The 2014 Independence Day Celebration and Agriculture in Nigeria: Any Hope for the Youths?

As Nigeria celebrates 54 years of independence, a lot of people, especially the nation’s youths, are voicing their discontentment and showing disinterestedness in the goings on. they are turning their backs to the activities. A lot of them seem disillusioned, having experienced shattered dreams over the years. The one burning question in their heart is: What’s the difference between the 54^th anniversary and the 10^th, 15^th, or any other anniversary for that matter? What hope is there for us in this country? Partly, this is not their fault, for selfishness and greed had destroyed Nigeria’s economy over the years. Different governments and regimes came and went with no other impact than empty treasuries and plenty empty promises. Indeed, Nigerians and a lot of others in the world are wondering why a big brother like us would not live up to our name, the so-called Giant of Africa.

Well, if you are one of those who wonder and think this way even for the present Nigeria, I’ll advise you to keep reading. This write up offers some insights. And it explains why and how things are beginning to change. Many national and international stakeholders are recently becoming optimistic that with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) on course, the sector (and alas, the nation) is facing its greatest success since the discovery of oil. How, you may ask.

The Annual Agricultural Performance Survey carried out by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in collaboration with several national research institutes and the Federal Department of Extension has provided several indices/statistics indicating tremendous improvement/growth in the nation’s agricultural sector. The reality of agricultural performances in the field is indeed a pointer to the youths that there is a brighter future for those who will embrace farming as business!

You will recall that prior to the 1960s, the nation’s agriculture sector was not only vibrant but was a major source of generating income and subsequently a major contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP). It was a platform for poverty alleviation, job creation and provided most of the foreign exchange through the farming of cocoa, groundnuts, cotton and palm produce among several others which was used to develop and create various infrastructures in the nation.

But the discovery of oil in the 1960s led to a total neglect of the sector, while investors rushed to partake of the national cake, leaving agriculture to the very few who practised at a subsistence level. This neglect made agriculture to become poorly funded and practised at a subsistence level. Farmers suffered severe postharvest loss, it became unattractive to youths and generally non profitable for investors and funding managers.

Now, 54 years after and with the knowledge that oil cannot last beyond three decades, the Federal Government, through the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, set up the ATA with the aim of making agriculture more attractive to not just the ageing farmers but youths through the setting up of the Nagropreneur in 2012.

Today, ATA has successfully registered over 14 million farmers in its database to benefit from the growth enhancement scheme (GES).  Hear our honourable minister:

We developed Nigeria’s first ever database of farmers so we can identify farmers and manage farmers identity. Over 14.5 million farmers have been registered in the past three years. Nigeria is the first country in Africa to do this and the farmers are being migrated into the national e-identity card system which allows the use of their biometric information to effectively target them and open them up for financial inclusion.

The federal government has also alluded to ending four decades of fertiliser sector corruption within 90 days, and with it the era of government buying and distributing seeds and fertilisers. It has been replaced with a private sector-driven system with the role of government shifting to providing targeted farm support directly to farmers for seeds and fertilisers via electronic coupons on mobile phones or “e-wallets.”Between 2012 and 2014, more than 12 million farmers received subsidized farm inputs using electronic vouchers on their mobile phones to directly pay private sector input retailers.

To further enable the private sector seed companies to develop, the Federal Government has ended government monopoly over foundation seeds and opened it all up to the private sector, so that the number of seed companies in Nigeria rose from 5 to 80 within three years, while multinational seed companies have begun to invest in Nigeria, including Syngenta and Dupont, two of the largest seed companies in the world, as demand for seeds has far outstripped supply. Private sector investments in fertilizer manufacturing have also expanded with $5 billion of private sector investments in fertilizer manufacturing between 2011 and 2014.

The sector has also witnessed a revival as the share of total bank lending expanded from about 2% in 2011 to 6% in 2014. Bank lending to seed companies and agro-input dealers expanded from $10 million in 2012 to $63 million in 2014; while bank lending to fertilizer companies expanded from $100 million in 2012 to $500 million in 2014.

