Creating jobs via agric: How prepared is Ogbeh?

There is no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is desirous of generating employment for the teeming unemployed youths in Nigeria through agriculture. Three months after the appointment of ministers, it appears the minister is still fine-tuning strategy on how to attract Nigerian youths into agriculture. But before Chief Audu Ogbeh rolls out his programme […]

There is no doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is desirous of generating employment for the teeming unemployed youths in Nigeria through agriculture. Three months after the appointment of ministers, it appears the minister is still fine-tuning strategy on how to attract Nigerian youths into agriculture. But before Chief Audu Ogbeh rolls out his programme on agriculture, he may well bear in mind the following issues:
One, the Ministry of Agriculture must be restructured and re-positioned to truly reflect business character. Currently, the ministry is run like a faculty in the University environment with departments and unit heads. The minister must reform the ministry to have the followings: Finance and Investment, Production, Marketing & Research, Corporate Communication/Farmers Information Service, as well as Legal/Land Administration. Anything short of re-positioning the ministry along this line will clearly mean that the Buhari administration is not ready to make farming a business.
Two, the Buhari administration must define who a modern farmer is vis-a-viz, the desire of government to provide employment via this sector. In determining who the farmer is; government can then determine the level of Mechanization that could be undertaken to accommodate the youth population.
Three, another factor that must be taken into account is access to land. One funny thing about Nigerian leaders is that when it comes to matter affecting them as individuals, they tend to solve them pretty well. Almost all the former Presidents and Head-of-States in Nigeria have farm lands. Their intention for enquiring the farm lands was to enable them access loan from the banks among other positive considerations. This invariably put them in better position to expand their business. But when it comes to farming to feed the nation, we still see these leaders encouraging peasant farming, what a shame!
Four, the government must make decision between full Mechanization and current Fertilizer agriculture policy. Shamefully, it was in the twilight of 2013, when United Nations hinted that Africa will suffer hunger and starvation, unless, they embark on full Mechanization, that the then ministry  of agriculture, under Dr. Akinwumi Adesina embraced mechanization albeit, in an unwilling manner. Generally, government had no intention of going into mechanized agriculture then but for UN’s intervention.
Five, in the area of granting loan to farmers, government must ensure that only the core farmers get access to the loan. A situation where Agric Loan are given to those entrepreneurs engaged in food processing, should not be encouraged by Chief Audu Ogbeh-led Agriculture ministry. For instance, anybody involved in the business of Rice mill cannot in strict term, be called a farmer, because he is involved in food processing. Not agriculture.  He is at best, an entrepreneur. Core agricultural process terminates at a point the farm produce are ready for sale, this is called Farm Gate.
Now that Chief Audu Ogbeh has spoken forcefully on full mechanization of agriculture to provide employment for the teeming unemployed youths in Nigeria; what is urgently needed is a comprehensive blueprint towards this laudable agenda.
Emeka Oraetoka can be reached at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; 08056031187, 07030300284.