Harnessing agriculture for economic growth

 The finite nature of hydrocarbon resources, the waning economic power they confer on exporters as numerous other sources emerge, and the intense search for more efficient and cheaper fuels by the consumer nations, led policy makers to turn to agriculture. The sector has always been the bedrock of the Nigerian economy and the only one […]

 The finite nature of hydrocarbon resources, the waning economic power they confer on exporters as numerous other sources emerge, and the intense search for more efficient and cheaper fuels by the consumer nations, led policy makers to turn to agriculture.
The sector has always been the bedrock of the Nigerian economy and the only one so far with the efficacy to give the country the sort of sustainable economic growth needed to cater for the wellbeing of a growing population of over 170 million now and in the long term.
As Nigeria goes to the drawing board to chart a plan for its future economic prosperity with oil and gas as important, but not the mainstay of the economy, it is pleasing that the planners are agreeing that the agricultural sector, the largest employer of labour and contributor to the country’s total economic output or Gross Domestic Product (GDP), holds the key to our future national prosperity.
The World Bank reported Nigeria’s GDP as worth US$262.61 billion in 2012. The agriculture sector contributed 47 per cent to that figure, which translates to over US$163 billion. This shows that, despite the supposed neglect suffered by the sector in the advent of oil and gas sector in 1958 which is cyclically booming on and off, the data from the World Bank is merely conforming to a trend since the estimate of Nigeria’s GDP started in the 1930s.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Bureau of Statistics, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and several other sources of reliable, credible and quotable data on the Nigerian economy, always indicate that the sector contributes more than 44 per cent to the GDP annually.
I can recall that in a speech during the commemoration of the World Food Day about a decade ago, former Minister of Agriculture, Malam Adamu Bello, pointed out that the livestock component of the sector’s contribution to the GDP alone, at 19 per cent then, was a full seven percentage point above the Oil and Gas sector’s contribution of 12 per cent to the GDP.  
It is important to note that beyond conferences and analyses, past governments in Nigeria have taken many steps toward harnessing agriculture for economic growth with various degrees of success, and the current government, in continuation with that tradition, has formulated and is implementing an Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). It is a major plank of the overall national transformation blueprint of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The implementation of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, introduced by this Administration, has accelerated performance in the sector through the value chain development initiatives,” the Mid-term Report of the administration launched in July 2013 said.
The Mid-Term Report emphasised the economic contribution of the agric sector: “The agricultural sector has continued its dominance in the economy with its contribution to the GDP averaging 40 percent during 2011-2012. It currently employs about two thirds of the entire labour   force and has sustained its position as the highest contributor to non-oil gross domestic product, contributing 47.17 and 45.49 percent, in 2011 and 2012 respectively.”
Of course, the country has a tiny manufacturing sector that contributed a meager 4.18 percent on average to the GDP in 2011 and 2012, according to the Mid-Term Report. Incidentally, the manufacturing sector is dominated by food processors that found opportunities and are making fortunes along the value chains of several agricultural commodities.
 The value chain of the livestock sub-sector spins both money and jobs.  A full development of this value chain will consolidate existing jobs, generate new ones, earn hard currency for Nigeria and reduce the importation of footwear and other leather goods from China and Europe.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta is a Federal Director of Information