By Jilams Odigwe
Agricultural development is considered to hold the key to economic development for most sub-saharan countries including Nigeria. -Timothy .O: (Challenges and Prospects of Agriculture in Nigeria: The Way Forward 2012:37). This fact is also confirmed by the richest man in Africa and a foremost individual at the forefront of agricultural development in Nigeria Alhaji Aliko Dangote in an interview published in Bloomberg markets “ …….. We have Land, we have water, we have the climate –we shouldn’t be a massive importer of food……..by 2019, we might be able to actually create about 290,000 jobs in agriculture and that is what you can do to empower people”. This is therefore one of the key viable prospects of agriculture and major fortune associated with it. 
It is no longer news that one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign promises was the development of the agricultural sector. The persistent focus on agriculture is not surprising especially due to the dwindling oil prices in the oil market which is grossly affecting the Nigerian economy. Agriculture itself has failed to keep pace with Nigeria’s rapid population growth, so that the country which was once an exporter of foodstuffs now have to import significant amount of food to sustain itself. Agriculture is made up of four sub-activities namely crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing. The contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) varies but according to a recent survey of the sector contribution to the GDP, Agriculture currently contributes about 38.4% to Nigeria GDP (NBS 2015), but if the sector is properly harnessed, it will also contribute significantly if not the highest to our foreign exchange earnings.
According to Timothy .O (2012; 37), in the past, agricultural activities and foreign trade have driven growth performance of the country. During Pre-independence era, the Nigerian government was able to execute investment projects from its earnings from agricultural products exports. In the 1940s and 1950s, Nigeria’s agricultural export commodities contributed over
75% of the total annual merchandise exports (indicate your source and year). During this period, agricultural products dominated Nigeria’s non-oil export trade accounting for nearly70 percent of the value of non-oil exports. Agricultural export commodities such as cocoa, rubber, cotton, palm oil, palm kernel, groundnut and coffee played a prominent role in economic development by providing the needed foreign exchange for capital development projects. Thus, the agricultural export commodities, constituted the main export trade basket of the colonial period.
Nevertheless, introduction of petroleum into the nation’s export trade had changed the composition and structure of the export trade. The oil sector, which initially contributed modestly to the economy in the 1960s, became more important in the 1970s and it is now overwhelmingly important to the point of the economy becoming over-dependent on it, providing about 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, as well as 65per cent of budgetary revenues (CBN 2010).
Agriculture creates wealth along the entire value chain through production, value addition and industrialization. Import substitution and export of commodities or processed goods conserve foreign exchange and enhance balance of trade…. Nigeria is the third largest importer of wheat in Africa after Egypt and Tunisia. Nigeria’s import of wheat is about 3.97 million tons per annum. Couscous (burabisko) can be produced from millet, sorghum, maize and wheat. Grain flour is used to make corn flour (Akamu), corn flakes, (krispies, frosties), spaghetti, breakfast cereals, etc. There is no justification therefore for the imports of these processed foods which can be produced in the country.- Shehu G. Ado(Agriculture: Panacea for Nigeria’s Economic Recession 2017 )
From the perspective of sustainable agricultural growth and development in Nigeria, one of the fundamental constraints is the peasant nature of the production system, with its low productivity, poor response to technology adoption strategies and poor returns on investment. It is recognized that agricultural commercialization and investment are the key strategies for promoting accelerated modernization, sustainable growth and development and, hence, poverty reduction in the sector. However, to attract investment into agriculture, it is imperative that those constraints inhibiting the performance of the sector are first identified with a view to unlocking them and creating a conducive investment climate in the sector. The development challenges of Nigeria’s agriculture are therefore, those of properly identifying and classifying the growth and development constraints of the sector, unlocking them and then evolving appropriate strategies for promoting accelerated commercialization and investment in the sector such that, in the final analysis, agriculture will become one of the most important growth points in the economy.
First of all, let imagine a nation without food, it will be detrimental because everyone knows food is life and that fact is shared across the world. Therefore, if every revenue generated is used to import food, the country will be at a great loss and the economy will suffer untold hardships even though other sectors of the economy are functioning properly. The balance of trade will be to Nigeria’s disadvantage. It is therefore imperative that we understand the importance of agriculture and creating an enabling environment for it to survive. During the past administration, the then Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina made so many reforms in the agricultural sector creating transparency especially in the fertilizer supply chain. This amongst other achievements should be build upon by the present Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, if his principal’s objective of making Nigeria self-sufficient is to be realized.
