Emulating Frank Ugwu’s Agricultural Revolution In Udenu LGA (I)

Echoing Lewis Cass, ‘Agriculture is the great art of directing and aiding nature in the performance of those functions which were designed by Providence for the comfort and subsistence of man.” Probably, this captures the vision of Hon Frank Ugwu, the executive chairman of Udenu local government area of Enugu state, in his agricultural revolution.

With the innovative mandate of Enugu State Governor Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to council chairmen in the state to embark on massive agricultural activities to create wealth and jobs in rural areas, Hon Frank Ugwu might have stolen the show as his agricultural initiatives are already placing Udenu local government area ahead of others.

Presently the local government area has cultivated over 500 hectares of land in two locations of Ohebe-Orba and Agu-Orba. This initiative has ignited the salient energy of the beneficiaries who now see light at the end of the tunnel in the farming sector. The land where the farming operations are taking place had been left fallow for hundreds of years until the Ugwu intervention.

The administration recorded this feat by encouraging communities and individuals in the local government area to donate land solely for agricultural development. However, like George Bernard Shaw’s popular assertion that ‘Every great truth begins as blasphemies’, many thought the scheme was the metaphorical neocolonial undercover of carrot and stick, thus chickened out of donating their land despite the spirited campaigns championed by Frank Ugwu himself to enable various community stakeholders to understand the movement of Nigeria post-oil era and in line with the Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi rural development and empowerment initiatives. Nonetheless the administration of Frank Ugwu is still yearning for more land across the local government area for agricultural development.

Today, the benefitting communities have many reasons to celebrate the revolution. The council is constructing a farm settlement nicknamed the Udenu Farm Settlement where operators of the farms will camp. The settlement is being provided with solar energy and water, and other basic facilities, thanks to interests already shown by both local and international agencies that have seen the vision in the scheme.

The multipurpose Udenu farm scheme is into cassava, cashew, palm trees and other plantations. It is believed that within a short period of time, Udenu LGA will become the agricultural hub of Nigeria considering the fact that it is the first of its kind probably in West Africa. The result in the past two years or thereabouts when the scheme commenced operations has been magnificent.

Presently, investors from all walks of life throng the settlement. It has created thousands of jobs and is still counting. Furthermore, the locations of the farm are now a beehive of activities as many landowners who hitherto had no values for their lands have now realized that indeed framing is the bedrock of human development.
Various agencies and schemes such as Fadama have also been brought into the initiative, and farmers cultivating there have realized that with good leaderships, as exemplified by Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Hon Frank Ugwu, poverty can be eliminated through agriculture. Youths have also come to terms that farming is the vogue.
What is amazing however is that the local government administration does not take over the land. It still belongs to the original owners, whose only mandate is to sustain the farming operations for life. It only cultivates, plants and the owners acquire.

The council provided the seedlings, herbicides, pesticides and heavy-duty equipment for the farming operations. The seedlings are high breeds, some imported from South America and Europe. That is how to lead by example the Frank Ugwu Way.

The bane of farming in Nigeria generally is always marketing and storage. The Frank Ugwu administration, abreast of these challenges before hand, came in with the concept of integrated farming system which encompasses farming operations from production to marketing. It is against this background that the administration launched the scheme of Production, Processing, Marketing and Storage (PPMS) to ensure maximum efficiency.

Currently the administration is constructing an ultra-modern cashew processing company to enhance the export of the commodity as finished products. It is hoped that it will be fully functional in a few weeks’ time. Plans are also underway to build a storage facility where perishable goods from the farms and beyond will be stocked to avoid damage. Again the Udenu ultra-modern agricultural market will soon be operational to serve locals and tourists with unadulterated and fresh farm products.

With time, more processing plants for other derivatives, especially from cassava such as ethanol, pellets, and starch which are all needed in both international and local markets, will be established. According to the chairman, plans are also underway to bring in the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme.

The administration is also partnering with the workers of the council under the aegis of the National Union of Local Government Employees, Udenu LGA wing, with a view to engaging them in agricultural ventures. The council brought in chicks from a reputable farm at Ibadan, bred them in partnership with some farms in the state up to the egg-laying stage, and will next week hand them over to the workers, who will simply pay 25 percent of the entire costs. The sole obligation of the workers is to provide the facilities where the layers will be accommodated. The same thing is being done in the piggery sector. To ensure a maximum result, the council ensured that the chickens are well inoculated, and again will be supervised by agricultural extension officers at their various places.

The secret of the agricultural revolution in Udenu LGA is prudent management of scare resources and the administrative savvy of Hon Frank Ugwu. The local government area is about the least in terms of the federal allocations in Enugu state.

There is therefore a clarion call for both local and international funding agencies to key into the scheme to ensure that it stands the test of time. It will also enable the administration to spread the scheme across willing communities in the area, thus eradicating poverty and creating jobs. Kudos goes to Enugu State Governor Rt Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who is constructing access roads in rural areas in the state as well as to the farm settlement. The administration has also enabled adequate security in the state through good governance.

Other council chairmen in Enugu state and indeed Nigeria as a whole should borrow a leaf from the Frank Ugwu agricultural example which is already changing the paradigm of rural development in Udenu LGA.

Aroh wrote in from Enugu

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Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.