Chronicling Transformational Achievements Within The Agricultural Sector - Aliu Hammed Agriculture plays a critical role in the entire life of a given economy like ours. Before the discovery of crude oil, Agriculture has been the backbone of our economic system as a country. In addition to providing food and raw material, agriculture also provides our teaming population with employment opportunities. The beauty of this development came to an abrupt end after the discovery of crude oil in some regions within Nigeria. Soon enough, our country witnessed a swift paradigm shift of focus and attention from agriculture to oil and gas exploration which was seen as a goldmine during the reign of our forefathers. This undue neglect birthed the projected economic challenges that we have been facing as a nation, having forsaken Agriculture which was once our major source of economic livelihood. In history, previous governments tried all they could to rejuvenate and resuscitate this critical economic sector but often times, such undertaken was done with a relatively divided attention while still focussing largely on crude oil exploration. Under this current democratic dispensation, the incumbent government seems to have done marvellously well to reposition our agricultural sector which has since been adjudged as one of the most developed and active sector of our economy. Since 2011 up to date, this sector has witnessed massive and wow transformational changes that are too visible to be ignored. Thus far, some of these lofty achievements were recorded within the Agricultural sector of our economy under the Jonathan led administration: In 2012 14 new rice mills with capacity to process 240 metric tons of rice were set up by the private sector while in addition, a sum of 1.2 billion dollars was secured by the Federal Government to install 100 large scale rice processing mills to produce 2.1 million metric tons of rice annually. This and other initiatives of government in 2012 resulted in the creation of about two million new jobs among rural dwellers. In 2013, the Federal Government will implement a Young Graduates Commercial Farmers Scheme, which will absorb 780,000 graduates in its first phase and provide an estimated four million jobs in the agricultural sector in the first year. Today, Nigeria has reached an unprecedented 60 per cent sufficiency in rice production, a feat, which the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) recently described as capable of raising world rice output to a record high in the next 12 next months. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has set a clear goal to make the country self-sufficient in rice production by 2015 and end the N 356 Billion currently spent on importing rice annually, as well as replace up to 40% of the wheat imports for which the country spends over N 635 Billion annually, by 2015. The Nigeria Agricultural Bank is being restructured and recapitalized to provide loans to peasant farmers at single digit interest rates. This will be the most remarkable fund injection initiative ever undertaken by any government to empower rural peasant farmers and create wealth for rural dwellers. Export of dried cassava chips began in July 2012 and this represented the first time that Nigeria will achieve commercial scale export of dried chips, which will earn the country $136 million annually in foreign exchange. The Jonathan administration is resuscitating the production of Cotton particularly in the Northeast and Northwest zones of Nigeria through the provision of improved cotton seedlings, which have been given free of charge to farmers. This will definitely result in the resuscitation of the upstream and downstream cotton/textile subsector before the end of 2013. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world with 34 million MT produced per annum. In the last one year following the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture under the Agriculture Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, around $8 billion in private investments have been attracted to agricbusiness, crop production, processing and other forms of value addition. The Jonathan administration cleansed the rot in the fertilizer distribution system. Under the previous system, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development procured and distributed fertilizers to farmers. The system undermined the private sector and only about 11 percent of the farmers received fertilizers. The rest were sold to friends and ‘political farmers’ whom exported them. President Jonathan’s intervention dismantled in 60m days, this corrupt system, which had existed for over 40 years and fertilizers are now sold directly to farmers and not to government. The Ministry launched a Growth Enhancement Scheme, where farmers receive 50% subsidy on fertilizers, for a maximum of two bags, through the use of their mobile phones or what we call Electronic-wallet system (or E-wallet). In 120 days, over 1.2 million farmers bought their subsidized fertilizers using the E-wallet system. Over 1.5 million farmers will be reached by the end of the dry season. A total of 138,802.7 metric tons of fertilizer and 10,974.78 metric tons of seeds in 517 active redemption centres out of all the 804 centres spread across all states of the federation. The E-wallet system is the first of its kind in Africa and already several African countries have indicated they want to implement the Nigerian system. Multilateral and bilateral agencies are providing donor-related investment support and have shown enthusiasm for the major reforms on-going in Nigeria’s agriculture by committing more $1 billion towards Nigeria’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda. The World Bank Group is providing $500 million. African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed $250 million. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has selected Nigeria as a priority country for its investment in agriculture. The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has put up $80 million. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed $60 million. The UK Government, through DFID has committed £37 million. The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ford Foundation and UNDP are providing significant technical support facilities. In our view, the agricultural transformation agenda of Goodluck Jonathan was carried out with the aim of achieving the following: Source of Livelihood for the farming population; Contribution to National revenue; Supply of Food as well as Fodder; Significance to the International Trade; Marketable Surplus; Source of Raw Material; Significance in Transport; Foreign Exchange Resources; Great Employment Opportunities for the unemployed; Economic Development of our nation; Source of Saving and Food Security. Aliu Hammed writes in from Kaduna, Nigeria.-N4GG
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 11:26:57 +0000
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