Agricultural Potential in Bayelsa State

AGRICULTURAL AND AGRIBUSINESS POTENTIALS OF BAYELSA STATE

a)     AGRICULTURAL AND FISHERIES POTENTIALS:

(i)                Livestock: Piggery, poultry, grasscutter, rabbitry, sheep and goat, local chicken, snailery.

(ii)             Crops: Oil palm, rice, plantain, maize,  cassava, yam, sugarcane, cocoyam, sweet potatoes, pineapple, bananas, vegetables, coconut, rubber, pawpaw, bush mango, African black pear(Ube), avocado pear, kola nut, bitter kola, raphia palm, groundnut.

(iii)           Fisheries: This is subdivided into capture fishery and aquaculture. The capture fishery includes river and lake canoe, flood plain, brackish water and coastal canoe fisheries respectively, in shore and off shore trawling. While aquaculture involves fresh water, brackish water and mari culture.

b)    AGRIBUSINESS POTENTIALS:

(i)                Farming business: Poultry farming, piggery farming, snail farming, grasscutter farming, rabbit farming, sheep and goat farming, food crop farming, tree crop farming, vegetable farming, floriculture.

(ii)              Agro-based industries: Mills(cassava, rice, oil palm, livestock/fish feed),  fruit processing factory, sugar factory, winery, fish processing factory, cane–rope processing and manufacturing ,abattoir, bakeries, canning industries etc.

(iii)            Preservation/storage: Cold room, smoke chamber (chokor), silos, barns, warehousing, smoking kiln.

(iv)            Market/Marketing: Agro-input (fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, livestock/fish feeds, machine and equipment, simple farm tools),  commodity.

MAJOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE WITH COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN BAYELSA STATE

a)     CROP PRODUCE

Besides the numerous potential crops (cassava, cocoyam, sweet potato, maize, rice, rubber, oil palm, coconut, groundnut, vegetables, plantain/banana, kolanut, bitter kola, bush mango, raphia palm, pineapple, pawpaw etc.) that abound in Bayelsa State, only very few of them have comparative advantage. These include rice, oil palm, plantain/banana, sugar cane, bush mango and raphia palm.

(i)                OIL PALM

Before the oil boom, farmers depended solely on bunch harvest from the wild grooves as one of their sources of livelihood. There was no organized and concerted effort at developing oil palm plantation either by government or individual thus leaving the business at subsistent level. However, with the advent of the oil boom, farmers abandoned their age-old tradition of harvesting and processing of oil palm for better opportunities that could fetch them quicker and more money.

Before the creation of Bayelsa State, the Low land oil palm plantation was established at Yenagoa (LOPPY) by RisonPalm Limited to encourage oil palm farmers’ participation in production and processing. Farmers were carried along and plantations were established for them through the Smallholder Development Unit (SDU). It was a good intention to improve the livelihood of the rural dwellers.

However, the scheme failed because there was no centrally located or in situ processing mills for their produce as originally planned - a situation which could be traced to the exit of the European Union from the project.

(ii)             PLANTAIN AND BANANA

Plantain is one of the primary commodities for investment across the south-south zone in Nigeria, and though the gains derivable from plantain are numerous, its level of production in Bayelsa State has been inconsistent and low (FOS, 1999). And to harness the export potential of plantain, the current level of its production should be improved.

(iii)           RICE

The extensive floodplains and coastal areas of the state, provide ideal sites for commercial swamp rice cultivation in Bayelsa State

There have been several rice programmes in the State undertaken by the Federal (Niger Delta Basin Development Basin Authority), State (Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource) and private individual farmers. They were never sustainable because there was no centrally mechanized mill or in situ mills for processing the paddy.

Secondly, rice quality was poor because of the difficulty in promptly getting paddy to the few local mill, uneven drying of grains leading to discolouration, excessive heat during parboiling and other reasons that cause breakage of grains.

Another cause of set back in rice production in the state was the influx of foreign rice that had better quality and price.

LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

i)         LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS/PRACTICES

Generally, agriculture in Bayelsa State is characterized by a severe imbalance prejudicial to the livestock sub-sector. Consequently, deficiency of food of animal origin is far more severe than food of plant origin. Thus low animal protein intake is one of the most important factors responsible for the high incidence of retarded growth and infant mortality.

