Attracting Foreign Support for Nigerian Agriculture

Source from:  Daily Champion (Lagos) Chuma Ifedi 03/09/2005

A RECENT survey by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), an officiate of the United Nations Organisation, shows that Nigeria has suffered 80 per cent reduction in food production in the last eight years. Indeed, at various markets in Lagos, there were signs of dwindling quality of most raw food items supply from the hinterland. Among the notable ones are tubers of yam and cassava, pepper, tomatoes, bags of garri, beans and even potatoes. Reflecting on this deplorable situation, farm experts have advised that there is pressing need for Nigeria to ensure and assure food supplies and adequate food consumption on a sustainable basis. We require sufficient food supply for national self-esteem, security, development and socio-political stability. For a YEAR IN REVIEW excerpt from the Africa 2005 guidebook, click here. (Adobe Acrobat). To buy the book, click here. In the light of the foregoing, the coming of white Zimbabwean farmers should be appreciated. There is palpable worry among the people on whose lands the white farmers are expected to settle. Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State in addressing the people of Songa communities tried to explain the benefits derivable from the white farmers. The community will enjoy regular power, water supply, irrigation using the Rivers Niger and in addition learn from their system. Kwara State has over 1.2 hectares of land out of which only 12 per cent are actually cultivated. The rest is uncleared land which is wasted. Investigations indicate that the area which the Zimbabwean farmers will occupy for their large farms will be insignificant. Apart from the White Zimbabwean farmers, the Kwara State government is also partnering with a big India-based rice company in the form of technical support to train local rice farmers on the best methods. By this arrangement, local rice farmers who are used to planting once a year will now plant both in the dry and wet seasons with better seedlings and greater yields. Another significant foreign input to Nigerian agriculture is Akwa Ibom State where a memorandum of agreement has been signed with an agro-based South African Company for investment in the livestock sector in respect of the production of commercial poultry and piggery. This will involve poultry processing, broilers breeding and hatchery. The project estimated at $36 million will have capacity for 20,000 birds daily and 6000 pigs monthly. Further estimates show that monthly the company will produce 2275 tons of feed, 172,000 dozens of eggs, 600,000 live/processed chicken and 4200 carcasses of pigs. Already, the site for the poultry and piggery has been procured while construction of the hatchery has commenced. British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with the 1896 registered tobacco farmers in the country with a view to providing them the necessary incentives that would increase their individual earnings and spur them to increase production volume by 15 per cent annually between 2005 and 2007. The new agricultural road map will increase the number of tobacco trees in Nigeria from one million to 3.2 million. As part of a framework for adequate motivation for the farmers, interest-free loans are granted as an integrated scheme on crop operations in order to empower farmers economically and improve their yields. It is now apparent that Nigeria must concentrate on three key areas to revamp our agricultural development - mobilisation, modernization and mechanisation. One is baffled that rather than mobilisation and motivation through subsiding agriculture as is done in the United States of America, Nigerian governments frustrate farmers by commercializing the sale of fertilizers and even inflicting high tariffs on farm equipment. We should take a cue from the elaborate subsidies granted to farmers in the United States of America. Farmers in that country enjoy very low interest on agricultural credit, protective farm insurance, liberal channels of acquiring agricultural machinery as well as several other vital incentives to boost food production. There is a lot to learn from Israel which has virtually converted its desert terrain into fertile arable land for productive farming. The Northern states whose vegetation is similar to Israel should forget their religious bias against Israel and send their agricultural manpower to that country for training in modern farm technology under desert conditions. Southern states which previously had technical support pacts with Israel on agricultural development should renew them. We can only avoid Israel to our detriment as the federal government has been doing for political reasons. Asiatic countries, especially India and China have a lot to teach us on mechanisation and farm co-operatives. Whereas Nigeria continues with hand tools such as machetes, and hoes, most Asian countries apply animal technology by the use of horses, oxen and bulls. In our present stage of peasant farmers with fragmented farmlands, our utilisation of sophisticated farm machinery is limited because of the high cost of western machines, scarcity of imported spare parts and inadequate maintenance and repair facilities. Nigerian agricultural students need exposure in co-operative farming techniques and practices. As we interact and attempt to revolunationalise our agricultural efforts in line with pragmatic methods elsewhere, emphasis must be placed on the critical areas of input policies, review of the land use act and application of research for optimizing food productivity. Irrigation and storage facilities command paramount attention. The land tenure system has long been a bottleneck in the establishment of large-scale farms by private operators. Land reform should constitute a cardinal factor for agricultural revolution since it attracts foreign entrepreneurs and foreign capital. A revised land use policy will establish a more dependable land inventory and promote better utilisation of our land resources. We should ensure that our agricultural research makes direct impact on food production. Enditem