Dr
Alexander Otti, the eminent banker and politician, and other veritable
eggheads like himself, call it "feeding the future". Indeed, any country
that cannot feed itself is doomed: that country has mortgaged its
future to the importation of all manner of food, both the good and the
junk, from other better organised countries who are able to feed their
present and future generations – and make some money, as well selling
the surplus to the wayward.
Over the years, since independence, Nigeria has swung between the two poles: at some points, showing great promise of being able to feed itself – and then falling back to the foolish ways of unbridled importation of food: from parboiled rice to frozen fish and chicken. But, mercifully, things are beginning to change, especially in the last 16 years since the country's transition from military dictatorship to civil democratic governance.
Indeed, agriculture was one of the key areas where the Transformation Agenda of the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan's administration bore most fruits. Through the Government's novel Agricultural Transformation Agenda, and a committed implementation of it by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under Dr. Adewunmi Adesina (now President of the Africa Development Bank, AfDB), Nigeria maintained a healthy pace on an irreversible journey to self-sufficiency in food and sundry agricultural production.
The administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late President Umar Musa Yar'Adua also contributed immensely in pushing Nigeria forward on the long journey towards food security. Before then, Nigeria's agricultural sector was performing at barely a fraction of its enormous potentials.
Taking the bull by the horns, the Jonathan administration launched the Agricultural Transformation Agenda aimed at repositioning the sector and putting Nigeria on a path to self-sufficiency in food production. The specific target was ensuring Nigeria produces an additional 20million tonnes of food, providing over 3.5million jobs by the year 2015.
One major way of doing this was through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) – which aimed to provide subsidised farm inputs directly to farmers. Within 90 days of its introduction, the massive corruption in fertiliser distribution process which had lasted well over three decades was almost completely eradicated. A few more examples will suffice here to illustrate the significant progress which has been made in the agriculture sector in Nigeria in the past few years. Take rice production for instance.
In November 2012, 10 states kick-started paddy rice production and dry season farming. Farmers involved in the programme produced 1.1million tonnes of paddy rice, created 467,000 jobs and generated N37billion. To ensure the steady increase in paddy rice production, the Federal Government put a ban on rice importation to increase the patronage of Nigerian rice. The State House kitchen was reportedly directed to use Nigerian rice only while feeding the inhabitants of the Presidency and sundry visitors.
The number of rice milling companies in the country has also risen dramatically, from one to 18, to accommodate the tremendous increase in rice production that has been recorded in the last few years.
Nigeria has also made great progress in cassava production. The Federal Government's introduction of a cassava industrialisation policy, which promoted the free distribution of cassava stem cuttings to farmers, transformed Nigeria into the largest processor of cassava in the world.
Cocoa farming has also experienced a considerable boost in recent years. In 2012, the Federal Government launched a massive programme to rehabilitate the old cocoa plantations and raise the production of cocoa through the free distribution of over 3.5million hybrid cocoa pods. The government reportedly rehabilitated 86,000 hectares and planted 57,000 hectares of cocoa.
The Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government also bore immense fruits in various other fields. Production of seeds for major arable crops increased many folds – from 4,252 metric tonnes in 2010 to 149,484 metric tonnes in 2013. The major arable crops include rice, maize, sorghum and soya beans.
Overall, as a result of the transformation in the country's agricultural sector, and the overall efforts to ensure that Nigeria is self-sufficient in food production, Nigeria's annual food importation bill reportedly declined nearly 40% from $7billion in 2011 to $4.3billion in 2014.
Nigeria's national food production reportedly increased by 21million tonnes between 2011 and 2014 – surpassing the target of 20million metric tonnes projected to be produced by 2015.
These impressive developments did not escape the notice of local and foreign investors, who began seeing Nigeria as an investors' destination, especially in the agricultural sector. So far, Nigeria has been able to rake in over 1.7trillion worth of investments in the agricultural sector.
