Encouraging Local Agricultural Entrepreneurship

During a stakeholders
validation workshop on the draft food and agricultural policy in May 2015, Arc Sunny Echono, the then Director of Procurement-Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, pointed out that the effective formulation and implementation of a policy requires a systematic collaboration among the stake holders to achieve set goals. He was of the view that exploring the window of national and multilateral collaboration to strengthen the existing structure of advisory, coordinating and regulatory roles in the nation’s development process, would be a significant factor in achieving purpose.
For him the above would enable the country actualise enterprise promotion, productive employment, wealth creation as well as food sufficiency.
Although the agriculture policy of Nigeria had never lost focus on the conventional paradigm of harnessing the sector’s potentials to constitute the major source of employment and foreign exchange earnings, provide sufficient food for an increasing population, supply adequate raw materials to a growing industrial sector, provide market for agro-industrial products and promote rural socio-economic development in the country, it least emphasised value addition.
What this means is that the policy only laid emphasis on the production of agricultural commodities to meet domestic demands as well as explore export opportunity. Even at that, the purpose was scarcely met as the government’s development priority shifted to the industrial sector to utilize the gains of the petroleum oil boom period.
However, the first edition of a comprehensive agricultural policy of Nigeria, published in 1988 steered the strategies of a private-sector-led and export-oriented initiatives which repositioned the agricultural sector to undertake agro-processing and marketing activities in the country.
The agricultural policy thrust printed in 2001, in no mean measure, enriched the previous edition and encouraged market driven agricultural value chain mechanism to promote commercial commodity production and processing in the country to effectively diversify the economy, generate employment, create wealth and attain food sufficiency in the country, the policy adopted a technology-driven and industry focused agribusiness, undertook comparative advantage and competitive edge initiatives in commodity value chains and encourage strategic partnerships for market-led agribusiness.
Yet Nigerian’s over dependence in importation has remained the bane of the agricultural sector as young Nigeria entrepreneurs find it difficult to  dispose their products in the local market which is already saturated with foreign products mostly of more standardilzed qualities.
The dreams of wealth creation and employment generation through agriculture are rather suffocated in the face of unavailability of an enabling environment to thrive on paper, there is every indication of an assurance of sustainability and encouragement from the government, but in reality, the truth remains that the Nigerian farmer is left to his own fate without a ready market for the disposal of his product. This scenario has not only limited the expectations of the local farmer, it has denied the country the privilege of making earnings from agriculture.
The agricultural transformation agenda of the immediate past administration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not have any significant impact in the south relation to the sectoral goals of wealth creation, employment generation, enterprise promotion and food sufficiency. The activities of impostors in diverting fund meant for farmers for personal aggrandisment actually derailed the intension of the agenda.
Perhaps we may have to take solace in the words of Arc Sunny Echono, that reassures of a food and agricultural policy which thrust is to treat agriculture as a business through increased private-sector participation, with greater emphasis on value chain initiative, market development among other gains.
The recent destruction of imported poultry meat from Brazil by the federal government through the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) could best be described as a pointer towards a potential market development for local farmers. Apart from the health implications of consuming meat preserved with chemicals and stored overtime, banning importations of agricultural products into the country will definitely provide ready markets for local producers who would be spurred by demand, to increase productivity, through additional manpower or mechanization. Merely creating a viable market for local products is a major factor in bringing about the goals of the agricultural transformation agenda.
A viable market no doubt provides room for export opportunities with increased production by employing more hands and updating production equipments to modern facilities for enhanced performance and improved productivity, the country is set for foreign exchange earnings through the agricultural sector.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi