BIC Farm Concept Drives Food Sufficiency— Onafowora

BIC Farm Concept, a divinely inspired farming is driven to promote food sufficiency as disclosed in this interview by the company CEO Adebowale Onafowora with OpenLife Nigeria Staff Writer, Isaac Ngumah

What is BIC Farm Concept all about?

BIC Farms Concept was established in October 2006 by divine instruction, making us 14 years old between then and now.
The name BIC is actually the acronyms of Bearers In Christ and the focus is to make Africa feed herself again.

Then, how did it begin?

I actually did not start out in the field of agriculture. I have my roots in Quantity Surveying (Cost engineering) where I bagged my first degree. When I was ready to start earning a living while I awaited the compulsory service to the nation (National Youth Service Corps’),my parents introduced me to agriculture and that is how I got started. This was strengthened by the revelation and instruction I received in the place of prayer too.
I got a deep understanding that civilization started from agriculture and Africa occupies a unique position in that because it was Africa (Egypt) that rescued the world when there was famine. It is no mistake, but rather a part of the Master’s plan that Africa has the largest arable land in the world. However, this same Africa is now one of the five continents that is no longer self sufficient as we can’t feed ourselves anymore.
Besides, Nigeria has Eight million hectares of arable land. How many other countries can boast of such in the world? Therefore, Nigeria should actually be exporting food to the rest of the world.
That brought a great burden to my soul, synonymous to one who bears the burden of Christ but now as relates to Africa and agriculture. That burden, is what led to BIC Farms Concepts as we know it today.

What were you involved in before this inspiration?

I ventured into farming first of all as a business to do as I had a burning desire for entrepreneurship.
I had worked for a few months, post-graduation and one thing I was sure of was that I was not cut out for the white collar world. I did not enjoy it at all.
It was while pondering on the business to venture into that my father asked if I was interested in farming to which I answered in the affirmative. It was while practising in it that I discovered the biggest problem in Africa is in agriculture and the drive to contribute my own quota especially in solving the problem of food was born in me.

But knowledge of the prospects in agriculture is low and that is the reason younger ones desire white collar jobs. What do you think is responsible for this?

Ignorance. Yes!,Simple ignorance. My daily mantra is “If our industry will grow, agriculture must not be stagnant!”. Agriculture became stagnant in Nigeria and rather than increase the availability of the white collar jobs, the effect has been the opposite.
Don’t understand this part.
You will agree with me that even the white collar jobs have been on the decline. Gone are the days when we had groundnut and cocoa pyramids. You understand agriculture was the main stream of the economy but started growing and other areas too started coming out so it is ignorance. Nigeria has the largest Arable land in the world and we cannot feed ourselves. Is that not an irony? Many of the white collar jobs that people even talk about can be created in agriculture. In 2018, Holland earning from agriculture was $90bn. The whole of Nigeria income from oil was not up to $20bn.
Holland is a fraction of Nigeria, a lot of white collar jobs can be created in agriculture. When people are saying we want a white collar jobs and you are not into farming I just laugh and the reason is that we have not added business to agriculture. It will shock you like that we can create both white, blue and different collar jobs.

Can Nigeria lead Africa in agriculture?

No. With the way things are going in the sector, Nigeria cannot lead in agriculture. What percentage of Nigerian budget goes into agriculture? I do not think Nigeria meets the United Nations minimum recommendations.

BIC Farms Concept is an independent imitative. Government is not driving it. Government only gives lips service to agriculture and if they continue like that Nigeria will never lead, yet we have the largest arable land in the world and we are where we are. It is s shame.

How do you source for capital?

Capital is not the major challenge in agriculture. The biggest challenge in agriculture is market do you know a lot of food go into waste because
when farmers produce they don’t have where to sell. There is need for functional storage facilities to avoid waste.

So what should government do?

The first important policy is market standandization. Government should try to let us have a standandized market and the only way to do that is by creating a production control measure.
Our produce exchange should be effective so that when you produce anything you have where to channel it.
Again, Nigerian banks are not borrowing farmers. But again, how can you even borrow a farmer where inflation level is so high, interest rate is high.
So, these are the areas government should come in. There is no way you can use a short term fund to run a long term business. Bank will borrow you that same month they want you to start paying back soon.

How can mechanized FARMING be encouraged?

There is no major encouragement. A single tractor is about N10 million. There are other implements but thank God there are companies doing tractor leasing.
What are your challenges?

There is no regular market for what we produce. Like I said earlier, storage is important for produce like tomatoes etc.

There are issues about grazing. What are your views?
I think what is needed is proper education. Government should have the political will to educate stakeholders on its policy direction on grazing. There are radio and TV stations that can disseminate government policy direction in different languages.
Personally, I don’t think anything is wrong with Ruga. Government still has the capacity to manage the situation and make it rancor free.