A-pivotal-technocrat-on-Digitalization-of-Africa-Agriculture

A pivotal technocrat on Digitalization of Africa Agriculture

By David Peter 

“Agriculture remains the backbone of the Africa economy civilization”. As, agriculture continues to generate employment in Africa over the coming order of magnitude in decades, agribusinesses around agriculture, including processing, packaging, transportation, distribution, marketing and financial services, could also create jobs for young people, especially those in rural areas. 

David Peter, The Founder, African Farming Students’ Association an agricultural NGO whose aimed to inspire enthusiastic scholars to pursue careers in agriculture having a shared vision in collaboration with the Global Agricultural and Research Forum, Ghana SDGs Achievers NGO Award gives highest dithyramb to the industrious Project Manager of Cross River State, His Excellency, Sir. Sen, Prof, Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade, KSJ on his giants revolutionary projects in the agricultural sector as abandoned over years in Cross River State, Nigeria. 

Peter, expressed Ayade as the Governor of Africa having a limelight vision on the grandiose and magnificent potentials in agriculture. He added, There is a potential for agriculture to create employment in Cross River State, however, African youths in Sub-Saharan Africa do not realize agriculture as a profitable opportunity for livelihood.He said, Agriculture remains the second largest employer of labour in Africa. However, According to, Sahel and West African club Secretariat on its agricultural policy and statistics it shows; 66% of total employment in West Africa is in the food economy, 78% of food economy jobs are still in agriculture, 81% of jobs in rural areas are in the food economy, 35% of jobs in urban areas are in the food economy, while 31% of all nonagricultural jobs in West Africa are in the off-farm segments of the food economy, 85% of rural food economy jobs are in agriculture, 68% of all employed women work in the food system, 64% of employed 20 to 29 year olds are in the food economy. 

By-David-Peter
Governor Ayade, agricultural revival will not only create employment, but boost the economy value of C’river state and Nigeria. It’s neither a prove of intelligence, that In the 80s, Nigerian mainstay of economy was agriculture before the discovery of oil culture. Nigeria having the largest economy in Africa was booming with the production of cocoa as the fourth largest producer in the world contributing a quota of over 25 percent to the economy thus, trimming unemployment to a rate of 15 percent which was majorly amongst the first school leavers via cocoa cultivation and export of cocoa. 
The earliest cocoa farms in Nigeria were in Bonny and Calabar in the 1870s. Governor Ayade, who’s enthusiastic about agriculture, a dynamic agrotechnocrate vision returning back to the ancient economy ages, but employing technology to boost production and advance the economy invested million of dollars in the Ultramodern cooca processing plant Ikom having an annual capacity of over 30,000. In relations, to the Ayade’s project on its agricultural revolution, Cross river state will cultivate, process and export cocoa/cholcolate instead of, to cultivate and export to foreigners who’ll make more money than the primary producer’s via cocoa processing. Its constructive to note, that the mechanization of C’river state agriculture, The “Cocoa” value chain will advance Cross river economy to become a foreign state in Nigeria.
 
Ayade’s, investment on the agricultural sector is Brobdingnagian. The Governor, often expressed,f his determination to decouple Cross River State from over dependence on oil- driven federal allocation through diversification of the state’s economy, Ayade is also building an ultramodern rice mill in Ogoja. 
 
President Muhammadu Buhari was in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, to inaugurate Africa’s first and only Rice seeds and seedling factory. The factory is one of the governor’s signature agricultural projects. At the inauguration, President Buhari commended the governor for “keying into the economic diversification policy of his administration by investing heavily in agriculture, describing him as a reference point in agricultural revolution”. He has also established a cotton farm in Woda, Yala, and banana plantation work is ongoing in the Calabar ultramodern poultry farm and yellow maize farm in Obubra among others.
 
Ayade’s Agricultural transformation is a priority on his policy agenda of African governments on his quest to meet the challenges of food and nutrition insecurity, climate change, youth unemployment and overall economic growth. With Ayade’s right policies, innovation and investment, C’river continent’s on agriculture will be transformed into a powerhouse not only to feed a growing population but to create decent employment for millions of young people in C’river state and across Africa.
 
