By Dimeji Shobowale (Agric & Food Security Correspondent)
Perhaps nowhere is Nigeria's missed opportunity clearer than agriculture. At independence in 1960, agriculture was the backbone of the economy and the principal source of exports.
Successive governments later launched major programmes: Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) of the General Olusegun Obasanjo military government; the Green Revolution of President Shehu Shagari administration; River Basin Development Authorities; the agricultural credit schemes; the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure of the General Ibrahim Babangida military junta; the National Fadama programmes; the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of President Good luck Jonathan administration; the Anchor Borrowers' Programme of the Muhammad u Buhari administration; the fertiliser and seed interventions; and the various mechanisation initiatives.
The problem has rarely been absence of programmes. It has been continuity, implementation, corruption, insecurity, poor rural infrastructure, inadequate irrigation, weak extension services, limited access to affordable credit and poor storage and processing. Agriculture remains enormous. The World Bank says it accounts for about a quarter of national GDP and employs more than one-third of Nigeria's labour force. But climate shocks and insecurity are worsening crop losses.
Nigeria's future agricultural strategy therefore cannot simply mean producing more cassava, rice, maize or yam. It must mean creating agro-industrial value chains.
The country must move: from farm to factory; from raw produce to processed goods; from subsistence to commercial production; from seasonal farming to irrigation-supported agriculture, and from commodity export to value-added export.
Land administration must be modernised. Rural roads must connect farms to markets. Storage and cold-chain infrastructure must reduce post-harvest losses. Agricultural insurance and affordable credit must become functional. Research institutions must work directly with farmers and processors. And insecurity must be treated as an agricultural policy problem as much as a security problem. NNL.
