Comments on this episode
Nicholas omoruyi
Looking at the bushes, the colour of plants are naturally green. It's very diffult to explain as to why we are still hungry when our land is naturally blessed without the need for feltilizer. Our farmers are not encourage by our useless government, even when the farmers tries to do their best, they are discourage by the dictators in power.
Looking at the bushes, the colour of plants are naturally green. It's very diffult to explain as to why we are still hungry when our land is naturally blessed without the need for feltilizer. Our farmers are not encourage by our useless government, even when the farmers tries to do their best, they are discourage by the dictators in power.
158 days ago
Nicholas omoruyi
Mogabay is a complete idiot for asking the farmers to leave his country when he and his people can not make the farm industry work or fuction. Many zimbabwean rely on the farm work to be able to put food on their family table but this hope has been dash by the Mogabay regime and has left millions of Zimbabwean homeless and hungry. Shame on African leaders and long live Nelson Mandela.
Mogabay is a complete idiot for asking the farmers to leave his country when he and his people can not make the farm industry work or fuction. Many zimbabwean rely on the farm work to be able to put food on their family table but this hope has been dash by the Mogabay regime and has left millions of Zimbabwean homeless and hungry. Shame on African leaders and long live Nelson Mandela.
158 days ago
Nicholas omoruyi
Thanks funmi. I think it's a good thing to have white farmers in nigeria including other african countries since we are so daft,weak and senceless if you like, that we can't learn to think for our selves or learn to do things for our selves. Nothing is impossible, therefore impossible is nothing. Our people have been made to believe by those hopeless religious leaders who are exploiting them for their own financial benefit that manner will fall from heaven. What they don't realised is that the only manner that fall from the sky is the snow and not what they have been brain wash to believe in. The government are turning a blind eye to this problem because they don't want anyone to grow up with different kind of knowledge and began to chanlenge their authority. Any one can farm and can do anything. We should be ashame of our selves that we have to rely on the outsider to do things for us when we have all this resources is abordant in our country.
Thanks funmi. I think it's a good thing to have white farmers in nigeria including other african countries since we are so daft,weak and senceless if you like, that we can't learn to think for our selves or learn to do things for our selves. Nothing is impossible, therefore impossible is nothing. Our people have been made to believe by those hopeless religious leaders who are exploiting them for their own financial benefit that manner will fall from heaven. What they don't realised is that the only manner that fall from the sky is the snow and not what they have been brain wash to believe in. The government are turning a blind eye to this problem because they don't want anyone to grow up with different kind of knowledge and began to chanlenge their authority. Any one can farm and can do anything. We should be ashame of our selves that we have to rely on the outsider to do things for us when we have all this resources is abordant in our country.
158 days ago
Shalewa
@anonymous the truth of the matter is that these Zimbabwean guys worked hard. Yes they had support from the government and the technical know how, but they worked hard. I think that we should stop moaning about the brains of the white man and set our own brains to thinking as well as working hard/smart.
@anonymous the truth of the matter is that these Zimbabwean guys worked hard. Yes they had support from the government and the technical know how, but they worked hard. I think that we should stop moaning about the brains of the white man and set our own brains to thinking as well as working hard/smart.
169 days ago
Just to say well done to Funmi!!!
lekan
lekan
169 days ago
Banke
talk with funmi? so unique. i just love the down to earth style. better than the sit in the studio,audience clapping we see always. This is NEW.Peace
talk with funmi? so unique. i just love the down to earth style. better than the sit in the studio,audience clapping we see always. This is NEW.Peace
171 days ago
Anonymous
I love Funmi but this interview hmmm does not do it for me, I am begining to think Oyibo true get sense pass black see as them turn bush to something in no time, very few nigerians own farmers like this and need oyibo support
I love Funmi but this interview hmmm does not do it for me, I am begining to think Oyibo true get sense pass black see as them turn bush to something in no time, very few nigerians own farmers like this and need oyibo support
172 days ago
Funmi talks to the displaced white Zimbabwean farmers of Shonga.
What is their life in Kwara like? How has the controversial government initiative that brought them here worked out? What's it like starting up again so far from home?
She tours Pete De Toit's vast and impressive farm, investigating these and many other questions.
What is their life in Kwara like? How has the controversial government initiative that brought them here worked out? What's it like starting up again so far from home?
She tours Pete De Toit's vast and impressive farm, investigating these and many other questions.
Exclusive Video Clip
Q: Do the Zimbabwe farmers employ graduates?
I am informed that the farmers have a lot of graduates in their employ. These graduates include professionals like agriculturists, vet surgeons, marketers, accountants, admin staffs etc. They also take youth corpers, some of whom are retained.
