Why we support border closure – Sen. Adamu

Senator Abdullahi Adamu is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Productivity.

He speaks on the federal government’s plans to diversify the economy through agriculture and the ongoing efforts to address the challenges smallholder farmers face.

• Farmers to increase incomes through FG’s food, job plans
• FG sets up c’ttee on loss of food in transit

You were among the stakeholders that attended the launch of the Agriculture for Food and Job Plan (AFJP), a component of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) targeting small holder farmers, what are the overall dividends drivable from this initiative?

Senator Abdullahi Adamu: The programme which was launched in Funtua, Katsina State derived its life from President Muhammdu Buhari’s commitment to the economic diversification effort and from which he, over the years, has been trying to the bring agriculture to the frontline.

The initiative  essentially was to empower smallholder farmers to be able to access inputs in their agricultural production effort. The inputs include fertilizer, seedlings and equipment through direct government intervention and private sector participation with the Central Bank also aligning itself in the pursuit of this programme that Mr. President is holding so dear.

He has also come up with some programmes that will make it possible for small farmers to obtain loans that are virtually interest-free. It is our hope that in no time, the effort will go round the states including the FCT. The aim is to get the propagation of these ideals across.

One thing that prompted the programme was the effect of the COVID-19 on the efforts of Nigerians to pursue food production. It has been made very clear that unless we take special steps to protect, the effect of COVID-19 is going to be enormous because at a very critical period in our agricultural  production calendar just about the time that we normally launch the planting season every year, we got stuck by this COVID-19.

It affected the movement of workers who provide labour on farms, it affected transportation that will move inputs from one part of the country to another, inputs like fertilizer, seeds and seedlings. It is very critical because unless you can supply the seeds and seedlings to begin the season you will be in trouble.

When there is no seed there is no plant and when you don’t have fertilizer, there is no way to enrich the soil to give what you are growing. It is very difficult with COVID-19 to get these items, part of this programme is to lend support and that is why it is called Nigeria Economy Sustainability Plan.

As the chairman of the Senate committee on Agriculture and Productivity, will your committee ensure that the smallholder farmers which the programme targeted actually benefit?

We are duty-bound. Our primary responsibility is to make laws for the good governance and development of Nigeria and we oversee the executive so that those laws that are being made, once they are assented to by the president their implementation is carried out. This is a basic responsibility and we keep doing it as the situation develops when there is need to back something with law. What we have been battling with overtime is the fact that our agricultural production is still rudimental and not fully mechanised.

Very few farmers can afford modern equipment, basic thing like a tractor.  If you see the ratio of tractors available to Nigerians it is very poor, so the federal government has taken some special steps in the efforts at mechanising our operations.  One of the efforts the government made last year was to get loan from Brazil, about $1.2 billion dollars, not cash but it is going to be brought in kind. We are going to acquire tractors and other farming implement and set up service centres for the equipment for training operators for the tractors and mechanics for tractors, harvesters and such other similar modern agricultural equipment that will come by the way of this facility. They are going to come as parts and will be assembled here in Nigeria.

It is hoped that every local government will have service centres and will be allocated a minimum of 10 tractors, there will be service centres and other offices where people will  be trained on how to handle and repair the equipment, this is one major step that the federal government is working on contrary to what obtains where we are still using very mundane means of production.

You will see mothers, women still trekking with their husbands behind them and babies on their backs to the farm with hoes and cutlasses. It is a very sad situation if you see how other countries have moved on with their means of production thereby improving on their agricultural produce.  It is our hope that when this effort at mechanisation starts we will have a better story tell about our capacity to produce what we eat.

We will have less problems if we are producing enough to eat and not have to rely on goods from outside but for now, we have to take stringent measures to protect local production, that is why we support this border closure and I am very happy that central bank is now putting a lot of weight into agriculture and it is my hope that with this kind of programmes.

 How will you quantify the loss to COVID-19 by farmers?

COVID-19 has very negative effects generally on farmers. Because of COVID-19, there was a lockdown and a ban on the interstate movement, ordinarily you will see manual workers living in the far North coming to the North-central, going to the East and Western part of the country to provide labour on the farms or moving within their states of origin, but they could not do that because of the lockdown.

Transportation was stagnant because of COVID-19 and as a result,  movement of seeds and seedlings that the farmer requires to start the planting season could not be got. Also, because of the limitations on business generally, the farmers could not dispose of some products they had from the last planting season to get the money they so dearly required to purchase new inputs for the current season when it started around March. That is a very devastating effect the COVID-19 brought on agricultural production from the first to the second quarter of the year, it really affected us. I am happy and have to congratulate the president for the foresight to take some extraordinary measures during the course of the lockdown to make for possible movement of some of these essential inputs so that some organisations were used to escort the movement of seeds and agricultural inputs.

With the local production and closure of borders why do we still have high price of rice in the market?

You cannot expect that because there is the closure of borders then the following day the price of foodstuff will go down, the dynamics of the markets will still have to be obeyed. Essentially, it is a matter of demand and supply. The fact that there is closure of  borders does not stop people from wanting to eat and we have a population of over 200 million people.

It is not an easy task to feed 200 million people. Don’t forget that where the government wants to genuinely take these steps to close the borders and other measures to protect Nigerian farmers there are other “shylocks” lurking and sabotaging government’s efforts. The effort to protect us, some people see it as the denial of their own livelihood.

So they take all steps necessary to blackmail and sabotage what the government is trying to do so that we don’t achieve the goals. Illegal dumping of foreign food items, they do all that they can to impact on their own appetite, imported rice becomes the status quo.

It’s unfortunate that even in some government houses you would see imported food,  poultry products but this policy of closing border has helped to minimise these practices that are inimical to our agricultural production. It will take a while to get to the promised land but it is a good start.

Some past agricultural interventions did not end well, what should Nigerians expect of this programme?

We have not arrived yet but we are on our way. I am an optimist and I believe very strongly that government means well for the policies and programmes that are being introduced to make it possible for us to achieve our goals in agricultural production. But as I said, while the government is making effort to develop our agriculture in our interest, there are people that are doing the reverse who do not want government’s effort to succeed because part of the efforts affects their own businesses.

Once they are not allowed to smuggle then it is like you have endangered their bread unfortunately, but we cannot afford to continue like that. Government is on track and I am happy that with President Muhammadu Buhari, it does not matter what you say or does, he has a focus, he remains focused and we are there to support his policies in any way we can. As a legislator, if there is a need for legislation in furtherance of these policies, we are there to make laws so that the limitation of such laws is not allowed to hamper the intended progress of the policy they are supposed to bring forth. We try to do as much as we can to live by our call to duty as legislators, one of that is to be positive in our thinking. There may be some obstacles but the fact of the matter is that we are making some progress.