Nigerian Unemployed Youths - Arise O Compatriots!

PLEASE READ BELOW AND LET US ALL BE CHALLENGE TO JOIN THE AGRIC REVOLUTION IN NIGERIA.

On January 20, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we launched the Do Agric, It Pays campaign. The campaign called on African governments to keep their promises to invest in agriculture and support smallholder farmers when they meet at the AU Heads Of state summit in June in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Over the course of the campaign, over 2 million Africans rose to the occasion and joined us in sending this message to our leaders by signing the Do Agric petition. These actions made this the biggest mobilisation in ONE’s history! Wow, how historic!

Armed with this mandate, we took the message to our leaders. We delivered the Do Agric petition signatures and policy recommendations to four Heads of State, a Vice President and six Ministers of Agriculture in a total of 10 countries!

Presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Yayi Boni of Benin, John Mahama of Ghana and Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger all received the petition, and undertook to take action at home and to take the call by the two million petition signers to their peers at the African Union Summit that recently took place in Equatorial Guinea.

In Malabo, African leaders re-affirmed their intention to devote 10% of their national budgets to drive agricultural transformation in your country. Better still, they committed to achieving targets such as doubling agricultural productivity, halving post-harvest loss, increasing youth participation in the agri-business by 30% and reducing stunting to 10% across Africa.

This is a massive victory for millions of Africa’s smallholder farmers and those whose lives depend on these commitments. And it wouldn’t have happened without ONE members!

While we celebrate the Malabo results today, we know the battle is not over until our leaders live up to their promises. As ONE, we call upon you to help us ensure your national government deliver these powerful promises into concrete programs.

If you are one of the two million people that joined the Do Agric campaign:thank you. Your contribution has planted the seed that is changing Africa’s future by making agriculture cool on the continent.

As we hold our leaders to account on their promises, please keep spreading the Do Agric message.

SOURCE: http://www.one.org/africa/blog

Nigerian Unemployed Youths - Arise O Compatriots!

PLEASE READ BELOW AND LET US ALL BE CHALLENGE TO JOIN THE AGRIC REVOLUTION IN NIGERIA.

On January 20, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we launched the Do Agric, It Pays campaign. The campaign called on African governments to keep their promises to invest in agriculture and support smallholder farmers when they meet at the AU Heads Of state summit in June in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Over the course of the campaign, over 2 million Africans rose to the occasion and joined us in sending this message to our leaders by signing the Do Agric petition. These actions made this the biggest mobilisation in ONE’s history! Wow, how historic!

Armed with this mandate, we took the message to our leaders. We delivered the Do Agric petition signatures and policy recommendations to four Heads of State, a Vice President and six Ministers of Agriculture in a total of 10 countries!

Presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Yayi Boni of Benin, John Mahama of Ghana and Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger all received the petition, and undertook to take action at home and to take the call by the two million petition signers to their peers at the African Union Summit that recently took place in Equatorial Guinea.

In Malabo, African leaders re-affirmed their intention to devote 10% of their national budgets to drive agricultural transformation in your country. Better still, they committed to achieving targets such as doubling agricultural productivity, halving post-harvest loss, increasing youth participation in the agri-business by 30% and reducing stunting to 10% across Africa.

This is a massive victory for millions of Africa’s smallholder farmers and those whose lives depend on these commitments. And it wouldn’t have happened without ONE members!

While we celebrate the Malabo results today, we know the battle is not over until our leaders live up to their promises. As ONE, we call upon you to help us ensure your national government deliver these powerful promises into concrete programs.

If you are one of the two million people that joined the Do Agric campaign:thank you. Your contribution has planted the seed that is changing Africa’s future by making agriculture cool on the continent.

As we hold our leaders to account on their promises, please keep spreading the Do Agric message.

SOURCE: http://www.one.org/africa/blog

Embrace entrepreneurship, corpers told

A cross-section of NYSC members

Founder of the Joan Agha Foundation, Mrs. Joan Agha, has urged members of the National Youth Service Corps to embrace entrepreneurship in order to create jobs for themselves and contribute to national development.

Agha said youths could achieve breakthroughs in entrepreneurship despite the challenges in the business environment.

She made the call at a seminar the foundation organised for the NYSC members in Lagos on Friday.

Agha said her organisation had helped many graduates to start businesses in the past one year.