The most cheery news in all these is the fact that, with the massive impact of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, Nigeria met its Millennium Development Goal One of halving extreme hunger and extreme poverty, two years ahead of the 2015 United Nations MDGs target.
Indeed, the Federal Government's reforms have changed the focus of agriculture from a mere social service to a proper business-oriented sector, thereby transforming the sector for good.
The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari must sustain the gains made in agriculture in the last six years – bearing in mind the simple logic that any country that cannot feed itself is doomed.
Highlights of progress recorded in the agricultural sector in recent years
•Nigeria's annual food importation bill declined nearly 40% from $7 billion in 2011 to $4.3 billion in 2014
•Nigeria has increased national food production by 21 million tonnes between 2011 and 2014, surpassing the target of 20 million metric tonnes projected by President Jonathan to be produced by 2015.
•With the immense progress recorded in the agricultural sector, Nigeria, in 2013, met its Millennium Development Goal One of halving extreme hunger and extreme poverty, two years ahead of the 2015 United Nations MDGs target.
•Nigeria has raked in over 1.7trillion worth of investments in the agricultural sector from foreign investors
•Dry season paddy rice farming programme has produced 1.1million metric tonnes of paddy rice, created 467,000 jobs and generated N37billion. To ensure the steady increase in paddy rice production, the President put a ban on rice importation to increase the patronage of Nigerian rice.
•In 2012, the Federal Government distributed over 24million stem cuttings of cassava to farmers free of charge, creating a cassava industrialisation policy which has transformed Nigeria into the largest processor of cassava in the world.
•Between 2012 and 2015, Nigeria has exported over 3.2million metric tonnes of cassava chips, exceeding the target by over 100%, with China ordering as several millions more metric tonnes of dried cassava chips for ethanol production.
•Nigeria became the first African country to develop an e-wallet for input delivery to farmers, eliminating sharp practices by middlemen.
•Four decades of corruption in fertiliser and seed distribution ended with direct access by farmers, thereby saving the government N25 billion in 2012 alone.
Source: http://www.authorityngr.com/2015/10/Feeding-the-future-of-Nigeria:-The-role-of-agriculture.html/#
Over the years, since independence, Nigeria has swung between the two poles: at some points, showing great promise of being able to feed itself – and then falling back to the foolish ways of unbridled importation of food: from parboiled rice to frozen fish and chicken. But, mercifully, things are beginning to change, especially in the last 16 years since the country's transition from military dictatorship to civil democratic governance.
Indeed, agriculture was one of the key areas where the Transformation Agenda of the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan's administration bore most fruits. Through the Government's novel Agricultural Transformation Agenda, and a committed implementation of it by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under Dr. Adewunmi Adesina (now President of the Africa Development Bank, AfDB), Nigeria maintained a healthy pace on an irreversible journey to self-sufficiency in food and sundry agricultural production.
The administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late President Umar Musa Yar'Adua also contributed immensely in pushing Nigeria forward on the long journey towards food security. Before then, Nigeria's agricultural sector was performing at barely a fraction of its enormous potentials.
Taking the bull by the horns, the Jonathan administration launched the Agricultural Transformation Agenda aimed at repositioning the sector and putting Nigeria on a path to self-sufficiency in food production. The specific target was ensuring Nigeria produces an additional 20million tonnes of food, providing over 3.5million jobs by the year 2015.
One major way of doing this was through the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) – which aimed to provide subsidised farm inputs directly to farmers. Within 90 days of its introduction, the massive corruption in fertiliser distribution process which had lasted well over three decades was almost completely eradicated. A few more examples will suffice here to illustrate the significant progress which has been made in the agriculture sector in Nigeria in the past few years. Take rice production for instance.
In November 2012, 10 states kick-started paddy rice production and dry season farming. Farmers involved in the programme produced 1.1million tonnes of paddy rice, created 467,000 jobs and generated N37billion. To ensure the steady increase in paddy rice production, the Federal Government put a ban on rice importation to increase the patronage of Nigerian rice. The State House kitchen was reportedly directed to use Nigerian rice only while feeding the inhabitants of the Presidency and sundry visitors.
