USAID to Strengthen Research and Policy Processes in Agric Sector

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has expressed commitment towards supporting policy processes through scientific research to enhance skills and mentoring through training and institutional capacity development in Nigeria.

The lead principal investigator to the USAID Nigeria agriculture policy activity from the Michigan State University, Prof. Saweda Tasie, stated this during a one-day Research Dissemination Workshop on the impact of COVID-19 on Agri-Food Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from Fish and Poultry Value Chains in Kaduna State recently.

Saweda, who participated via zoom explained that the initiative, which was implemented in the Michigan State University, is aimed at promoting policy driven collaborative research and analysis, as well as supporting Nigerians and partners to provide evidence that would guide policy processes in the agricultural sector.

She identified key members of the research team from different institutions to include: National Agricultural Extension and Research Liason Services (NAERLS), the Nigerian Agricultural Policy Project (NAPP) Scholars, as well as International Food Policy Research Institute and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).

Saweda said the conversation provided a platform to bring out findings and recommendations as well as way forward on the impact of COVID-19 on Agric-food SME’s, with evidence from the fish and Poultry Value Chains in Nigeria.

The USAID Programme’s facilitator stressed the need for policy reforms that would support SME’s toward ensuring access to decent infrastructure, enhance efficiency and mitigate risk associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking, the Director in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mr. Femi Olaleye, said government was committed to providing an enabling environment for Agriculture to thrive through the provision of solar dryers, agro processing equipments and in-puts such as fertilizer, seedlings and agro-chemicals with a view to achieving food security in the country for self sustainability.

He said the federal government was not unaware of its roles, noting that alot has been done for farmers before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the area of infrastructural facilities to accelerate growth and development of the sector.

Some participants at the workshop Mr. Musa Bala and Ibrahim Atama regretted that more than 60 to 70 per cent of poultry and fish farms have collapse due to lack of finance to continue with the business as a result of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

They called on government and other agencies concerned to assist poultry and fish farmers with capital by accessing physical farms, with a view to reviving the industry that is estimated to worth over N6 trillion investment.

They identified cost of feeding, mobility and marketing of their products as major challenges faced during the lock-down period, and called on government to create a platform that would identify the real farmers and assist them through their traditional and religious leaders to get back to business.

Presentations were made on the findings and recommendations by team members on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Agri-food, small and medium enterprises in Niger, Oyo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Another professor of Michigan State University, Mr. Oyinkan Tasie said during the workshop that the results of the research on COVID-19 pandemic impact suggested that, palliative were not evenly distributed and many had opted out of businesses due to hardship.

He said the goal of the initiative was to have a conversation around those evidence to ensure policy makers engage the academia and beneficiaries to strengthen the policy making process in the agricultural sector.

“ We have found the evidence, and it shows among other things that, the state ministry of Agriculture in Kaduna State is working on a policy Program on agriculture which was launched recently,” he said.