claim you do not see crops planted in the farms of the Igboland you lived in? If you saw crops in Igboland, who farmed them? Igbos? Hausa? Yoruba?

May I ask you if you have heard of Abakiliki rice and Yam? Have you heard of Bende Corn and Cocoyams? Did you not see plantain, Banana, orange, cashew, avocados, etc trees where you lived in Igboland? Did you not see hectares of cassava farms in Igboland? Did you not see hectares of oil palm trees in Igboland?

Can you mention the crops you northerners feed Igbos with other than tomatos and onions, and may be some yams?
Do you produce more rice in the North than in Igboland?
Do you produce garri at all in the far north?
Do you produce palm oil in the North?
The North no longer produces beans and even meat. They import these things from Niger and other WA countries and ship them South.

If you say Igbos do not produce enough to feed themselves, you are correct but that is due to insufficient land for mechanized, large scale farming. But does the North, the SW, and the SS produce enough to feed themselves despite the land available to them?

Why do we have more poverty in the North than in Igboland? You have all the land, what have you done with it?

What sort of useless claims are you making?

Chinedu, 41, is allegedly preparing grounds
to run for the Senate in 2015.

Run in the land of the spirits?

I would not compare two Igbo greats on the pages of a non-Igbo website. You will only end up with derailment.

Could that by any chance be Ileke Idi?