BEYOND THE AGRICULTURE CENSUS REPORT…(11)

· Continued from yesterday

 This is time for the Tinubu administration to give practical effect to the much talked about diversification of the economy 

Agriculture remains the dominant sector of the economy, contributing about 24 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is the largest employer of labour, employing more than 36 per cent of the labour force. But Nigeria’s push for self-sufficiency over the years has been undermined by many challenges. As the ‘National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) Report 2022’ has revealed, the sector is battling with resource shortages – ranging from inadequate access to finance, shortage of inputs like seedlings and fertilizers to inadequate irrigation and outdated system of farming, all leading to inefficiency.

With a population of more than 200 million people, agricultural productivity is insufficient, making the

country a net importer of food. It is projected by experts that no fewer than 25 million Nigerians, particularly in the Northeast, are facing acute hunger.

The hope is that with the data now available, there will be more investments in the sector. This will likely increase output in the value chain to meet the nation’s demand for food and employment. That is important at a period when the prevailing economic downturn has worsted the capacity of Nigerians so much so that necessities of life, including food and healthcare, are becoming luxuries. 

 Meanwhile, available statistics paint a dire situation of millions of idle youths condemned to the street corner and economically inactive. A combination of sustained negative economic growth and an uncontrolled demographic bulge has put the country in a very difficult and potentially explosive situation. Unfortunately, the response from the government to these challenges remains incoherent. This is therefore time for the administration of President Bola Tinubu to give practical effect to the much talked about diversification of the economy from oil to agriculture. 

 We are particularly worried that Nigeria continues to neglect cash crops like cocoa, oil palm and groundnuts, which for years constituted the mainstay of the country’s economy. In the early 1960s, Nigeria’s palm oil production accounted for 43 per cent of the world production, but now it accounts for less than seven per cent of global output, with most of the production coming from dispersed smallholders. The case of cocoa is lamentable because Nigeria used to rank among the first five largest producers before the neglect. Nigeria’s cocoa production which peaked at around 400,000 tonnes a year in the 1970s now accounts for far less. This is despite the best efforts of the National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC) to rehabilitate old firms, supply heavily subsidised agro-chemicals, start new plantations or replant aged ones with high-yield trees, and promote the local consumption of cocoa-based products to boost prices. 

  Also, the famous groundnut pyramids, which hallmarked the groundnut boom in the 1970s started disappearing with the discovery of oil. Not even the establishment of the African Groundnut Council under the aegis of the African Union to promote the production, consumption and exportation of groundnut oil in six countries of Africa including Nigeria, has helped matters. Like the case of oil palm, groundnut production is done today mostly by small holders. Worse, the largely subsistence agricultural sector has not kept up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria, once a large net exporter of food, now imports most of its food products. Even with all the arable land, Nigeria is now a nation that cannot feed its people. 

To the extent that reliable and timely statistics are boon for policy formation, planning and evaluation of progress of programmes and projects, we hope that relevant authorities in Nigeria will take the ‘National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) Report 2022’ seriously. That is the only way to demonstrate commitment to revamping a critical sector that is capable of putting millions of our young people to work.