Kogi State House of Assembly has called on the state government put in place formidable regulatory mechanisms to protect economic trees in the state and strengthen the cashew nuts value chain through strict enforcement.
The House made the the call in a resolution following the adoption of a Motion by Hon. Oluwaseyi Bello (APC-Kabba-Bunu) calling on the State Ministry of Agriculture to check activities of exploitative foreign business men through regulation.
The House frowned at a situation where foreign exporters break the cashew value chain, bypassing the Licensed Buying Agents to buy directly from the farmers and denying the state necessary revenues.
In the motion, Hon. Bello noted that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show Kogi State as the leading producer of cashew nuts in Nigeria.
He recalled that the House recently passed an Executive Bill; Kogi State Commodity Exchange Market which was signed into law by Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo to support local farmers and enhance their productivity by creating the market for their products.
The Cashew Value Chain in the state, according to him, has seven segments comprising the Exporter, the Merchant, Licenced Buying Agent, Sub buyer, Farmer, Functions and the Farmer.
According to the Legislator, each and every segment of the value chain represents an important element crucial to the success of cashew trade in Kogi State as they equally offer substantial employment opportunities to people in the rural communities.
He prayed that the House to mandate the Agriculture Ministry to protect economic trees by placing a complete ban on foreigners from buying economic trees but be restricted to buying strictly “Export Ready Dried Cashew Nuts” in Kogi branded jute bags.
Seconding the motion, Hon. Ochidi Usman Shehu (APC-Dekina-Biraidu) said the activities of the foreigners in the communities to buy economic trees and bypassing the value chain would rather aggravate the insecurity in the state.
“We are protecting them by urging them to follow the procedure. The essence of the chain is to ensure all segments are recognized.
“The activities of the foreigners will encourage insecurity that will be very difficult for the State and Local Governments to contain if allowed to continue,” Ochidi said.
Hon. Bode Ogunmola (PDP-Ogori-Magongo), opposing the motion, said the farmers should be at liberty to sell their produce to whoever they desired, to meet their needs, and should not be coerced to succumb to the dictates of players in the value chain.
Rt Hon. Comfort Nwuchiola Egwaba (APC-Ibaji), who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House, called for deliberate efforts at sensitizing the farmers on the negative effects of selling their entire farms to the foreigners.
She held the the activities of the foreign buyers and exporters should be restricted to the value chain in liaison with the Agriculture Ministry which should also tinker the processes and regulations with prices control.
In his ruling, Speaker of the 8th Assembly in the state, Rt Hon. Aliyu Umar Yusuf said the Assembly has the constitutional right to protect the citizens and farmers in this case, with legislations.
The Speaker directed the House standing Committee on Agriculture to liaise with the Ministry to work on the regulatory mechanisms and necessary action.
