‘Ogoni Banana Farm To Be Operational In 2014’

The Ogoni Banana Farm which sits on a 2000 hectre of land expected to be fully operational by the year 2014 would be known as “Precious Bananas Nig Ltd”, according to reports gathered by our correspondent from the office of the Rivers State Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Emmanuel Chindah.

The Special Assistant to the Commissioner, Mr. Elenwo Gladstone, who gave the hint in a chat with our correspondent explained that the land which would be partitioned into eight (8) units would be cultivated in phases.

According to Mr. Gladstone, for the moment, land preparation was on-going which include land clearing, roads layout, irrigation facilities as well as drainages among others.

He said so far, the first unit of 250 hectres was ready for cultivation and that, a banana nursery was already in place in readiness for planting on the unit.

He said, 150,000 “meristems” of young banana plants have been prepared and the nursery was fully set up and doing fine and described it was “a beautiful sight to behold”.

He said that soon as land preparation was over, planting will commence in earnest.

He further revealed that the Rivers State Government was establishing the farm in partnership with a Mexican firm called Gruopo Sancalos and with the understanding that South America is the highest producers of bananas, the government was optimistic of the success of the project.

He stated that the state government was of the view that owning farms was not an economically-viable venture and that was why it has decided to partner henceforth with reputable and credible firms.

On modalities for employment, when the farm was fully operational, Mr. Gladstone said it would be 60% and 40% arrangement for the firm and State government respectively. The firm would run the farm independent of the state government.

He explained that a special purpose vehicle would be put in place which will metamorphose into the firm being called “Precious Bananas Nig. Ltd”.

Employment will be done with the “understanding that indigenes of the area in particular and the state in general would be specially considered not only into lower positions but also into key positions”, he said.

He said advertisements for employment would be made public when fully established, adding that not less than 4000 people will be expected to work in the farm in a ratio of two people to a hectre.

“The first 250 hectres would be fully established by October this year while the full farm is expected to go into full operation in the next two years” he added.