(White) Zimbabwe farmers a boon for Nigerian agriculture

[Noiseandsmell]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091120/...mbabwe_farmers

SHONGA, Nigeria (Reuters) – When white Zimbabwean farmer Irvin Reid arrived in Nigeria almost five years ago, he was given a set of grid references in the remote bush and told to find water and build a new farm.

His dairy farm now has 300 Jersey cows, some of among 800 imported from South Africa to start cattle farms in the region. It's a sharp contrast to things back in Zimbabwe, where campaigners say farmers face their worst year ever.

Reid was one of 13 white farmers invited with their families to Nigeria in 2005 after land seizures in Zimbabwe -- which President Robert Mugabe says are necessary to correct the legacy of colonialism -- stripped them of their livelihoods.

Africa's most populous nation of more than 140 million people, Nigeria imports about $3 billion worth of food annually and has been trying to boost its self-sufficiency.

Farmers from South Korea, Kuwait and the United States have also arrived in Kwara state, some 400 km (250 miles) northwest of the commercial hub Lagos, which is keen to attract more investors and help Nigeria end its import reliance.

Hoping Zimbabwe's loss might be its gain, Nigeria gave each farmer 1,000 hectares of land under a 25-year renewable lease in Shonga, the hub of the state's commercial agriculture project.

Less than five years on, 80 percent of the land is under cultivation and the farmers have asked for more.

"We arrived to virgin bush. We were basically just given GPS points, told to mark them out, clear the bush and find water, build the house, build the sheds, and import cattle," Reid said.

"It was right from the grassroots and it was fun. We all lived in tents for a while," he said.

Hundreds of tons of cassava, maize and soya beans are harvested for both local consumption and export markets.

Graham Hatty, 70, is the chairman of the New Nigerian Farmers Associations, made up mostly of white Zimbabweans. He was once famous for the winter wheat crop he grew in Zimbabwe.

"This is the Garden of Eden for us, everything grows here. It has been exciting coming here. I am doing what I love to do, which is to feed people, it is what I have done all my life," he said, a beaming smile emanating from under his straw hat.

"It is quite ironic, I am here in Nigeria and I am told I am the biggest individual cassava grower in the country with 600 hectares of cassava in the ground," he said.

SPURRING DEVELOPMENT

White commercial farmers used to own 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fertile territory due to a colonial system that drove blacks from their ancestral lands.

Ninety percent of the land is now in the hands of black farmers, but many lack commercial farming experience and are without adequate inputs.

"This has not been a land reform program at all, this has been a political program," said John Worsley-Worswick of Justice for Agriculture, a Zimbabwean campaign group, speaking in Harare. "It has seen a decline in agriculture production down to levels of 15-20 percent of what was there before.

"We are looking at the worst farming year ever this coming year ... there is less arable land that is being prepared, less inputs available ... Regardless of what sort of season we have, right from the onset it is destined to be a disaster," he said.

In Nigeria, residents of Shonga were initially apprehensive when the Zimbabwe farmers first arrived. But that has changed.

"We now have electricity, our health is improving because we have a new clinic and water, some of our sons and wives have found work on the farms," said 65-year-old Zubairu Abubakar, an elder of Chattaburo, one of 33 villages within the Shonga farms.

Local government officials say the large-scale farming has increased local food supply, brought new skills to local farmers and triggered the emergence of new agricultural industries.

Professor Mohammed Gana Yisa, Kwara state's commissioner of agriculture, said 15 new commercial farms had been developed in addition to the 13 at Shonga and that 3,000-4,000 people had found work in the Shonga farms alone.

The state government has invested in a multi-million dollar cargo terminal which it says will be the continent's largest.

"We are (focusing) on the Shonga farms...They are producing large, so we are positioning ourselves to be able to move these large quantities of farm produce to anywhere in the world," said Razak Atunwa, state commissioner for works and transport.

[noniggersnocrime]

A nigger just bright enough to know that it's fellow niggers can't do anything worthwhile and bring in effective races to get shit done.



A more typical nigger who feels that getting back at YT is more important than feeding its fellows

[Justin Igger]

Once the white farmers get "too sucessful" the niggers will get jealous, chimp out, burn the farms and drive whitey out.

[superiorwhitelady]

I just cannot understand why YT and other humans want to go over there and risk their lives growing food for a failed race of worthless shitskins that will never amount to anything other than whores and thugs leeching and bleeding the productive humans alive, and killing/stealing from/ and raping everything in their paths. At some point, YT and other humans have got to get some common sense and just leave these stupid beasts to the mercies of nature (which can be kind of cruel, but no where near as cruel as niggers).

[SnowDog]

Once the white farmers get "too sucessful" the niggers will get jealous, chimp out, burn the farms and drive whitey out.

In Nigeria, residents of Shonga were initially apprehensive when the Zimbabwe farmers first arrived. But that has changed.

"We now have electricity, our health is improving because we have a new clinic and water, some of our sons and wives have found work on the farms," said 65-year-old Zubairu Abubakar, an elder of Chattaburo, one of 33 villages within the Shonga farms.

They need to keep reminding these niggers why it is they enjoy such things. Of course, it'll end as soon as that "enlightened" nigger dies/kicks the KFC bucket/gets deposed/whatever. Then it'll be back to bidnez as usual for these jaboons, and the dispossession of the "ebil waht dibbilz" that "oppressesamaytes" these shitskins by making employment, growing food, bringing "lekticity", real "dokkas", and clean, disease-free water will begin once again. Why should Nig-gerian niggers be any different from Chimpabwe niggers? They had to know where the goodies came from.

But niggers never learn. They "think" that by watching white farmers that "dey noze aul bouts growin dat foo".

[nigbountyhunter]

See? Even the apefreakoons know they can't live without YT, I just wish that they could keep nigger slaves on these farms!

[Back To The Kitchen]

Why can't anyone put this together? No whites... niggers starve and population remains in check.

Niggers are no closer to mastering farming than they are space travel.

[Jenkemboi]

Once the white farmers get "too sucessful" the niggers will get jealous, chimp out, burn the farms and drive whitey out.

You are so damn right !
Surely the farmers must know this ?

Jenkemboi

[Gallóglaigh]

Those farmers better start stockpiling weapons and lots of ammo ASAP.

There's a chimp out a-comin'.

[Hondo]

Let's face it.
The stupid niggers are so dumb they have to import knowledgeable humans to operate and engineer the farms.
.
You sure as shit aren't going to get the dumb ass niggers out of the internet cafes and stop their 419 Scams.