Restoring Nigeria’s Agriculture Lost Glory

That Nigeria has the potential to become a major food exporter on the African continent is beyond dispute.

Between 1950 and late 1960s, trade in agricultural produce such as cocoa, cotton and groundnuts, among others, generated foreign exchange for the country to kick-start its infrastructure development.

In the oil boom era of the 1970s however, things changed and agriculture steadily declined to the extent that Nigeria resorted to food imports, to supplement the low agricultural output in the country.

Agricultural analysts say that several years after the decline, government has begun to re­think its agricultural strategies, with a view to restoring the lost glory in the sector. Officials say that government’s expectation is that, through the new strategies, a highly productive, efficient and competitive sector will evolve with a high level of private and public sectors’ involvement.

Geographical facts indicate that an estimated 1,500 millilitres of annual rainfall and an annual temperature average of 26 degrees Celsius, confer on the nation an enormous natural agricultural endowment.

To supplement this are the abundant water resources estimated at 267 billion cubic litres of surface water and another 52 billion cubic litres of underground water.

“All these resources are clear signals that Nigeria has no business importing food but should instead, be exporting food to other countries.”

“We have not harnessed all these ecological advantages as a nation,” says Dr Tunde Arosanyin, an international agricultural consultant.

Arosanyin, who was the immediate past Chairman of the Kogi chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), says that a situation where some Nigerians went to bed at night hungry, as a recent UN reports corroborate, is totally unacceptable after 50 years of the nation’s independence.

The international consultant thinks that much still needs to be done by government to “get things right; to find the right bearing in the agricultural sector”.

He decries what he calls “policy somersaults”, uncoordinated sectoral approaches, absence of needed political will, inadequate investments and poor incentives to small holder farmers.

Arosanyin proffers some solutions which include the full resuscitation of all River Basin authorities as established in the late 1970s to develop the nation’s water and agricultural resources.

He recalls that the basins had prepared lands and allocated them to farmers, based on their respective management capacities, while certified seeds and fertilizers were supplied at subsidized rates and some forms of financial assistance rendered to the farmers.

“Senior agricultural officers in the River Basin authorities visited farms to monitor practices, while also offering extension services.”

“But nowadays, agricultural extension services are virtually moribund and there is hardly any link between agricultural research institutes and farmers in the fields.

“Since the World Bank withdrew its funding to the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs), Nigeria has not been able to fill that vacuum,” Arosanyin laments. Analysts recall that there had been scientific forecasts that Nigeria’s oil resources will run dry in about 50 years’ time and such predictions had been rather scary.

That perhaps prompted the Federal Government to begin to revitalise, re-engineer and reposition the agricultural sector through the introduction of presidential initiatives and the launch of the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) in 2004.

To underscore the necessity for a revived agricultural sector, the government of late Umaru Yar’Adua integrated food security and land reforms as cardinal aspects of his 7­Point Agenda.

Available records show that about N200 billion was earmarked for the development of the programme, which runs over a four-year period beginning from 2008.

While government’s expectation is that the programme will launch the country into commercial farming on the short term, it believes that on the medium term, it will also expand and improve large-scale production, as well as improve storage and processing capacities.

On a long term, the programme is expected to achieve the derivation of over 50 per cent of the nation’s foreign exchange from agricultural exports.

Dr Kenny Acholonu, a food scientist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bio-Organics Nutrient Systems Ltd, Lagos, believes that Nigeria can export agricultural products in excess of one billion dollars every month.

He, however, stresses that three major ingredients for any success – mission, vision and human capital, should be addressed, adding that agricultural practices required high discipline.

“With a good theoretical base, good experience and a new level of awareness, more actions, good standards of implementation, measurement, and monitoring, we can make headway in agriculture,” he says.

Noting that the nation’s current agricultural and industrial challenges are daunting, he stresses that what is required is a firm will and commitment to succeed.

On his part, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Vice President of the Accra-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), says that global food crisis presents a challenge and an opportunity to Nigeria at the same time.

AGRA, an Africa-based and Africa-led organization was launched in 2006, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It aims at achieving enhanced productivity and profitability for small-scale farm holdings in Africa.

Adesina sees in Nigeria a “locked-up wealth in agriculture”, which must be opened up. He stresses that a transformation of the nation’s agriculture requires proper coordination in the sector to ensure the introduction of commercial and mechanised farming.

Adesina says that the country’s current high volume of cassava production as a result of a Federal Government’s initiative clearly demonstrates this viewpoint.

“The Presidential Initiative on Cassava helped to spur increased interest in cassava production but the ultimate goal has yet to be achieved in any significant way and it remains elusive.”

According to him, the set goal will be realized when cassava farming is mechanized to raise production level to what obtains in Brazil, Columbia and Thailand, where an average of 45 tonnes of cassava is harvested per hectare of farmland.

“As in Asia, where the government of Thailand led the way in directing technology, infrastructure, investment and market development for cassava, the Nigerian government needs to also lead the way here,” he says.

“First, there is need for greater investment in research to develop high yield varieties, especially those with high starch content. There should be establishment of cassava multiplication centres across the producing areas to improve access to the planting materials.”

“The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (UTA) and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NCRI) should be supported to help on the development and introduction of appropriate and cost effective technologies in this regard.

Adesina says that the combination of industrial, agricultural, fiscal and financial incentives is necessary to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector into a productive, efficient, profitable and competitive one.

He, however, praises the government for developing a strategic blueprint for agricultural development in the country through investing in agricultural research and development of rural infrastructure.

Adesina calls on government to subsidise the operations of the fanners in many ways, especially in fertiliser acquisition.”

“There is clearly a need for subsidies. The current system is inefficient.

There is so much politicization of fertiliser import, pricing and distribution, which creates uncertainties and disincentives for private sector commercial importers.

“Nigeria can learn from the experience of Malawi, where vouchers are used to target beneficiaries. Eligible farmers redeem their fertiliser and/or seed vouchers from established agro-dealer shops in rural areas”, he says.

Adesina wants greater access to loans by farmers, different from the current process which is cumbersome and unattractive to farmers, while the state and federal ministries of agriculture and water resources should play pivotal roles in regenerating the sector.

It goes without saying therefore, that in order to achieve the goals of Vision 20:2020, agriculture must play the catalytic role of supplying raw materials to manufacturers, while also ensuring food security for the citizens. 

Nkechi Okoronkwo, writes for NAN.

Nkechi Okoronkwo