The Cross River State,  poultry’s and livestock farm project as the most sophisticated, in terms of equipment and production which are line in Africa. In a bid to complement the multi-billion naira frozen chicken processing factory, Calachika, Cross River State Executive Project Manager, Ben Ayade, his striding on the construction of a poultry and livestock farm. When completed, the factory is projected to process about 6,000 frozen chicken per hour. This massive project site comstruction is Located on the Calabar/Odukpani Road in Odukpani Local Government Area, the poultry and livestock farm is conceived to be the biggest of its kind in the South South with the production capacity of 22,000 birds per hour.
Technology, as we have seen in other sectors, is critical to affecting change and driving development. It is bringing countries closer together, reducing barriers to trade and offering a window of opportunity to ‘digital native’ youth entrepreneurs at the vanguard of innovation applied to different economic sectors. The Governor, Ben Ayade, is innovating a landmark industrial agricultural automation to transform the farming system in C’river state and Africa via the used of sophisticated machines, technology and drone’s to mechanize crops and livestock production.
 
In agriculture, digitalisation could be a game changer in boosting productivity, profitability and resilience to climate change. Ayade inclusiveness have, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation and could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for smallholder farmers, also drive a  greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chains. His. Excellency, Sen. Prof. Sir. Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade, KSJ have a significant growth in digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) over the last four (4) years this have hype the Governor revolutionary stride in recognition of exotic awards, enticing investors and prolific agricultural organizations such as Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations and Feed the Future initiative, United State of America. It’s a no doubt that cross river will become a foreign state in Nigeria via the digitalized stride of Prof. Ben Ayade. However, there’s need for investors, opposition parties and indigenes of C’river to buttress the agricultural revival and industrial landmark of the executive Governor to betterment the state and proliferate its economy value.
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Debunking-the-Taboos-of-Eating-Pork-[Part-1]

Debunking the Taboos of Eating Pork [Part 1]

The hypocrisy in our meat selections 

 Disliking pork on hygienic grounds

Generally, it is assumed that we are what we eat. This is because the chemicals in the foods we eat build and feed our bodies. Integrally, the foods determine our entire biochemical structure. Likewise, the biochemical structure of the animals and plants, we feed on, are coordinated by what they also eat. This explains why harmful pesticides and fertilizers used to grow crops turn to have negative effect on our health after consuming the plant. On this same note, foods given to animals to alter their growth hormones  also turn to have negative effects in the body of consumers. So, from this reasoning perspective, we are not just what we eat. But literally, we are what we eat and what we eat eats. It is a biological chain reaction.In Ghana, many people do not eat pork on three grounds; hygienic conditions, Christian doctrines, and Islamic laws. I will talk about the religious aspect with Christian doctrines and Islamic laws in part 2 and part 3 respectively. 

pork

The hypocrisy in our meat selections 

Emphasizing on hygienic reasons for not eating pork, Ghanaians assert that the pig is a scavenger. And traditionally, the pig is culturally labelled as an unclean animal. This claim is backed with the assertion that pigs eat everything and, due to their non-ruminant digestive system, the toxins [poisons] stay in them which are subsequently passed on to consumers. This is true but let us analyze it constructively to understand the realities of it. First of all, per standard definition, a scavenger is an animal that feeds on dead animals, dead plant material, or refuse.
Small scale farmers who are financially incapable of feeding their animals often leave them to feed on their own. As a result, farm animals like cows, goats, sheep and other domestic animals end up looking for food in garbage areas. So why would we single out only the pig? It is undebatable that our home-reared chickens eat dead cockroaches, dead lizards, etc., and drink water from gutters. Whether this is due to economic hardship or farmer’s irresponsibility of feeding the animals, we should understand that we control the lives of animals. We can make scavengers very clean and can also create an environment where clean animals will turn scavengers to survive

Considering this analysis, which one would you prefer on your plate; a clean and organic fed pig or a cow that fed on garbage areas?

