Description
Nigerian agriculture is characterized by considerable regional and crop diversity. Analysis of this sector, particularly the food sub-sector, is fraught with serious data problems. However, the available statistics provide a broad overview of development in agriculture upon which we can make some broad generalizations about its role in economic development and structural change in Nigeria.
In the 1960s, the agricultural sector was the most important in terms of contributions to domestic production, employment and foreign exchange earnings. The situation remained almost the same three decades later with the exception that it is no longer the principal foreign exchange earner, a role now being played by oil.
The sector remained stagnant during the oil boom decade of the 1970s, and this accounted largely for the declining share of its contributions. The trend in the share of agriculture in the GDP shows a substantial variation and long-term decline from 60% in the early 1960s through 48.8% in the 1970s and 22.2% in the 1980s. Unstable and often inappropriate economic policies (of pricing, trade and exchange rate), the relative neglect of the sector and the negative impact of oil boom were also important factors responsible for the decline in its contributions.
On its diversity, Nigerian agriculture features tree and food crops, forestry, livestock and fisheries. In 1993 at 1984 constant factor cost, crops (the major source of food) accounted for about 30% of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), livestock about 5%, forestry and wildlife about 1.3% and fisheries accounted 1.2%.
One of the food crops grown in Nigeria is Maize. Maize (Zea mays L.), or corn as it is called in USA, has a multitude of uses and ranks second to wheat among the world’s cereal crops in terms of total production. Also, because of its worldwide distribution and lower prices relative to other cereals, maize has a wider range of uses than any other cereal.
Maize can be processed into different products for various end uses at the traditional level and on an industrial scale. While a large proportion of products utilized in developing countries are obtained via traditional processing, industrial processing meets the bulk of the demand in developed countries.
Nigeria has an annual maize production in excess of 10.3 million metric tons and is ranked as one of the top twenty largest producers in the world.
This report examines the financial viability of establishing a mechanized maize plantation and processing plant in Nigeria that would produce maize flour, maize grit, maize bran and maize germ through the dry milling process.
Maize flour is a major ingredient in home cooking while maize bran used in animal feed production. The germ is the primary product for making corn oil and one of the important ingredients of animal fodder and maize grits as well as being used for food is used in beer production.
The size and locations of the farm is three thousand (3,000) hectares of land located in Plateau State. Two thousand, four hundred and twenty-four (2,424) hectares would be used for the farm while the remaining seventy-six (76) hectares would be used for the construction of the office, warehouse and other civil works. The farm is expected to yield five (5) tons of maize per hectare with the use of improved seedling (Oba Super 2) which matures in four (4) months with two production cycle per annum.
The production capacity of the proposed plant is fifty (50) tons per day and would operate three (3) shifts of 8 hours each for 300 working day at 80% of the installed capacity, the plant would produce sixteen (16) tons of maize flour, sixteen (16) tons of maize grits, four (4) maize germ and four (4) of maize bran per day.
The plant would come with a one thousand (1,000) MT capacity steel cone base bottom silo, for the storage and preservation of the raw material. The silo would come with a cleaning and transport system that would clean and transport the raw material to the milling plant.
