The agricultural policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria,
especially its effort at ending the age-long corrupt system of
fertiliser distribution, has been commended by Friday
Ejam, CEO of Jubuckz Nigeria Limited. Ejam gave the commendation at a
four-day national workshop on food security which was jointly organised
by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
Federal Ministry of Health and the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation at Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“For decades, the rich and powerful hijacked the subsidised
fertilisers distribution. Government was not subsidising farmers;
instead, it was subsidising corruption. High quality seeds and
fertilisers that farmers needed to raise their farm productivity were
taken over by the elite, the rich and politically powerful. Today, the
story has changed; the government developed the Growth Enhancement
Scheme (GES) that provided fertiliser and other farm inputs directly to
farmers, thereby eliminating the role of middleman, where the corrupt
practises resided,” he said.
He wants the government to attract the youths into the agricultural
sector by collaborating with commercial banks to provide loans at single
digit rates as well as to make them to have access to land. “I must
further commend the Federal Government of Nigeria for programmes like
YouWin, Sure-P and others like them. However, the Federal Government
should ensure more agric-based entrepreneurs to join the sector. In
addition to online registrations, YouWin and Sure-P should have offices
in all the states to make these programmes more accessible to more young
Nigerians,” he said.
Ejam said he had been in the forefront of those championing for the
adoption of agribusiness as the major driver of the Nigerian economic
growth, saying that Nigerian youths are losing out of the enormous
opportunities in the sector due to a negative perception towards
farming.
He believes that government policies should play a leading role in encouraging young people to go into agribusiness.
“Government should establish youth agriculture business investment
initiative in the country. Take the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
for instance, can serve as a platform. Instead of young graduates
wasting an entire year doing next to nothing, the government should
ensure that these youths get the needed training in both the operation
and business of agriculture. By the time they finish the service year,
you’ll discover that they would not head to the cities for white-collar
jobs that are simply not there, they are ready for business,” he said.
The large-scale commercial farmer further said that access to
funding, land and so forth were all within the power of the government
to provide in order to encourage the youths.
Ejam, who spent close to a decade in the banking industry before he
voluntarily resigned to explore the extremely large opportunities in
agribusiness, said the Nigerian agricultural sector was rapidly
transforming into a modernised, productive and competitive force. “The
available opportunities in agriculture through agribusiness SMEs are
enormous. The value chain in agribusiness consists of but not limited to
farming, processing, preservation, storage, packaging, distribution,
breeding, farm machinery, transportation, marketing, seed supply, and so
forth.”
The Jubuckz boss believes that the energy, knowledge and enthusiasm
of the youthful population hold the key that will unlock and boost food
supply as well as grow the Nigerian economy. “The nature of global
agricultural market is changing in terms of technology, quality and
standards. I am one of those that believe that it is time for the bulk
of the youths, many of whom are well educated and entrepreneurial, to
step up and play key roles in the emerging opportunities. Agribusiness
is a veritable platform to do that,” he said.
According to the entrepreneur, Jubockz Nigeria Limited is an
integrated agribusiness company established to explore opportunities
presented by virtue of Nigeria’s journey towards becoming agriculturally
industrialized economy. He revealed that the company is focused on
plantain farming and its food derivatives. This decision, he said, was
borne out of a strong believe that plantain farming can boost job
creation, youth empowerment and ultimately wealth creation.
Speaking of his company, Ejam revealed that Jubockz was started out
of passion and drive to make a difference. The company, he said, has
metamorphosed into a large plantain plantation of over 40 acres and
still expanding, providing high quality nursery plantain suckers to
support new farmers and processing of green/unripe plantains into
African plantain flakes popularly known as “elubo agbagba” to prolong
the shelf life and increase the economic value of plantain.
“At Jubockz plantain farm, we cultivate high yielding, disease
resistant and early maturity plantain variety. We have plantain suckers
in large quantity for supply. And our team of experience staff is
available to handle the required labour, ranging from bush clearing,
burning and so forth” he said. Jubockz also handle planting and after
planting services like weeding, pruning, pest control using herbicide if
required, application of fertilizers, pre-harvesting activities, actual
harvesting process as well as sales and marketing of farm produce.
Jubockz Nigeria Limited are also into the production of a brand of
plantain flour known as JKB Plantain Flour as well as the training of
would-be farmers who are interested in agribusiness,” he said.
by FRANK UZUEGBUNAM
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