The capacity of the agricultural sector urgently needs to be reinforced through innovative and sustainable actions and policies to enhance its productivity and competitiveness. The default picture of the sector and its operation need to change. The verdict is patent – successive interventions have all indeed failed.
The Q1 performance of the sector for 2023 shows a negative growth of -9%. The omen for the sector is practically scary. Food inflation is running wild and the imminence of a food crisis may just be on the horizon.
Already, we are been warned of malnutrition. Then, the burgeoning population which is growing at a geometric proportion against an anaemic economic growth and a fast-paced unemployment rate.
So, how do we feed ourselves and how do we position the sector as an expedient to the nation’s socioeconomic development? In the first place, it is difficult to reconcile the state of the sector which leaves so much to be desired to the huge potential that exists.
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The country boasts of about 84 million hectares of arable land with only about 35 million cultivated, and huge available manpower.
The present administration has provided a glimmer of hope with the promise of placing agriculture on the wings of progress. Be that as it may, a policy direction will definitely crystalise with the appointment of a minister who must be on the top of his game in the delivery of the goods.
Despite the heavy attention on primary production, the nation’s yield per hectare still remains paltry which is underlined by problems relating but not limited to the absence and prohibitive cost of suites of requisite agricultural inputs, in addition to poor irrigation services.
Achieving mechanization is a perennial tall order – the country’s mechanization which is at 0.027hp/hectare is a far cry from the FAO’s 1.5 hp/hectare standard. Recall, the laudable attempt through the 1.2 billion dollar Green Imperative Programme (GIP) to promote mechanization which has now melted out of our collective memory. What has happened to it?
The conflation of poor transport system, processing and storage capacity and other infrastructure-related problems contribute to post-harvest losses which come with an annual economic cost to the tune of N3.5 trillion according to ActionAid.
In growing the economy and providing the needed jobs and creating impact, significant investment across the agricultural value chain which is entirely underdeveloped will have to be made.
The value chain is market-oriented – which involves many business enterprises working together in ensuring effective and efficient production and improvement of products. Essentially, it is the interplay of actors and actions.
At every stage in the chain, product/commodity changes form, through value addition resulting into providing better income, employment and productivity.
For instance, the commitment in achieving self-sufficiency in rice production conferred observable improvement across the value chain. The result was the improvement on average yield/hectare, ramping up of integrated mills as well as milling capacities.
However, there’s need to be strategic and long-term in thinking in the approach to agricultural development. It is apt to incentivize large-scale agriculture and farmers just as efforts are directed toward the preponderant smallholder farmers.
The future of agricultural production will be characterised by the involvement of fewer people (meaning less direct jobs) applying advanced technology and techniques which will remarkably ramp up yield/hectare, address production and supply uncertainties and bolster the value chain.
Strengthening the value chain will involve coalescing the smallholder farmers into a large and effective production unit with cooperatives serving as important stakeholders, while pulling all the stops in ensuring inputs supply to boost production.
It is also to the advantage of the smallholder farmers in establishing commodity board that will function in regulating and monitoring food prices, manage fluctuation in prices in addition to serving as buffer in times of emergency.
The country will just have to rethink its approach towards budgetary allocation to the sector which is out of sync with the 2003 Maputo agreement to which the country is a signatory.
Corruption, conflicts and state of insecurity, and climate change are some recognizable snags which must be dealt with frontally in achieving goals.
No doubt, effective governance is important on this score. For the umpteenth time, attaining food security which is synonymous with national security and making agriculture a ladder to prosperity requires robust and creative policies matched with commitment and political will.
Abachi Ungbo can be reached via [email protected]
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