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Nigeria's Gain 5th May 2004 Kwara State government has allocated almost 200,000 hectares of prime agricultural land to Zimbabwean commercial farmers wishing to relocate to Nigeria - almost twice as much as they had bargained for. "We will do anything in our power to make this project a success," said Permanent Secretary of Lands and Housing, Mrs. Tayo Alao. "It will enhance the status of our people, who will learn skills from the Zimbabweans," she said. She assured the farmers no Nigerian villagers would lose their homes in the process, but conceded movement of nomadic herders in the district would be curtailed. A second delegation of Zimbabweans whose farms were seized under Robert Mugabe's land redistribution programme arrived in Kwara state this week. Kwara governor Bukola Saraki has been vigorously courting Zimbabwean farmers to kick-start commercial agriculture in Nigeria since the dramatic success of their compatriots in Zambia late last year. About 100 Zimbabwean farmers reportedly grew over 70 percent of Zambia's 2003 maize crop. On average Nigeria spends $1.5 billion on rice and dairy imports a year, agriculture officials said. An import ban due to fall on a range of agricultural products will leave a lucrative gap in the market. At a meeting with the farmers in Kwara's capital Ilorin earlier this week Alao insisted local residents would not be relocated. This apparently contradicts an earlier remark by the state deputy surveyor-general Ezekiel Ajiboye that some villagers would be resettled and compensated for land lost. "But we have made it clear to the Fulani nomads they must steer clear of the Zimbabwean farms," said Alao. Last weekend clashes in Plateau State between Muslim Fulani cattle herders and Christian Tarok farmers over land and cattle reportedly claimed 100 lives. About 20 000 people live on land earmarked for a proposed Zimbabwean sugar cane estate, village officials said. The estate comprises about 10 percent of total land allocated. Alao was responding to concerns raised by the Zimbabweans their arrival would coincide with land being seized from local peasants. "We know what it feels like to be kicked off farms," said Alan Jack, who led delegations sent by Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union. "If the same happens to the local [Nigerian] population the project will fail because we will get a bad name, locally and internationally." Other concerns included poor roads, lack of services such as clinics and schools, and erratic electrical power provision and telecommunications. "This is worse than the [Zimbabwean] Lowveld in 1962 and worse than Zambia, where the farms were already marked out," said Allain Faydherbe, who saw his sugar cane holdings shrink from 700 ha to 35 ha and spent the weekend in jail under Mugabe's reforms. "It's virgin bush." But the farmers regarded the Nigerian invitation a golden opportunity, despite the massive capital investment required. An irrigation consultant who accompanied the group said it would cost 30 farmers a total of $80 million to irrigate 27 000 hectares of land. Another $80 million would have to be found for building and farming equipment costs. Governor Saraki returned yesterday from a trip to Brussels to woo investors. The farmers will present financing proposals to the governor later this week. From Stephan Hofstter
in Ilorin - This Day (Nigeria) |