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It's still the breakfast and plus TV Africa moving on to a first major discussion right here on the breakfast and after last year blaming middlemen for the rising costs of local food stuff Accusing them of creating artificial's Kersti president Buhari through the federal executive council Wednesday, but foreigners from directly buying agricultural produce from Nigerian farmers instead Handing the deal to indigenous middlemen the move means that henceforth only Licensed and duly registered local buying agents can produce Directly or procure directly from farmers in Nigeria the presidency through the menace of trade and industry Nia de bio Has also directed the attorney general to draft a legislation Legislation supporting the policy with the policy the Buhari administration is hoping to tackle challenges of underpricing of agricultural products from Nigeria's farmers and preventing foreign buyers from branding Nigerian farm produce as Made in their country's nest and look at the thinking behind this policy shipped and its implications for Nigerian economy We have joining us live on The breakfast va zoom a Prince Wally or yeah, Koya. He's an agriculturalist and the MDC of bomber farms Prince Wally Koya nice to have you in the program this morning That's what have you made a good morning What's the thinking behind this policy something that we have not heard about before? What is the thinking behind the move the federal government saying foreigners cannot procure directly from farmers in the country? I Don't think it's a policy in the right direction in the sense that what we produce in Nigeria 60% of it got rotten True weighty by these people the foreigners that you're trying to bar from buying our farm produce they add value to what we cannot add value and For them to be banned to be banned our produce is going to be counterproductive In the sense that there's the least of the problem of farmers man for days What happened to the commodity price control? Where is the price control? There's nothing like price control in Nigeria? That is why you see all kind of stuff just coming into the market and No one is regulating me. No one is controlling it So it's not the issue of foreigners coming to map what we have at the farm gate But the policy that is going to be sustainable to really assist the farmers and to bring the price of goods down Completely because most Nigeria's are complaining about the price of the food stop couple with all the infrastructure deficit couple with all the All kind of other stuff like the security and bandit price of food or a price of food price of diesel right now this is about 600 Now the government is not addressing this and these are the multiply effect that is going to happen on the consumers So to me the foreigners are not a problem. We are the problem of our staff and this policy is not going to be sustained They need to do other mountains To really bring more farmers back to the force cause most of the farmers we have today. They are folding up like like Parachutes Most of them are folding up because they couldn't cope with the policy of the government, the ease of government and the ease of doing business in Nigeria that the government are really Talking it bad. It's not really working Okay, so so you're saying that this is not a well thought out policy by the federal government Of course, you are an agriculturalist you on the field. You have the experience, you know, what's going on right now And but the word being used by the board administration and by the minister who announced this at the end of that federal executive council meeting is Underpricing so they're saying that the Agricultural produce from Nigeria is being underpriced and isn't there's this a problem from your experience That's not that it's underpricing But what we are talking about is the price control the government we used to have a commodity price control What happened to the commodity board? That's what you need to blame back is the same government that killed this commodity board Yes, it's underpriced and people just bring whatever they want to the market Okay, you say you buy the foreign and buy for from us. So what if I work for a white man and he sent me as a pre-care officer Go to the market go and buy this thing for me. Is he not the same thing? So burning there to buy our farm produce on the farm gate. It's not the it's not the solution The solution is for them to really even the minister that is talking about what does he know about agriculture? Does he even really know what the farmers are going through the scene know that there's no funding coming to the farmers Don't even know anything about the climate change Right now a lot of farmers are not producing because of the climate change. They are not addressing this issue We have been supposed to have a drip irrigation or any form of irrigation. They are not addressing it So burning the foreigner is just like burning a gear also doing business in most of these advanced country Are we going to cope? There's a bit there's supposed to be a balance of trip between between a Country and other countries by you are doing this message there for you to buy them. It's not going to be sustainable Okay, let's also look at this because we have some quotas who are saying that this is supposed to ensure security for the nation of course you find out that some commodities is really very I mean scarce and you find out that if As much as we say that yes We are great on agriculture and it's produced We still find scarcity of some of this commodity and it doesn't make sense You know for countries Nigeria where it feels like at the end of they were not able to produce what we can even consume not to even talk About exporting that's because we have you know that market now in 2013 there's a report where garlic was being bought from one of the markets I mean the farms in Kaduna or Kani if I'm not mistaken and the foreigner that came They had to pack it in bags as if they branded it Don't you think that this is supposed to protect the agricultural sector? I mean, you know protect the farmers and our interests and also ensure food security I don't think so. I believe that should be in a competition in the world The foreigners are getting challenges and what are we doing to add value to what we are producing? So it should be a form of encouragement by government to the small business to the small-scale business is that oh We need to have value to what what if you are adding value to what we are there We're able to ask for the foreigner will not come and be taking advantage of cost but because the government have really neglected their main purpose of Producing food and a colleague in farmer So the farmers and the foreigners are taking advantage and I don't believe that how many foreigners are we will talking about that What we have Go to the market go to most of our local market You see for some of these food food stuff But some of them are