She said the foundation would empower, at least, five NYSC members to enable them to start enterprises.

The beneficiaries, she added, would receive N150,000 grant each.

“If more people are interested, we will do more. We can give N500,000 or N1m to an individual if we have more support,” she said.

Agha said many youths were doing well in entrepreneurship, and that the argument that Nigerian youths were wasting their lives was untrue.

She urged youths to explore their ability in creating wealth that will enable them to succeed in life.

source: Punch newspaper

After Losing Heavily In Oil & Gas Business, Oyelere Finds Solace In Water Melon Farming

After Losing Heavily In Oil & Gas Business, Oyelere Finds Solace In Water Melon Farming

While some people read business opportunity stories published by SuccessDigest just like any other story, the few who’ve had the courage to implement just some of what they read always come back with testimonies.

The story you’re about to read is that of a man who decided to implement just one of the numerous business opportunities published by SuccessDigest. 

It is yet another testimony from our growing list of beneficiaries. Read and be fired!

“Failing doesn’t mean I’m a failure; it just means that I’ve not yet succeeded. It doesn’t mean that I’ve accomplished nothing; it just means that I’ve learned something. It doesn’t mean that I’ve been a fool; it just means that I’ve had the courage to take a risk. It doesn’t mean that I’m inferior; it just means that I’m not perfect; it doesn’t mean that I’ve wasted my time; it just means that I’ve a reason to start over. It doesn’t mean that I should give up; it just means that I have to try harder. It doesn’t mean that I’ll never make it; it just means that I need more patience. It doesn’t mean that God has abandoned me; it just means that He has a better idea and plan for me.

“I never knew that I can ever earn money again after losing several millions of naira in Oil and Gas business. For good four years, I was doing nothing. In fact, I had to beg my friends, extended family and acquaintances to feed my family: wife and two kids. It was so bad I had to relocate from Ikotun, Lagos to Owode-Yewa, Ogun State.

“When I got to Owode I tried laundry and dry cleaning services but epileptic power supply was not encouraging. I had to rely on local charcoal pressing iron with my wife as the washer-woman and myself as the presser. Still not satisfied with what we were getting as income considering the fact that we are graduates of Building Technology & Quantity Surveying and B.Sc. in Accounting, we had to pray and persevere in this agonizing phase of our life.

“Failure is like fertilizer; it’s the stuff success grows on. So on this faithful day I bought SuccessDigestweekly paper December 17th 2012 edition to be precise. Although I’m a regular reader of the weekly paper, but what I found out in this particular edition in the Agro Column was a revealing story from different farmers, but that of African Farmer Mogaji changed my story!

“African Farmer revealed in that story that I can get a hectare (15 plots) of land for Two thousand five hundred naira (N2,500) per annum. I didn’t believe it, but I gave it a trial.

Cover of the December 17, 2012 edition of SuccessDigest

"I went to Oke-Odan where Ogun-OsunRiver Basin Authority was located, I met the farm manager in person of Mr. Akingbade, a very nice and amiable fellow, a gift to Ogun-Oshun Authority  in particular and Nigeria in general. I told Mr. Akingbade that I got to know about the irrigation farming through a one hundred naira weekly paper,SuccessDigest. Mr. Akingbade was very surprised.

“He was even more surprised that African Farmer, whom I would rather prefer to callAfrican Wonder, helped me to start farming.

“I choose to call him AFRICAN WONDERbecause I couldn’t belief that I can get fifteen plots of land (Hectare) in this modern age at a unbelievable, ridiculous price of two thousand five hundred (N2,500). My friend, if you are not informed, you will be deformed.

“The acquisition of the land was so easy that very first day that I met the farm manager (Mr. Akingbade), he gave me the total amount of the capital requirement viz:

1.      Rentage of one hectare (15 plots)           =  N2,500.00
2.      1st Ploughing                                        =  N5,000.00
3.      2nd Ploughing                                       =  N5,000.00
4.      Diesel to power the irrigating plant          =  N32,500.00
         Total:                                                  =  N45, 000.00

“I was only able to raise twenty two thousand five hundred naira (N22, 500) for the pre-planting activities, but to my utter dismay, the farm manager helped me out when he heard about my story and saw my enthusiasm for farming.

“He is a one-in-a-million civil servant that Nigeria should be proud of for empowering the youths and not using the opportunity of his position for selfish aggrandizement.

