Agric Transformation - beyond farming and exports.

Agric Transformation is more than just farming and exports.

Let me first congratulate the Hon. Minister of Agric Mr. Adesina on his award as the Forbes African Person of the year. I guess this came about because of the Agric transformation he has been working on since he was appointed minister. Agric transformation is one of the agendas of President Jonathan. It has to be as food is life and farming is food.

For those of us in the Agric business our bread and butter is determined by initiatives like this.
There was a discussion this morning on twitter on Tony Elumelu’s TL about farming and how we all need to be engaged. My opinion was that farming is seen as a villagers’ occupation in Nigeria. A job for the less privileged, low class and something to engage the unemployed youth. How in the world can that be cool. Its either that or you are a multi billionaire exporter like Otudeko, Dangote and others. Two ends of the spectrum.

I concluded that there is a need to change that orientation fast if we want the Agric agenda to have a visible spread. That spread can only happen if people see farming as a prestigious occupation, if farming is seen beyond hoe and cutlass or village work.

If this initiative takes off locally, it means the small scale farmers will increase. The farmers that cater to local consumption are mostly small scale farmers, these are the people that will make the agenda visible to the average Nigerian and the impact felt in every corner.

Every day I read about the Agric transformation and how it is succeeding but honestly food prices locally are still high. High not because there is no food but because the small scale farmers that cater to local consumption still have major problems. They might have fertilisers to grow better crops and loans to buy better seeds but the age old, storage, marketing and distribution problems are still there.

Dbanj is now an advocate of farming. He is an ambassador so to speak, telling youths how cool farming is and why they should go into farming. Great! Fantastic! If the youth listen, which I believe they will we will have loads of small scale farmers and loads of food crops but the age old, storage, marketing and distribution problems will still be there. Due to this, small scale farmers are often taken advantage of by exploitative middle men and market agents. Frustrating!

I was reading one report that tells of exploitation by middlemen, a case in Benue State where they fixed the price of a basket of tomatoes at ₦50 (have no idea which year this is or what size the basket is). The farmers involved rejected this outright but later agreed when they realized that the tomatoes could not be stored when they returned home. The middlemen then sold the baskets for ₦700 each. Basket of tomatoes N700 each? by it time it gets to Lagos it is N6000 or more. All the profit go to the middle men.

My bottom line is this, I like the Agric transformation, but I also want the agenda to cover a whole lot more than farming. Let’s look at storage, accessibility to the market, transportation, removing the interstate barriers, reducing the multiple taxes during transportation.

Export is good for Nigeria and so is local consumption. My own interest is local consumption. How to help our small scale farmers get their produce to the market place and get a fair price for them. There will always be middle men but when alternatives are created we reduce or eliminate the exploitation.

Storage should also be looked into, we are wasting too much food in a country filled with starving people. Fruits and vegetables that could have been distributed free of charge to our children in schools are rotting away in the farms and markets because of lack of storage and ease of distribution.

Agric Transformation is not only about farming and export. Let us address the other issues from farm to table or farm to fork otherwise if we succeed in getting restless youths into farming and not take care of the old challenges we will have frustrated farmers on our hands by harvest time.

Cheers

Accessibility to the market place..... a problem to be solved

One of the things I hate the most about going to the market, is the lack of a decent place to park my car.

Not all markets in Lagos are like that but most of them are. I mean, the car park is for customers and traders alike. If the car park is not conducive how can customers get in or get out. 

A lot of money is spent to build and allocate markets and then you destroy it by not planning the car park properly. In know in Lagos, everyone is a trader but come on, if the stores have been exhausted then go to another market to display your wares, do not convert the car park to a market place. 

Car Park Entrance

A Maze..... show me the way out please

Every corner is a stall, everyone is a trader

Just try moving your bus without pleading with these traders, you will never forget the curses LOL

Underneath this truck is a wardrobe.... hehehe, not funny actually

The annoying thing is that when the wares are displayed at car park the customers are bullied about the parking space after paying to park. 

I do not want to sound insensitive because I know that not everyone can afford to pay for a stall but come on we have to find an alternative for this. The car park is definately not that alternative market stall.

Accessibility to the market is important for customers to be able to get in and patronize the traders. This will lead to sales and sales lead to income for the traders. Which I think is the reason all these traders are there.

A well organised car park will also reduce the number of thugs loitering around the market.

The pictures here were taken at Mile 12 market. That is the major market hub of Lagos state. A place where food stuffs are more expensive at the gate than inside the market, all because customers prefer not to go through the hassle of getting in, wearing rain boots and getting all sweaty they rather pay extra for the comfort. 

All these eventually lead to waste for a lot of the traders as they cannot get enough customers to patronize them daily and there is no storage system in place to preserve for a later day.

