Borno community urges govt to establish grains processing factory
Farmers and some stakeholders in Kwaya Kusar community have urged governments at all levels and industrialists to establish grain processing factories in their community.
They stated that having such facilities would help prevent post-harvest losses, create jobs, stabilise food prices and create wealth for the state and country.
They made the call in separate interviews with our Correspondent in Kwaya Kusar town of Borno State on Monday.
They said processing maize, wheat and local grains into staple foods like flour, semolina, and livestock feeds would further strengthen national food security while transforming the agricultural value chain.
Alhaji Abdullahi Gidado, the Secretary of Kwaya Kusar Grains Market said that the area has enough grains to feed any industry established in the area.
Gidado said that grains from the market were taken to other parts of the country on a weekly basis throughout the year.
He said that over 15, 000 bags leave the market weekly during dry season while over 40, 000 bags were being taken out of the market weekly immediately after harvest.
He said that with such a factory, more youths would be employed while farmers would get better value for their efforts.
“We want the government and other industrialists to take advantage of our strength in grain cultivation to set up mini factories to process our grains into staple foods.
“The more we take these grains out without processing it, the more we lose; from post harvest losses to rains spoiling our grains during the rainy season.
“We take over 30 to 40 trucks of assorted grains from this market weekly and each truck carries 400 bags; after harvest, the number reaches over 100 trucks weekly,” he said.
Also, Malam Hassan Musa, the Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Kwaya Kusar Local Government corroborated Gidado’s call to establish mini flour milling factories to reduce post-harvest losses.
Musa said farmers within the five local government areas of Biu, Kwaya Kusar, Hawul, Bayo and Shani all in Borno South have the capacity to produce grains that would feed any factories.
“Today, we (farmers) no longer get good returns on investment because we take out our produce raw to feed industries in other parts of the country.
“If we cultivate and process the grains here, the prices of these staple foods will drop and post harvest losses will greatly reduce,” he said.
For Malam Yusuf Abu, a grain dealer at the market said that over 7,000 jobs have been created because of the market as youths engage in grading, loading, transportation and many other areas.
Abu said “we will gain more if we process and take finished products out than taking our raw grains to feed flour mill industries elsewhere.
