Government Agriculture Projects: How Sustainable?

Governments in Nigeria

at various levels and at different  times as one could remember has committed money, materials and other resources  for the development of  the agricultural sector with nothing  to show for it till date.

Many today are of the view that government has no business wasting money on agricultural ventures while another school of thought say that so far, there has been no positive political  will from the operators towards  policy formulation and implementation in terms of sustainability of the process.

Unarguably at present, the story of food availability and security across the country is anything but pathetic.

For example, shortly after the Nigeria Civil war, the then  head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon while embarking on his reconstruction and rehabilitation campaign, introduced  the National Accelrated Food Production Programme, NAFPP, a venture which did not put sufficient food on  the tables of majority of Nigerians.

Again when Olusegun Obasanjo came on board shortly after the assassination of Murtala Mohammed, he equally introduced the Operation Feed the Nation, (OFN) scheme which is equally history today.

When Shehu Shagari emerged as the first democratically elected civilian President in 1979, he floated the Green Revolution Programme, (GRP) or do we mention the Buhari/Idiagbon’s Go Back to Land Programme and later the Directorate for Foods, Roads and  Rural Infrastructures Programme (DFRI) of Ibrahim Babangida.

Regrettably, the stories of all these government laudable agricultural programmes as it were then, all went down and out only to be relegated to what may be described today as bad history.

Interestingly, just on the heels of the Buhari and Idiagbon’s Go Back To Land Programme, the Rivers State government  under Fidelis Oyakhilome, then a police commissioner identified the problem of food shortage in the country as a whole and the state in particular and decided to take the bull by the horns in that direction.

Oyakhilome who at that time considered food availability a critical  factor in the state went ahead and established the school  to land agricultural programme in 1985.

However, the whole idea was to radically redress the alarming and rising cost of food bills  among the people of the state and beyond, as he was not mindful of the likelihood of food sufficiency in the state creating  markets and attracting  neighbours from nearby states.

Unfortunately, this laudable programme hit the rocks few years after it took off as failed to make any meaningful impact as was intended vis-a—vis  the employment openings it sought to provide for the teeming young school leavers in the state.

As the years rolled by, successive administrations came and played their part and left the authority not better as they met it.

For example, when the pioneer chairman of the outfit, Mr. Boniface Okwakpam was incharge,  the programme recorded a sizable number of trainee farmers among the young school leavers which of  course the programme was actually meant for.

Just under three years from take off, between 1985 and 1987, records from the authority reveal that the number of engaged young agriculturists stood at 4,395 with a recorded drop numerically as the  years went by.

By 1987 when Okwakpam left the number of intakes has dropped from 1,360 to a mere 200 by the end of 1988.

Today, to state that the programme was only existing in name alone could be said to be an under statement as it has become  clear that the ideals for which the founding father(s) established it has long been defeated.

According to Deacon Reuben Arugu who was chairman of the authority in 2003, the mandate of the authority basically was within the framework of  recruiting young school leavers of Rivers State Origin in modern corps, livestock and fish farming and to settle the trained farmers on lands and facilities acquired by the  government in their various local government areas.

Deacon Rueben even expressed regret then, that the exercise progressed only uptil 1998 and that in 2003 the authority had a staff strength of 115 made up 92 directly recruited and 23 on secondment from the ministry of agriculture and health respectively.

Today in what could be described as a bold and radical step intended to galvanize the agricultural sector for greater productivity and activity, the Rivers State government under the leadership of Rt. Hon Chibuike Amaechi in 2007 set up the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, (RSSDA).

The agencies four key drivers which include ensuring that its projects were in order to leverage additional expertise, identifying and creating services to markets for goods and services and to ensure that every project was not only profit oriented but beneficial to the greatest number of people.

One of the critical mandates of the RSSDA is the development and sustenance of the agro-allied potentials of the state.

To this end, the Agency has built  the Songhai Farm at Tai Local Government Area under the Songhai Rivers Initiative to strategically serve as the hub for all agricultural ventures in the state.

According to records obtained from the RSSDA, its farms were intended to serve as a centre  of excellence for enterprise training and transfer  of skills to local farmers and research into agricultural techniques and varieties.

The farm reputed to sit on an 314 hectres of land is reportedly engaging over  half of the 104 Songhai trained Rivers  youth specialised in various agricultural and agro-based skills and vocations.

Also, it is hoped that the agricultural  programes of  the RSSDA through the Rivers State Cassava Initiative was an intervention specifically designed  to jump-start  a market driven supply chain for rural farmers.

The initiative does not only target 20,000 farmers  but also intends to transform the rural cassava farmers into commercial income generating entrepreneurs by in creating  their cassava yields from 10 tonnes to over 20 tonnes for hectre.

Expectedly also, in order to enhance food production, the Integrated  Regional Farm Centres located in six regional farms of the RSSDA would go into massive employment creation and the development of small and medium scale enterprises  in agriculture and the agro- allied sector.

Perhaps, for one to fully and properly appreciate  what was on ground  at the Songhai Rivers Farm Initiative Programme, a visit to the cenutre would be more revealing.

The production centre at the farm which boasts  of a great number of facilities includes  the piggery unit, grasscutter  unit, cow and goat ranch, concrete and artificial lake fish ponds, green house, cassava and rice processing mills, poultry unit and plantain and rice farms  among others.

From the foregoing, it could be seen that the Rivers State government   has committed a huge chunks of the people money into this gigantic farm project which naturally of course brings to the  fore the big question of maintenance and sustainability which has been our collective albatross  towards infrastructural development”.

No wonder, during the facilities  tour of the farm by the Rivers State chapter of the Nigeria union of Journalists (NUJ),  to mark its 2011 press week, the Chairman,  Mr. Opaka Dokubo expressed  this fear when he  asked the founder of Songhai, Father Godfrey Nzamujo if the project would not  fail when he and his partners leave in two years time.

However, laudable as the Songhai Rivers Initiative could be, government should not lose sight of the fact  that without accountability and the application of expertise by engaging competent and credible personnel, the RSSDA project may go the way of others.

It is imperative therefore for the government to focus attention more on the  development of the rural people who grow most of the food everybody eats on a daily basis

According to a top government official in the Rivers State Ministry of agriculture, who asked not to be named, it was better to empower the rural farmers instead of establishing large hectres of plantain, palm oil and other related farms that have no bearing on the lives of the people at the grassroots.

He said if government deals directly with the subsistence  farmers in relation to giving them soft loans  and not through the rigors  co-operatives, the people would be happy as food would always be available and with increase  in yield, they can send  their children to school and even build their own houses”, he  reasoned.

Armed with the above scenario, government has the choice of learning from the past demises of various agricultural programmes that were embarked upon by past administrations with a view to looking backward on the challenges of the past and consolidating and improving on the future in any agricultural programme it might embark on as we march into 2012.