Beyond Badagry’s coconut festival

By Dianabasi Effiong, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Most farm produce, seedlings, yams, cassava, rice, groundnuts and palm fruits, including harvests and Agric abundance, are celebrated in many cultures in Nigeria.

They usually set aside certain periods in the year for a carnival-like, elaborate celebration.

For instance, the Cassava Festival is observable in Buanchor, Eastern Boki and New Yam festivals in parts of Cross River.

Also, cassava festival (Usoro Iwa), initiated by an NGO, People, Environment and Sustainability Foundation, in partnership with All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, was unveiled in Akwa Ibom in 2018.

Tagged: `The nutritive wonders of cassava’, sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission and Champion Breweries, the festival showcases culinary skills and ideas in cassava production.

Participants also use the platform in which the organisers freely distribute improved variety cassava stems to interested farmers to demonstrate their various talent base in cassava production.

At one of the events, the convener, Rita Otu, also unveiled her project, and according to her,  “It all starts with one stem’’, to drive the campaign to strengthen communities and institutions to produce and consume bio-fortified crops.

Vitamin A fortified cassava variety, including yams, are major staples with nutritional values for most Nigerian families.

They also serve as important feed sources in animal/ruminant husbandry and poultry production.

Recently the African  Coconut Heritage Initiative (AGUNKEFEST), an NGO, announced the flag-off of coconut festival by planting over 500 seedlings in schools and other areas of Badagry.

AGUNKEFEST President, Mr Mesi Doheto, said that the festival’s flag-off was to begin coconut planting in the rainy season.

The festival normally holds in November but the group opted to plant coconuts in the 2023 fiesta.

“For this year, we brought students from different schools in Badagry because we want to initiate them into planting.

“We discovered that many schools in Badagry have land and this is a big opportunity for us to give them the seedlings so that they can plant them in their school environment.

“We are also catching them young, inculcating the idea of save environment and also giving the school economic power because in some years’ time, the coconut will begin to bear fruits,’’ he said.

Doheto said that 20 schools (10 primary and 10 secondary) were selected for the programme in 2023.

He said: “We gave each school 10 seedlings to plant, making 200 seedlings altogether. AGUNKEFEST team will visit the schools by November to monitor how they are growing.

“We also donated another 100 seedlings to Association of Coconut Growers (ACG), being a stakeholder in the sector.’’

He said that the coconut festival, to hold between Nov. 23 and Nov. 25, would have many personalities in attendance.

Also, the Coordinator of AGUNKEFEST, Mr Mustapha Ademola, said that coconut trees were important in the nation’s economy.

He said the seeds were constantly in demand and the fruits were raw material for many major industries, adding that Nigerians should always plant coconuts in their environments.

The Director, Research, Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Dr Victor Adangbe, said that research was ongoing to meet expectations s of coconut stakeholders.

According to him, the research will focus on improved yields planting materials and disease-resistant seedlings among others.

Adangbe said farmers were being trained on effective field management and nursery management practices.

According to experts coconut production can service local consumption and attract major foreign exchange for growers.

Beyond the coconut festival, organisers, coconut growers and other stakeholders in the value-chain can explore ways to generate more income for growers.

An initiative to boost coconut production was, before now, inaugurated by Gov. Udom Emmanuel’s administration in Akwa Ibom with a multi-million dollar Coconut Plantation and refinery.

Government also distributed seedlings across the state to boost production for the coconut refinery.

A 2022 statistics from Coconut Growers Association of Sri Lanka (CGASL) offer an interesting insight for coconut stakeholders in Nigeria.

An accredited organisation of International Coconut community, the CGASL promotes, fosters and protects the coconut growing industry in Sri Lanka.

The statistics from the nonprofit organisation also show that coconut growers contributed $816.9million worth of exports for 2022 alone.

This is about N651.06 billion (N651, 069, 300, 000) at official exchange rate of N797 or N694.3 billion (N694, 365, 000, 000) at N850 in the black market.

The statistics from Sri Lanka also show that $407.0million was realised  from kernel based exports and $410.0million in non-kernel based exports while production exceeded 3.3 billion coconuts in 2022.

While 1.5 billion coconuts were processed by the industry, 1.8 billion coconuts were consumed locally during the year in focus.

The organisation of International Coconut community is a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (UNESCAP) established in 1969.

It constitutes 20 countries across the Caribbean (1), South America (1), East Africa (1), Asia (8) and the Pacific (9).

Other countries include F.S Micronesia, Fiji, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, and Papua New Guinea.

The Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam are other member-states of UNESCAP.

Therefore, coconut growers in Akwa Ibom, Badagry and Nigeria can boost production for local consumption and international trade enhancement by adopting available best practices.

With their knowledge of pests and diseases control, research institutes like NIFOR can provide details on coconut pest and disease management for best pest and disease-free crops.

Pests and diseases include coconut Leaf Miner, the Red Weevil and coconut Scale, Mammalian Pests of coconut, Stem Bleeding Disease, Plesispa Beetle and Coconut Caterpillar, the Black Beetle, Termites, Bud Rot Disease, Leaf Blight Disease and Coconut Mite.

Farmers can collaborate with government, corporate organisations, individuals and research institutions such as NIFOR to foster growers’ sustainability and strengthening of the coconut plantation industry.

Efforts should also be made to ensure that coconut farmers in Nigeria adopt global best practices in planting and plantation management.

Help could be gotten in the selection of mother palms, nursery management and seedlings selection or how to get planting materials.

There should also be expertly advised on planting systems, management of young palms, inorganic and organic fertiliser mixtures and application as well as in soil and moisture conservation practices.

Expert opinion abound on planting coconuts around homes, utilisation of organic manure and application of Tissue Culture Technology on coconuts.

Expert say that intercropping of coconut lands are realisable through planting and management of intercrops.

Intercropping objective can be through intercropping coconut plantation with Plantain, Banana, Coffee, Cocoa, Pepper or Pineapples.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Badagry was founded in the late 1720s by Popo refugees from the wars with the Fon people of Dahomey (now Benin Republic).

It also stated: “Badagry was, for the next century, a notorious exporter of slaves to the Americas.’’

Badagry has come a long way; it can be popular as Nigeria’s major base for production and export of coconuts globally. It has the capacity.

Badagry can achieve this with the right attitude of stakeholders, non-state actors and the political will of those with the wherewithal to drive the process. (NANFeatures)

**If used please credit the writer and News Agency of Nigeria**