 The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also designed and launched a $100 million private equity fund, the Fund for Agricultural Financing in Nigeria (FAFIN). This was done jointly with the German Government and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority with an initial capitalisation of $33 million. Managed by private sector fund managers, FAFIN is providing equity and quasi-equity long term financing for Nigerian agribusinesses across the value chain.

So tell me. Should we be asking whether there is hope for the Nigerian youths? Shouldn’t we be asking, instead, how to key into this coaster roller of transformation (ATA) and become as successful as possible? So, the question is not what hope, but how to take the opportunities offered by ATA; how to charge into the doorway presented by ATA for all Nigerians. Don’t wait, ask for information. Remember, information is power. Without it you will continue to grope in the dark.

You need info: contact NAERLS, ABU Zaria. Log on to www.naerls.gov.ng and see what opportunities lie ahead of you.

Africa Spends $35 Billion Annually on Food Export

Like the picture in this post, African countries keep pursuing one chicken in vain, wasting their energy in fruitless exercises,  when they can grow a thousand birds to feed themselves and others. Just this week, our own minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said that given the abundant endowment in Africa, the continent should not be spending $35billion annually on food importation.

Adesina made this observation yesterday in Nairobi, Kenyan capital, during the official launch of the Kenya-Nigeria Agribusiness Forum and the signing of MoU on bilateral trade between the two countries.

“With the unfolding global realities, where you are going to have the greatest impact is in making agriculture a business everywhere in Africa,” the minister posited.

“Whether in seeds, fertiliser, storage, processing or adding value, everything about agriculture is business. That is why I don’t understand how Africa will be spending $35billion every year importing what it produces. It should be producing a lot more. Africa has no business importing food.”

Adesina noted that “Africa should be a dominant player in global food and agricultural market,” adding “we have land and water; we have cheap labour, and so, we should be dominant. We shouldn’t be spending $35billion a year importing what we produce. Because if we do that, we export jobs; we decimate our own rural economy; we fast-track the whole process of rural-urban migration and we have congested cities.”

His Kenyan counterpart, Hon Felix Koskei, lamented the backward state of agriculture in the continent and in Kenya and Nigeria in particular, observing that “the dominance of primary production and marketing in crude forms are common to Nigeria and Kenya. These translate to low prices, few job opportunities and low income for farmers. Changing these will increase the income to our farmers.”

Koskei too wondered why Kenyan tea has to make a detour to another African country after first going to Europe. He disclosed that Kenyan tea comes to Nigeria through Europe under different trade names, but called for an end to the trend.

One day, I know,  the sleeping giant of Africa will arise and fly.

Release of More Higher pro-Vitamin A Cassava to fight Micronutrient Deficiency

Hernan Ceballos (left) CIAT Plant breeder with IITA Cassava breeders Peter Kulakow (middle) and Elizabeth Parkes (right), harvesting the new cassava varieties in Ibadan

Three newly improved vitamin A cassava varieties with yellow roots have been released by the Nigerian government, stepping up efforts to tackle the problem of vitamin A deficiency especially among women and children in the country. These new varieties were developed jointly by IITA and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike.

The three varieties—UMUCASS 44, UMUCASS 45, and UMUCASS 46—are the second in the series of pro-vitamin A varieties released in the country, and are commonly known as NR07/0220, IITA-TMS-IBA070593, and IITA-TMS-IBA070539.

The new varieties have a pro-vitamin A content that averages 10 parts per million (ppm) based on fresh roots as compared to the first series (UMUCASS 36, UMUCASS 37, and UMUCASS 38 commonly known as IITA-TMS-IBA011368, IITA-TMS-IBA1371 and IITA-TMS-IBA011412) that were released three years ago with a pro-vitamin A content of between 6-8 ppm.

Dr Peter Kulakow, IITA Cassava Breeder, said that the development of the varieties demonstrates strong collaboration between scientists at NRCRI and IITA which benefits Nigerian farmers and especially women and children who suffer from vitamin A deficiency.

Afflicting almost 20% of pregnant women and about 30% of children under the age of five, vitamin A deficiency results in stunting in children, predisposes them to sicknesses such as diarrhea and measles, and even premature death. In pregnant women, vitamin A deficiency results in night blindness and increases the risk of mortality.

