- A report on how Nigeria has fared in food security, import substitution, job creation and economic diversification has been released
- The report specifically focuses on the Agriculture Promotion Policy of the federal government
- The policy was described as a policy without the political will to execute, and hence, a failure
The Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) of the federal government, with the objectives of attaining food security, import substitution, job creation and economic diversification, has been described as a policy without the political will to execute its mandate, and hence, a failure.
The policy was thorn to shreds by The Green Alternative, which stated, in part, that: “In 2016 to 2020, Nigeria’s policy now needs to be readjusted to solve the aforementioned challenges.
“The go forward federal priorities (in partnership with the state governments) will be the following four: food security; import substitution; job creation; and economic diversification.”
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The Guardian dissects the performance of the Buhari's administration in the four areas:
1. Food security
The United States’ Department of Agriculture’s World Markets and Trade recently revealed that more than three million metric tonnes of rice had been imported into Nigeria this year. Its report also stated that Nigeria’s local rice production dropped from 2016 to 2018 compared to the situation in 2015.
Corroborating the data, the country representative and regional coordinator of Africa Rice Centre (AfricaRice), Ibadan, Dr Francis Nwilene, noted that Nigeria’s demand for rice per annum hovers around 7.8 million metric tonnes, while production still hovers around 5.8 million metric tonnes.
The figure points to the fact that Nigeria is far from being food self-sufficient, let alone being food-secure.
Also speaking, the regional coordinator of the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), Professor Kolawole Adebayo, while explaining how the government policy has failed, said he would not rate the government high either in diversification of the economy, in creation of opportunities in agriculture or in food security.
He admitted that the government has done some things, but has not done as much as one would have anticipated from a government that has, as one of the cardinal objectives, the aim of diversifying the economy through the sector.
“I think, as soon as the government saw that the oil price was getting better, it turns its face to the oil again rather than invest in the agricultural sector. Have they done any major investment in agriculture? No. All that this government has done is tapping from the existing projects or ideas rather than creating a conscious set of investment ideas to drive agriculture as an alternative economic opportunity. I would not rate them high,” said Professor Adebayo.
“If you want more money, then you have to invest,” says an adage. That is an area that we have not got it right as a nation. The agricultural sector has been in a shambles for too long. And we have not made deliberate investments in extension services and rural infrastructure that would make the areas more attractive to young people. We have not put in place a marketing system that would encourage those who dare to go into agriculture to have certain markets for their produce,” he added.
Post-harvest losses in the country are traceable to non-induatrilisation of most of the crops. These losses are estimated to be nearly 40% per cent of the agricultural products, especially in vegetables and fruits.
Poor financing and too complex funding schemes have also been identified as a barrier to food security, for almost all small-scale farmers are excluded, on the ground of process complexity of the facilities.
2. Import substitution
Tomato paste, egg powder, exotic fruits and vegetables (from South Africa to Shoprite), vegetable oil, maize for industrial and animal feeds production are still being imported. Industrial tools and machinery that local fabricators in the country are capable of producing are still imported in large quantity, because the government has failed to organise and empower the local fabricators to deliver local contents despite the Executive Order Five on local sourcing.
Professor Samuel Olakojo, a maize breeder at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan, said importation of rice has reduced because of the presence of some large-scale rice farmers.
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However, he said importation of maize and wheat would continue to augment the local production because the majority of the maize farmers are small-scale farmers, and they are restricted by some factors.
The factors, he said, include stoppage of 50 per cent fertilizer subsidy emplaced by the last administration and planting of maize grains as seeds resulting in low yields.
3. Job creation
Pastor Reno Omokri had claimed that based on the last report on the unemployment figure by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 7.9 million Nigerians were unemployed in 21 months of this government, and therefore, has failed.
NBS’s failure to release data on the current unemployment figure has also been interpreted as hoarding of the information to avoid revealing the alarming figure and the failure of the government.
More firms are closing operations in Nigeria and banks sack workers every quarter in the last three years, an Ibadan-based regional agric credit manager in one of the oldest banks in the country, who preferred anonymity, told The Guardian.
Olakojo said in term of job creation, the government has not done much. “The little I can credit to the account of this government is that some multinational companies have come into the country and they are taking agriculture to a higher level, and they are able to employ some experts working with them. But a lot of their work is highly mechanised. That suggests they would not need many workers.”
4. Economic diversification
Crude oil still remains the mainstay of the economy. The 2017 GDP of the sector was 24.44 per cent. Agro-industrialisation has been crippled by deteriorating power supply, with agro-allied firms folding up, relocating or producing below capacity.
Olakojo said though the government appears to be making efforts to diversify the economy, the efforts have not yielded positive results to the gross domestic products.
The herder-farmer crisis is a major issue preventing significant contribution of the sector to the economy. Some farmers have shifted to planting of cashew that could not be destroyed by cattle. A good number of youths needed on the farm are motorcycle riders and politicians are not helping matters by empowering them with motorcycles and pepper grinding machines instead of helping them to farm and contribute to food production.
The fall army worm infestation since 2016, Olakojo said, has added to the failure of agriculture to shoot up contribution to the economy. This is further aggravated by the climate change.
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Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently said President Muhammadu Buhari’s sole concern is that Nigeria's resources must be used for the man and woman who need it the most and this explains the focus of the administration’s entire economic policy.
The vice president stated this on Tuesday, November 27, while monitoring the ongoing disbursement on the N10,000 collateral & interest-free loans under the Trader Moni Scheme in Dutse, the Jigawa state capital.
He explained that all the federal government had tried to do in the past few years was to give hope to the common Nigerian through the various schemes for women, men and youths, regardless of their backgrounds.
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