Agric intervention to improve Nigeria’s economy

Renowned Indian philosopher and human rights activist, Mahatma Gandhi, once said, “To forget how to till the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”

Indeed, tilling the earth and tending to the soil is man’s oldest occupation, as agriculture remains the source of food for all humans. It is the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide man’s basic needs.

Food, being one of the fundamental necessities of life, is essential for energy, growth, repair, and maintenance of body tissues and for the regulation of vital biological processes. Hence, one can infer that agriculture is crucial for survival.

Agriculture has a direct impact on the environment. It has a direct impact on the food we eat, how much of it we consume, the quantity and the quality, as well as the Gross Domestic Product of a nation.

GDP is the total monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a country’s economic health. This metric is so important to a country’s development, that the International Monetary Fund has stated that GDP is the core reference point of any economy. An alternative concept, Gross National Product, counts all the output of the residents of a country.

Regardless, GNP and GDP are key indicators of a nation’s economic status. GDP can be expressed in nominal or real terms. Nominal GDP is calculated based on the value of the goods and services produced, so it reflects not just the value of output but also the change in the aggregate pricing of that output.

Real GDP, in contrast, is adjusted for inflation, meaning that it factors out changes in price levels to measure changes in actual output. Policymakers and financial markets focus primarily on real GDP because inflation-fuelled gains are not an economic benefit.

One thing people want to know about an economy is whether its total output of goods and services is growing or shrinking. But because GDP is collected at current or nominal prices, one cannot compare two periods without adjusting for inflation. To determine ‘real’ GDP, its nominal value must be adjusted to consider price changes to allow economists see whether the value of output has gone up because more is being produced or simply because prices have increased.

Nigeria is a country that has challenges in terms of GDP growth. In the last decade, GDP growth averaged 1.1 per cent, as the country experienced two economic recessions. Unemployment and underemployment rates increased to an all-time high of 56.1 per cent in 2020, pushing 133m Nigerians into multi-dimensional poverty, according to reports from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Further, the deteriorating economic environment is causing a migration of millions of Nigerians to other countries. A large percentage of youths seek to leave the country via any transportation method available to them.

On current trends, with Nigeria’s population growth continuing to outpace poverty reduction, the number of Nigerians living below the national poverty line will rise by 13m between 2020 and 2025.

High oil prices since 2021 did not boost the performance of the economy as had been the case in the past. Rather, macroeconomic stability weakened, amid declining oil production, a costly petrol subsidy, which is consuming a large share of gross oil revenues, exchange rate distortions, monetisation of the fiscal deficit, and high inflation.

Inequality, in terms of income and opportunities, remains high and has adversely affected poverty reduction. The lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, as well as social and political unrest.

Inflation has also taken a toll on household’s welfare and price increases in 2020 to 2022, which pushed more Nigerians into poverty.

Extreme weather events such as floods and heat stress have become more severe and frequent, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. These climate risks have already contributed to declining per capita food production, such that the proportion of the population facing undernutrition increased from 6.5 per cent in 2004 to 12.7 per cent in 2020.

Nigeria’s slow growth and poverty seem surprising in some ways, since the country has a number of strengths that would give it considerable economic advantage. One strong point the nation has is its agribusiness potential. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Nigeria has 70.8m hectares of arable land, with maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam, beans, millet and rice being the major crops.

Agriculture is broadly divided into four sectors in Nigeria – crop production, fishing, livestock and forestry. Crop production remains the largest segment and it accounts for about 87.6 per cent of the sector’s total output. This is followed by livestock, fishing and forestry at 8.1 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.

Between January and March 2021, agriculture contributed 22.35 per cent of the total GDP. Over 70 per cent of Nigerians engage in agriculture, mainly at a subsistence level.
Despite the contribution to the economy, Nigeria’s agriculture sector faces many challenges, which impact its productivity. These include; poor land tenure system, low level of irrigation farming, climate change and land degradation. Others are low agro-technology, high production cost and poor distribution of inputs, limited financing, high post-harvest losses and poor access to markets.

Animal production has also remained under-exploited. According to the FAO, livestock mostly reared by farm families in Nigeria are the small ruminants like goats (76m), sheep (43.4m) and cattle (18.4m), with little to no attention to aquaculture. In addition to small and large ruminants, poultry population is estimated to be at 180m. The inadequate access to good seedlings, little or no extension services, poor agricultural practices and lack of investments in the sector adversely affects the GDP per capita.