We need to do something, if we can organise the markets starting from the car park to the stalls, more people can get into the market and the traders can sell more and make more money. We will reduce waste and also generate more income for the state through car park tolls and other taxes.

Think about it…. It is a win-win.

The abattoir is an eyesore

Happy New Year!.... it is rather late in the year, February, to be wishing you that but this is my first post in 2014 so it is appropriate.

I have been very busy with work work work. New year, New challenges but the problem in our markets still persists.

I was at the abattoir last month and it was crazy. The Kara abattoir at the outskirts of Ogun State. I was too afraid to take pictures sorry. The way the people there were behaving I just had this feeling that I would be mugged if I’m caught with a camera.

Filth everywhere. Everyone had access to the slaughter slab and with shoes, rain boots, slippers all sorts. Butchers, traders, regulators, herdsmen with unlimited access to every corner. Blood soaked pavement also covered in faeces. You should have seen the water from the reservoir that was used there... goodness, if not for that we boil, fry and over cook our meat in this part of the world I bet we would all be dead from poisoning.

The way the cows are dragged to the slabs, some visibly sick, some with high energy and full of rage some in wheel barrows almost dead. The way they are killed and skinned and cut must be wrong.... no no no, I have never been to an abattoir outside Lagos but from what DSTV has shown me on tv haba haba, this cannot be right. This cannot be healthy.

Blood everywhere, even the cow tripe (Shaki) with all the faeces was not properly disposed of. It was a good thing I had only coffee before I left the house, I would have been sick. I have been here countless times but because I am now very conscious about food safety and hygiene, I see things differently. It is funny how you see things when you are better informed. Education will definately set this people on a different path.

I was reading one of the news papers last week and it talked about how they had similar tales about the Abattoir in Agege. I can only imagine how that place would be since it is far bigger than Kara with more activity. I hope to go there soon and if the coast is clear , i'll take pictures.... hehehe.. fingers crossed.

In Kara Abattoir, I witnessed butchers inflating cow tongue with water, inflating cow meat with water so it will appear large. Imagine! The cows were skinny and tired when they were slaughtered and as soon as they finished they inflated the meat so that they would appear large. All were covered with blood as well making them appear red and healthy. God forbid!.

I fell for that scam about 5 yrs ago when I was new at this and mehn.....I regretted it. When I got home and cut open the meat, it was filled with air and water. Upon cooking it, the meat disappeared in the pot. As for my customers that also shared in the cow, I had to return their money to them since we have a 100% return policy at www.easyshopeasycook.com . That was a very expensive education for me, one I hope not to fall for again.

Another thing they do here is lie about the gender of the cow. The female cow is always hard and takes a while to cook. If you are not vigilant they will sell that to you in place of the male cow. Not that the female cow is bad but it is meant to be cheaper because of these issues but ignorant people; which I once was fall for this and regret afterwards. If I want to buy cheap hard meat, let me know upfront what I am paying for.

I really do not know how I can help with the cleanup of this Abattoir because the stories I have been reading and what I have experienced have been out of this world. Officials that have tried to clean up the place have been threatened and some having their hands cut off.

Anyway, I’m not alone, we are building a network, so I pray we will come out ahead otherwise this country is in trouble.

Tomato Section of Mile 12. Waste, disorganised arrangement and so on.

Hello everyone! It is a Monday and I have a bad sore throat. I picked up a bug from my market trip on Friday. So I am on my home made concoction (Garlic + Ginger + Honey  + Hot water). And yes,  constant TLC from my darling hubby.

I want to talk about how we dispose our waste in the market and also general display of farm produce, Tomato section. Everywhere you go in Mile 12 market is like a waste dump. The air around there smells like vomit. Every tomato stand has a heap of waste next to it. The ground is marshy, wet and stinky. I do not want to believe this is the best we can have. I can imagine the huge turn away this has been for a lot of customers so definitely this has brought the traders loss of revenue.

Waste dump at every corner

Waste everywhere, this can't be right

There just has to be something better than this

In the tomato section alone we have tomatoes from Zaria, Sokoto, Katsina, Ogun, Ghana, Cotonou, Jos and all sorts of places. I do not know how it is done elsewhere but I believe we need to arrange them by source in an organised way for ease of access/identification by the customers. Grading of the produce is also key as more than half of the produce are rotten by the time they get off the truck.

The baskets are not standardized, the weight is not known so when you shop you actually are not sure of what you are getting until you get to your home/office. 

Nothing identifies the source of this tomato. Whatever the trader tells you cannot be verified.