Q: Were you able to talk to the agricultural interns been sponsored by the Kwara State government?
No, although I plan a follow up in depth project.
Q: With the current reforms in the banking sector, has it affected the funding of the farms?
I hear that the 200 billion naira commercial agric intervention fund of the Federal Government is playing some role, as the farmers are processing access to the 10% interest loan.
Q: The Shonga farm is a fantastic project, Nigeria needs more of this. Is there any similar project in other parts of the country?
I am told that Nassarawa State tried to benchmark the project and that they have a group of 20 Zimbabwean Farmers carrying out similar commercial farming activities
Q: Just like you played football with Governor Fashola, I thought you were going to till the land in Shonga?
Now that would not be very creative would it:)? Each show is clearly thought out, distinct and stand alone.
I am informed that the farmers have a lot of graduates in their employ. These graduates include professionals like agriculturists, vet surgeons, marketers, accountants, admin staffs etc. They also take youth corpers, some of whom are retained.
Q: Were you able to talk to the agricultural interns been sponsored by the Kwara State government?
No, although I plan a follow up in depth project.
Q: With the current reforms in the banking sector, has it affected the funding of the farms?
I hear that the 200 billion naira commercial agric intervention fund of the Federal Government is playing some role, as the farmers are processing access to the 10% interest loan.
Q: The Shonga farm is a fantastic project, Nigeria needs more of this. Is there any similar project in other parts of the country?
I am told that Nassarawa State tried to benchmark the project and that they have a group of 20 Zimbabwean Farmers carrying out similar commercial farming activities
Q: Just like you played football with Governor Fashola, I thought you were going to till the land in Shonga?
Now that would not be very creative would it:)? Each show is clearly thought out, distinct and stand alone.
Tuesday June 2 2009
Trouble, the show plans for Kwara fell through so we all gathered in the morning to plot alternate scenarios, we toyed with going to Ibadan but the consensus was to continue as planned to Ilorin.
We shot Idanre again on our way out of town. The drive was long but interesting, l like driving through the forest.
Idanre is a seductress lying languidly on the windy road, coyly emerging and dipping out of sight, teasing your senses as the mysterious arms of the forest envelop the road.
In nature, everything is perfectly balanced, in perfect harmony. Idanre is regal, beckoning yet aloof. She is majestic, beautiful, remote, the clouds behind her moving in a hypnotic rhythmic dance of honour. She welcomes you or so you think into her bosom and suck you into her belly. You are ecstatic, yet fearful, will she hug or crush you. Her skin is smooth and silky but for the raised jagged lesions that do not disfigure, but mark her as exceptional.
We arrived Ilorin and our hotel was like something out of a horror movie, like a perfect scene from the shinning. Some of the guys took one look, packed their bags and left. I tried to brave it but the dirt, the life-strangulating stench; the desolation all eventually drove me out. We relocated some people but could not find space for others that night so they got drunk and survived the place in a drunken stupor. We moved them all to other hotels in town the next day.
Highlight of a long tedious day was finding amala, abula and goat meat at 10pm.
Wednesday June 3rd
We had a lucky break. I had badly wanted us to do the story of the Zimbabwean farmers but we were mislead regarding location and distance and I was by then sick and tired of the sharp suit wearing, fake phonetics speaking lau-lau spending crowd at my hotel so we decided to return to Lagos, take a break and finish the Lagos stories.
However one of the guys from SA stumbled on one of the farmers at lunch and got talking, it turned out that the information we got was wrong and we were back on track. Was run down by now so spent the day in the hotel talking with all sorts of people whilst the guys did the Reece and put the logistics together to shoot the Kwara stories. I was struck by the disconnect of the majority of the skirt chasing, contract seekers in my hotel from the reality of the environment. Driving here I had noticed the subsistent farmers eking a living from their little farms whilst hectares of arable land laid fallow and wondered how much longer all the fat dudes in the sharp suits expect the skinny ragged old farmers to continue feeding them.
Thursday June 4TH
Up at 4am for hair and make up, the guys came late, we quarreled, they got me ready, I sulked, I'm sleep deprived and my allergies are riving me nuts. I studied my fungal toe as we drove through the rough terrain to the Fulani village led by a young guide perpetually chatting on him mobile phone as he rode his Okada ahead of us.
At the sight of the village, my anger vanished; it is so picturesque and clean.
I was charmed; the people are simply stunning to look at but reticent. It took a long while to gain their trust and confidence speaking through an old Yoruba retired nurse and widow who had lived amongst Hausas and Fulani's up north for most of her life.
