We need a paradigm shift in the agricultural sector

At the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue, an annual event, held on Thursday, January 23, 2025, the state of the agricultural sector was laid bare. One stakeholder after another dissected the besetting challenge of food insecurity in Nigeria. In examining the topic: Food Security: Availability or Affordability, the speakers, among them active private sector players and […]

At the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue, an annual event, held on Thursday, January 23, 2025, the state of the agricultural sector was laid bare. One stakeholder after another dissected the besetting challenge of food insecurity in Nigeria. In examining the topic: Food Security: Availability or Affordability, the speakers, among them active private sector players and government officials, provided a clear insight into how the priorities of governments over the years had missed the target of providing food security and how several socio-economic policies hamper sustainable food production.

Though the most visible militating factor against massive food production is the seizure of large swathes of farmlands in the North by marauding bandits, the cross-fertilisation of ideas at the dialogue revealed that the country’s reliance on antiquated agricultural methods is a major impediment. It was evident that with the erosion of Nigeria’s soil due to climate change and population growth, the yields per hectare of Nigeria’s soil have drastically diminished. Yet, we have not deliberately taken advantage of techniques other societies with similar environmental challenges have adopted to produce more food per hectare. In the modern agricultural system, it is not necessarily the size of land available that determines the quantity and quality of food that could be produced. The main determinants include using high-quality seeds; proper irrigation facilities; managing pests and diseases; utilizing fertilisers based on soil needs; adapting to changing weather patterns and weather forecasts to make informed decisions; and other technology-driven measures.

The Nigerian authorities are not unaware of these measures, but most times they are approached half-heartedly, without the necessary commitment that should produce the desired results. Most of the research outputs of Nigeria’s agricultural research institutes, which are carried out through grants from international organisations, are not harvested and applied optimally. There is a yawning gap between these research institutes and the mass of farmers, mainly in rural communities, who produce the bulk of the food that feeds the nation. It is a known fact that the hoe-and-cutlass farming technique cannot take the country to the Promised Land. However, the politically contaminated measures for acquiring improved agricultural machinery have led to a waste of resources. With the size of the market for agricultural implements, it beats the imagination why there are no industries that manufacture improved and adaptable tools for our farmers.

Though the Special Guest of the Dialogue and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abass Tajudeen, told the audience that there were some 15 bills before the House, all tailored towards improving food production and affordability, what the country needs may not be a multiplicity of legal statutes about agriculture. It may not even be about the creation of fresh bureaucracies. It is high time the country rather engaged in the best practices that have accelerated food sufficiency in other countries. Fortunately, the private sector is leading the way. Two speakers, Rev Father Geoffrey Nzamujo, of the Songhai Farms in Benin Republic, and Ms Mira Mehta, of Tomato Jos, demonstrated bumper outputs from the application of science and technology to agriculture. If players in the private sector could do so much, the results from similar government investments can only be imagined. It is heartwarming that the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Muktar Maiha, has come up with innovative measures to modernise the livestock sector. We encourage the minister to be persistent until the livestock sector in Nigeria realises its full potential.

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We challenge the three tiers of government to step into the agricultural sector and play their part in stimulating growth in production and sustainability. They must come up with realistic policies that can help rural farmers, especially by supporting them with loans, grants, high yield seeds, fertilizers and improved machinery. Our farmers need the support of our agricultural extension workers; they need the support of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet) to be guided on when to plant and harvest their crops. It is not too early for the country’s technology experts to innovate Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools that could provide early warnings and guide farmers on the health conditions of their livestock and crops.

The federal government must not abandon agriculture to private sector players. First, it must tackle the 15-year-long insecurity that has made farming a deadly activity in our so-called ‘ungoverned spaces;’ spaces that could be used to produce food for the population. The government must ensure that macroeconomic policies, like the devaluation of the Naira, taxation, inflation and the like, do not hamper food production. As far as food availability and affordability are concerned, Nigeria has reached its crossroads. It will be disastrous if the situation gets worse than it is now. The only way to avert the looming misery is to change our old ways and engage in new agricultural production methods.