Agriculture: Priority Areas for Development in 2023 and Beyond

With less than six months before a new government takes charge of Nigeria’s economy, Gilbert Ekugbe spotlights key areas in the nation’s agricultural sector begging for attention  

Ordinarily, Nigeria should undoubtedly be likened to the Biblical land flowing with milk and honey as far as agriculture is concerned. Before the discovery of oil, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy in the 1960s. The sector accounted for 57 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while also generating 64.5 per cent of export earnings for the Nigerian economy in the late 2000s. But over the years, especially since the advent of oil, the sector has continued to receive a high level of neglect by previous administrations that could have made the food sector a cash cow. No thanks to the “quick cash” proceeds from oil, brought the agricultural sector to its knees. As the New Year unfolds, managers of the Nigerian economy must prioritise renewed efforts to take the sector the out of doldrums.

Investment in agritech

Agriculture technology, abbreviated as Agritech or Agrotech, refers to the use of technology in agriculture to improve  productivity, yield and quality. Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have always advocated for an increased level of investment in agritech. Most advanced economies have increased their food production levels by investing massively in agritech. Many young innovators in the country have started seeking and introducing innovative solutions in agritech to help Nigeria solve its food insecurity challenges, especially postharvest losses, but a country regarded as the biggest market on the continent in terms of population, there is only little these innovators can achieve with their inventions. The sector is highly challenged by high cost of farm inputs hindering farmers’ productivity levels, but courtesy of smart farming technologies, farmers can actually produce more with fewer resources while also securing food safety and quality. Smart farming techniques is an emerging concept that refers to managing farms using technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase the quantity and quality of products while optimising the human labour required by production. It reduces waste, improve productivity and enable management of a greater number of resources through remote sensing.

Agritech improves the input and output of agricultural processes and has developed a lot in recent time and benefited the developed economies through tremendous progress in crops yields, plant and animal health, and farm productivity. Agriculture technologies include use of drones, weather forecasts, automated irrigation, and software for disease prediction and other technologies helping in increase of crops yield and disease control.

Funding research institutions  

Many agric research institutions across the country are lying fallow without developing research findings for the advancement of the nation’s agricultural sector. The reason is not farfetched because these institutions have continued to be neglected by successive governments. Presently, Nigeria has about 15 agricultural research institutions in the country, which is a far cry from what is required for a vast country like Nigeria.

Despite this inadequacy, the institutions are poorly funded. Speaking with the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, lamented over the neglect of research institutions all over the country, saying that they are poorly funded and cannot fulfil the purposes of their existence.

“We have all manners of agric research institutes all over the country, but we are not seeing their impacts that are all over the place,” he said.

The National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr. Kabir Ibrahim, said particular attention should be given to the research systems by ensuring that they are funded through the Agriculture Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) and ensuring that all their findings are readily utilised.

He explained that the bane of research in Nigeria is not necessarily its funding but the incentive given to the researchers and utilising their findings.

“We must incentivise our researchers by given them patent rights and honoraria and implement policies readily by appointing capable hands to drive agriculture and all cross-cutting institutions affecting agriculture,” Ibrahim advised

He also recommended that to bolster production, processing, distribution, storage as well as marketing agricultural produce especially food, the federal government must incentivise the small holder farmers who he described as the engine room of production by allowing them to access low interest credit, rapid and affordable mechanisation, subsidised fertilizers, good seeds and other inputs including access to STI (science, technology and innovation) as well as enable them to embrace year-round production by improving irrigation facilities. He also stated the need to improve power supply, transportation and marketing by consolidating commodity exchange platforms.

Upgrade of security architecture

Like the saying goes “No place is safe until everywhere is safe.” The urgent need to redesign and upgrade Nigeria’s security apparatuses could not be over emphasised. Not just for agriculture development, but for overall benefits of Nigerians. Farmers are still in great fear of being kidnapped or killed.

According to Proshare, a market analyst and information news service firm, in recent times, farmers have become the main target for kidnapping by gunmen, bandits and armed herdsmen across various geopolitical zones in the country, adding that in a rift between two communities in Kaduna this year, at least eight farmers were abducted and eventually killed.

