DapoBear:

Hrm. So most of the crops we grow here are likely grown in countries with similar climates. Say, India and Indonesia, as you said. So depending on the maturity of the market there, perhaps it won't be so hard to import at good prices.

Finally, is importing seeds a one-time deal, or not? If we could get high-yield seeds, grow and then harvest those seeds and never have to buy again, that would be perfectly fine. Fixed costs are OK. But if it is a recurring cost, then it makes things quite a bit more expensive long-term.

DapoBear:

Hrm. They require a lot of money, but presumably the additional yield causes it to pay for itself. So I don't really see a reason to subsidize. A better thing for the gov't to do, rather than giving them money to subsidize imported seeds is to build an R& lab here so we can produce the seeds ourselves here cheaply. That is better longterm than paying someone else to develop them for you.

But in the short term, yeah, I think we'll need to just pay full price to import

DapoBear:

Naw, what we need to do is to get our hands on those seeds

Kobojunkie:

In America, seeds are a billion dollar business, and No, farmers do not just go to the grocery store to buy a bag of corn so they can plant it. Farmers actually try to look for suppliers of high grade seeds to purchase from so they can get better yields for their money.

DapoBear:

Also, why don't they have access to these seeds? Are they just more expensive, or not easy to get in Nigeria?

Kobojunkie:

Why would it be relevant to the north? I don't understand. The North has land for planting of crops and water scarcity up there is mostly due to politicians not doing their job at all. Hydroponics sets ups cost money and water. Hydroponics will work anywhere only I am not sold on the increase in yield claim. If you plant a disease prone seed in a green house or out in the field, you are likely to have poor harvest either way. The problem of yield is likely because farmers do not have open access to higher yielding seeds and maybe water, not necessarily land in many of the cases I have researched in the past.

Kobojunkie:

Again, Hydroponics is not new . . . it is hundreds of years in age, and is currently employed in green houses across Nigeria. However, it does not lead to increase yield in all cases. I am not certain what mix this particular country uses but to measure yield you have to consider how much you plant vs how much you actually harvested.  

I would consider hydroponics a solution to maybe land scarcity issue or something of that sort but solution to plant yield problem, nah!

Kobojunkie:

But that is usually what is done when plants are grown in green houses. I am not sure in that case hydroponics increases yield as there are cases where the same is practiced out in the field.

Honestly, I don't believe we understand the problem here. The low yield problem in agriculture cannot be solved by putting in more plants per square area. It is more than that. I believe that is why scientists and companies started investing heavily into genetically engineering better yielding crops in the first place. Hydroponics, harvesters etc cannot solve the yield problem.

Aloy+Emeka:

Nigeria is not suffering from the shortage of bananas or plantain. What we are suffering from is inferiority complex. If the organic local ones go for N70 and the imported ones go for N200, that means there is no shortage there, rather, they are importing luxury for those who cares. I want you to note this now; Many people in Aba will start manufacturing empty cartons with banana stickers and in 3 months time, they will start packaging the N70 banana at the price of N200. Packaging is the problem here.

Kobojunkie:

WOW . . . . I mean hydroponics is itself not new but the claim, that is definitely a new one. It is likely their is more to the setup than plain old hydroponics

DapoBear:

Pretty fascinating. Seems actually perfect for farming in the north.

Kobojunkie:

Hydroponics increases yield?

fstranger:

@MShittu

My brother, Nothing is going to happen. Those imbeciles can't do anything. If they try to start something, I will personally lead a battalion to stop any trouble they may want to start.

It reminds me of secondary school where we used to beat some of the Igbos and during the Ife-Modakeke war, we killed some of them , and then lied to the cops that they were killed by the Modakekes. Up till today, Nothing has happened.

Forget about anything they say, talk is cheap.

DapoBear:

How does that increase yield exponentially? It is just a harvester, from what I see? Labor is cheap anyway in Nigeria, how does that help? What I'd want it something that increases the size of my bananas, for example. Or makes them require less water/nutrients/etc.

DapoBear:

Never fear, we shall never import marijuana into Nigeria when we can source it from Ekiti

Aloy+Emeka:

You claimed that locally produced bananas will soon outclass the imported ones and I am telling you that Nigerians have strange mentality because if those people importing the bananas are not making huge profits from it, they wouldn't be doing it which should tell you that they have people who are ready to pay the N200 for five fingers instead of paying N70 for a local specie.

