‘Low Technology, Bane Of Agric Sector’

The inability of the agricultural sector in Nigeria to play its expected traditional role of meeting the food needs of the teeming population has been blamed on the subsistence nature of farming characterised by low adoption of technology and inadequate use of fertilisers.

Dropping the hint last Tuesday while delivering the 1st Professor  William Okefie Uzoaga, Memorial Lecture, entitled “Growing Nigeria’s Real Sector For Employment And Economic Development: The Role of the Central Bank of Nigeria”, held at the University of Nigeria (UNN), Enugu Campus, the CBN governor, Mr . Sanusi Lamido Sanusi,  blamed the worrisome trend on lack of access to adequate funds to invest in the sector.

According to him, the agricultural sector is expected to provide the required raw material needs of the industrial sector and provide the envisaged surplus for exports and thereby generate foreign exchange to improve the balance of payments position.

His words: “An analysis of the sectoral contributions to GDP showed that the share of agriculture in GDP had declined in the period 1960  – 2010. It fell from 55.8 percent in the period 1960 – 1970 to as low as 28.4 percent in the period 1971-1980 and rose thereafter to 40.6 percent in the period 2001-2010”, he stated.

While identifying inadequate use of fertilisers and improved seeds as the major hindrance to improved productivity in the agricultural sector, Mr Sanusi, urged government at all levels in the country to invest heavily in agriculture so as to create employment for unemployed youths in the country.

He, also called on government to do everything within its powers to protect local industries in the country, adding that developed countries spend fortune to protect their industries from collapse, pointing out that they do this in order to create employment for their citizens.

Sanusi explained that “the CBN has played a key role in growing the real sector with its plethora of previous financing schemes and current initiatives, adding that the latest initiative of the CBN , the NIRSAL is aimed at de-risking the agricultural sector for improved credit flow. This is because the sector is the largest employer of labour and holds the key in both arresting unemployment and improving the quality of lives of the citizenry”.