DOCTOR GODWIN MADUKA’S VISION ON AGRICULTURE: AN EXPOSITION
by Dr. Emezie Madu
The essence of preparing for an election is for aspirants to package their visions and showcase what they have in their kitty.
Surprisingly, Dr. Godwin Maduka has constantly done that while others have not. Therefore, it will not be out of place to conclude that Dr. Maduka is ready for governance of Anambra State while other aspirants are still undecided.
I can boldly state that Dr. Godwin Maduka is the only aspirant with a booklet containing his blueprints or visions on how to govern Anambra State. Let Any aspirant or man Friday with a contrary view challenge me. Dr. Godwin Maduka’s 10 point agenda is legendary.
Many has not realized as well that Dr. Maduka weighs his utterances. He is very vast and whatever he says is as good as done. This is because he does his homework very well. He is also trained in an environment where people are held accountable for their utterances. This is what Dr. Maduka is bringing to the table in Anambra State.
Indeed, Dr. Godwin Maduka is ready to breath a fresh air into the state through medical tourism, free, standard and accessible education as well as mechanized Agriculture and massive industrialization among others.
Some online e-rats and 5th columnists have been trying to discredit Dr. Godwin Maduka but to no avail because his good intentions and positive vibrations continuously dwarf their sinister motives.
Okosisi Orumba has never hidden his good intentions to make things better for the state. His vision on agriculture is a masterpiece and after the implementation Anambra State will definitely become the food center of Nigeria.
According to Dr. Godwin Maduka “many communities in Anambra have fallow community land. To put such fallow community land to productive economic use, Government will help communities develop such fallow lands, into revenue generating farms/fisheries/ranches.
To this effect, Government will supply communities with subsidized inputs eg seedlings, stems, fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides and even some mechanized tools at subsidized rates.
The role of Local Governments will be to engage with communities in their jurisdiction to identify which fallow community lands the communities will like to develop. Also, we will have a data bank of verified capable and willing private sector investors, thus, once the community agrees on which land they want developed, we will assign a private sector investor to that land and a PPP scheme will be consummated.
The fallow community land is now turned into an income generating farm, jobs are created and a PPP (public private partnership) scheme ensures that this is done efficiently and profitably.
The same applies to fishery and livestock. We will like to encourage fisheries and ranches all over Anambra State.
Government will engage with communities that have a comparative advantage for this. Towns like Ogbaru and Anam will be encouraged to build fisheries, on land that they will put forwards for productive use, also, one will witness a lot of cattle ranches spring up in Anambra.
For that, Government will provide some incentives, plus, again, bring in a private sector investor, for a PPP scheme.
The third will now be the processing plants. We will ensure that each of the 21 Local Government Areas in Anambra has one agro industrial park. Government will clear the land, build sites and services (security, roads, drainage, power and water), then, we will sell serviced plots to agro processors, to build their factories in a secure agro industrial park.
This will be revolutionary. Each industrial park will be named after a great son or daugther from that Local Government area eg Nnamdi Azikiwe Agro Industrial Park Onitsha or Odumegwu Ojukwu Agro Industrial Park Nnewi.
These agro industrial parks will have top security, 24 hours non stop power supply and water, in a conducive and very clean environment for food processing. We will encourage banks to open branches and hospitals to have a mobile clinic inside each agro industrial Park. We will encourage all kinds of food processing in these parks, so much that Anambra will be turned into the industrial food processing hub of Africa.
We know the issue of many processing plants not having enough feedstock, hence, we will systematically help to increase feedstock production with our community program to develop fallow land, but we also want each Local Government Area to have an agro industrial park, so that from the farm to the processing, this can be done in each Local Government area of Anambra. In the agro industrial parks, the processing plants will have their storage facilities so that we cut down on post harvest losses.
We know the issues of most farmers in Anambra and their inability to buy any mechanized equipment. To this effect, the State will procure earthmovers for clearance of farms and mechanized farming equipment, then, enter a PPP scheme with a very reputable private sector company, that can manage a community land development scheme, with the entire communities in Anambra, based on what is agreed upon, whether land for rice, cassava, livestock or cattle ranch.
This equipment will be used to also do farm feeder roads. Cooperatives can also apply to lease this equipment. It must be paid for, either in cash in crops, so that we make this sustainable, but this way, Anambra can be turned into a Holland, a small country, yet, they have food exports last year of $100 billion.
In all my consultations with farmers and food processors, I have found out that lack of irrigation is a major issue. Yet, if Anambra is to farm all year round, this must be done. Anambra’s resources may be limited for this, hence, I will engage with the World Bank, Africa Development Bank, EU and any agency that we can get a grant or extremely low interest loan with long term moratoriums to develop irrigation in Anambra.
I like the Indian model of Kusum. This is a model where farmers in India use solar panels with water pumps on their land, which pump out water for irrigation, from tube wells or natural water bodies like streams and rivers. The same power from the solar panels on farms can be used for threshing and even drying of crops, on farms.
To this effect, we will have a data bank of all farmers in Anambra, with their names, BVN, numbers and farms, for traceability. The essence of this, is that the solar panels and water pumps will be lent to the farmers, a repayment scheme will be worked out and farmers then have an option to pay back in cash or crops. Again, economic sustainability is fundamental.
I will take this one step further. Farm land in Anambra will be made bankable. Farmers and land owners in Anambra will be encouraged to come forwards and register their lands with an Anambra land bank. We will use technology to map out the lands, register them, have all in a land bank, but also, we will fast track issuing titles of ownership to land owners and farmers for their land, so that their land becomes bankable.
We want to make all lands in Anambra bankable, both in the urban and rural areas, by issuing bankable titles. This will lead to an explosion of bankability of farm land in Anambra, just like in Israel or Holland”.
