Rice More Than Just a Meal

[Music]

[Applause]

thank you for having me this optional

before i commence

i must confess that this gathering is

not by accident

because success does not come to

everyone by accident

it comes via commitment of one’s

strength mind wisdom knowledge

and determination provided that changing

of mindset

remains constant in every society

i am a graduate

of computer science that does not know

anything about computer but in

agriculture

i am from cancun village in ushila

kagamot of ninja state

and the full meaning of the word can

come means big farm

where we have potential of vast land

with irrigation facility

with irrigation facility with a dam of

capacity of 3.5 cubic metres

of water

the entire village was manned by

all agricultural agriculture but

in since 1980s

the community was the the condition of

the community was

75 percent of the community were living

in poverty only 25 percent

who are living above poverty which my

father has to be

the part of them the only successful

families in the community were those

that were able to send their

children to school to acquire a degree

to gain a government job

of which my father was a champion farmer

living in poverty he now also wanted to

see

how he can also have a decent life

in the world he now put him into school

at the age of five was going to put me

in primary

private school in my local government

area the distance between my village

and local government area was seven to

eight kilometers

and there when i was going for my

primary education

i was wearing two uniforms a day because

my father had nobody to help me in the

farm

because we must have farmed before we

eat today i’m

going to talk to you on a topic rice

more than just a meal meaning that the

opportunities in rice value chain

if you compare what you call if you

if you think of in nigeria as a whole

the majority economy of nigeria is crude

oil

and afflicted as a resistance during the

crisis of

covert 19 where the all controls locked

down

the consumption of crude oil under

petrol was reduced by 80 percent

but we cannot stop eating food

we have to farm before we eat

then the country was dependent on

importation of foods

if the crisis should exit that period

what will be the fate of our nation

today the answer is this

we have to change our mindset

my father made up his mind to train me

to school so that i can

be have a degree so that for me for me

to have a decent life

to also pull and pull him out out of

poverty

i remember when i was going to school in

my parents school i have to go to school

with a bike after my

after my class from school i still have

to branch farm to help my father

i was doing two things at a day or go to

school now still come back to farm

to help my father

in those days all the mission of my

father was

to see that i have a very sound

education to acquire a degree

so that i can pull him out of poverty

unfortunately it doesn’t go the other

way

during my secondary school i was

opportunity to meet

with the children of richmond and

those whenever i’m in presence of my

colleagues

they’ll be sharing their lifestyles

their father my father is this my father

is a

barista my father is an ambassador and

then when it comes

my tongue i kept silent because my

father is a farmer and

in nigeria once you just you are a

farmer that you you are nobody

kept silent i was thinking ask asking

myself why

my father is a farmer why my father

didn’t go to school so that i could have

a decent life in the world

my father kept sacrificing after my

graduation from

secondary school i got admission to

federal university of technology here in

mina

i applied for a civil engineer as a

course

and unfortunately not the way the way

the country the german

situation is the letter gaming and

agriculture as a course

i denied the admission because my father

has been a champion farmer for more than

years and that nothing happens there’s

no any difference it’s

in poverty why would i go and study

agriculture in the university

i’d rather change i still wrote

another jam unfortunately

in the year 2010 i was admitted here in

the federal university of computer

science

i was glad that have so that i can be a

software engineer be a natural so that i

can

have money to pull out my father

out of poverty after my graduation

i got a job with nigeria

telecommunication company item where

they were paying me

50 000 era per month with this

i was calculating my feeding allowances

my transportation allowances

even my accommodation have to be within

this fifty thousand era and my father

has made up a smite i’m now a graduate

with a degree

i’ll pull him out of poverty

that was how i was struggling

to the extent that the most

challenging part of it in my life was

when i was working here in mina

and my father took a lawn with a

microfinance bank

what a millionaire community to buy a

fertilizer

unfortunately the floyd was everything

away

and that the farm was not insured so

i was here in the office working and i

had a phone call

that my father was arrested by

soldiers i cried

why me in this world why me

in this world i went to

where my father was detained and i asked

them to erase the name of my father as

an individual

they should write my name as indepther

so that i can pay part of my salary i

deserve

50 should be going to the loan i took my

father took

so that i can pay as life goes on

so that was how struggling it

and the breakthrough came out

when the effort

i had a breakthrough breakthrough during

intervention of

effective cdp when the international

fund for agricultural

development in collaboration with fargo

motor from nigeria

decided to key in into poverty