getting rotten that these white people or this foreigner they came in to add value to what we are training We are garbage 60 percent of our stuff end up in the garbage and it's not supposed to be so so we should be Encouraging you can imagine how many people that these foreign people that you have talked about how many people they employ So that's not to be done to really improve the food production in the country And to be by some set of people from doing this and buy some of our farm produce Like we should be encouraging them to come and do what we call and the product x some of our eggs There's something they say is doing the plot. I could say that's a glut when there's not enough eggs in the circulation So they can call it these white people. Okay, don't take this into your country Bring the industry bring your machineries to the country and produce and employ our people instead of just burning them completely But to me it's our colleagues. So our Prince Wale Oh, yeah, Koya What the government is saying that the fact that you have foreigners having a direct interface with the farmers at most times You you you might want to agree with me that this farmers might not really understand the dynamics of the market Just as they come to the local market because that's the farm gate the buyers You know the buy the same price where you have other Peasants within the country buying. I mean, it's not supposed to be so like I mentioned earlier on in that 2013 you have This foreigner who came in as a representative not necessarily as you know He came as a representative coming to buy directly from the farms and in the bags that were packing it He had made in a certain country So so I mean don't you think that this is supposed to protect because I'm thinking that This is actually good that the government is trying to you know to protect the agriculture sector or the farmers right now from exploitation of you know foreigners and also ensure that we're able to produce For our consumption and then before we begin to think about exporting Well as good as the policy might be I keep on saying that is it sustainable Government policy today tomorrow it became sooner. We are going to have a change of government Another domain will come in and say no and Apologies this thing. So I'm talking of sustainable and implementation of some of this government policy So by the time you send away your customer, which are the foreign base. We are talking about When the new government come what we have Well, I could tell products some of the product get bad in the in the farm and look for for customers So to me, I don't believe any farmer that wanted to say to follow it as long as you just get out of their farm instead of getting Spoiled or the bandits or the heisman we bring their cow and eat some of your produce in the farm So they would rather send it away to people that are available that are ready so that I just get something for the for the business The government should be addressing we are the Heisman come to the farm and eat the farm produce and with no compensation There's no insurance to pay for it. So to me farmers tell you to the foreigners They are not pleased willingly But for them to be able to get something out of what they have in the farm before the the cow or the cattle come and eat them That is what I'm saying. I'm not saying the policies is not good I'm not saying the policy should not be should not be prevented Can it be implemented? Can it be sustainable? It's just the summer policy that I'm talking about here. All right. So what are you going how? How is how does this this policy as a as affects you as a farmer? I want I want us to get practical now and In your business if you hear or there comes a situation where you need to go through middlemen Or anyone wants to buy from you who is coming from outside Nigeria has to go through middlemen means that you as a farmer Do not enter for interface with a foreigner and how do you think this will affect you on a day-to-day basis in practical terms? Definitely is affected. If you recognize you are affecting me that I have a whole lot of Panapos in the farm I'm talking about almost about 50 acres of Panapos That I have in the market that I have in my farm. I'm looking for middlemen to buy because The security is not there for me. Sometimes I even I even try to look at the time I have to go to my farm so that I'm not making maps of some of our colleagues in my area and making mapping So now you can have when you already planted this in that take over a year to grow Are you are you fancy about that? So I'm going to mop up everything your farm Are you going to be dictating that all you have fallen and not sell to you? So until the go make are really taking care of all the first social deficit like the security and lies we could be able to process our farm produce But the conditions there is not even producing We are there's no diesel where there's no electricity to even do your processing with my 50 acres of Panapos I should be processing juices But come to my area that's not like now if I want to go into diesel processing You know how much this is now 600 and 600 So these are the reason I'm also the farmer we rather say to the medium man instead of getting into Unnecessary pets because some of us take long so if you cannot be able to play your law You're not able to say your produce then you're in trouble But I mean yeah shouldn't you be happy with this bearing in mind that The idea here is to make sure that you can get a higher price for your pineapple Yeah I'm not saying the policy is not good. What I'm saying is that is this sustainable? With kind of government we have government come government and go Another government will come tomorrow as some of these foreigners if they really Invested in their in their in their politics Since we change then the farmer will go back again to the square one I'm not saying the policy is not good You know as long as it would be implemented well and be sustainable I have people's oriented policy not that some kind of politicians have interest in what is going on That is my point. I'm not saying the policy is not good Prince Wale don't we have I mean or you're an agricultural at least and There should be because I mean you have different association Don't you have some kind of association? Who should be speaking and protecting the interest of these farmers? We have seen that Recently in Nigerians are taking to protesting and which has been a policy Even though to some extent it hasn't yield any kind of result to some sectors especially if you look at the educational sector but Don't you have a body that should be speaking for farmers and those who are involved in agricultural consent We have so many bodies. We have so many organizations Bodring along the agricultural sector, but some of them have been hijacked Let me be very honest with you. We have so many you have put your farm association We have all farmers association. We have rice production. We have cottage