The number of rice milling companies in the country has also risen dramatically, from one to 18, to accommodate the tremendous increase in rice production that has been recorded in the last few years.
Nigeria has also made great progress in cassava production. The Federal Government's introduction of a cassava industrialisation policy, which promoted the free distribution of cassava stem cuttings to farmers, transformed Nigeria into the largest processor of cassava in the world.
Cocoa farming has also experienced a considerable boost in recent years. In 2012, the Federal Government launched a massive programme to rehabilitate the old cocoa plantations and raise the production of cocoa through the free distribution of over 3.5million hybrid cocoa pods. The government reportedly rehabilitated 86,000 hectares and planted 57,000 hectares of cocoa.
The Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government also bore immense fruits in various other fields. Production of seeds for major arable crops increased many folds – from 4,252 metric tonnes in 2010 to 149,484 metric tonnes in 2013. The major arable crops include rice, maize, sorghum and soya beans.
Overall, as a result of the transformation in the country's agricultural sector, and the overall efforts to ensure that Nigeria is self-sufficient in food production, Nigeria's annual food importation bill reportedly declined nearly 40% from $7billion in 2011 to $4.3billion in 2014.
Nigeria's national food production reportedly increased by 21million tonnes between 2011 and 2014 – surpassing the target of 20million metric tonnes projected to be produced by 2015.
These impressive developments did not escape the notice of local and foreign investors, who began seeing Nigeria as an investors' destination, especially in the agricultural sector. So far, Nigeria has been able to rake in over 1.7trillion worth of investments in the agricultural sector.
The most cheery news in all these is the fact that, with the massive impact of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, Nigeria met its Millennium Development Goal One of halving extreme hunger and extreme poverty, two years ahead of the 2015 United Nations MDGs target.
Indeed, the Federal Government's reforms have changed the focus of agriculture from a mere social service to a proper business-oriented sector, thereby transforming the sector for good.
The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari must sustain the gains made in agriculture in the last six years – bearing in mind the simple logic that any country that cannot feed itself is doomed.
Highlights of progress recorded in the agricultural sector in recent years
•Nigeria's annual food importation bill declined nearly 40% from $7 billion in 2011 to $4.3 billion in 2014
•Nigeria has increased national food production by 21 million tonnes between 2011 and 2014, surpassing the target of 20 million metric tonnes projected by President Jonathan to be produced by 2015.
•With the immense progress recorded in the agricultural sector, Nigeria, in 2013, met its Millennium Development Goal One of halving extreme hunger and extreme poverty, two years ahead of the 2015 United Nations MDGs target.
•Nigeria has raked in over 1.7trillion worth of investments in the agricultural sector from foreign investors
•Dry season paddy rice farming programme has produced 1.1million metric tonnes of paddy rice, created 467,000 jobs and generated N37billion. To ensure the steady increase in paddy rice production, the President put a ban on rice importation to increase the patronage of Nigerian rice.
•In 2012, the Federal Government distributed over 24million stem cuttings of cassava to farmers free of charge, creating a cassava industrialisation policy which has transformed Nigeria into the largest processor of cassava in the world.
•Between 2012 and 2015, Nigeria has exported over 3.2million metric tonnes of cassava chips, exceeding the target by over 100%, with China ordering as several millions more metric tonnes of dried cassava chips for ethanol production.
•Nigeria became the first African country to develop an e-wallet for input delivery to farmers, eliminating sharp practices by middlemen.
•Four decades of corruption in fertiliser and seed distribution ended with direct access by farmers, thereby saving the government N25 billion in 2012 alone.
Source: http://www.authorityngr.com/2015/10/Feeding-the-future-of-Nigeria:-The-role-of-agriculture.html/#
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