In 2012, when I started farming in Kuje Area Council-Abuja, cashew trees were everywhere. Many local landowners planted them as economic trees—not necessarily for commercial production, but because they increased the perceived value of their land.
By 2013, the cashew industry had become a thriving rural economy. During harvest season, heavy-duty trucks lined up at Tipper Garage Junction in Kuje, buying cashew kernels for Nuts processing.
Farmers earned and the entire communities benefited from the value chain.
The boom continued through 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Then greed quietly replaced sustainability.
Instead of allowing the fruits to mature naturally, many people began harvesting prematurely to extract kernels early. The result was predictable: immature kernels flooded the market, quality dropped, and buyers began rejecting consignments.
By 2018, something even more alarming happened. Many of the cashew trees simply refused to fruit. In 2019 and 2020, some produced while others remained barren. By 2021, large numbers of trees appeared diseased and failed to fruit.
Today, the trucks are gone. The once-thriving cashew economy has largely disappeared. The trees remain, but many no longer produce.
What is most disturbing is that nobody seems to know why.
Nigeria has numerous institutions with mandates that should cover issues like this:
• Seed Council of Nigeria
• Forestry Departments and Agencies
• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
• Research Institutes and Extension Services
Yet there appears to be little or no publicly available data explaining what happened to the Kuje cashew ecosystem.
A nation that does not invest in research is condemned to repeat its mistakes. We spend billions discussing agriculture, but when an entire economic ecosystem collapses, nobody can explain the cause, measure the impact, or propose a recovery strategy.
Agriculture is not sustained by speeches and conferences. It is sustained by data, research, and institutional memory.
Until we take research seriously, we will continue harvesting from nature without understanding the consequences—and acting surprised when nature stops giving back.
@LegendaryJoe@dmightyangel It should not end at just creating state police. It must trickle down to local government so as to bring policing to the communities. One of the things I have observed with fighting insecurity in Nigeria is the ease at which these criminals operate with very little resistance.
I was in court d day he was arraigned, it ws obvious even then, that my Lord was not interested in allowing d Defendant get bail, as d learned silk who led d Defendant's legal team, made an application for him to b remanded in efcc custody bt mi lord ignored & sent him to Kuje.
2 sureties who must be civil servants of not less than level 16 cadre.
And must produce a bank guarantee of 15 billion naira.
Are our Judges indirectly supporting corruption bcos it is only a corrupt level 16 civil servant that will be able to fulfill such a condition.
@egi_nupe I completely agree with you on this, Adam. Looking at the ruling of my Lord above, judicial overreach is obvious as it appears my Lord was eager to inflict maximum pain on the Defendant before he can perfect the extreme bail conditions ordered by him.
@ChidiOdinkalu@fcthighcourt@officialEFCC A civil servants of level 16 should show ownership of property valued at 500 million. See how the mind of some judges work. We have somehow normalise criminality in this country.
@fimiletoks@JohnFanimokun Both the ICPC and EFCC are not doing the most important part of their mandate. Corruption in government spaces especially in the States are left unchecked, while the focus just like with the citizens, is firmly on the FG.
@juventiniforli1@Nwankpa_A@oeste Is that so! Started supporting Arsenal in 1997, while only being able to see highlight on the epl on Saturdays in Kaduna. Wonder what role Kanu played in convincing me to support a team he hasn't played for then.