Agriculture is declining in Nigeria, ex-minister says

Bello, who served as minister during the regime of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, told Daily Trust that official records showed that when he became agric minister in 2001, the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) of the agricultural sector was 3.88 percent.He said this climbed to 7 per cent in 2007, but the sector has been declining since […]

Bello, who served as minister during the regime of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, told Daily Trust that official records showed that when he became agric minister in 2001, the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) of the agricultural sector was 3.88 percent.
He said this climbed to 7 per cent in 2007, but the sector has been declining since then, as shown by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) annual reports covering 12 years – 2000 to 2012.
Bello said, “Since then (2001), the GDP for agriculture has been growing until I left office. It is on record that from 1990 to date, the GDP for the agricultural sector recorded its highest growth, during the Obasanjo regime when I was the minister for agriculture in 2006 and 2007 when it recorded 7.40 percent and 7.20 percent respectively.
“These are official records made available by the National Bureau of Statistics as released by the CBN.
“Adesina came to office as Minister for Agriculture in 2011 when the GDP was 5.60 percent and by 2012, when he was one year in office, it declined to 4.00 percent. That was the much he could do and yet he is saying that he is the best performing minister for agriculture.
“As a minister, you should not blow your trumpet yourself by saying you have provided this and that. Government has an agency for reporting growth. The records are there to tell anyone what the Obasanjo-led government has done in the agricultural sector.”
Bello spoke in reaction to comments by Agric Minister Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, claiming that Nigerian farmers have never had it so good. Adesina had said the sale of fertiliser by previous administrations was marred by corruption and that the new system has checked the problmes of the past. He said up to N873 billion fertiliser subsidies were stolen by corrupt officials since 1980.

But Bello told Daily Trust that the agricultural sector is not growing under the present administration.
He said if the incumbent minister had been performing, “our national grains reserves would have been full. At least government would have been forced to intervene in the grain market, but it is absolutely not there. I don’t know whether on fertiliser people have been calling you journalists to tell you that farmers have fertiliser in abundance?
“I have also heard the minister saying that he is turning agriculture into business rather than a development. So, if I may ask, how can you turn agriculture into a business when you are giving farmers only two bags of fertiliser? What kind of business can a two-bag of fertiliser farm do? With two bags of fertiliser, how will you tell me that you are turning agriculture into a business? No, I think we need to be sincere.
“Take the case of cassava bread. Cassava bread was first launched under the leadership of President Obasanjo when I was agric minister. We pushed cassava bread; there were regulations to include cassava to make composite flour, imposing 10 percent. Later on it was reduced because the supply of cassava flour was very low to about 5 percent. Now he came in and was launching cassava bread. Why don’t we acknowledge achievements of others? It was unfair when President Jonathan was launching cassava bread several years after we had launched the same cassava bread and cake. Why do we do that? Why not acknowledge the achievements of others and build on them?”