Hits and Misses of Nanono

Gilbert Ekugbe takes a cursory look at some of the achievements and failures of the sacked Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development during his two years in office and provides policy guidelines for the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture

The news about the sacking of former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Mohammed Nanono, came to Nigerians as a surprise. The sack, according to the President’s Spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, was to help to identify and strengthen weak areas, close loopholes, build cohesion and improve delivery of public goods to Nigerians. But to many stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy, his sack was long overdue as the ministry seemed to have lost its focus of taking Nigeria to its desired goal of attaining food security. They expressed concerns over the rising food prices with no hope in sight to address the situation.

Achievements

“I want to be very serious with the research institutes, so that they will research on improved seeds that will be suitable to our environment, as the institutes are the engine of growth in the sector, ”Those were words by the former minister upon resumption to office in 2019. He followed this up with the commissioning of the Hungarian demonstration plot that was established at the headquarters of the National Agricultural Seed Council in 2019.

The move was intended to demonstrate the effect of the Hungarian agric invention called Water Retainer (an organic soil conditioner), which involved two Hungarian hybrid maize varieties and two tomato varieties. The Hungarian Agricultural Innovation Centre (NAIK) is expected to supervise the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) to begin the official trials of the tomato varieties this year. He also flagged off an agric soft loan aimed at boosting food crop production and agricultural mechanisation where more than 10,000 tractors, fertilizers, chemicals and seedlings were distributed to farmers across the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.

Intervention Fund

The federal government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development injected over N600 billion as stimulus response into the agriculture sector to target small scale farmers in its bid to ensure food security and sustainability. Over 2.4 million farmers would benefit from the stimulus package in the first instance. The support according to him would be in the form of inputs and not cash as was the practice in the past. To address Nigeria’s aging farming population, Nanono endorsed the Nigeria Young Farmers Network (NYFN) and called for partnership and collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the sector to drive the vision of the NYFN to raise a million young farmers in each State, saying that the potentials of the Nigeria young farmers in the sector were enormous and needed to be optimally explored for its huge benefits including creating jobs and economic growth.

Establishment of NALBIP

The NALBIP is one of the comprehensive and sustainable mechanism put in place by the ministry to address the development and transformation of the livestock value chain in the agricultural sector. Nanono said the programme would improve the genetic makeup of the indigenous breeds of animals, especially dairy cattle to achieve increased milk and meat yield of the nation’s national herd.

He also expressed optimism that the programme “will improve the livelihood of the pastoral communities and other livestock farmers and support the ministry in addressing the challenges in the livestock value chain particularly, the incessant Herder/ Crop Farmers conflict”

The programme is targeted at the “evolution of hybrid filial generations of dairy cows and other livestock with improved productivity potential and in the overall genetic improvement to the national herd.”

Nanono’s Misses

According to a data analysis platform, Nigeria’s agriculture sector contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remained the lowest under his regime since the return of democracy in 1999.

In the past five years of the present administration, the sector grew at an average of 15 per cent when compared with past administrations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo when it grew 133 per cent; 19.1 per cent under late President Musa Yar’adua’s short tenure in office and 22.2 per cent under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Neglect of Stakeholders

On assumption office on August 21, 2019, Nanono said: “Agriculture sector is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, adding that if Nigeria gets agricultural policy right the country may not only feed its citizens but the entire West African countries.’’

The former minister was recently heavily criticised for neglecting key stakeholders in policy formulation who lamented the absence of an agricultural policy since the expiration of the defunct Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) in 2020, even though the APP policy document did not fulfill its purpose as the nation is still largely dependent on importation of food.

“The former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Sabo Nanono, did not in any way contribute to the drive and passion of the President to achieve food sufficiency for Nigeria. Rather he was doing things he likes to do, and he didn’t want to understand any of the things we were doing to improve the agriculture space,” said the President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim.

The Assistant Publicity Secretary of AFAN, Mr. Salisu Mukhtar, faulted the ministry for organising the Feed Nigeria Summit (FNS) in the height of a rainy season without a national agricultural policy

According to him, the ministry excluded many key stakeholders in the country’s food system value chains, such as, AFAN, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its good work in the agriculture space at the event.

Mukhtar said: “It is nebulous that a “Feed Nigeria Summit” is taking place in August, the height of the rainy season in Nigeria (North), without a National Agricultural Policy to replace the defunct APP launched in 2015. The proposed NATIP (National Agricultural Transformation and Innovation Plan) is still in draft form awaiting validation from stakeholders in the six geopolitical zones, approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the nod of NASS and a formal public launch to be able to hit the ground running!