Measures to address this deficiency include dietary diversity, fortification, supplementation, and now biofortification.

In 2011, researchers from IITA and NRCRI with funds from HarvestPlus developed the first series of biofortified pro-vitamin A cassava varieties to help reduce the incidence of vitamin A deficiency especially in the rural communities.

Dr Chiedozie Egesi, NRCRI Cassava Breeder, said this newer set of pro-vitamin A cassava varieties will play a role in attaining the goals of the Cassava Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria and help improve cassava food products such as gari, fufu, high quality cassava flour, cassava bread, and starch.

“This new set of pro-vitamin A cassava varieties have increased beta-carotene levels as well as matching agronomic characteristics as an incentive for better farmer adoption,” he added.

Prior to their release, participatory varietal trials involving farmers were conducted across 10 states in Nigeria, the world’s top cassava producer, cutting across the different agroecological zones.

The varieties have potential yields of 32–36 tons per hectare; they branch either moderately or profusely and possess yellow roots.

Farmers love the varieties, helping to increase the acceptance of “yellow cassava”, thanks to HarvestPlus; researchers forecast a high adoption rate for the varieties.

The next steps include the rapid production of breeders’ and foundation seed stock so that commercial farmers will have access to these new varieties. This process involves advocacy and education on the processing, marketing, and storage of products from these varieties to derive the maximum benefits from these varieties.

Plant Breeders are not resting, Hernan Ceballos, cassava breeder from CIAT in Colombia has developed biofortified germplasm that IITA breeders are actively using in crosses to select for even higher beta carotene germplasm.

The development of these varieties is funded by HarvestPlus. Other partners include the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), and various Nigerian government agencies.

MAIZE: Nigeria releases first generation of herbicide-resistant hybrids

The Nigerian National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) has released the first generation of maize hybrids, resistant to metsulfuron methyl herbicide, that are also endowed with resistance to the noxious parasitic weed Striga hermonthica.

The hybrids were developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with DuPont Pioneer Seeds using conventional breeding with funding from IITA and the Integrated Striga Management in Africa (ISMA) project as part of strategies to control S. hermonthica in maize.

The hybrids were released as P48W01 and P48W02 and are recognized as IITA IR-Maize Hybrid 2 and IR-Maize Hybrid 4. The hybrids have a yield potential of up to 5 t/ha under Striga infestation in comparison with local varieties that produce less than 1 t/ha in such conditions.

“These hybrids are the product of introducing a single nuclear gene that confers resistance to imidazolinone herbicides, including metsulfuron methyl (MSM), into inbred lines with known field resistance to S. hermonthica,” Dr Abebe Menkir, IITA Maize Breeder, said.

Recent baseline studies conducted under the ISMA project showed that farmers ranked Striga as the number one constraint to maize production in northern Nigeria, with 50 to 100% of the households reporting Striga incidence in their farms. The parasitic weed infests more than 9 million ha planted to millet, maize, and sorghum in Nigeria and severely lowers the production capacity of these crops.

Dr Menkir said yield losses in maize from damage by S. hermonthica varied from 20 to 80% among subsistence farmers, but 100% loss could occur in susceptible cultivars under severe infestation in marginal production conditions.

The released herbicide-resistant hybrids allow seeds to be planted that have been treated with low doses of metsulfuron methyl herbicide. This targets S. hermonthica before or at the time of its attachment to the maize root, killing the parasite underground before it inflicts damage on the crop. These hybrids can thus be used to deplete the Striga seed bank in the soil and minimize yield losses in subsequent cereal crops. MSM-reated seeds of these hybrids can be integrated into the diverse farming systems in Nigeria because the herbicide effectively controls the parasite at a low rate of application.

The ISMA project works with the private sector to catalyze the process of producing and marketing treated seeds of herbicide-resistant maize hybrids to smallholder farmers in Nigeria to control S. hermonthica.

Other collaborating partners engaged in extensive testing of these hybrids include the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) and Agricultural Development Programs in Bauchi and Kano States.