Hundreds of farmers and fishermen have been rendered jobless . They were forced to abandon their long time sources of living. No thanks to improper management of waste by a starch company.
Residents of Ajura, an agrarian community in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State are predominantly farmers. Some were also fishermen and we’re making their ends meet. But, the arrival of a visitor a starch producing company six years ago, has turned their joy to sorrow. They regret ever hosting Harvest Feed & Agro Processing Limited into their communities.
The communities said, “we thought this company would bring development but it has wrecked a lot of havoc on our river.
Prior to its arrival into the community, the residents said their farm harvests were bountiful.
The residents also lamented the environmental impact caused by the company’s improper waste management system.
MISTURAH OLATUNJI reports on the plights of residents of Ajura and other neighbouring communities whose river which served their farming and fishing businesses has been polluted by wastewater from the company.
A farmer and one of the community leaders, Rotimi Festus, like many other farmers in the Ajura community, depended on the Ajura river to fetch water for use on their farms.
But some months after the community hosted the starch processing factory, they began to suffer as a result of poor waste management of the company, causing pollution to the river they depended on.
Sharing the ordeals of the residents in the communities, Festus said their suffering began six years ago after it was discovered that their river had been polluted .
He said shortly before the discovery, he had headed to the river to fetch water for use on his farm as usual. Festus said he had been into farming for decades and his source of water had been the Ajura river.
He narrated that on getting to the riverside which stretched across many other communities in the local government, he first observed an unusual white foamy substance on the surface of the water and perceived an odour oozing out of the water.
“On that day, the efforts to trace the source of the substance that was polluting the community source of water proved abortive. Upon discovery the development we were troubled.
Sharing the feelings of the community, Festus said members of the community thought that the water was poisoned by unknown persons
“We almost had a fight in the community then, but, I later noticed that it was the cassava wastewater that was killing our fishes, but some people argued with me and said maybe some people poisoned the water.
“But we all later confirmed that it was the wastewater that was killing our fishes and polluting the river .” Festus said.
Our Source Of Livelihood At Stake
Festus was a farmer who made his living from his Treculia Africana (Afon in Yoruba language) plantations. For the season to be favourable to him and other farmers in the communities, the soil must be fertile and the weather must be good throughout the planting season.
He disclosed that he used to make profit of up to N700,000 (annually) from his farm produce.
“Every year, I realize about N700,000”.
Festus said he realized this profit before the wastewater from the starch producing factory started polluting the soil.
A study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that some forms of processing, particularly for starch, have developed beyond traditional methods and are now water intensive, yet, often sited in areas of water scarcity. By its nature, cassava processing for starch extraction produces large amounts of effluent high in organic content.
The report further noted that, if untreated, wastewater may be displayed in the form of stagnant effluent ponds from which strong odours emanate.
When PLATFORM TIMES visited the communities in July, 2022, a whiff of smelly odour rented the air and made the environment uncomfortable.
Four Months after, PLATFORM TIMES revisited the community and observed the problem still persist. In fact, some farmers and fishers had deserted their farms and ponds and started opting for other sources of livelihood.
A closer look showed that the wastewater extracted from cassava root, which flows from the drainage from the company linked to the community river and directly flows into the river, killing the fishes and polluting the water.
It was also observed that, the substance washed with the cassava wastewater has made some parts of the river murky, posing a serious danger to the residents of the communities.
“If anyone enters that river, he or she would sink and not be able to come out”, Festus warned.
Ayo Adewunmi, a resident of Ogere, a neighbouring local area to Ajura, lamented the effect of the company’s improper waste management system on the river.
Adewunmi decried that the water was killing the fishes in the river, leaving the fishermen’s casted net empty.
” … it’s really affected the fishermen because the fishes are dead”.
He added that most of the fishermen had lost hope in fishing, noting that some have now found another source of livelihood.
Speaking with a traditional ruler in Ajura community, the Olu of Ajuraland, Oba Kasim Taiwo Adebukola, Sogbamu 1, lamented that the wastewater affected their river.
The monarch said “Fish farmers no longer fish in that river”.
The traditional ruler however stressed on the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility.
At Ajura River, Fishes Are Dying.
Festus recalls that the river used to serve different purposes to the residents.
He explained that apart from its domestic uses, residents also take their bath and wash their clothes at the shore of Ajura river water.
“The wastewater from that cassava company did not only kill the fishes in the river, it has also stopped many residents from using the river to bath and wash their cloths.
He added, “You wouldn’t want to enter it now, because it is irritating and sticky.
“Not only has the cassava wastewater polluted the residents’ source of water, the river, its economic implications are grave.
“It affected us to the extent that, there is a land close to that river that was supposed to be sold out to farmers of vegetables but they didn’t buy it.”
Residents Suffer, But Company Has Fine CSR
When the company, Harvest Feed & Agro Processing Limited came to the community to startup, the residents never expected any environmental problems.
Although the company boasts of quality Corporate Social Responsibility, yet residents are being impoverished and their source of livelihood is at stake.
Harvest Feeds Agro Processing is a cassava starch processing factory which uses about 350 tons of cassava daily for starch production.
