Today's Leaders Forum Praise 2019: AGRICULTURE, A RELIABLE SECTOR FOR ROBUST ECONOMY - MUDASHIRU ISLAMIA ADEOLA

GOOD DAY, THE CONVERNER, AND FELLOW DISTINGUISHED COLLEAGUES ON THIS PLATFORM.

I consider it a privilege to have been call upon to do justice to this broad topic themed AGRICULTURE: A RELIABLE SECTOR FOR ROBUST ECONOMY.

There is a saying that goes thus “a hungry man is an angry man vis a vis a hungry nation. Charity begins at home, of course I will be discussing the topic in relation to Nigeria as a case study.

The scope of discussion will include;

Introduction to agriculture in Nigeria;

Brief retrospect with respect to agriculture in the 1960 till date.

Agriculture: a reliable sector for robust economy in Nigeria? A mirage OR possibility (Enormous Potentials of agricultural sector for Nigeria’s economy.

Agriculture is the backbone of a Nation's development, take China for example there was a revolution its agricultural sectors before industrial development. Nigeria has an estimated population of over 180 million inhabitants according to the 2006 Census conducted by the National Population Commission.

The current population projections according United Nations stands at 200.96 million while the human development index of Nigeria stands at a low 0.532 with a gross domestic product of 375.8 billion USD in 2017.

Nigeria a tropical country has landmass of 923,763km2 (over 90% arable of land) and is bless with an array of biomes across its land mass. In the southern part of Nigeria vegetation is characterized as rainforest and few swampy areas with a high annual rainfall, moving north we have the savanna, both Sudan and Sahel. Jos in particular has a unique climate.

Basically Agriculture is practice of cultivating the land and raising livestock but the advent of technology has made that definition in adequate. Nowadays agriculture extends beyond cultivation land and raising livestock (which are basically categorized as basic production) into processing and conversion of raw materials to finished products, storage, research and agro allied industries.

Agriculture in Nigeria can be categorized as either subsistence or commercial. Commercial agriculture can be further split into animal husbandry (livestock farming and) and crop plantings (food crop and cash crop). Farmers or individuals participates at various facets such as production/ downstream sector.... Middlemen... Processing ... Storage and sales and marketing...

Food is a fundamental economic product. Although a larger percentage of farmers in Nigeria are subsistence small holder, farming about 0.01 to 2.0 hectares which are usually scattered over wide areas. In the past this system of farming was used to feed the entire population because the millions of small holders produced enough food for themselves and their families while the situation has changed in recent times with few people farming the land and most are not interested in agriculture. In this text I’ll narrow the scope to commercial agriculture which is relevant to this discussion.

Nigeria like most developing countries experience periodic food shortages. These cause a large percentage of the people to be undernourished. It is estimated that while the rate of increase of food production in developing countries is less than one per cent per year, the average growth rate of the human population is between 2 to 2.5 percent annually.

Thus there is a serious gap between food production and the food needs of this country not to mention prospects of exporting quite a sizeable number of what we produce locally to the international market where demand is high. Similar shortages exists in the production of cash crops and livestock (animals and fishery). Surveys has shown Nigeria is blessed with natural and human resources to enable her increase production.

The main requirement for agriculture are land, capital, labor, and markets. The major cash crops Nigeria produce for exports are cocoa, kolanuts, palm oil, beniseeds, groundnuts, cotton, palm kernel rubber.

Brief retrospect with respect to agriculture in the 1960 till date.

The Green Revolution spanning 1950 to 1960 provided one of the major influences for increased agricultural production worldwide coinciding with Nigeria rise to prominence as a major exporter of some food products, cash crops and livestock.

The Western region of Nigeria was famed for cocoa, rubber, kola and palm kernel; the northern part for its pyramids of ground nuts and cotton; the middle belt for beniseed and soy beans; eastern region oil palm and palm kernel.

The Western region formed the O’odua investment company (a conglomerate of companies through which the region maximize its agricultural sector.