Rotten, over ripe, green, unripe, all in the same basket

Some baskets come covered with brown paper, some opened, some with sack. Various sizes of basket. Anything goes.

what is the arrangement, which tomato is from where. what is the weight and size of the basket

I’m sure there is a better way we can plan this so that farmers/growers that want to supply to Lagos market have a standard basket and standard grade of each produce to follow. Anything goes right now. In an average basket of tomatoes about a third is rotten. Buying the sorted basket is more expensive and that is an exception to the rule. The rule has to be all the produce are of standard, good grades. If you want to buy lower grades/rotten then that should be the exception.

I will be meeting the representatives of Association of Tomato sellers and dealers this week and I’ll post our discussions and pictures here. My agenda for that meeting is to get  a full low down of all source of the tomato supplies to Mile 12? Discuss the waster situation around the stands, Find out the present produce grading standards are? what the present arrangement for display is? how it can be improved to help the customer and most importantly show them how we can improve the earnings of their members by improving the organisation of the market?.

Win-win is what we are after and we need all stakeholders to buy into that.

I want to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you for reading.

Food Safety Rocks!

Friday Shopping Day at Mile 12 Market Lagos - Pictures that speak to you.

Entrance of Mile 12 market. As you can see only one lane for customers, traders have taken over the whole entrance and car park. Who then are they expecting to shop from them. You fight to get in paying N400 for car park that has been over taken by traders and also  fight to get out. They frustrate the very people you pray to God to send your way so you can earn a living. I don't get it.

The entrance again. There was an SUV parked at the gate with a sign on it, obviously an interstate bus. How can you block a whole lane and turn an entrance spot to a bus park. Yet LASTMA, market officials and all forms of touts are there supposedly controlling it all. and yes they are all holding batons to appear serious....ummmm. I have my work cut out for me.

Easyshop ladies, me in the middle. Here we are doing our thing. The men (carrot traders) all wanted to get in the picture as if they know what I want to use it for. Notice our rain boots, black and rugged,  these are ours, but you can rent at the entrance gate if you need one. You need it to survive in here otherwise your feet are in trouble. I should have bought funky pairs when i travelled ..... note to self, funkify your gear and stand out from the lot. LOL

How it all started.

Hello everyone, this should have been my first post to introduce my self but it is not too late so here it is.
This is me, Saudat Salami, at the Sony shop in Surulere shopping mall. I got my camera there, 28th of November 2013. That week I made up my mind about what I wanted to contribute to in my society.

I started a food supply company about a decade ago and all those times my daily routine takes me to various markets in Lagos. In the course of doing my own thing and minding my business my inner Saudat keeps saying I could do more. More for me then meant more business, more customers, more money, what's wrong in that. Anyway, through twitter I met a friend that invited me over for a free marketing/business strategy session so we can rub minds on how I would plan for 2014 with my more money, more business mindset.

Two short hours later, after he asked me various challenges and my experience on the job, we both realized I can take on my challenge and help the society solve the problem; Food Safety and Hygiene in our market place. That means I have to be an advocate for clean market, NGO. Haba Habatically! What happened to the more money! more business! more customers! strategy session. He said there is something called social entrepreneurship..... long and short, I can still be an advocate of something I believe in and also run a profitable business by the side. Now he is making sense. :) :)

I then realized the inner Saudat that wanted more actually was asking for me to reach more people but not about business but about the good in the society. Turning my frustrations, challenges and irritations into advocacy for change. ummmmm, too much grammar.

I'm new to this but I'll let my interest and passion guide me. I will be visiting various markets and taking pictures of the hygiene situation, interviewing some traders and market leaders and also bring the traders and leaders together to find out how we can clean up the market and make it a hygienic place for all of us........ Goodluck to me! LOL!

It is a challenge and I plan to ace this.

Have fun people and remember Food Safety Rocks, we can achieve this together.

It is time we raise the food safety standards of our domestic market in Nigeria.

The whole Horticultural value chain in Nigeria from farm to table is wrong compared to our international counterparts even in Africa or West Africa. We need to know where our food comes from; traceability, presentation, packaging, labeling. Why should the markets be so disorganized that people are afraid to go there to shop? You need rain boots for Mile 12 market in Lagos when it is not a farm and the place stinks. Parking is crazy because the car park is not well managed and spaces have been given to traders. If customers cannot access the market what use is the trader selling; and this applies to most Lagos markets. This is beyond Thursday sanitation days; which in any case traders use it to sleep in most times.
Raising quality standards, presentation standards, reducing adulteration etc.
What are the different types of palm oil we have and how do we know the difference? Why is there so much adulteration in the open and why should they adulterate when it is available. Smoked prawns has been dyed when you are buying it, it is hard to know the difference, why should we allow dyed prawns in the market. So many questions…….