Located in Ajura, Ogun State, Harvest Feeds Agro Processing Limited is a starch processing factory. It reportedly uses 350 tons of cassava daily for starch production, and processes about 70 tons of cassava per hour.
The monarch while explaining the good side of the company, said aside the environmental effect of the company on the community, the company has fine Cooperate Social Responsibility, saying, it has also aided the development of the community.
He said, “Aside the starch water that pollutes our river, that affects us, the company brought development.
“He employs the indigenes in the company, despite the fact that we didn’t sign an official CSR.
“Last year, when our transformer cable was stolen, I called him and he helped us to get another cable. When it was stolen again this year, in February, I called him again and he gave us another one, that is part of his contributions to the community.
“The company brought development to the community, because an apartment per room was N1,000 before.
“When the company came here, it is now N2,000, N2,500 or even N3,000 if it is tiled.”
Similarly, other residents of Ajuraland confirmed that the company’s CSR is fine.
“Our boys in the community work there also, if there two of such company that help in such manner, there would be reduction in crime rate, ” Kareem said.
“He employed residents of this community in the company. There was a time the community cable was stolen, he gave us another cable to restore the electricity.
“The first time, the cable was stolen, he gave us one, the second time it was stolen, he gave us another one.”
In July, when PLATFORM TIMES contacted the company, one of the directors who preferred not to be named said before the establishment of the factory in the community, no one drinks the water.
He said, “There is no place that there would be development and there won’t be impact on the environment. If you want to build a house, you need to clear a house, clearing the land alone is called deforestation, animals live on the land and destabilize them, that is development, that is what a company is all about.
The company would definitely impact on the environment, directly or indirectly, they can dump waste, they can do anything, what the company is doing, they are modifying the company, with time it won’t happen like that again. we are constructing a plant we recycle. Those waste too is money, what we do here is we use cassava. And those waste products can be recycled to even make money.”
However, PLATFORM TIMES revisited the community in November to find out if the recycling machine has been installed and the environmental effects has been averted but the reverse is the case.
Farm Output Is Deteriorating Too
The joy of the farmers know no bounds every harvest session. But now the locals are losing interest in farming since the yields from farm produce are low compared to when the company was not in the area.
The director of environmental health and management, Ogun State, ministry of environment, Onaeko Oluwawemimo noted that the presence of such water in an agrarian community can lead to economic loss.
The expert warned that residents’ health is at risk, “After harvesting cassava, you peel it while the peels from cassava if it is not packaged in a way or manner that would not degrade the environment, and part of those ways are sources of food for animals, like she goat , some are taken raw, while some have to be dried.
And it could be a source of raw material in agricultural fields and in the cause of fermentation of the cassava itself, the wastewater that comes out of it when it is extracted contains cyanides and cyanide is a kind of organic component. If you get to where they process cassava, you will see the odour oozing out of that environment
“Also, that cyanide, when you pour it over a large area of vegetation, there wouldn’t be grass in that area, Cyanide content kills the microbial content of the soil.
“Because most organism in the soil like earthworm, assist the break down of organic components in the soil when your plant seedlings of vegetable; ‘gbure’ and the likes you see them coming out fresh, big and edible but when you pour that cyanide, wastewater over that place, it would be sticky, the surface would be sticky which means that it would kill every microbial activities within that area content .
“There are a lot of challenges and consequences the community is prone to face. The soil there would not be productive/fertile which could also lead to poverty because,for instance if such community is the one that processes large volume of cassava, and that is what they base in, it means there would be a need for shift in composition, they would need to shift from that environment to another environment and it’s going to affect their wellbeing.”
Environmentalist Proffers Solution To Avoid Further Problems
Aquatics would not survive within that environment and that’s the reason we keep educating and advocating for our people to ensure that when they process their cassava, they channel the wastewater through a safe pit where it goes into the underground and evacuates, because the soil itself is a biobette…; it is a natural filter that removes impurity, from the soil itself.
“So when they construct a shed pit/safe pit, the wastewater from the cassava gets into the safe pit and evacuates into the underground water.
“They need to have a safe pit, those that are producing that community one of the better ways to detoxify… When they have the safe pit and evaporate into the underground which is a gradual process.
“Adding sodium hydrochloride to it would detoxify the cyanide inside it and make the water within the environment safe for people to use, so detoxifying the wastewater from the cassava production with sodium hydrochloride would detoxify the cyanide inside the waste water.
“A wastewater from it are components of water and other impurities, the cyanide is also an impurity that when you have a sodium hydrochloride. The sodium would react to the cyanide, it is a negatively radical, if it reacts to it, it would be able to take off the Cyanide.”
Festus however said “To the best of my knowledge right now, they said he has started buying some machines that would not allow the wastewater to enter the river again but we don’t know what would be done to eradicate the places that have been affected
As at last year, I spoke with the owner of that company about what he would do to the river and the wastewater.
He ( the chairman) he apologized to me that I should give him some time, he wants to order in the machine.
“If anyone inhales bad odour, it could cause diseases. The water has destroyed the water that fishermen no longer get fishes from the river, the fishes die. We can no longer wash clothes from the river, the water we drink from, we no longer drink from it, because it has affected it from the depth.
“He didn’t tell me anything after that, maybe he Installed the machine, whether it had arrived or something.”
