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Agriculture in focus
SALISU NA�INNA DAMBATTA
The contract signed by Nigeria to sell 3,000 metric tonnes or 60,000 bags of 50 kilogrammes of sorghum worth $800,000
or about N100 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations for delivery to the Darfur region
in Sudan, and the popular debate on the adequacy or inadequacy of allocating just over 2 percent of the N1, 600
billion year 2005 budget to agriculture, once again put this vital sector under the spotlight.
The Nigerian media and the people are right to be interested in and actually pay attention to a sector which every
assessor of the Nigerian economy says contributes over 40 per cent of the country�s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
every year.
But this article is not about the inadequacy or otherwise of that budgetary allocation. The focus is more on the
achievements in the sector in recent years, such as the 7 percent growth rate the sector recorded in the year 2003
as witnessed by the impartial and technically competent Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United
Nations Organisation. This growth rate was achieved after taking certain measures, including the National Special
Programme for Food Security (NSPFS), being jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture. The special programme is "aimed at assisting farmers to achieve their potential
for increased output, productivity and income on a sustainable basis."
One other remarkable achievement of the agricultural sector in this country is the attainment of over 85 per cent
self-sufficiency in food production. It is this self-sufficiency that made it possible for the country to officially
sell food to the United Nations. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Malam Adamu Bello said the Federal
Government has initiated a number of measures to improve on, consolidate and sustain this achievement.
It is appropriate at this juncture to clearly identify the specific stable food crops in which Nigeria has attained
self-sufficiency. They are millet, sorghum, maize, groundnuts, yams, cocoyam, cassava and vegetables such as pepper,
tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, spinach, sorrel, green beans, peas, and okra, pumpkin, lettuce and soya beans. The
country also enjoys self-sufficiency in a wide variety of fruits, including banana, citrus, grapefruit, pawpaw,
pineapples, guava, mangoes, plantain, walnut, pear and many others limited and relevant to and available in the
different eco-zones in the country.
There are authentic figures to support the self-sufficiency claim. For instance, the Director-General of the National
Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Dr. Kenneth Nwosu, was reported in The Guardian of November 1, 2004, as
disclosing that the country produces 34 million metric tonnes of cassava annually, the largest quantity produced
by any single country in the world. He also said that Nigeria produces 27 million metric tonnes of yam every year
and some 4 million metric tonnes of cocoyam in every 12 months.
"Production of Irish potato increased from 52,000 metric tonnes in 1975 to 500,000 tonnes in 2003", he
said while briefing a team from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Umuahia, Abia State. The country
is also self-sufficient in the production of sweet potato.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Malam Adamu Bello said in his 2004 Ministerial Press briefing that
the Ministry is engaged in the "distribution of cassava cuttings, seed yams, cocoyam and sweet potato vines"
to further boost their production under the Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (RTEP) of his Ministry.
Some experts say Nigeria is also self-sufficient in red meat, fish and poultry, but others argue that if it is
so, why is the country spending millions of hard-earned dollars to import frozen chicken and fish every year? Whichever
of the arguments is valid, one fact beyond dispute according to official documents, is that the country has the
largest concentration of cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and rabbits in the West African sub region. Minister of Agriculture,
Malam Adamu Bello said of the livestock sub-sector "this sub-sector is crucial to the economy. It accounts
for about 16 percent of Agricultural GDP."
The reader may be surprised to know that while seafood merchants import frozen fish to fill a supposed fish production
deficit in the country, Nigerians export smoked or dry fish to some West African countries.
Returning to the steps taken to encourage agriculture, in addition to the 25 per cent subsidy on fertilsers and
zero tariffs on imported agrochemicals, the government has selected certain key sub- sectors in the agricultural
sector for rehabilitation and expansion. Among these is the effort to intensify the production, processing and
exportation of cassava products to generate $5 billion for the country in a decade, the special focus on rice production
with a view to attaining self-sufficiency by producing 2.5 million more metric tonnes to end its importation, the
development of vegetable oil industry to raise its domestic production by 300,000 metric tonnes to become self-sufficient,
and boosting cotton production to feed textile mills in the country. Supported by the Federal Government, an array
of individual stakeholders in the industry in specialized committees and corporate organisations such as AFFCOT
of Yola, are making a joint effort in this national drive.
The Federal Government, through the National Cocoa Development Committee chaired by Malam Adamu Bello, has assisted
cocoa farmers in the cocoa belt to plant new trees, rehabilitate 15,000 hectres of cocoa plantation, reorganise
production and improve its processing and packaging. The overall effect of the work of the committee, according
to the Minister, is "increased cultivation and total production of cocoa." He indicated that whereas
14,217 hectres of cocoa were cultivated with a total production of 249,782 metric tonnes in 2001, some 23,989 hectres
were cultivated in 2003 with a total cocoa harvest of 281,837 metric tonnes.
The other tree crops for which Nigeria gained fame in the 1960s and up to mid-1970s, such as gum Arabic, shea nuts
and butter, cobra from coconut and cashew are part of the new initiative aimed at boosting their production for
both local consumption and export.
Indeed, Vice President Atiku Abubakar recently acknowledged the efforts made by the Governments in Yobe and Jigawa
States in developing Gum Arabic plantations. Each of the two states has planted millions of gum Arabic trees to
protect the environment, provide jobs to those tendering the trees and ultimately export gum Arabic to the economic
advantage of the people.
His advice to other state governments in the country to identify and specialize in the production of any agricultural
commodity in which they have comparative advantage deserves to be heeded by the remaining 34 states and the FCT,
which have yet to do so.
�Dambatta is Assistant Director (Information) in the Presidency.
© 2004 @ Champion Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved).
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