Let’s Go Back To Agriculture

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), while profiling the human development
status of Nigeria in its 2000/2001 report, drew the attention of the nation to
its diminished performance  in
agricultural production. The agency, revealed that 70 out of every 120
Nigerians are very poor, indicating that they lack “access to the resources
needed for a decent standard of living” as
well as the capabilities “to live a long and healthy life.”

A
longside  that grim statistic  was another
that Nigeria’s contribution to Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was
“rather  in-finitestesimal 022  per cent”.

There
is no gainsaying in this statistic. Even
though  the UNDP  report was released 12 years ago, the same
statistics, if  not worse, still subsist
today.

For  instance the country’s share in the world
commodities market in respect of its main export  produce has gradually plummeted.

Cocoa
which  contributed about 82 per cent to
the GDP in the 60s went down  to 59 per
cent  in the 90s, coffee  went down from 20 per cent to 13 per cent,
palm oil from 60 per cent to 1.5 per cent, palm kernel from 93 cent,   to 17 per cent and groundnuts from 61 per
cent to 33  per cent.

The
situation today is even worse. By  the
reckoning of the UNDP,  premature
exposure to trade liberalization in the 1980s was a key factor to this decline.

There
is no doubt that the discovery of crude oil was and remains  the nemesis
of the agricultural sub-sector. The country’s complacency and
recklessness, as in the unconscious embrace of trade  liberalization during the ill-directed
Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of Ibrahim  Babagida’s era, which  was fuelled by the dollar spinning potential
of the new export commodity  was
Nigeria’s nemesis in the 1990s.

This attention shift from agriculture to oil
has continued to manifest itself  till
today. The result can be clearly seen in the paltry allocation to agriculture
in the yearly budgets; the non availability of subsidies to farmers, limited
credit facilities, import duties on vital agricultural equipments, short and
high rate of fertilizer, the abolition of commodity  marketing boards, among others. By effect,
the nation’s  export profile  has continued to shrink while at the same
time,  the food situation in the country
grows more precarious.

In fact, recent reports  indicate that major indigenous cocoa
exporters, palm oil  farmers,  coffee producers, cassava and yam farmers and
fishermen have abandoned the trades for politics, while others converted  their
facilities  into warehouse  for imported goods.

The authorities of the various  tiers of government are not unaware of the
problems confronting the agricultural sub-sector and the imperative of decisive
actions, of course, the Appropriation Acts have repeatedly acknowledge the need
to diversify the nation’s revenue  base
through efficient exploitation of its agricultural  potentials, even though the allocations to
that effect betray a lack of commitment.

Perhaps,
the Federal Government’s imposition of a 2.3 per cent duty on agro-chemical
inputs and its continued inability to effectively fund vital institutions like
the Nigerian Stoned Products Research Institute (NSPRI) and the Nigerian
Institute for Agricultural Research (NIFAR) gives the same impression that a
definitive policy thrust to make Nigeria’s agriculture bounce back is lacking.

This
half-heartedness by successive governments clearly demonstrates Nigeria’s total
dependence on crude oil production to the detriment of  a vital sector  like agriculture. This has resulted in poor
standard of living, especially in the Niger Delta region.

It  is
against this backdrop I want  to
urge the Federal  Government  to dust
off available  blueprints for
sustainable agricultural development and
mobilise all resources at its disposal
for the  tasks ahead.

The
14-point  policy proposal submitted by
the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and
Agriculture (NACCIMA), to the National Assembly, last year should be looked
into once again. Through reasonable collaboration, government and the organised
private sector could lift the nation from the present  economic distress if the Nigerian Vision 2020
is to be realised.

Meanwhile,
I want  to commend Rivers State Governor,
Chibuike  Amaechi for his lofty ideas and
support in boosting rural
agricultural  production in the
State.

His
vision to boost agriculture through
Songhai Farm and other agricultural
policies, is a welcome development.
We only hope the governor will not renege on his promise to make Rivers
State the basket food of the nation.

Agomuo
is a public policy analyst in  Port
Harcourt..