‘Nigeria can do better than Pakistan in agric with irrigation system’

Can you shed more light on Pakistan’s experience in irrigation agriculture system?It is strange that Nigeria is still a net importer of food despite the fact that Pakistan is net exporter though blessed with less arable land and renewable water resources. We have 121million hectares of land for water while Nigeria has 262 million hectares […]

Can you shed more light on Pakistan’s experience in irrigation agriculture system?
It is strange that Nigeria is still a net importer of food despite the fact that Pakistan is net exporter though blessed with less arable land and renewable water resources. We have 121million hectares of land for water while Nigeria has 262 million hectares for water. That is enough to irrigate double more than Pakistan.
In 1947, we had the canal system in western Banjah which is Pakistan’s major food producer, coming from eastern Banjah which went to India. Unfortunately, in the winter we stopped it and we could not grow our crops that time which was a very difficult time for Pakistan. That exposed Pakistan to look for alternative sources and ways.Since then we have built 12 new barrages where we stock water. In 1960, we had an agreement with India under the water treaty in which two rivers were completely given to India and two others were also given to Pakistan. We built not only canals but connected them to make them lively to provide water to those communities which will suffer because of the closure of some rivers.
After independence, the canal system increased 37,000km but before then we had only 19,000km of canals which the British built. A canal in Pakistan covers 470 km and irrigates millions of acres of land. It was built during the British era but after then we built canals stretching 600km. Fifteen years after independence, we built canals which ran about 2200km. Those types of canals irrigate millions of hectares of land making the communities get richer. One thing you cannot find in Pakistan is people dying of hunger because they produce everything they need to survive on. Irrigation system right now is 56,000km canals and we have more than five million kilometer channels from canals to field. Pakistan has 33 percent arable land and Nigeria has 80 percent, which is equivalent to Pakistan’s total area. Nigeria is not irrigating up to a million hectares. The experience of Pakistan can be used. With 190 million people we are still net exporters.
You have been in Nigeria for some time now, is there any improvement in Nigeria’s irrigation system from your assessment of the situation?
There are a lot of excuses on that issue and I must say that the Minister of Agriculture has been working seriously to get subsidy for farmers. Although I didn’t see it but from the information I got, Nigeria is intending to build a 30,000km canal system. If 30,000km canal system is built in Nigeria, you will have the green revolution and poverty will be a thing of the past in the country because what you are growing is just for the raining season while the country’s farmers are idle during dry season. It means that 50-70 percent of your population virtually does not work in the dry season. If the canal system happens, all those 70 percent people will be working.
The problem is not lack of grants for projects and plans but execution. How far do you think we can go with the execution?
I am not sure because I didn’t get this information from the minister or the permanent secretary. From what we are seeing, the Minister of Agriculture is working. We cannot talk about the execution if there is no document backing it up. Once there is document one can then talk about the execution. There is talk about the project. You have about 74 dams and the country still does not have irrigation system. So if the government is planning as we heard from a very highly informed source, that the existing dams are being utilised, that is a very good step because infrastructure is there, Nigeria does not need money to build dams. You only need money to connect them to farm lands.
Another area is that of agric mechanisation, what is the level of mechanisation in your country?
Mechanisation or what we called tractorisation in my country is very high in Pakistan because we are producing tractors. We have capacity to produced 130,000 tractors per year and Pakistan is now exporting tractors to many countries including Nigeria. Some of the people producing them are exporting to Nigeria. There are local brands and international brands made in Pakistan. If you compare the prices, Pakistan has one of the cheapest prices for tractors.
Pakistan produced 25million tons of wheat last year and it is expected that this year it will increase to 27 million tons. When you go to a small township of 10,000 people, you will find about 500 to 900 tractors in that town. Tractors are common commodities in my country. They are not difficult to find around like you experience here. When you compare Pakistan’s tractor prices to others made in other countries, our tractors are cheaper. For instance, a 50 horse power tractor cost like N700,000, Nigerian money, for the local ones. If you go for the internationally produced ones, you can buy a 50horse power tractor for N1 million. There are three categories of tractors as you know. The 50, 60 and 75 horse power tractors and the last one cost about N1.8 million which is the best in the world because there is no where you can get such price.
Do you consume all the wheat or export some?
We export part of it and also eat some of it.
But Nigerians are good business men, how come they have not taken advantage of this opportunity?
They are buying tractors from Pakistan.
Apart from the effective irrigation system adopted in Pakistan to enhance agricultural production, what would you say Pakistan has done to enhance agriculture which Nigeria has not gotten right?
We have created centres of excellent in agric research which started with research on seeds. For example, we have researchers on rice seeds and we introduced the seed last year which is producing the highest yield. Similarly, our scientists have produced seeds for maize, wheat, sorghum and so many other food varieties including mangoes. We have scientists who have created more than six varieties for mangoes that are juicier, tastier, and accepted worldwide.
Every year, there is improvement in our seeds. For instance, if we had 1000 seeds in the 1940s now it is four times more. This is the improvement. Agriculture research institutes play that role and they have been doing that effectively in Pakistan. Every research institute in Pakistan has something to its credit which is a different variety. Like rice, we have seven varieties of rice that is called Irri which has high yield, is very delicious and nutritious.
Do you have any challenges in terms of storage considering the scale of production of the products annually?
Government has silos for seeds. There are two agencies that buy from farmers. Every year we announce seed support price. It is some sort of relief to the producers that when they produce and nobody buys the government buys. Government gives the agencies target, they buy from farmers and store in silos. Government buys at $300 per metric ton.Whether the price goes up or down it buys at that same price. Farmers grow those seeds with assurance that government will buy from them.
Majority of Pakistani farmers are subsistent farmers, they produce for themselves. About 65 to 70 percent of people do that. About 30 percent are not subsistent farmers, they farm and sell their output in the market for others while 70 percent also sell part of what they produce to buy some other commodities. That way, almost every farmer sells something. Government is providing the balance and the debt insurance is there.
What about the fruits part of it, how did your country achieve the world quality standard that has enabledit to export and earn foreign exchange?
Our research institutes play very important roles. They have been working on different fruit seeds, creating new varieties like grapes without seeds and that are very delicious. Similarly, they have created oranges that are seedless for more juice. They also created mangoes with lots of juice but small seed. Apple and other fruits were created by our institutes.
Also price mechanism is very damaging to some of the products in Nigeria because of differences in prices. It is mandatory for companies to maintain maximum price in Pakistan. But they don’t charge less and they cannot charge too much.