MINISTER of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, recently unveiled some key statistics to demonstrate that progress is being made in repositioning the underperforming agriculture sector. He claimed that the agriculture industry had injected N309 billion into the economy within the past year and that about 60,000 more jobs had been created in various rural economies. The minister said that 118,657 hectares of wheat were cultivated in 15 states in the acceleration of all-year-round farming, which saw 107,429 wheat farmers supported with inputs. This resulted in an output of 474,628 metric tonnes.
Kyari said the ministry engaged in the fortification of crops with Vitamin A micro-nutrients to enrich the nutrition content and health value of food commodities.To boost food self-sufficiency, the Federal Government approved the procurement of 2,000 tractors to support the mechanisation of the sector, he added.
The minister must earn his pay and say something, but it is obvious that the sector, once the mainstay of the economy, has suffered a massive decline. The Central Bank of Nigeria says the country’s food import bill escalated from $2.63 billion in 1980 to $14.84 billion in 2019. This is mostly for wheat, rice, poultry, fish, food services, and consumer-oriented foods. This is four times the value of exports.Nigeria’s annual wheat consumption is estimated at 6.5 million tonnes, 13 times the local output.
But Nigerians are becoming increasingly hungry as food becomes less affordable with food inflation topping 40 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics estimates that the national average Cost of a Healthy Diet based on the least expensive locally available products for an adult, minus transportation, and preparation costs, was N1,035 in April. This is 5.4 per cent higher than the N982 recorded in the previous month. At both extremes, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,406 per adult per day, compared to N781 per adult per day in the North-West. In recent months, the CoHD has risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.
Data compiled by Picodi, an international e-commerce organisation, shows that the average Nigerian household spends about 59 per cent of its income on food. That is the highest in the world, according to the report, published in August 2023. This is compared with South Africa (21.3 per cent), Ghana (39.2 per cent), Ethiopia (41.3 per cent), India (32.1 per cent), Malaysia (27.5 per cent), Tunisia (24.2 per cent) and the United Kingdom (8.7 per cent).
Rising population, decreased food sufficiency and reliance on imports, naira devaluation,security breaches, as well as higher fuel and transportation costs, have all contributed to the food crisis.
Already, over 140 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty with figures expected to rise on the back of soaring food prices. In the past year alone, prices of staples have seen an unprecedented rise. The prices of rice rose by 129 per cent, garri (79 per cent), beans (217 per cent), bread (72 per cent), yam (428 per cent) and tomato (275 per cent). A single egg is N200.
The government has implemented several initiatives and programmes to address the situation, including the Agriculture Promotion Policy, Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme, Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative, Anchor Borrowers Programme, Economic and Export Promotion Incentives and the Zero Reject Initiative, Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation; Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project; Action Against Desertification Programme, but this crucial sector still underperforms despite huge potential in several areas such as rice, cassava, wheat, livestock/poultry and fisheries.
Agriculture remains the largest contributor to GDP at 22 per cent.It employs 36 per cent of the labour force. About 90 per cent of farmers remain smallholder farmers. Nigeria’s tractor density is 0.27 hp/hectare, far below the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s recommended density of 1.5 hp/hectare.
Adequate funding remains a key problem with lenders unwilling to open credit lines due to high risks. One commercial bank is in court with a commodities exchange over a N17.8 billion loan default under the ABP. The government, despite its posturing to the contrary, has failed to commit the needed resources.
The allocationto agriculture was N362.9 billion ($302 million) in the 2024 budget, representing 1.26 per cent of the total N28.7 trillion. In 2023, the number was N228.4 billion or 1.05 per cent of the total N21.83 trillion outlay.
The sector suffers from very low yields per hectare due to shortages in the supply of inputs such as seedlings and fertilisers, as well as inadequate irrigation and harvesting systems. This hinders productivity and yield rates.
Climate change and desertification have damaged some areas in the North. Storage systems are antiquated and inadequate, resulting in massive post-harvest losses. Access to markets is hindered by the shabby state of rural and urban roads. In December, ActionAid Nigeria lamented the post-harvest loss of N3.5 trillion annually.
Indeed, the entire agriculture system remains primitive with 90 per cent of farmers relying on handheld implements. The entire value chain is weak and underinvested with processing and manufacturing segments also bogged down with funding, energy, and logistics challenges.
Most worrisome is that farming communities have become war zones due to persistentattacks on farmers by herders over grazing and water resources.Ethnic conflicts and the reign of terrorists and banditshave made farming a dangerous enterprise altogether. This must end if Nigeria is not to experience a poverty-induced famine in the next few months.
Practical steps need to be taken to revamp the agriculture sector as a matter of strategic national interest. It is shameful that Nigeria imports palm oil and maize to support local food processors and poultry farmers.
There is a need to support farmers and players along the entire value chain with funding, extension services, capacity building and technology. Nigeria needs to remove rent-seeking from the fertiliser distribution network.
The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, when he served as Nigeria’s agriculture minister, initiated a scheme where farmers could get their fertiliser allocations via their mobile phones. Unfortunately, this has been abandoned.
Deliberate and focussed efforts should be targeted at developing new and upgrading existing farming clusters to drive scale, reduce costs and synchronise off-taker activity. There must be more emphasis on value addition, not just production.
Nigeria currently loses over $2 billion to under-explored value chain opportunities in the global cocoa market. This is because local cocoa processing plants are operating at 30 per cent due to a poorlystructured market that cannot attract investment.
Some areas where comprehensive strategies need to be developed to ramp up production include cassava, wheat, cotton, oil palm, dairy and seafood.
Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava at 60 million tonnes per annum with the potential to produce even more. PwC researchers project that increased mechanisation can double rice production to 7.2 million metric tonnes in just five years.
Saudi Arabia recently expressed interest in investing in Nigeria’s agriculture sector, including cattle production. Nigeria has the fourth largest cattle population in Africa, with an estimated 20 million cattle, including 2.35 million cows used for dairy production. The country must adopt modern ranching practices to improve the quantity and quality of beef produce and end the bloody herders’ rapine.
Over 853 kilometres of coastline and 18 million hectares of inland waterways should sustain a robust fisheries sector, but fish has become a luxury in many homes. Foreign-owned trawlers and factory ships operate freely in Nigerian waters and sell the catch back to us as imports. This must stop.
The Bola Tinubu administration owes Nigerians a duty to end hunger. The agriculture sector is the backbone of any economic diversification strategy. Kyari has so far made the right noises about reviving the sector. The government must create the right environment for investments, commit humongous resources, embrace new technologies and fully combat insecurity to lift the agriculture industry.
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