The untapped potential of the massive sector is wasting away, as Nigeria focuses on crude oil for revenue generation. Enough emphasis is not put on agriculture; hence, an agricultural intervention is necessary to improve the macroeconomy.

While Nigeria has made some progress in implementing several initiatives to address the economic situation, such as the Agriculture Promotion Policy, Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme, and the Economic Export Promotion Incentives, these initiatives have not made visible impact on the GDP.

The way forward is to finance the sector and embed agriculture strategically into the national development agenda. Former Governor Willie Obiano had already taken this route to improve the South East region’s economy. He launched an agricultural revolution in Anambra State, a project that elevated the state to rank among the top three agro-producing states in Nigeria. His goal was to make the state a veritable producer of crops in Africa. To this end, the administration raised its budgetary allocation to agriculture by 500 per cent to N5.4bn in 2017.

On assumption of office, Obiano understood that agricultural intervention was necessary to boost the economy. He inaugurated an agricultural blueprint team to design a roadmap for developing agriculture in the state. The team, headed by a renowned agronomist, Professor C.P.E. Omaliko produced the blue print, which mapped the state to determine which crops performed well in certain places and recommend the way forward.

Obiano sent farm managers and farmers to South-East Asia to learn about rice planting, milling and processing. After the study period, the farmers returned to Anambra with more knowledge on irrigation techniques for rice. The trainings and certifications were done yearly to improve the agricultural knowledge base of indigenous farmers.

The man fondly called Akpokuedike established an agricultural training centre at the College of Agriculture, Mgbakwu. He supported the renovation of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agro Control Centre with internet facilities and other equipment. The Farmer Information Management System application was developed for collating data and mapping the farms and identities of all farmers into one database, directly connected to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

Obiano’s agricultural revolution made Anambra a major exporter of rice, vegetables, maize, cassava, oil palm and fish. Rice production in the state rose from 70,000 metric tonnes when Obiano took office in 2014 to 525,000 metric tonnes in October 2021. He commissioned JOSAN rice mill and Lynden Integrated Poultry Farms, a commercial farm that produces one million chickens yearly. By 2021, the farm began to export frozen chicken and poultry meat to other states in the region and beyond.

To boost mechanisation, Obiano procured new tractors and harvesters for farm clusters across the state, creating partnerships with E-force Agro Development Limited, specialised tractor operators and engineers, for the management of hundreds of tractors at Awkuzu tractor base.

The Obiano administration’s strategic partnership with Grafil, an Anambra corporate investor, resulted in the export of nuts, spices and tuber crops to other African countries, America and Europe.

The administration distributed farm inputs to farmers at subsidised rates, while creating more farming centres like the Eagle farms at Umuchu, Wonder farms at Umunze for the commercial rearing of Efi-Igbo, a unique species of cattle. Other farm clusters in the various senatorial zones in the state have apiculture centres for the maintenance of honeybees and bee hives.

The technocrat did not slow down his pace. He began to seek local and foreign investors to invest in the fertile farmlands of Anambra, to bolster the agro-economy. Coscharis Farms invested $150m in Anaku; $50m came from NOVTEC farms in Ndikelionwu; $160m from Joseph Agro Limited in Omor; $220m from Ekcel Farms, a tomato production farm, in Omasi; $11.4m from Tricity Integrated Farms and ultra-modern abattoir in Awka; $50m from the Songhai Delfarms project in Igbariam; and Grains and Silos with $40m investment in storage facilities.

Akpokuedike established several valuable organisations in Anambra, including the Fisheries and Aquaculture Business Development Agency, Anambra Small Business Agency and the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, a retrospective look at Anambra’s GDP during Obiano’s tenure revealed significant growth in billions of naira. The state’s IGR rose by about 29.32 per cent from N10.45bn in 2014 to N14.79bn in 2015.

In a nutshell, it is certain that pragmatic agricultural solutions can be applied to improve the national economy.

The new Federal Government can support agricultural production by providing quality seeds and supporting the cultivation of crops nationwide. Also, multi-sectoral committees need to be created to upgrade, upscale and upskill the agriculture sector. This will improve critical food systems, agricultural production and overall food supply.

Agriculture is central to sustainable development. The sector is critical for generating employment in rural areas, supporting the economy in farming communities, and ensuring food security. The sector has an essential role to play in improving Nigeria’s GDP.

Nigeria needs an agricultural intervention, and the time is now.