The lead consultant, UNDP project on “Targeting Interventions to Foster Sustainable and Resilient Food Security in Nigeria, Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo,  says that the oil crisis facing Nigeria is a blessing in disguise.
Oladipo told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that agriculture remains the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, urging Nigerians to focus attention on the sector.
He said Nigeria’s over-dependence on petroleum as its source of foreign exchange earnings and the neglect of agriculture, which used to be the mainstay of the economy, was a great economic mistake.
“I keep on emphasising that what is happening to the country since last year is a blessing in disguise. We’ve taken oil as the only means of livelihood.
“Although, government has tried a number of activities, it has never really been able to consolidate these activities to the point where we should be a country of food surplus.
“We depended so much on importation, for instance, in the area of rice; when we were growing up, everybody was eating local Nupe rice but suddenly, we lost all that opportunity,’’ he said.
According to him, the country started to import foreign rice, but it is good now that we don’t have money to even import as we should and we are thinking inwards.
“So, we should look at the opportunities that these crises are going to make available, recognising the need to support farmers, make them feel important that they are contributing seriously.
According to him, agriculture contributes about 24 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), but regretted that the farmers are not reckoned with.
“How many of us respect farmers? How many people will see a farmer on the road and think he is part of the system. So let’s go back, let’s rethink. The crisis is an opportunity to rethink and be able to go back and make agriculture much more important than it is, “he said.
Oladipo, who is a development expert however, said that regaining the lost glory of agriculture required government to re-strategise, mobilise the people and encourage the youths in particular.
He also called on government to develop initiatives and employ appropriate technologies that would make agriculture to be done in a more refined way to attract the youth.
“We need to go back to the drawing board, make Nigerian farmers recognise their importance and their roles and give them the opportunities.
“It requires a complete rethink of the whole approach to agriculture beyond focusing just on production, but on the all other value-chains aspect of processing, packaging, preservation and marketing.
“If farmers can feel comfortable that whatever is produced, market is guaranteed for them, I think they will be able to do better,” he said.
The don also called for research institutes to improve the agriculture sector, saying that the country needs to change the way it conducted its researches.
“We keep distributing varieties, but we don’t research on the implications of the varieties on the soils we are using.
“So let’s combine research, practical intervention, farmers’ mobilisation, marketing system and all other things, value-chain, cooperatives and all the rest that can help the agricultural system.