he President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has always demonstrated full commitment to the promotion of increased food production in the country and the overall revitalization of the agricultural sector so that it can become a major employment outlet as well as an alternative source of income to the country. The commitment of the government to see this vision through is evident in the enormous efforts, activities, and policies being implemented in the agricultural sector. Analysts say Nigeria’s food importation is growing at a rate of 11% per annum. The reality is that relying on the importation of expensive food from global markets fuels domestic inflation; puts high pressure on the Naira, hurts the economy and contributes to rising unemployment as it replaces local production and displaces Nigerian farmers. The efforts at transforming the agricultural sector is therefore government’s way of saying loudly that food importation is not sustainable fiscally, economically or politically and that it is no longer acceptable that at a period when other countries are becoming self sufficient in food production, Nigeria is still importing food, including the ones it can produce in abundance. At the recently concluded Ministerial Platform to mark the 2012 Democracy Day, (Tuesday 24th April, to Tuesday, 22nd May, 2012), the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina made known the momentous achievements of the government in the campaign to sanitise and transform the nation’s agricultural sector. The Minister mentioned that in an effort to guarantee the vibrancy of the sector, agriculture is now treated as a business and that the Ministry is integrating food production, storage, food processing and industrial manufacturing. He stated the resolve of the government to create jobs and wealth through agriculture and ensure food security by engaging in investment- driven strategic partnerships with the private sector in addition to undertaking investment drives to unlock the potentials of the States in agriculture. Non availability of farm inputs namely fertilizers, seeds etc and the difficulties farmers encounter in acquiring these inputs; have over the years been a major setback to the development of agriculture. According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina; the government is deregulating the seeds and fertilizer sectors as a step towards solving this age long problem. As it is, the government no longer buys and sells fertilizers and seeds; this responsibility has been handed out to the private sector, but the government provides 50% support for seeds and fertilizers. Vouchers and electronic-wallets (mobile phones) are being used to better target subsidized inputs to farmers, with the target of reaching 5 million farmers per year. Also, the government has established a Nigerian Seed Venture Capital Fund with the goal of raising the use of hybrid seeds from 8,000 metric tons to 1,000,000 metric tons, per year. The Federal Government is establishing marketing corporations to facilitate marketing of agricultural commodities. The marketing corporations which will be owned by agricultural value chains and run as private sector-led institutions are to coordinate the production, investments, grades/standards, market price stabilization etc for all value chains in Nigeria. Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZ) are as well being developed to drive food processing and manufacturing industries. It is believed that this will attract private investors into areas of high food production to set up food processing plants; reduce current high levels of post-harvest losses, add value for increased local content of foods, link farmers in clusters to food manufacturing plants, create jobs and drive rapid rural economic growth.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 07:49:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015