It is only in our primitive societies that pigs are kept in unhygienic pens, allowed to roam everywhere, and or are given their natural will to feed on everything. This is not the case in the developed countries.Pigs that are fed 100% organic foods like corn, millet, rice, beans, sorghum, etc. from farms are perfect for meat production. These foods do not deposit any poison into the pig’s body and also do not cause any digestive implications when they are powdered into their finest states. The point is that we are harboring this stigmatization based on what we see in our environments.

With clean and hygienic pen, green environment, and organic feed, the argument that pig is a filthy animal becomes irrelevant.

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Animal-Farm-Business-in-West-Africa2

Animal Farm Business in West Africa

Six Factors to Consider in the Industry:

When it comes to West Africa, meat production from animal farming plays out so differently. The climate, culture, approach to agriculture, and human capital, influence farming on a different scale, compared to the rest of the world. Legit Farms company operates on six basic factors to ensure maximum work input and sustainability.  

6 Major Factors

The 6 Major Factors to consider in the Animal Farm Business, as implemented by Legit Farm Company  

1. Onsite Farm House

providing housing for all farm workers is the first step to succeeding in the farm business. The farmhouse should at least have all the amenities needed for human living condition such as bathroom [shower and toilet], kitchen [with a fridge and food storage so the farm caretakers can cook and eat whatever they desire], a hall [with TV, internet, electronic gadgets like radio/music devices for entertainment, a small conference room [for in-house staff meetings], a laundry chamber, and bedrooms. Providing a living-standard farmhouse on site, gives the workers the maximum comfort to work effectively. Secondly, and importantly, it deters thieves from coming to the farm, knowing that people actually live on the farm. Per several cultures in West Africa, it’s okay for people to steal from farms, if the purpose is to satisfy hunger. So, if you don’t have people on the farm site 24/7, then you would have a serious theft problem to deal with. And most of the time, the means to get the workers to be on site is by providing them with comfort. The weather conditions alone are no joke. 

2. Electricity

the farm requires energy to power the farmhouse, operate machinery, pump water [operate electric boreholes], power structures and buildings that house the farm animals, to provide light, and support the use of electronics [such as charging mobile phones, computers, etc. 

3. Internet [On-Site Wi-Fi]

 away from the site, the internet helps to monitor everything on the farm. There are many apps that help to make a video call. So, in this case, the owner can have a face-to-face interaction with the farm workers, irrespective of his/her geographical location. Additionally, there are CCTV cameras with software that enables the farm owner to see every activity on the farm, on his/her phone. Practically, the use of internet enables adequate security and monitoring. The farm workers can also use the internet to acquire online information for immediate treatments, should the animals develop any strange symptoms of disease. It’s also gives the platform to market the farm to the world. ‘All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy’, the workers who live on site can connect to the social and entertainment media world. In all, the internet provides entertainment, information, security, and market exposure.   

4. Borehole

for unlimited supply of clean and uncontaminated water, the farm requires a borehole. A river or stream can be polluted. There is an instance where ‘Farmer A’ lost hundreds of farm animals, as a result of water contamination by ‘Farmer B’. ‘Farmer B’ who had previously lost his farm animals to a strange disease, dumped the dead animals in the very same river ‘Farmer A’ used to feed his animals. It’s very advisable to protect your investments. 

5. Farming for Food Production

feeding comes with a high cost. Feeding cost is directly proportional to the number of farm animals. This means an increase in animal production, means an increase in feeding cost. Additionally, it requires money to transport purchased feed to the farm. But the challenges associated with feeding can be solved, if the farmer grows his/her own feed. The farmer can also control the animal wastes, by using them as manure or fertilizer to grow the plants for food. To maintain a fixed cost, or prevent high feeding costs, the farmer has to plant food for the animals. Legit Farm has its own maize/corn and cassava farms. 

6. Farm Trucks

 from construction to maintenance, a truck is required to transport materials needed to work in the farm. And not just farm materials, but workers as well. Transportation cost can be a huge problem, hence the need to have one. This is because, lands for farming are often located far distance from commercial areas. 

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