Cashew farming has become a money-spinning business in the country with Kogi State as one of the leading producers of the products. The humus/loamy soil of Kogi East and part of Kogi West is said to account for the high yield of cashew, placing the state in the fore front of cashew nut producers in the country.
Reports from the state Ministry of Agriculture indicate that the state is adjudged as one of the 27 states remarkable for producing cashew nuts in commercial quantity in Nigeria, which is drawing huge foreign exchange.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said: “Today, Kogi State is the biggest producer of cashew in Nigeria because of sound agricultural policies geared towards empowering farmers with improved seedlings, mechanisation and agrochemicals.”
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He added that the encouragement of the state government in this direction has created an enabling environment for the private sector to invest heavily in cashew production in the state, making it the hub centre of cashew nut business in the country, presently.
The high level of cashew farming in the state is seen by many as a great development, as it enhances economic development via creating of more income, employment and improved standard of living of the people of the state .
For instance, the state chairman of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Stephen Ahiaba, applauded the height attained by state in cashew nut production, emphasizing that it was due to existing flexibility in the business, as expressed by the stakeholders in the value chain .
He puts Kogi State’s production capacity of cashew nuts at 55,000 metric tons per season, adding that the state in the long run can generate an estimated revenue of over N14billions in each farming season.
According to him, in 2015, Kogi State alone produced 50,000 metric tons of the 150,000 metric tons of cashew nuts exported from the country; a feat seen by many as a great development.
However, agrobusiness experts, farmers and stakeholder believe that global warming, with its negative impact on everything on earth, and alleged imposition of multiple taxation in Kogi may crash the status so far achieved in cashew business in no distance time.
Indications have emerged that it’s not the best of time for cashew farmers in the state, as alleged multiple taxation introduced by the state government is said to be grinding their business to a halt.
The seemingly favourable synergy between the government and cashew farmers which led to the state’s acclaimed status in cashew nut production and business has started waning, painting a gloomy business climate ahead.
The cashew farmers are nursing fears that their business is heading for the rocks, if the state government refuses to reverse unfavorable business policies that have cast ominous signs on their business transactions.
Recently, the cashew Farmers Forum of Nigeria (FFN), Kogi State chapter raised an alarm to that effect, stressing that the new multiple taxation regime introduced by the state government has set a hiccup to their business, with attendant consequence of imminent total collapse.
The spokesperson of the state chapter of the cashew Farmers Forum of Nigeria (FFN), Barrister Ibrahim Adama, stated that the state government is “suffocating them” with new tax policy on cashew business, stressing that they can no longer bear the burden of multiple taxations in the state.
He said: “Cashew farmers, dealers, and exporters stand united against this exploitative practice, aimed at discouraging investment in the cashew industry and driving buyers away.
“Cashew, unlike cassava or yam, is primarily sold to foreign markets, and any policy that hinders trade will ultimately harm the farmers and the state’s economy.”
Explaining, Barrister Adama said: “Since its legislation and signing into law by the former governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, in 2022, the agreed-upon Kogi State official grading fee is N30,000 per truck.
“Then, we all know that the Produce Inspection Department (PID) in Kogi State charges the highest inspection fee in the country at N30,000 per truck. This amount has been arbitrarily increased to N110,000 per truck, divided into two receipts of N90,000 and N20,000 per truck recently,” he said.
He added that during the period of former tax regime, cashew farmers in other states paid far less of what the cashew farmers were being made to pay in the state, saying, “but we were enduring, impressing upon the state to initiate a review for them to continue in the business.”
He said, then per truck,” Kogi PID collects N30,000; Kano PID, N5000; Gombe PID, N5,000; Katsina PID, N3,000; Yobe PID, N2,000; Nasarawa PID, N20,000; Benue PID, N25,000; Oyo PID, N20,000; Niger PID, N10,000; Bauchi PID, N5,000; Jigawa PID, N3,000; Yola PID, N4,000; Kaduna PID, N7,000 and Osun PID, N10,000”.
Shedding more light, another cashew farmer from Anyigba in Dekina Local Government Area, Alhaji Abubakar Ogijo Adejo, said other unexplained taxes imposed on the state cashew buyers have increased their woes in cashew business.
According to him, such levies include, “interstate levy (haulage fee) N13,000, IML N5,000, loading and offloading fee N12,000, pass N5,000, state environmental fee N6,000, local government environmental fee N5,000 and local government departmental fee N10,000.”
Yet, another cashew farmer, Chief Taiwo Adebayo who claimed to be from Yagba land in the west district of the state said besides all these levies, there are some other taxes inform of, “interstate levies, loading and offloading fees, pass fees, state and local government environmental fees, and local government departmental fees.
“There are also numerous roadblocks under the auspices of produce, extorting motorists and harassing drivers and buyers in all the feeder roads in the state.”
They claimed that the state government through its implementing agency, Kogi State Government Internal Revenue Services (KGIRS), enforces the tax laws strictly.
A female cashew farmer from Lokoja who claimed to have her farm at a settlement in Ajaokuta, Hajia Memunat Abdulkareem, said: “We have been battling with the obnoxious cost of tending to the crops, chemicals, labourers and herders’ menace which have eaten deep into our purses, with no end in sight.
“The issue of multiple taxations has been a recurring decimal in the business. It’s not feasible for us to survive or recoup our investment under the prevailing circumstances. Let the government be magnanimous enough and relax some of these policies for us to survive.”
However, the Kogi State government has denied allegations of multiple taxation, regarding an increment in produce grading costs leveled against it by the cashew farmers and buyers in the state.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Timothy Ojomah, said the new administration under Governor Usman Ododo will not transact business without following due process.
The commissioner noted that there was no such thing presently, saying that the state government will only strive to stabilize the grading cost in due course, and when necessary.
He, however warned foreigners to desist from having direct contact with the farmers on cashew business in the state, as the grading costs remain the same.
The commissioner added that whoever decides to take laws into their hands by extorting the marketers would have the government to contend with.
However, the alleged grading costs palaver has pitched the members of the cashew farmers association against a lawmaker representing Ankpa 1 constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly state, Hon. Akus Lawal.
The cashew farmers claimed that the legislator operating under ANCO Engineering & General Services Consultants, has raised the produce inspection department (PID) fee for cashew haulage in Kogi State.
The state chairman of the cashew Farmers Forum of Nigeria (FFN), Barrister Adama, alleged that the lawmaker is acting under the guise of a contract agreement with the state government to collect revenue for Kogi Internal Revenue Service.
“Akus and his associates have unlawfully seized over 17 trucks loaded with our produce in Lokoja for four days, disregarding all pleas for reason,” stated Barrister Adama, the FFN spokesperson.
Hon Akus however denied the allegation, describing it as cheap blackmail aimed at denting his good image in his constituency, state and the country at large.
“The allegations levied against me by the cashew farmers are mischievous, baseless, clueless and lacks any iota of truth,” he said.
The lawmaker stated that he was not a director or shareholders of the said company – ANCO Engineering and General Services limited, as alleged.
“The consultants were engaged by the state government to drive revenue collection on grading fees and haulage to avoid leakages as it were in the past.
“I am wondering if the association has things to hide in defrauding the state government of revenues.
“I am not a director or shareholder of the said company. Let it be on record that I never ordered the seizure of any truck,” he said.
Meanwhile, the cashew producers in the state have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Usman Ahmed Ododo and other relevant stakeholders to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in order to save their business from total collapse.
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