Didn't Obasanjo propose the importation of beans from the republic of Thomas Sankara at the cost of $250M per annum until the media insulted his government so much that he had to cancel the idea?. So, the importation of food items is not new to Nigeria. Wait for the next shocker, it will be the importation of charcoal, firewood, marijuana and crayfish from Cameroun or Chad.

Aloy+Emeka:

Trust me, if they are not selling it, they won't be importing it.

DapoBear:

A couple factories, producing what? How much will it cost for these factories to produce whatever they produce, since power supply is poor in this country? Running a factory on gasoline is prohibitively expensive.

Also, how will 2 factories be enough?

It isn't nearly as easy as you say. If I were a northern leader, I'd first of all bring about power supply and education. Then start looking for different industries that might be good fits for my region.

chyz1:

I don't get it. Is it that these group of igbos are weak or what? They don't know how to deal with these kidnappers/robbers? I think the best thing to do is send some Igbos from Anamba or Imo to that area of Abia state to whip those people up very well.

Almost after one month of military successes in Abia State, and just when some state gov­ernments are fiercely at war over who won the Abia victory, kidnappers have staged a come back. In very fierce opera­tions for the whole of the week, the gunmen stormed Ngwaiyie­kwe deadly spot and kidnapped over 17 travellers.

Meanwhile, fresh corpses of four youths were found at the emerging dumpsite at the same Ngwaiyiekwe spot, all face down. Policemen nearby could hardly give details when BusinessDay team chatted with them. One of them said: “Oga, we are not from this state. All I know is that this is how we find corpses every day”.

The security operative who held firmly to his rifle even as he talked, said the bad boys still rush unto the expressway, grab who­ever was available, and rush back into the bush. Security sources said a man travelling from Port Harcourt last week was abducted at the same spot. “His vehicle is still parked at the police station and the man has not been found”, the source stated.

In other parts of the hot zone, the gangs have found confidence again, now eliminating those be­lieved to be passing information to security agencies. The JTF has been urging citizens to pass infor­mation needed to fight the gangs. The new upsurge has created fear and tension even as businesses began last week to find their feet.

At about 2p.m last Wednesday, gunmen suspected to be kidnap­pers abducted 15 persons at Ngwaiyiekwe in Ugwunagbo local government area of Abia State to raise the security bar.

This development is also coming on the hills of the alleged killing of a pregnant woman and a man in one of the villages of Obingwa local government area of the state with their houses set ablaze.

BusinessDay gathered that the kidnappers, who operated at Ngwaiyiekwe junction along the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, hijacked a commercial bus head­ing towards Port Harcourt and abducted all the 14 passengers and took them to an unknown destination.

About the same time and place, the hoodlums kidnapped a woman who was being driven by her son to Aba. The abductors were yet to place any ransom on their victims as at the time of fil­ing in this report.

A close source to the Joint Military Task Force deployed to restore sanity in the state confirmed the incident, noting however that about seven people out of the 15 victims have been released.

The source did not give fur­ther details, but assured that soldiers were doing everything possible to free the remaining kidnapped persons and arrest their abductors.

googles:

I like you  




why are pple calling a whale a "fish" anyways?   sounds dumb

na2day!:

@wesley
The quote above shows the antecedence, infact there's no argument, just try and visit any General hospital, u'll be amazed how people are dying like cockroaches because they are so much in love with awuff!

na2day!:

Ol boy, u too fork up with this kind of statement o!
What makes Ghana better than Nigeria?

na2day!:

@all the posters supporting the reckless behaviour as free meat, hope u guyz know dat AWUF dey run belle!
Your reasoning is amazing!
Have u considered the toll on the health from eating a decomposing carcass?
Its like a busted petrol pipeline spewing gasoline and u decide to go and scoop free fuel because u've been paying for fuel all your life, of course when u get roasted don't come here to complain, idio.ts!

wesley80:

@ Shittu, First of all, its not a beast, its a fish - a big one, and one that happens to be a delicacy in some parts of d world. Do u honestly believe if one gets grounded in the Japanese coast they'lld push it back into d ocean? Do u know how much a pound goes for in Japan? Now to Ghana, Ok let me admit that maybe they have some order on their coast but take it from me, the only purpose dat would serve if this happens in Ghana is dat the people would be on a queue as they take turns in slicing their share! Food is food and more so on the African coast. Maybe someday we'll become like Westerners that are all for conservation and all d rest crap but before then please stop acting like u've got the autopsy report of every piece of fish on your plate. Quit being Hypocrites.