FGN Agricultural Transformation Agenda: How Viable?

Written by Tuesday, 13 March 2012 05:00 -

On 9 September, 2011, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development presented to the Federal Government Economic Management Team at Abuja what he described as the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). The presentation was classical, academic, professional and with tempting projected goals. The document is complete in both content and context. This blue print for agricultural transformation is commendable. However, there are some grey areas that will need to be looked in to.

Preamble

About 70% of Nigerians are engaged in the agricultural sector. Agriculture contributes about 47% to the GDP while contributing less than 10% to the export earnings. Regrettably, the poverty rate in Nigeria is so high that she occupies 133rd position in the World when it comes to per capital income. The ATA presents a very rosy future for agriculture and its projected contributions to the economy. Let us look at the sectorial allocation to Agriculture in 2112 and determine if we can place so much hope on ATA. In the last 30 years, an average of 2% of the annual budget have been allocated to Agriculture. Surprisingly, this year only 1.64% of the total revenue was allocated to agriculture. How can we have a turn-around in agriculture with this? Although ATA is pivoted on the private sector, I would however suggest a cautious optimism on the part of the Hon. Minister on his anticipated performance of agriculture towards changing our economic woes.

Planting materials

The use of genetically superior planting materials (seeds, seedlings, stems etc) for optimum yield must be adopted if the programme must be successful. In Nigeria, there are improved varieties of several crops but comparatively, crop yields in Nigeria are the lowest when compared to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil. These lower yields per unit area of land result in poor productivity and lower remuneration and tends to make agriculture less attractive. Regrettably, 5% of the Nigerian farmers utilize improved seeds for planting. Many farmers still hold tenaciously to their local varieties or landraces for planting. The Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) proposes the use of about 166 million cassava stems, 3,000 metric tons of sorghum seeds, 111.0 million cocoa seedlings, 3000 metric tons of cotton seeds and 11,000 metric tons of rice seeds for planting in 2012. This appears highly over ambitious and I have my doubts how this can be achieved. It will conservatively require a minimum of nine months to produce cassava stems for planting. Vanguard Newspaper of 11 January, 2012 reported on eleven seed companies procuring N30 billion loans from the banks for seed and fertilizer

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FGN Agricultural Transformation Agenda: How Viable?

Written by Tuesday, 13 March 2012 05:00 -

procurements. The names of some of the companies appear very unfamiliar in the seed industry in Nigeria. It is necessary to advise that improved seeds to be used in this project must have undergone regional field trials. The seed companies in their haste to deliver must avoid the temptation of procuring seeds outside Nigeria for this Project. I also want to observe the intention of ATA in introducing Bt cotton varieties into the programme. It is important to warn that the use of genetically modified crops should be avoided for now. The story of Bt cotton in India where many farmers were alleged to have committed suicide due to their inability to pay their loans is very fresh. Secondly, we have no functional legal framework for biosafety on GMOs in Nigeria. In addition, risk assessment facilities for GMOs are not available.

Fertilizer

The most contemptuous issue in Nigerian agriculture is fertilizer procurement and distribution. One of the major reasons for poor crop yield in Nigeria is the lack of use of fertilizer. The national average consumption of fertilizer is 13 kg/hectare which is even below the African average. This abysmally low consumption rate of fertilizer is a major cause of low productivity of Nigerian agriculture. Fertilizer use fell from a peak of 1.2 million metric tons in 1992 to a mere 56,700 metric tons in 1997. A subsidy of 25% on fertilizer has been adopted by federal government while additional subsidies were provided by some States. The tragedy is that in spite of these subsidies only 30% of farmers are able to procure fertilizer for use. The rest of the farmers either purchase at uneconomical prices of N5,000 7000/bag or failed to use the product. In a country where 70% of its citizens live below $1.0 (N165.0)/Day, how can they afford to buy fertilizers at N5,000 per bag. In the past, government has been responsible for procurement, distribution and sales of fertilizers but in the AFA document the private sector will be responsible for procurement, distribution and sales of the product while Federal and State Governments will distribute fertilizer subsidy vouchers. The voucher system being facilitated by IFDC is said to have worked in Kano, Bauchi and Taraba states between 2009 and 2011. What is the guarantee that this system would not degenerate into an ugly cartel saga now plaguing fuel subsidy?

In a country that is rated 143rd on the world corruption index by the Transparency International what is the guarantee that there would not be loopholes for fraud? We may also ask will the estimated 70% of the Nigerian population engaged in agriculture benefit from the voucher coupon subsidy, if no what happens to those that will not be part of the programme?

(J. E. ALIKA Ph.D, Professor of Plant Breeding and Biometry contributed this piece from the University of Benin)

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FGN Agricultural Transformation Agenda: How Viable?

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