It had been tough to find just the right interpreter. The village head was young, alert and unwell, he kept asking for medication for his fever.
The same issues we've encountered everywhere are present; malaria, lack of access to water, clinics, schools and electricity. The peculiar concerns here are tsetse flies, which kill the cows and muscular skeletal pains and ailments due to the long treks of the herdsmen. I was pleasantly surprised to find them willing to leave the women and children behind in permanent settlements whilst they remain nomadic just so the children can be educated.
None of the children currently go to school although there are school in surrounding villages. The girls are married off too young and the children loved the jollof rice and chicken we gave them at lunch. They had never eaten jollof rice. We bought wara from the women, wrapped up the shoot and headed out just as it started to pour.
After the rain we drove to the pot making community on the outskirts of Ilorin and the people were the most surly, unresponsive and quarrelsome people ever. It was a bit sad and mercenary, as they kept demanding money. I was glad to be out of that mud and mire, as the shoot was quick and uninspiring.
The rest of the planned communities were just as unlovable and unviable, I was angry at the cynicism of the people even though I understand the cause. I can easily see the contemptuous relationship between the leaders and the lead and the vicious circle of mutual exploitation. We wrapped up an exhausting and mostly disappointing day of shoot and I went to bed a little dejected.
Friday June 5th
It's my friend Remi's birthday and we had been filming for 4 weeks, I was terribly home sick. I was up at 5 am and shit faced with exhaustion and malnutrition. The security man at the hotel tried to throw his weight around but by now I had had it with the place. The hotel is a pretentious little shit hole with the ego problems of an emotionally retarded alpha male. She has the pretension of grandiose of the Abuja Hilton without any of its pseudo affluence. She attracts odious political jobbers, laagers and perverts with distended stomach and retracted scrotum.
I pitied the poor new eager GM who was doing his best to reorganize the place. I hope he succeeds. I do admit that by now, I was a tired, frustrated, bloody minded, fire spitting, eye ball rolling, out and out bitch and a frigging diva, but hey it has been one hell of a journey and the place is the pits. I miss my daughter, my bed, my shower, my cook, my food, my friends.... I gave myself a mental slap and got a grip.
We drove to Shonga and I had mixed feelings about the Zimbabwean farmers, to be honest I was a little skeptical about the project. I was inclined to see it as another example of our self-loathing and to resent the farmers.
By the end of the shoot, my perception had changed; I was humbled by the human story behind these old men and the loss of their farms in Zimbabwe and starting all over again in Nigeria. I was impressed by the farms and what they had achieved with little and the battles they are fighting. I found the state official Abubakar Kannike refreshingly drama free, knowledgeable, connected and open with information. I knew that this is just scratching the surface of a very important story.
The Shonga farm story had redeemed our Ilorin adventure and we left for Lagos very satisfied. Some of us flew back, others drove back in the convoy; we all arrive Lagos around about the same time to the embrace of my eight year old who had grown a few inches taller in my absence.
Trouble, the show plans for Kwara fell through so we all gathered in the morning to plot alternate scenarios, we toyed with going to Ibadan but the consensus was to continue as planned to Ilorin.
We shot Idanre again on our way out of town. The drive was long but interesting, l like driving through the forest.
Idanre is a seductress lying languidly on the windy road, coyly emerging and dipping out of sight, teasing your senses as the mysterious arms of the forest envelop the road.
In nature, everything is perfectly balanced, in perfect harmony. Idanre is regal, beckoning yet aloof. She is majestic, beautiful, remote, the clouds behind her moving in a hypnotic rhythmic dance of honour. She welcomes you or so you think into her bosom and suck you into her belly. You are ecstatic, yet fearful, will she hug or crush you. Her skin is smooth and silky but for the raised jagged lesions that do not disfigure, but mark her as exceptional.
We arrived Ilorin and our hotel was like something out of a horror movie, like a perfect scene from the shinning. Some of the guys took one look, packed their bags and left. I tried to brave it but the dirt, the life-strangulating stench; the desolation all eventually drove me out. We relocated some people but could not find space for others that night so they got drunk and survived the place in a drunken stupor. We moved them all to other hotels in town the next day.
Highlight of a long tedious day was finding amala, abula and goat meat at 10pm.
Wednesday June 3rd
We had a lucky break. I had badly wanted us to do the story of the Zimbabwean farmers but we were mislead regarding location and distance and I was by then sick and tired of the sharp suit wearing, fake phonetics speaking lau-lau spending crowd at my hotel so we decided to return to Lagos, take a break and finish the Lagos stories.