“There must be appropriation for it in the budget for it to be implemented too! The attempt to do a ‘Feed Nigeria Summit’ at this time is not well thought out as it even excludes so many stakeholders in the food system.”

Rising Food Import

According to the recent figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on foreign trade for the first quarter (Q1) 2021, between 2020 and 2021, the value of imported agricultural products went up by 140.47 per cent. In the first quarter of the year, it spiked by 18.37 percent compared to the last quarter of 2020. Nigeria spent more importing agricultural products from outside the country, valued at N630.2 billion and only managed to export a meager N127.2 billion in agricultural products.
Lack of innovative solutions

It was glaring that the Ministry under his watch has no solution to end the rising cost of food prices in the country as it lacks the wherewithal to deploy innovative solutions to address the situation. Many other climes have continued to invest massively in innovative and smart ways of farming to meet their food needs. With over 50 agricultural research institutes in the country, these institutes are falling grossly short in providing the technologies that would drive growth in the sector and are lagging behind smaller peer nations, where agriculture is less of a priority. Nigeria’s agricultural research institutes have continued to be the weak link in Nigeria’s drive to diversify the economy through the sector and make exponential gains by way of earnings, employment, and other spin-offs.

Open Grazing Ban

The incessant clashes between herders and farmers have continued to be on the rise as 17 governors had decided to enforce a ban on open grazing. This move, according to the southern governors, would address the conflict between herders and farmers caused by open grazing.

The former minister has never for once showed his unwavering support to this course.

There was no clear cut policy statement made by the former minister on the ban of open grazing as many stakeholders in the agric industry are worried over the former minister’s attitude towards the plan by the governors to ban open grazing.

Many people on social media platforms have questioned the former minister’s inability to implement RUGA and inability to trace cattle routes while some said it was another strategy by the President, Muhammadu Buhari to get someone else to forcefully enforce open grazing nationwide.

Agenda for New Agric Minister

The immediate task before the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, is to deepen collaboration with key agricultural stakeholders to formulate policies aimed at achieving food security, invest heavily in sensitising rural farmers on the need to adhere strictly to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), prioritise developmental efforts at empowering agriculture research institutes to come up with new innovations in terms of improved seedlings, fertilizers especially at a time when climate change is affecting farmers productivity.

Stakeholders in the agriculture industry have continued to call for less stringent loan requirements especially the issue of collaterals, which make it difficult for many farmers to access loans.

There is also the urgent need by the new agriculture minister to deploy an integrated approach to revive extension advisory services after experts and farmers have pointed out extension service as a weak link in the Nigeria agricultural value chain.
The new minister must also as a matter of urgency come up a national agricultural policy to replace the expired APP in the nation’s quest to achieve food security by 2030.

There is also a need to declare a state of emergency on the nation’s agricultural sector as aflatoxin levels on the nation’s agro commodities is “code red” due to poor handling and harmful chemicals used by farmers, increase investment in the nation’s agricultural sector to eradicate hunger and achieve food security
The Nigerian Association of Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ), President, Mr. Emmanuel Ogbonnaya expressed optimism that the agricultural sector will now receive the needed direction it was lacking in reaching its true potential.

He further urged the new agric minister, to foster collaborations among the stakeholders across all value chains and the 36 states including the FCT, to help secure Nigeria’s food aspirations and avoid the lackluster performance of Nanono, which earned him a sack.

According to Ogbonnaya: “The Nigerian agricultural sector holds enormous potentials and opportunities if adequate innovation and investment is put into it and the necessary infrastructure that could enhance productivity in agric business put in place.”

“Unfortunately, the former minister did not show enough commitment to the revitalization of the sector as the shortfall in food supply and the attendant high costs has aggravated the plight of many Nigerians.”

Ogbonnaya urged the new minister to take full advantage of the print and electronic media as partners in progress, in transmitting timely and relevant information to agric practitioners and also to showcase laudable milestones under his leadership.

Meanwhile, the AFAN, has also congratulated the newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and wished him every success in his new job.

AFAN in a statement noted that the Buhari Administration is committed to achieving food security for the country within the shortest possible time hence the leadership change at the FMARD.

The AFAN President said: “Nigerian farmers assure you of full cooperation and pray to Allah to guide you in your new assignment”.

The farmers’ Association pledged to work with the minister to provide food for millions of Nigerians who remain under-fed.