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.