Viewed from the
historian’s perspective, a significant advance in a nation’s fortunes can seem
to occur almost overnight and be driven by destiny. The reality of course is
quite different. Meaningful change is most often the long-term product of
a series of small, connected, deliberate actions whose importance may not be
immediately apparent.
One of those low-key
events that one day could be endowed with historical significance took place in
Nigeria last month, when senior officials from the national government and the
African Union Commission, joined by agriculture experts from across the
continent, gathered in Abuja to consolidate Nigeria’s National Agriculture
Investment Plan (NAIP). Similar blueprints are being drawn-up across
sub-Saharan Africa to ensure countries stay focused on the African Union’s
Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and their
commitments, re-enforced
in the 2014 Malabo Declaration, to place African
farmers and agriculture businesses at the center of the continent’s economic
development.
If there is anywhere
in Africa where a surge of agriculture investments could change the fortunes of
an entire country, it is here. Moreover, success in Nigeria would send a strong
signal to the rest of the continent that agriculture offers our most promising
path to sustainable and equitable economic growth.
Agriculture’s
emergence as Nigeria’s number one economic opportunity comes as falling oil
prices are taking their toll on this oil-rich country. Nigeria urgently needs a
more stable foundation for providing income and employment for a fast growing
population that, by 2050, is
likely to be larger than that of the United States.
Agriculture already
accounts for 70 per cent of employment in Nigeria, but only 40 per cent of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an indicator that the sector is underperforming.
Every year, Nigerians still spend billions of dollars on food imports, a huge
economic opportunity forfeited to farmers and food companies outside of the
country.
Part of the reason for
the shortfall is that Nigeria has 84 million hectares of land suitable for
farming, but less than half of this area is planted with crops and most
of the farming is accomplished with inefficient, outdated methods and without basic
inputs. Irrigation, which is becoming more important as climate change disrupts
rainfall patterns across the country, is available on only 220,000 hectares,
when there are enough water resources in the country to supply three million.
But if the recent
meeting is any indication, agriculture may finally be getting the attention it
deserves in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Chief Audu Ogbeh and his
predecessor, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who went on to become president of the
African Development Bank, over the last few years, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development has pushed through several ambitious
initiatives.
For example, Nigeria
is the world’s largest cassava producer. And there are now a number of new
income opportunities for poor smallholder farmers and local agriculture
entrepreneurs around producing and processing this hardy root crop. Cassava is
now being processed into high quality flour that can be used as a substitute
for expensive wheat imports. It’s providing a source of fish feed for Nigeria’s
rapidly growing aquaculture industry. Cassava can also provide an industrial
starch with surprising usefulness in areas like paperboard and plywood
manufacturing.
Similar efforts are
underway to bring jobs to rural areas by attracting investments in maize, rice,
sorghum and livestock production. For example, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk
Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has generated US$273 million
in loans for some 454 projects. They include a new rail-shipping venture that
is connecting struggling livestock producers in the north to consumer
markets in the south.
Despite the promising
progress, agriculture in Nigeria still needs far more investment. For example,
a lack of storage and processing options causes many poor farmers to lose
nearly half of their harvest to rot or pests. Also, while fertilizer
usage is up and local seed production is rising, many farmers in Nigeria still
lack access to improved crop varieties and basic inputs.
That’s why it’s so
critical to develop a new agriculture investment plan that shows Nigeria is
committed to ensuring agriculture can flourish as a business. Numerous studies
have shown that, along with increasing food security, economic growth driven by
the agriculture sector is far more effective at pulling people out of poverty
than growth in any other sector.
If Nigeria ultimately
realizes its ambitions for agriculture, historians of the future may point to
an investment meeting that occurred in Abuja in February of 2017 as the
juncture when farming and food production became an engine of opportunity for
Nigeria and helped rally similar efforts across the continent. And those
falling oil prices that capture the headlines of today? Maybe they will be
relegated to a footnote.
*Contributed by Kehinde
Makinde is the country lead for Nigeria at the Alliance for Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA).
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Pix: Dr. Agnes Kalibata, AGRA president
%20flanked%20by%20Resource%20persons%20and%20participants%20at%20the%20 "Climate change: Agriculture experts advocates 'smart farming' - ITREALMS")
