Post by Trade facilitator on Apr 3, 2022 14:39:34 GMT 1
The Federal Government Of Nigeria (FGN) Bans Foreigners From Buying Agricultural Produce Directly From Farmers – They Must Go Through Local Buying Agents
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) at its recent Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting has approved the establishment of an appropriate mechanism that would not only protect the country’s indigenous farmers in terms of getting the right prices for their produce and commodities, but also ensure that they have the appropriate incentives and the needed encouragement to guarantee their continued participation in the farming business.
The approval was given so as to make sure that Nigerian farmers are no longer cheated in the purchase of their farm produce by foreigners; the foreigners will now have to go through licensed local buying agents in order to do business with the farmers.
This was disclosed to State House Correspondents by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Otumba Niyi Adebayo at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister hinted that he presented two (2) Memos before the council on behalf of his ministry; one was for the promotion of agribusiness in Nigeria by ensuring right farm gate pricing of the country’s agricultural commodities. He said that foreigners have been banned from buying agricultural commodities direct from farmers. Rather foreign buyers should go through local representatives in order to deal with the farmers.
The Minister explained that over the years, foreign agricultural commodity buyers have been going directly to buy from the farmers at low prices, thereby discouraging the farmers from continuing with their business due to unsatisfactory low pricing.
He said that “We finally got approval from FEC today for only licensed local buying agents who must be registered by the relevant national commodity associations to buy from the farmers. They are the ones who now will be able to buy goods directly from the farmers and sell to the foreigners.
“This way, the farmers will no longer be cheated by these foreigners who just throw money at them and are able to buy their goods.”
In furtherance of this report, there was a report in April 2019 where it was reported that business of produce export is being taken over by Indians and the Lebanese who go round the country buying these farm produce off farmers, and paying them to harvest before processing the commodities for export.
It was discovered that most of the produce which serve as raw materials for manufacturing include, cashew nuts, cassava, maize, cocoa among others.
The source for this information explained that the foreign buyers go round the country before the crops mature, approach the farmers, negotiate and make deposits and wait until the commodities mature and are ready for harvest. They come back, pay the balance and take over the harvested produce.
This initiative is a very laudable one, but how truly ready the Federal Government will be in monitoring the local buying agents who are going to be in charge of the selling of the products to the foreigners now?
If you interact with the farmers you will discover that most of the farmers lack capital to invest in the farming of the products, then when the foreigners come with bulk cash to reinvest into their farm, solve family problems and do other things for their business, this bulk money from the foreigners become handy.
There are some cassava farmers in Ogun state that take their harvested cassava to the foreign buyers and collect their cheques within 24 hours. I hope that our local buying agents will be able to match the actions of the foreigners. If not, the policy will meet with opposition from the farmers who most probably sponsored their business with their own money.
Farming and export businesses are tricky, therefore when you want to start such a business look for a mentor to guide you.
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) at its recent Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting has approved the establishment of an appropriate mechanism that would not only protect the country’s indigenous farmers in terms of getting the right prices for their produce and commodities, but also ensure that they have the appropriate incentives and the needed encouragement to guarantee their continued participation in the farming business.
The approval was given so as to make sure that Nigerian farmers are no longer cheated in the purchase of their farm produce by foreigners; the foreigners will now have to go through licensed local buying agents in order to do business with the farmers.
This was disclosed to State House Correspondents by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Otumba Niyi Adebayo at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister hinted that he presented two (2) Memos before the council on behalf of his ministry; one was for the promotion of agribusiness in Nigeria by ensuring right farm gate pricing of the country’s agricultural commodities. He said that foreigners have been banned from buying agricultural commodities direct from farmers. Rather foreign buyers should go through local representatives in order to deal with the farmers.
The Minister explained that over the years, foreign agricultural commodity buyers have been going directly to buy from the farmers at low prices, thereby discouraging the farmers from continuing with their business due to unsatisfactory low pricing.
He said that “We finally got approval from FEC today for only licensed local buying agents who must be registered by the relevant national commodity associations to buy from the farmers. They are the ones who now will be able to buy goods directly from the farmers and sell to the foreigners.
“This way, the farmers will no longer be cheated by these foreigners who just throw money at them and are able to buy their goods.”
In furtherance of this report, there was a report in April 2019 where it was reported that business of produce export is being taken over by Indians and the Lebanese who go round the country buying these farm produce off farmers, and paying them to harvest before processing the commodities for export.
It was discovered that most of the produce which serve as raw materials for manufacturing include, cashew nuts, cassava, maize, cocoa among others.
The source for this information explained that the foreign buyers go round the country before the crops mature, approach the farmers, negotiate and make deposits and wait until the commodities mature and are ready for harvest. They come back, pay the balance and take over the harvested produce.
This initiative is a very laudable one, but how truly ready the Federal Government will be in monitoring the local buying agents who are going to be in charge of the selling of the products to the foreigners now?
If you interact with the farmers you will discover that most of the farmers lack capital to invest in the farming of the products, then when the foreigners come with bulk cash to reinvest into their farm, solve family problems and do other things for their business, this bulk money from the foreigners become handy.
There are some cassava farmers in Ogun state that take their harvested cassava to the foreign buyers and collect their cheques within 24 hours. I hope that our local buying agents will be able to match the actions of the foreigners. If not, the policy will meet with opposition from the farmers who most probably sponsored their business with their own money.
Farming and export businesses are tricky, therefore when you want to start such a business look for a mentor to guide you.
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
