Among the challenges confronting
northern Nigeria,
food is probably the most serious. Inadequate food production has resulted in
food shortages and soaring prices. It is not surprising that many people go to
bed daily without food.
Yet, the region is richly endowed
with natural resources and huge population, and enjoys comparative advantage in
agriculture. It occupies over 70 percent of the country's land mass of over
23,000 square kilometers and a large proportion of it is arable and can be used
for all year round agricultural production.
The North is also blessed with a
rich variety of ecological base that is suitable for production of root crops
and tubers, grains, rice. corn, ground nuts, cocoa, coffee, cashew, gum Arabic,
shea butter, cotton, fishery and livestock. In addition, there are the two
major rivers, Niger and Benue, lakes and dams among others and a large active
population that can sustain a productive and profitable agricultural sector.
Experts say if properly
harnessed, the agricultural sector alone can support self-sufficiency in food,
provide raw materials for the industries, provide employment for the people and
also generate foreign exchange through exports.
It is a common knowledge that
before the discovery of oil, Nigeria
depended largely on agriculture for her developmental needs and the north was a
major contributor. Apart from providing employment for more than 70 per cent of
the population, agriculture contributed about 50 per cent of the GDP.
In the first republic, the budget
of northern region was funded largely by agriculture. Leaders of the region
developed a blueprint for industrial development through investment in
agriculture. This was evident in the emergence of industrial. commercial and
manufacturing concerns that became the pride of the north. The thriving textile
industries in Kaduna, Kano and other cities, ground pyramids and
other business conglomerates that provided means of livelihoods for thousands
of people were outcome of meticulous planning, prudent management of resources and
diligent implementation.
Subsequent leaders in the region
failed to build on the foundation bequeathed by their predecessors or even
sustain those legacies. Lack of continuity has resulted in pervasive poverty,
poor infrastructural base and general underdevelopment
Military incursion into the
polity and centralization of decision making, abrogation of regionalism, and in
flow of petrol dollars, policy inconsistency have been blamed for collapse of
agriculture in the region and the country. For instance, in 1967, there were
only six states following the creation of states, they are now 19 states. Other
regions were also broken up. This ended the spirit of competition among states
and everybody started queuing for federal handouts.
With oil playing dominant role in
the economy, farming became unattractive; consequently, the nation has become
net importer of foods like rice, sugar, corn, livestock, beans, fish and other
finished products, some of which the country can conveniently produce and even
export.
Recently, the CBN revealed that the country
currently spends around $36 billion annually on food importation, just as it is
emerging as a dumping ground for sundry agricultural products.
What went wrong?
Everyone talks about improving
the agricultural sector. It has been a subject of countless seminars and
workshops by government, policy makers and experts. It has gulped billions of
naira, yet agriculture has virtually stagnated The neglect in the agricultural
sector has been blamed for the current soaring cost of food in the country. It
would appear that the more we talk about it, the less is achieved.
Nigeria has moved from major
exporter of agricultural produce to net importer of food. As it is for the
country so is it is for the north.
In over 12 years ago of the
democratic rule, the country's agriculture sector is yet to gain its lost
glory. For instance, every year the federal government and state governments
spend a huge amount of money to buy fertilizer for farmers. Unfortunately this
important input is not easily made available to farmers who need them and on
timely manner. The federal and state governments have politicized the
distribution and they use it as patronage to their political supporters.
It was reported early this year,
that dry season farmers in Zamfara
State could not access
fertilizer because the then state governor allegedly directed that fertilizers
should not be sold until after the elections, which he eventually lost. The
farmers resorted to buying manure or procure fertilizer in the black market.
A similar situation also applied
to other inputs like seedlings, tractors. advisory services or extension
services.
Few states care to allocate
enough funds to agriculture. It is not unusual for some states to refuse paying
their counterpart funds for projects or give zero allocation to capital
projects. With this development, what is available goes for recurrent
expenditure.
It is in this state of confusion
that farmers operate in many parts of the north.
From poor implementation of policy
to corruption, from lack of commitment by the political leadership to
mismanagement of funds, agriculture has all but stagnated.
Till date there have been over a
dozen intervention programmes initiated by the federal government to improve
agriculture and alleviate poverty in the states like the Operation Feed the
Nation, Green Revolution, River Basins Development Authority, Directorate of
Food Rural Roads and Infrastructure (DFRRl), Fadama, National Special Food
Security programme, yet the extent to which these programmes have succeeded are
debatable.
Way forward
CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, has advocated a paradigm shift from mere production to value chain
approach. Delivering a lecture at the Northern Economic summit on agenda for
Economic and Social Transformation of Northern Nigeria in Kaduna early this
year, Sanusi said value chain approach takes into account all aspects of
agriculture namely production, processing, storage and marketing.
He said the value chain approach
has many challenges, which allows value addition, adding no country or region
can develop her agriculture to full potential by relying on primary produce.
He said, "With value
addition, post-harvest loses are reduced to the barest minimum, farmers earn
more income-from their endeavour and food security is better enhanced as it
removes the effect of seasonality in the food supply chain and promotes export.
Second, it promotes industrialization, the growth of agro-allied and agro-based
industries. For instance, with quantum of tomatoes produced in Zaria-Kano axis,
one would expect tomato processing plants to be sited there. Third, the value
chain approach reduces the perception of risk particularly from the financiers
as it gives them the freedom to choose which aspects of the chain they would
want to finance and develop appropriate risk sharing and mitigation mechanism
in partnership with government.
He said along with
infrastructure, we must tackle the issue of access to markets. We need to bring
back marketing boards and standards organizations and also improve the capacity
of the Abuja Commodity Exchange to play its critical role in facilitating the
realization of value from agricultural commodities. He suggested the creation
of Agricultural infrastructural corridor concept similar to experiences of Tanzania, Mozambique,
Ghana and Ethiopia. He
said a practical approach to domesticating these experiences would be for two
or more contiguous states in the north to carve out an area and build an
agricultural growth corridor. He said these corridors apart from being provided
with basic supporting infrastructure like rural electricity, roads, water,
security should also be made to enjoy the full status of export processing
zones including tax incentives
He said the key lessons from the
experiences of these countries show that it requires commitment to agriculture
by the political leaders of the region and country, special delivery vehicle
that would ensure that the programmes to transform agriculture receive the
required focus and effective attention and creation of enabling environment for
private sector participation.
He stressed the improvement in
the roads transport and railways to help evacuate farm produce from farm
centres to urban markets and massive investment in education, adding that
modern agriculture would rely on the application of technology.
Financing
Finance plays a critical part in
any economic development. This is usually a problem in Nigeria.
Massive investment in the agricultural sector is required to bring it to
standard. Sources of funds include budgetary allocations to states, banks and
other development finance institutions. The most ambitious so far is the N200
billion Commercial Credit Scheme. The scheme was established in 2009 by the
Central Bank of Nigeria
as the N200 billion Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme in collaboration with
the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The goal is to
promote commercial agricultural enterprises in the country. The CBN has so far
released over Nl00billion for disbursement to hundreds of project promoters
including some 18 state governments.
It is expected that the state
governments will avail their small holder farmers access to this loans, instead
of the so-called commercial farmers many of who exist in brief cases.
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