Agbeyewa farms steps up to restore Nigeria’s food security dream

The establishment of Agbeyewa Farms, a privately owned multi billion naira agribusiness initiative could not have come at a better time than now when Nigeria is facing significant food security challenges.

With nearly 25 million people at risk of hunger due to bandits’ attacks on farmlands, climate change, which damaged over 676,000 hectares of farmland in 2022, coupled with high food prices, experts say this Agric revolution, seated on about five thousand hectares of land in Ekiti State, is timely.

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji who takes significant credit for accommodating the initiative to materialise, has been quite vocal about his commitment to food security in the state.

Oyebanji who recently stated that his target for 2025 is to record a significant increase in food production to feed the people of Ekiti, said his administration is working towards making the state the food basket of the country.

To achieve this goal, Oyebanji’s government said it is focusing on agricultural development, with plans to collaborate with investors in agribusiness such as Agbeyewa farms and the young farmers. He also assured that the state 2025 budget will prioritise agriculture and food security, with a focus on welfare and infrastructure development, including rehabilitation of roads to farms and provision of electricity.

According to him, some of the initiatives already underway include the “Bring Youth Back into Agriculture” project, which aims to encourage young people to take up farming. The government has also partnered a private company to provide tractor services to farmers digitally.

Aligning with the lofty vision of the governor, the proprietor of Agbeyewa Farms, a subsidiary of Cavista Holding, has invested in Cassava farming in Ekiti, especially due to its array of derivatives when processed. Currently, the farm is harvesting about 380 hectares, which would go into the market in the Southwest region and other parts of the country.

Speaking on how the vision that gave birth to the Agbeyewa Agric Revolution was consummated, during a recent tour of the farm, one of the farm’s board members and a traditional ruler, Oba Dr Sunday Aniyi of Erimope Ekiti, said the farm was an idea that came around 2021, immediately after the COVID 19 pandemic.

He said: “The chairman of Agbeyewa Farms, John Olajide, is from my community, and we have been having engagement on his business interests in Nigeria. His father and I were very stubborn on the fact that whatever investment to do in Nigeria should come to Ekiti, particularly Ado-Ekiti. So sometimes, I think, August 6, 2021, we had a community meeting before my kingdom. So we wanted to see how we could get land. As at that time, the understanding was like having a 5,000-hectare land, and then we were not particularly blessed with a lot of land in our kingdom.

“There was also a meeting with the state government under Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Olabode Adetoyi was the commissioner of Agriculture. So, we all toured Ekiti, went to Emure, Ise and everywhere where land could be available.

“So, we came around this place, too. And finally, the government advised that they have Agric processing zone around this corridor and that their intention is that big agricultural industries should concentrate around here, so that it is easy for infrastructure development and deployment, especially around the power corridor.

Continuing, Oba Aniyi said: “We have some technical partners that came with John on that investment drive. So their technical advice was that for the plants, they were looking for 120 metric tonnes processing capacity that can be used to process the cassava to different by-products. To have that kind of industry, you need to have what can be called ready-made farm, and you can take from other farmers, there must be that ready raw material that you can assure yourself of at any time….”

The revered monarch however, appealed to Ekiti indigenes in the diaspora to learn from Olajide and invest in the state to banish hunger.

“We have a good number of universities and polytechnic around. If it is the manpower that you need to do the work, we have it. In terms of security, I can tell you that Ekiti is still one of the most peaceful and secured states. There is no community in the world that has 100 per cent security situation. You always have refractions because there are bad people everywhere.

“So, we have to appeal to ourselves that we need to come back home, invest in this land. That is where we can conquer poverty and the idea of witches and wizard. It’s poverty that makes people see witches and wizards. You cannot be in New York and think of witches, but there are actually big witches’ covens everywhere. They have it in the UK. You have people who call themselves witches and nobody cares about them because everybody is doing well.”

Also speaking on the journey so far and the future goal of the initiative, which is about three years in existence, the Executive Director of the farms, Mr Oscar Seyi Ayeleso said Agbeyewa Farms would establish the best agro-allied cassava processing plant in the whole of Africa. “I will tell you that where you are today will soon become a cassava farming estate. We are growing 10,000 hectares and we have our agro-allied company here. We will be processing many varieties.

“We are even going into some table foods. We are going into the production of semovita, noodles, spaghetti, chips and cake. We need housing facility for our managers; we are constructing a facility for the field staff. We want to also have a facility for managers and the directors also.

“By the time you are having all of that, the bank will be approaching you, and we will have banks here. By the time you start all those estates, their children will want to go to school. We will establish school here, by the time the family will want to go for groceries, they will have supermarket here. By the time people start coming in and seeing all of this, they say, ah come on, I want to sleep here, I want to sleep here and see some of the things, for two days, two days is not enough, I want to go now, but we have hotel here where you can lodge and stay and go around and everything.

“By the time we are doing that, we are creating a colony here, and that’s what we are going into. So, we are going to have a farming estate that has never been seen in the whole of Africa and we’ll liken that to the Omnicane in Mauritius. So, Agbeyewa is not an ordinary farm, it’s a revolution, it’s a movement and you will see it in the next few years, that’s the dream of my chairman – John Olajide and we are working to get to that dream,” he said.

Ayeleso said the farm has invested a lot of money in cassava cultivation and presently harvesting about 380 hectares, saying if 380 hectares go into the market in the Southwest region and also in Nigeria, it means a lot because of the varieties of products, by-products that come out of cassava in terms of garri, fufu, starch, flour and other varieties.

“So we have so many customers who are coming here to buy our cassava for their agro-allied processing company and they are using our cassava in various varieties to actually process into fufu, starch, and flour. Now, the economy of any state has to come, or the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any state, has to come from the local level. If we want to grow the GDP of any state, we have to start from the local level. What are the products and cash crops they producing that will dovetail into enhancement of a state GDP?

“I can tell you that cassava is one of those cash crops that can contribute very immensely to the GDP, not only of local councils, but the states, and also the nation.”

While speaking on employment creation, Ayeleso said: “You can see how many labourers that have been offered job, today, we have over 500 workers. Our direct staff is over 200. We grew from five. Also, we have about 400 indirect labourers – some cutting the stem, some harvesting cassava roots, some planting cassava, and some doing the ridges.

“As of today, we have about 500 people working in this farm and you can imagine what this can do to the local economy, to the family economy of such individuals who are working here. You can also see people who are also coming to establish their trade. We are also improving the economy of their family, and by improving the economy of their family, we are also improving the economy of the local government”.

A veteran Journalist, Chief Akin Fasae who was part of the team on tour of the farm, said at over 70 years of age, it was his first time of seeing an Agric plantation of such, despite traveling far and wide across the globe.

“I studied in Scotland for my master’s degree and I was invited by several Agric shows and farms, this is the first of its kind. The area that has just been covered by Agbeyewa is more than Ikole local council in term of size. So, the only thing that I can wish the farm owners is best of luck. There will be so many distractions; he should not be discouraged since he has decided to invest in his home state.”