The Cocoa commodity board was founded in 1947, before disbanding the board in 1954 due to the regionalization of the board. Nevertheless the board performed its duties effectively before it was taken over by the federal government in 1974(and its dissolution in 1977 in favor of a centralized federal commodity marketing board) amidst report of exploitations, corruption, bureaucratic red tape, and smuggling and discriminatory tax regime by state governments.

Agricultural Research institutes were established to experiment and proffer solutions to agricultural problems. Financial incentives and jobs were provided to young graduates willing to become agri-prenuer or extension workers.

The military government of Nigeria in 1976 instituted the operation feed the nation as a national and agricultural extension and mobilization program as a measure to achieve self- sufficiency in food crop production and inspire new generation to return to farming.

Agriculture: A reliable sector for robust economy in Nigeria?

A mirage OR possibility (Enormous Potentials of agricultural sector for Nigeria’s economy.

Nigeria's economy emerged from economic recession in the second quarter of 2017 but output growth which was 1.95 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 remains sluggish. The economic crisis which was exacerbated by the failure of the government to respond timely to the challenges bedeviling the economy despite tell-tale signs that the fall in the price of crude oil and cut in oil production could drag the trajectory of the economy deeper into recession.

Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on oil in recent decades and global awakening to the potentials of green energy as a substitute for fossil fuels in automobiles/industries require serious alternative for revenue generation such as agriculture. In 2017, the government’s N7 .44tr expenditure outlay was anchored on a revenue projection of N5.08tr. But in actual terms, government revenue was only N2.66 trillion in 2017 while in 2018, 2.99tr from oil and 4.18tr was generated from non-oil revenue in 2018.

In 2019, according to yourbudgit.com 52.67 %( 3.730tr) of the expected government revenue will come from the oil and gas sector dwarfing the non-oil sector (which includes agriculture) revenue at 1.3890 trillion. Sectorial allocation of 57.7bn as capital expenditure and 107.2bn as recurrent expenditure to agriculture compared to other major sectors is low.

The government investment of 2.06bn in veterinary and pest control services,2.49bn in agribusiness and market development, 3bn PILOT AGRICULTURAL SCHEME for farmers in the six geopolitical zones, 6.90bn for rural roads and water sanitation,2.01bn for food and strategic reserves,# 2.27bn for national grazing developments,#1.72bn for land and climate management, and 1.09bn for mechanization are expected to yield results. The government awarded 500bn to special intervention project which include the government economic empowerment programs and the npower job creation program.

Growing up in Nigeria I came understood the problems within the Nigerian agricultural sector remains invariably the same over decades namely; lack of proper land tenure system, inadequate basic amenities; inadequate finances; inadequate transportation network; inadequate storage and processing facilities; inadequate agricultural education and extension; inadequate tool and machinery; inadequate farm inputs; poor pricing and marketing incentives.

Agriculture can only be a reliable sector for robust economy only if we are able to solve previously highlighted challenges and reach the peak of our potentials. Malaysia agricultural sector contributes 12% to national GDP. The major exports are rubber introduced in 1876, Palm oil introduced in 1917and cocoa introduced in 1950s.Thailand and Vietnam are major exporters of rice, generating billions of dollars annually. Nigeria is a major rice market, we incurs quite a lot on both illegal and legal importation of rice and other food products; losing quite a huge amount of foreign reserve for what we can produce locally.

United States is the largest exporter of agricultural products although China and India out-produces the States they also end up consuming much more of their own products. United States generation revenues in tunes of billion dollars annually to supplement revenues from manufacturing sector.

China ranks first in global farm output primarily producing rice, potatoes, tomato, sorghum and wheat, tea, peanuts, cotton, oil seed, soybean. Agriculture employs over 300 million people in China whereas the population of Nigeria is no way near that figure. China under Mao Zedong after the civil war took away the control of farmland from landlords and redistributed among peasant farmers.

Brazil follows in fourth place, majorly producing sugarcane soybeans and beef for domestic consumption and exportation.

The current state of youth unemployment in Nigeria can be remedy by proper investment of human resources into agriculture. Majority of Nigerians see people in agriculture as low earners and have overtime built a disgust or pre informed perception about agricultural sectors as less profitable. Everyone wants to be a DOCTOR OR LAWYER OR PILOT OR ENGINEER.

