How to Revive Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector

Gilbert Ekugbe
The agricultural sector was mainstay of Nigeria’s economy before the advent of oil. Since the discovery of oil, the sector has been neglected by successive governments in search of “quick caand causing its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to deteriorate over the years.

The Former Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Mr. Oluwasina Olabanji, in a chat with THISDAY highlighted steps the economic managers should follow to revive Nigeria’s agricultural sector to achieve inclusive growth and national development.

According to Olabanji, Nigeria must grow crops it consumes on a commercial basis for domestic consumption and export to African countries and the rest of the world.

He stressed that Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural and human resources, pointing out that the country has no business in importing food products to feed its citizens.

“The country is blessed with human and natural resources, but these resources are undermined and underutilised. Nigeria lost focus in agriculture when we identified oil as our main source of revenue generation. For us to redeem and reverse the trend of our shattered economy, we have to promote mechanised farming.

“Mechanisation is critical for self-sufficiency in food production worldwide. We also need to invest in agriculture. The present administration is trying but they can do more.”

He commended the present administration’s effort to boost food security, saying that the importation of rice, wheat and maize products have drastically reduced as a result of increase in local production of the commodities.

He also called on the federal government to fund research for national development, adding that research institutes must be properly funded to develop and improve innovations to boost agronomical practices.
“The government must rehabilitate Nigeria’s irrigation infrastructure. Irrigation facilities are available particularly in the northern part of the country, but needs rehabilitation to be effective.

“Subsidy of inputs to farmers is very critical at this period. We know it is not sustainable, but there will be a time when farmers will no longer demand for support, but for now it is very critical to empower Nigerian farmers to be independent of government interventions.

“If we revive agricultural settlements in different local governments across the country, our youths could be deployed to use agricultural settlements for farming and this would increase food production to achieve food security,” he added.

Commenting on the performance of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, so far, Olabanji said the minister has the political will to continue from where the country stopped in 2015-2016 during the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) when Nigeria was forging ahead in the agricultural sector as the GDP recorded was higher than what is obtainable presently.

“He has the political will to perform and has started very well and I believe he will continue with this effort in the sector. The minister’s perception and political will be to move the agricultural sector forward. I believe he would restore the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES), which the former minister advocated for, because it is very critical in the crop commodity value chain,” he said.

He stated the uniqueness of the scheme has enabled farmers to have direct access to input, which he described as very critical to boost food production.

“Farmers are getting fertilizers because there was a platform whereby the data of all farmers were captured. We also have to make inputs to farmers available at subsidised rates because it is very important for now,” he averred.

He also called for the need to improve the synergy between the federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to enhance Nigeria’s quest to boost crop production.
“The synergy is not there and if it is there, it is not strong but weak. You cannot grow a crop without adequate water and now that emphasis is on irrigated crops, if water resources do not provide water how do we maximise productivity and production,” he asked.