association But some of these people some of the executives we have I'm being honest with you They're supposed to be fighting for for the farmers But when you get to satisfy when they cannot go find for themselves when you come to the free for all when they even have their own Produce in the farm that they cannot say we do communicate. We do have platforms that we've been looking for buyers Most of the local farmers we have also they're not different this foreign but foreign farmer foreign buyers But they will they will back from you instead of that to bring your time to go back to the farm and do the right It might take them three months for more six months to pay back for your own produce So when you see a foreigner coming to mop every day, it might be of a lower price But it's better for you to get something lower than you get everything and damage or destroy your farm So now that we don't have any association. We do have a lot of Okay, right interesting these people called the middleman Last year the president blamed them for the rising cost of of local food stuff He accused them of creating artificial scarcity is a middleman the president is banking on to Have an increased price for our products before they're taken out of the country And who are these middlemen and why are they so important? Do you do you interface with them interact with them, you know regularly as a farmer in Nigeria? This middleman are not foreigners. They're Nigerians my course Like some time they bother me to rise the atom that are very good products I'm going to change it back into foreign birds. I've seen it happening. These are not foreigners These are our own people. These are Nigerian that do this. So the middleman We are talking about we most of us are the middleman especially people that have money You can easily go to the farm and buy your stuff and repackage it Either you repackage as a whole or you have value by processing So when you talk of middlemen, if you have your money today, yes You can be middleman You can be one of the middlemen to come and buy the produce and repackage and do whatever you want But what I'm trying to say is that the government are there looking at these people repackaging this thing into foreign birds What they do So you are you saying that the middlemen themselves are also part of those who You know, repackaging some of the products As made overseas when they actually made in Nigeria. So what you say? All right We see the so-called middlemen Prince Wale Oye Koyer Let's talk about the fact that the Agricultural sector I mean something that's been on the news Over time the fact that the farm produce that we get to export outside of Nigeria usually does not meet international standards We we get to that point where We hear that several goods have been rejected because they don't meet the international standards for the market Why is that the issue especially with Nigeria? As I said, it still bugged down the policy of our government It still bugged on the on the leadership because yes I remember too many times that 47 of our items were burning the UK the UK that supposed to be our allies That's supposed to be a partner. That's supposed to be our colonial masters The same thing you ask the same guy remember one time when some people tried to export yam So you ask everything got brought to almost about 10 containers and nothing's been done today So when you see for it are coming to buy some of these produce They reinvent it. They reproduce it. They repackage it. They add value And this is what I'm expecting a government to really look into that. Okay. If this is the problem, what countries of our problem internally? So for for other countries we get in our produce. It's not a farmer. It's the policy And if you look at the policy we are talking about is the ease of the business that the federal government been talking about But that's not it like ease of the business in Nigeria When you talk of ease of the business and you go to the company by this or 690 plus all the manufacturing Complaints are moving out of the Nigeria to the neighboring countries These are what the government should be addressing that why are complaints? Why all these panglomeric complaints? Blue sheeps are moving out of Nigeria to other countries something is wrong So so you're saying that so you're saying that the fact that you know the goods the fact produced We have in Nigeria been expotted don't meet international standards because of the policies of government How can you be more explicit with that? What I mean by this is that yes is due to the policy because when you want to export something that's a procedure you take You see that when you go to some of these export promotion consoles instead of them to do the writing if you don't If you don't give them money they will not come to your party They will not come to your warehouse to expect what you have is your about your sample isn't it with the That will enter into the country. How do they enter to the country to the extent I want to the circulation the same thing with export Bring you all this input. So buddy the same thing I plan when you are trying to export your produce They don't really do much of the necessary inspection, but they just sit there in the office as not as the price is right These are the policy that needs to be changed You can imagine how many very good god damn it with the bad import of food that the answer to the country I have so many friends that they're better than me. So the same thing when you are trying to export some of these farm produce What to go through from these people alone some of these good got locked in before even take off to this to the other country You can imagine a perishable item that supposed to live within a day with it when for hours So I think about two weeks before you get up to that from the from the knuckle from the airport from everywhere from where Yeah, we are good to export this it takes weeks So by the time is leaving our shop by time we get to the other show right there. It's already nothing It's already getting back. All right. We have to leave it at that. I'm afraid a prince. Well, oh, yeah Thank you very much for a time. He is an agriculturalist and the managing director and chief executive officer of bomber farms We're really really on the hands and practical Analysis is giving us on this particular issue. Thank you very much for your time, sir Thank you. Thank you for having me. Right. All right. We have more This morning on the breakfast, of course, the Senate saying no to President Buhari We have a guest Analyst joining us to discuss this mercy expunging section sex section 84 and the Senate said no Hmm. Well, we'll just find out, you know, because this this is actually rare You know case with the 9th assembly I mean looking at the fact that the 9th assembly has been described as Robert's time. Well, let's find out what went You know different. I mean what really happened. We'll be right back after this time. Please stay with us