eradication and job creation in rural

areas

through agriculture or rice evolution at

value chain our location our village was

one of the

locations when the the state coordinator

met my father

that this is what they want to do in the

community

and that they want a youth a graduate

that can pilot the old activities

they gave me my father gave them my

contact want to be invited my father

thought

they are going to offer me a better job

so when i came back my father was very

anxious after having meeting with them

and the first thing that came out in

their mind was that

please we how much is my slice of 50 000

let’s see

they want me to change my mindset and

embrace agriculture as a business

i should stop seeing agriculture as a

permanent business

but a big man business

when i came home went to work and i met

my father this is the situation my

father thought

they are going to offer me another offer

for me a job but

to continue with what you have been

doing for more than 80s

i made up my mind that insha’allah i’ll

be there

i resigned from the job i was in and i

embraced

agriculture as a business under the

first

training i got from the program was gap

good agronomic practices you know in

those days as a farmer

we just broadcast the

disease and the other things and that

everything was manual and that was why

as i graduate

you’re going to farm this look so

embarrassing why are you a graduate

you’re still going to farm

look at it’s just so an ugly that you

are a graduate

having a decision you you’re going to a

farm

so then the program introduced me to

what we call good economic practices

because we see more of 80s the average

yield in the community was just 1.5

metric tons per hectare

which is very minimal very poor compared

to other countries

thailand under china and india

have been producing 10 to 10 10 to 12

megatons per hectare

and that would have the same potentials

being the land

or the water resources why can’t we

emulate so that we can step our

feet into the same shoe with them i got

the training from university of

agriculture

mccode on good again practice and a

mechanization

so on how to avoid using

manual methods by going to make and make

a nice farming

and also good at ergonomic parties to

avoid direct seedling by going to

transplanting so that we can have the

good

yield so in the community

everything i learned i say i must put

everything

into practice i started putting

potentially by the

first year of my practice

i hit up more than from 1.5 metric tons

to

6.5 metric tons which is very good

number i started having a million so i’m

feeling myself a big boy

so this is real that is the only aspect

in production

so this is real then

my father started feeling it yes this is

real

you see also in those days we do what we

call

manual tracing the program also

introduces to

how we’ll be using the mechanized

traction so that another you some youth

come all

can also be carefully employed in the

value chain

and in those days if you consider after

the production

there’s no market because the old

country

is more on importation of rice

relying on from china and oranges

seeing that what we are producing is not

proper the program also came up

with a very good initiation

aggregating after the farmers have done

the harvest

there’s way housing where we do the

quality control you do the waiter

measure

to to the standard

of quality that should of take us

there i was able to also champion the

the process of which i employed five

graduates in the

five graduates in the aggregation center

i paid them

i paid them 30 000 monthly

[Applause]

directly 10 10 youths are employed

under me or them as payroll and

indirectly more than 27

people are employed on the level

so this is my youth uh quality control

he’s a graduate of computer science also

he’ll

take care of everything

within the having this knowledge the

program and i also

have now become a champion in the

community the entire state

to the extent that the program now sends

me to lead a team of fairfields from

nigeria to attend an agro-pastoral

summit in cameroon

where i as a panelist i gave a lecture

on

water management and under land

management

they have become top and i’ve seen

agriculture as a business

and then a few years later may 2019 i

was also given

official invitation from to represent

nigerian

in senegal to discussing the modalities

on hadith

on how to talk with importation of

agri agricultures from to

to african countries there was such as a

finalist to discuss all how the

modalities the

the chances the privileges

in the rivalry chain where you more

youth can be employed

in the value chain there i met with some

of the

some of the youth from the ghanaians

that they also discussed their account

their problem facing in their rural

areas

of poor economic practices there i

championed the team and i also

put them through and as i’m speaking to

their doing

very well this is my life achievement

through agriculture i was able to get

married to a very beautiful

three kids sponsor my wife to to be also

be a computer scientist

because being a graduate as a computer

science i don’t have time to go for

to practice computer i’d rather

put myself my wife into school to train

as a computer

scientist i see this is my house

and at least the awards have obtained

the state i was

i received award in sheraton

orton abuja as the best rice producer in

niger state

and also best best

aggregator in asia state

this underwood thank you for listening

my message is this please

agree is one of the

agri nigeria future economy

youth should be engaged in agriculture

when you see a sea green green is agric

you see green

is money thank you