Nigeria is our country and as such political ideals or any other ideologies should not be allowed to truncate the progress made in this sector. If possible, efforts should be made to develop each region according to their comparative advantage. This would mean that places where crops can successfully thrive should be utilized effectively for a bountiful produce. This would make a
Piece of land suitable for farming utilized. We have the resources to make this country completely self-sufficient and even an export powerhouse of foodstuffs. We also stand to gain tremendously from this sector in all aspects of the economy.
- Nigeria has 84 million hectares of fertile land and also boasts of two of Africa’s largest rivers, however, just over 40% of the arable land is used for agriculture.
- Nigeria is the second largest producer of tomatoes in the Africa and the thirteenth largest producer in the world (1.2 million tonnes)
- Nigeria hosts the largest dwarf goat population with approximately 11 million in the southern part of Nigeria.
- Nigeria produces 1.5 million tonnes of chicken every year, but we consumes 6 million tones every year.
- Nigeria is the largest producer of shea nut and its shea qualifies as one of the best in the world. (naij.com, 2016)
Also we have abundant cash crops which are grown in abundance across the country. It can be divided into root (cash) crops and tree (cash) crops. The root cash crops are Cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, etc and tree crops are Rubber, Oil Palm, Cocoa, etc. These tree crops are very popular and are the main cash crops of the country. In fact in 2010, Nigeria was the world’s largest producer of sorghum and currently is the second largest producer of millet, sweet potatoes, cashew nuts, groundnut, the third largest producer of Palm Kernels and fourth largest producer of cocoa beans. However, with all these feats, not much has been done in the agricultural sectors and the challenges seem to remain stagnant or even increase. (www.naij.com, 2017)
It is estimated that the arable land available is enough to feed the country’s population of over 170 million people, yet most of the food consumed is imported. In other survey, we have the ninth highest hectares of land available for agricultural purposes. (www.nationmaster.com). Currently, over $20billion is spent yearly on importation of food and interesting if half of this amount is channeled into the agricultural sector, there will be a tremendous impact and an improvement in food security. To achieve this, there must be some challenges we need to tackle for the sector to grow.
First, there is the problem of marketing; we produce so much agricultural products that we hardly market them. Farmers who engage in farming have to market their produce themselves which is painstaking and at times, produce with short lifespan perish before it can get to the consumers. The government must therefore make plans to consolidate the efforts of these farmers so their goods don’t go to waste by helping them market their goods. They can liaise with the local government heads in this regard.
Secondly, there is the problem of adequate storage facilities. If food is not available at the right time and in the right form, there will be no improvement in food security. This is why there must be adequate structure for storage and processing of food. This is important for a country to survive. E.g Indonesia had one of those massive typhoons which affected their farmlands and they were not able to grow rice, but because they had adequate storage facilities, they were not only self-sufficient but able to export to other countries for a long time. This is therefore the importance of storage in improving the food security of a nation.
Another challenge that agriculture face is that of unstable inputs and output prices: It is important that various materials needed to cultivate farmland are purchased at exorbitant prices which in turn lead to high cost of foodstuffs. This therefore must be addressed as major farm inputs such as tractor, agro-chemicals, machetes, etc have been rising over the years. Also the rising cost of fuel has lead to the rising cost of farm inputs thus aggravating the cost of production. It is therefore in the hands of the government to make this farm inputs affordable and accessible for farmers.
Another challenge is the availability of labour; Human labour is vital in all production systems accounting for 90% of all farm operations. The supply of labour is affected by unending migration of able-bodied youths from the rural to urban areas creating labour shortages especially at peak periods Timothy (2012: 40). One way of combating is to first make the sector attractive to the young ones and create much awareness about agricultural importance for societal development. Also, we have Federal Universities of Agriculture which are some of the best Universities in Nigeria. The graduates of such universities especially the exceptional ones should be encouraged and given an opportunity to put into practice what he has learnt. This will in no doubt go a long way to make the students to understand the importance of their field to the country.
Finally, the government policies on agriculture should be reviewed. Agriculture has come a long way from what it used to be in 20TH century to what it is now. It is imperative those previous policies be reviewed and efforts made for agriculture to have free access for its development to occur. This review of policies will make it possible for the private sector to invest their money in it.
This article might have centered mainly on the government but also the private sector needs to be involved in this process also. There should be a joint effort from both the public and private sector to revamp this area of our economy. It is important to note the British fought hard to colonize this country because of our natural resources which were mainly agricultural, but ironically left even after oil was discovered in 1956. That was just an indirect message that agriculture or food is life and the sooner we understand it, the better for us.
Odigwe Jilams from Warri, Delta State
08160274120, Ji68946@gmail.com