It is obvious Nigeria doesn’t lack the human resources or the arable land for agricultural practices but what we lack is a coherent policy, innovative ideas or a blue print to take us to the Promised Land in terms of Agriculture.

According to the labor force statistics studies carried out by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics in 2010, Agriculture employs 30 percent of the economy. Agriculture can provide employments/ supporting job growth, improve energy security, generate revenue through exportation, feed the nation, provide raw materials for agro allied industries, and revenues through research and designs.

The current government has done well with the N-power agricultural scheme but questions is are the participants really motivated to participate or are after the monetary gain due to lack of other opportunities(pun intended). The FADAMA scheme and other similar schemes have contributed their bits to harnessing agriculture for a robust economy.

During my youth service year at Sango-Ota (Ogun State) I decided to ventured into poultry farming as pet project with the monthly stipend I earn( known as allawee). The excitement of starting something as an agri-prenuer was overwhelming. I start rearing the broiler breed with the basic knowledge I have with the plan to sell them off three months later during the peak period of December. To cut the story short December came around I was left with 70 birds out of initial 100. I calculated the my proposed sale price for each birds and compared to the current market prices, of course they were not all of the same size but I discover I will barely breakeven. I understand it’s a learning curve, but I never envisage the rigor of marketing my chickens. I got ridiculous prices from middle men, but fortunately I was able to sell to some Indians and my fellow staffs reasonable prices even though the money I they didn’t pay quickly. I was happy to get rid of the chickens because of feeding expense and disheartening experience when I visited restaurants and hotels who told and show the receipts of imported frozen chickens they bought.

Well that’s my story but the underlying reason for the story is marketing. At the present, the producers of both export and food crops agricultural products in Nigeria do not receive the right prices for their produces. This caused by the weakness of the existing marketing system of export crops such like cocoa, cotton, rubber coffee, palm kernels and the non-existence of an organized marketing system.

The right price which maintains the profit incentive encourages more production. The government could do well by setting up agencies known as marketing board as we have in the old Western region the cocoa marketing board.

The board provides a ready market for farmers saving them the stress of marketing and exporting. The current policies and marketing system for exporting agricultural products can be revisited for flexible approach.

Government should regulate prices and save farmers the stress of finding markets for their produce and also in times or season of over production government should invest or encourage private investor to build storage facilities and processing facilities for perishable crops and seasonal crops. For instance the yearly seasonal spike in the production of tomato and other crops can maximize preservation, storage or processing.

Growing up I remembered visited a storage facility with lot of silos, years ago I was opportune to visit the site, believe me the whole area has been neglected and decommission for reasons know to the government.

I remembered the Emir of Kano, HRH Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi stating at a TEDX™ forum that Nigeria is one of the highest producer of cassava yet we import starch. (Why? Pun intended).

The practices of farming with crude equipment and farm implements remains a major hindrance to increasing production. Investment in mechanized farming will encourage individuals.

A number of us on this platform know we are is not industrialized as countries Europeans or US. But my question is what does industries thrives on?

Power, Labor and Raw materials (which we have not produced enough to meet local demand.

Development and encouragement of the agro allied industries will enable us maximize to full value potentials of our agricultural products allowing for wide range of processing capabilities and production of new commodities. It is no brainer everyone understand exporting your raw products fetch you less revenue compared to the well processed commodities.

Finally, Research institutions should be charged with producing stains, varieties and species of either plants or livestock capable of high yield, resistant and adaptable to the Nigerian climate.

Cattle rearing is a lucrative business for generating revenues, although the monopoly Fulani people enjoyed over cattle rearing is mainly due to the difficulty in getting species for either meat or dairy purposes. Countries like US, Brazil, Europeans nations, Argentina are major exporters of beef and processed products from sheep (to textile from wool and cattle; skins and hides for leather works).

Establishment of farm settlement equipped with basic amenities will also improve the agricultural, and encouragement of each State within the federation to focus on the production of two or more agricultural products suitable or native to their vegetation.