This situation has persisted because the livestock sub sector relies on peasant farmers applying the extensive mode of management and husbandry. Those who rear animals do so on part-time basis or, at best, in conjunction with other perceived priority agricultural vocations like crop farming, fishing and hunting. The animals reared in the order of preference are native chickens/ducks, native goat, pigs, rabbits and goats.

ii)    MANAGEMENT/HUSBANDRY SYSTEMS

Livestock production activities in Bayelsa State, as in most parts of Nigeria, are still basically rudimentary regardless of species and number involved. Under this largely traditional and extensive system of rearing animals, little or no attention is paid to feeding regimen, watering, mating/breeding, healthcare and genetics.No dependable housing is provided.

iii)                 LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS

Livestock production constraints are two-fold, namely, biological and institutional. Among the former are non-availability of commercial feed, high disease incidence, and flood and erosion; while the latter include lack of effective planning and remoteness of farmers’ locations or settlements. Proprietary feeds to raise poultry or pigs are currently difficult to procure. High transport cost poses logistic problems, increases production costs and erodes profit margins. The seasonal outbreak of diseases and absence of veterinary services to treat or control eventual outbreaks of diseases in some cases decimate entire flocks. This is a serious source of discouragement and frustration. About 60% of Bayelsa State is riverine and most of the available land is swampy. Added to this is the fact that flood occurs annually and during this period, many animals are lost. Even the surviving ones are exposed to cold-related diseases and may die.

For any effective planning there must be baseline data. Accurate figures on the various livestock species are lacking.

iv)                    LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION PROSPECTS

Precise headcounts of the livestock population in Bayelsa State are not known. However, the few livestock and poultry are well adapted to the ecological conditions of Bayelsa State. Secondly, most of the farmers who engage in livestock production are relatively literate and are thus more easily amenable to information on modern livestock production techniques.

The type of livestock production system that would be most suited to conditions in Bayelsa State would be a semi-intensive approach based partly on confined feeding, management and selective breeding. Snail farming and rabbit breeding are natural choices in such an environment of land shortage since very little land space is needed for even the most intensive production; and there would be no threat of damage to adjacent crops farms. A corollary of this is the unavoidable choice of animals with a short-production cycle such as small ruminants (sheep and goats), poultry, pigs and even some wildlife that can easily be domesticated for rapid multiplication e.g. grass-cutter (Thryonomys swinderianus) which is highly favoured by the rural population in the state.

FISHERIES

Fish is of strategic importance to man because of its contribution to food and nutrition, security, as well as, a major source of livelihood to over ninety percent of the Bayelsa population. It is the primary occupation of majority of the people.

Bayelsa State is endowed with numerous creeks, rivers, streams, lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. These gifts of nature are suitable grounds for sustainable fisheries development. Fisheries is classified into two subgroups namely: capture fisheries and aquaculture.

i)       CAPTURE  FISHERIES IN BAYELSA STATE

For poverty reduction and empowerment of the people, a holistic intervention in the fisheries sub-sector in Bayelsa State is required.

Capture fisheries can be classified into two: artisanal and Industrial fisheries.

1.  ARTISANAL FISHERIES

This is made up of four components. They are:

a)     River and Lake Canoe Fishery

b)    Flood Plains Fishery

c)     Brackish Water Canoe Fishery

d)    Coastal Canoe Fishery

2.  INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES (TRAWLING)

This capture fishing is undertaken by fishing companies using trawling vessels in the ocean to catch fish species.

AQUACULTURE

Aquaculture is the rearing or culturing of fish or other animals and plants in a largely confined system of water. Such animals and plants include fish, crustaceans, molluscs, reptiles, amphibians and aquatic weeds in confined water bodies and enclosures.

Continued over-fishing in our seas, rivers and lakes has drastically reduced fish stocks to an alarming level. Since local fish supply cannot meet the rising demand as a result of population growth, Nigeria depends heavily on imported frozen fish from China, Korea, and Norway. Aquaculture could contribute significantly to meet this demand.

NAMES OF FISH AND THEIR SCIENTIFIC NAME

S/NO	Scientific Name	Common Name
1	Shellfish – Crustacea
2	Macrobrachium sp	River prawn
3	Penaeus notialis	Southern pink shrimp
4	*Penaeus monodon	Tiger shrimp
5	Mollusca
6	Senilia (=Anadara) senilis	Bloody cockle
7	Crassostrea gasar	Mangrove oyster
8	Egeria (=Galatea) radiata	Freshwater clam
9	Tympanotonus fuscatus	Periwinkle
10	Reptiles- Crocodilus	Crocodile
11	Finfish –
12	Heterobranchus longifilis	African mud catfish
13	Clarias gariepinus	African mud catfish
14	Hybrid catfish	(Cross of Heterobranchus x Clarias)
15	Gymnarchus niloticus	Trunk fish
16	Tilapia guineensis	Tilapia
17	Oreochromis niloticus	Tilapia
18	Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus	Silver catfish
19	Mugil cephalus	Grey mullet
20	Liza grandisquamis	Grey mullet
21	Liza falcipinnis	Grey mullet
22	Parachanna africana	Snake head
23	Tarpon (=Megalops) atlanticus	Atlantic tarpon
24	Sarotherodon melanotheron	Black chinned tilapia
25	Lates niloticus	Perch

Figure 1: Scientific names of fish species in the coastal and inland waters of Bayelsa State