“Within two months I was able to realize almost N200,000 from the sale of Water Melon Harvest, that is from January 25th – March 30th, 2013. Incredible! Especially against the background that I have not been able to work or earn any money for almost four years!!

“This is a business that I would recommend to every young and potential ‘agroprenueur’ as a source of income and livelihood. With the proceeds from the farm, we have been able to give a little boy scholarship to enroll in school, not only that we have also set-up a nursery and primary school here in Owode-Yewa, Ogun State and expanded to use more hectares of other farmlands. To God be the glory, great things he has done. “Lastly, it’s hard to believe that I have still not met with this my mentor (African Wonder) as at the time of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s of this write-up. Yet look at how he has impacted my life and family. He has brought us out of penury.

“It was by sheer providence that I got his phone number through the farm manager in July 2013. I’m looking forward to meeting this guru for more explosive and impactful relationship. “

God Bless SuccessDigest!
God Bless African (Wonder) Farmer!!
God Bless Mr. Akingbade!!!
God Bless Ogun-Oshun River Basin Authority!!!!
God Bless Federal Republic Of Nigeria!!!!!

Oyelere L.A.
Owode Yewa, Ogun State

Source: Success Digest Magazine, Nigeria

Latest Agric News

Cassava sweetners’ll serve industries – Expert

cassava

The Project Director, Cassava: Adding Value for Africa, Prof. Kolawole Adebayo, has said if Nigeria is serious about the diversification of the economy, it will invest in the cassava value chain, as sweeteners which are needed in beverage and confectionery industries can be generated from it.

He said this in an interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta on Wednesday.

The professor of rural development communication at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta noted that the country could generate huge foreign exchange from the development of sweeteners.

In order to achieve this, he said, “The Federal Government must invest in the processing aspect of the cassava value chain. From the value chain, there many derivatives one can get from cassava.

“Sweeteners form a veritable part, they are used in beverage, confectionery and pharmaceutical industries.

Adebayo, who manages the project sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, advised that in order to further boost the development of the cassava sector, government should not encourage its export.

He said the country had a market large enough locally than to worry about exporting.

He said, “The additional reason we shouldn’t worry about export is that currently our cassava cultivation is not internationally competitive.

“It is more expensive to grow cassava in Nigeria than in China or Island. So, if we put our cassava on the international market, it will be too expensive for anybody to be interested in it.”

Adebayo noted that 20 per cent cassava inclusion in bread production would save the country a huge foreign exchange that should have been spent on the importation of wheat.

He said another derivative that could be processed from cassava is gluten.

He said, “Now everybody is looking for low gluten bread. Gluten is a protein found in wheat. Low gluten bread is a healthier option then the full gluten bread that we eat in Nigeria.

“And how do you achieve low gluten bread? By diluting the wheat with non-gluten wheat flour; so, cassava is zero gluten flour. If you have high quality cassava flour, you will dilute the wheat with it then you have lower gluten bread and it is even healthier to eat than the full gluten bread that we eat in the country.”

Source: Punch Newspaper

Who Invent What?

This write up aims to go down the memory lane by showcasing inventors of various agricultural equipments. The focus this week is on the tractor. Enjoy and leave your comments below.

The first engine-powered farm tractors used steam and were introduced in 1868. These engines were built as small road locomotives and were operated by one man if the engine weighed less than 5 tons. They were used for general road haulage and in particular by the timber trade. The most popular steam tractor was the Garrett 4CD.

John Froelich

Vintage Farm Tractors discusses several other early gas-powered tractors, "John Froelich, a custom thresherman from Iowa,decided to try gasoline power for threshing. He mounted a Van Duzen gasoline engine on a Robinson chassis and rigged his own gearing for propulsion. Froelich used the machine successfully to power a threshing machine by belt during his fifty-two day harvest season of 1892 in South Dakota. The Froelich tractor, forerunner of the later Waterloo Boy tractor, is considered by many to be the first successful gasoline tractor known.

Froelich's machine fathered a long line of stationary gasoline engines and, eventually, the famous John Deeretwo cylinder tractor.

source: http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/tractors.htm

Welcome to AgrikMix Blogs...

The purpose of this blog is to ignite the passion for Agric farming in our teaming population of unemployed youths and working professionals in other industry who wish to tap into the endless investment opportunities  in the Agricultural sector by providing information, news, research updates and promoting events relating to the sector.