“Kidnapping has become a common occurrence such that farmers in some Northern states even go ahead to pay tax and harvest fees to bandits in order to avoid attacks,” Proshare added.

Profferring solutions to the hydra-headed challenge of insecurity in the agricultural sector, Proshare said tackling unemployment is a prerequisite to curbing insecurity in the agricultural sector. It added that the need to reinforce the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS). It also advised that the federal government should also ensure the availability of social protection services such as subsidies and relief options for farmers. “Social protection will enhance farmers’ resilience and reduce the impact of insecurity shocks on them,” Proshare added.

Youth participation in agriculture

The urgent need to phase out Nigeria’s aging farming population cannot be overemphasised. Presently, the average age of farmers in the country is pegged at 65 according to a research by the Federal University of Technology also predicting that age would increase significantly except Nigeria’s teeming youth population is encouraged to go into farming.

According to Yusuf, many youths have left the rural areas in search of greener pastures in the urban areas as many of them have lost interest in farming due to the manual labour of farming still being practiced. The federal government must as a result of urgency prioritise investment in mechanisation of the agricultural value chain to attract active youth participation in the food sector.

In June last year, the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), announced that it was in discussion with Brazil for the supply and distribution of over 10000 tractors to farmers nationwide to boost Nigeria’s mechanised food production and also enhance food sufficiency in an era of global food crisis. During a telephone chat with THISDAY, the former Executive Director, Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Ms. Oluwasina Olabanji, said that no nation could be food secured without end to end mechanization. Olabanji added that Nigeria could no longer continue with the present manual labour in agriculture in its bid to attain self-sufficiency in food production.

“To achieve food security we need mechanisation to attract the youths. If there is enough farming equipment and machinery such as tractors, tree planters, combine harvesters and the youths know they can have at least one hectare of a farm land with all the farm inputs and machinery to their disposal, they will be attracted to the sector because they will be encouraged and their productivity would improve with less efforts and in turn, they will be able to make money and even employ more youths into the sector,” he said.

Outlook for agric sector

According to Olabanji, there is prospect for agricultural development in the country due to the commitment of the federal government, noting that the sector was hindered in the past by inconsistent policies and lack of political will to implement policies by successive governments, but stated that in the past few years, implementation of policies has been very consistent in areas he named as support to farmers in all the value chain.

“You are aware of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) paying attention to key commodities in the agriculture value chain such as rice, wheat, maize and soya beans. There have been notable achievements particularly in the area of rice and we have also made significant impact in the wheat value chain. If our agricultural policies have been very consistent, by now, wheat would have been ranking with rice in terms self-sufficiency,” he said.

He stated that given the necessary attention and support by government, the agricultural sector is the best sector to achieve its economic diversification’s drive

In his words: “Over 70 per cent of the Nigerian populace is into agriculture. In terms of job creation and poverty alleviation, the agriculture also plays a vital role. Any country that cannot feed itself is a failed state. If not for the intervention of the federal government and Africa Development Bank (AfDB) in agriculture before the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Nigeria would have been begging for food from other countries. We hope that the interventions would be sustained and we are praying that the next government will maintain status quo of making agriculture the bedrock of Nigeria’s economic development.”

Also, the National President, Agricultural Produce Sellers Association of Nigeria (APSAN), Mr. Aloys Akortsaha, commended the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Mohammad Abubakar, for the great strides recorded thus far, but just like Oliver Twist, he wants more development in the nation’s agricultural space.

He, however, urged the federal government to rescind its decision on the removal subsidy on fertilizers, adding that since the pronouncement, farmers and agribusiness dealers have been finding it tough to be profitable.

“Many farmers cannot afford fertilizers because the price of fertilizer has skyrocketed to unimaginable levels. NPK is also very high and we are aware that the raw materials used in making these farm inputs are being imported especially from Ukraine and Russia and with the war, we expect the prices to be in upward trend. This is a source of concern and we are urging the federal government to reintroduce fertilizer subsidy to alleviate the suffering of farmers in the country.”