However one of the guys from SA stumbled on one of the farmers at lunch and got talking, it turned out that the information we got was wrong and we were back on track. Was run down by now so spent the day in the hotel talking with all sorts of people whilst the guys did the Reece and put the logistics together to shoot the Kwara stories. I was struck by the disconnect of the majority of the skirt chasing, contract seekers in my hotel from the reality of the environment. Driving here I had noticed the subsistent farmers eking a living from their little farms whilst hectares of arable land laid fallow and wondered how much longer all the fat dudes in the sharp suits expect the skinny ragged old farmers to continue feeding them.
Thursday June 4TH
Up at 4am for hair and make up, the guys came late, we quarreled, they got me ready, I sulked, I'm sleep deprived and my allergies are riving me nuts. I studied my fungal toe as we drove through the rough terrain to the Fulani village led by a young guide perpetually chatting on him mobile phone as he rode his Okada ahead of us.
At the sight of the village, my anger vanished; it is so picturesque and clean.
I was charmed; the people are simply stunning to look at but reticent. It took a long while to gain their trust and confidence speaking through an old Yoruba retired nurse and widow who had lived amongst Hausas and Fulani's up north for most of her life.
It had been tough to find just the right interpreter. The village head was young, alert and unwell, he kept asking for medication for his fever.
The same issues we've encountered everywhere are present; malaria, lack of access to water, clinics, schools and electricity. The peculiar concerns here are tsetse flies, which kill the cows and muscular skeletal pains and ailments due to the long treks of the herdsmen. I was pleasantly surprised to find them willing to leave the women and children behind in permanent settlements whilst they remain nomadic just so the children can be educated.
None of the children currently go to school although there are school in surrounding villages. The girls are married off too young and the children loved the jollof rice and chicken we gave them at lunch. They had never eaten jollof rice. We bought wara from the women, wrapped up the shoot and headed out just as it started to pour.
After the rain we drove to the pot making community on the outskirts of Ilorin and the people were the most surly, unresponsive and quarrelsome people ever. It was a bit sad and mercenary, as they kept demanding money. I was glad to be out of that mud and mire, as the shoot was quick and uninspiring.
The rest of the planned communities were just as unlovable and unviable, I was angry at the cynicism of the people even though I understand the cause. I can easily see the contemptuous relationship between the leaders and the lead and the vicious circle of mutual exploitation. We wrapped up an exhausting and mostly disappointing day of shoot and I went to bed a little dejected.
Friday June 5th
It's my friend Remi's birthday and we had been filming for 4 weeks, I was terribly home sick. I was up at 5 am and shit faced with exhaustion and malnutrition. The security man at the hotel tried to throw his weight around but by now I had had it with the place. The hotel is a pretentious little shit hole with the ego problems of an emotionally retarded alpha male. She has the pretension of grandiose of the Abuja Hilton without any of its pseudo affluence. She attracts odious political jobbers, laagers and perverts with distended stomach and retracted scrotum.
I pitied the poor new eager GM who was doing his best to reorganize the place. I hope he succeeds. I do admit that by now, I was a tired, frustrated, bloody minded, fire spitting, eye ball rolling, out and out bitch and a frigging diva, but hey it has been one hell of a journey and the place is the pits. I miss my daughter, my bed, my shower, my cook, my food, my friends.... I gave myself a mental slap and got a grip.
We drove to Shonga and I had mixed feelings about the Zimbabwean farmers, to be honest I was a little skeptical about the project. I was inclined to see it as another example of our self-loathing and to resent the farmers.
By the end of the shoot, my perception had changed; I was humbled by the human story behind these old men and the loss of their farms in Zimbabwe and starting all over again in Nigeria. I was impressed by the farms and what they had achieved with little and the battles they are fighting. I found the state official Abubakar Kannike refreshingly drama free, knowledgeable, connected and open with information. I knew that this is just scratching the surface of a very important story.
The Shonga farm story had redeemed our Ilorin adventure and we left for Lagos very satisfied. Some of us flew back, others drove back in the convoy; we all arrive Lagos around about the same time to the embrace of my eight year old who had grown a few inches taller in my absence.
the question now is, if people from the south moved up here to start businesses would the northerners agree.... also its amazing what the state kwara is willing to offer these farmers, electricity etc... but would they do the same to help nigerian businesses....this is why we are so lacking in this nation.....we see white and we jump. If our government gave us these opportunity all those students who are graduatin in agriculture would go far but theres no help. I know my agric teacher in high skool tried to start farming but now way...no help....