How to shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture – Daily Trust CEO
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Editorin-Chief of Daily Trust Newspapers Malam Mannir Dan-Ali has said the desired shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture in Nigeria cannot be achieved without conscientious efforts by all stakeholders in the sector.
Malam Dan-Ali, who spoke yesterday at the 3rd Daily Trust Agricultural Conference and Exhibition in Lagos, identified government at all levels, financial institutions, agro-allied industries, farmers as well as the numerous other corporate entities as crucial stakeholders that have one role or the other to play in the entire production and distribution process.
He stressed the need for a lot more action by both government and the financial institutions to stimulate increased funding interventions for the agricultural sector in the country in order to re-position the sector and enable it deliver the desired result.
“We have seen various intervention projects by government, even under the present administration, projects like the Anchor-Borrowers’ Scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are valuable. However, it is pretty obvious from our current situation that the government needs to do a lot more and urgently too in certain critical areas in the value chain.
“I believe that it is the desire of every critical stakeholder in this sector for government to influence the provision of a single digit interest rate for agricultural loans.
“Government also needs to ensure that duties and taxes for agricultural implements and equipment are either waived or drastically reduced to make agriculture attractive for millions of citizens,” he noted.
Malam Dan-Ali said the conference with theme ‘Re-positioning Rice, Sugar and
Dairy Production for Optimal Yield’, aims to address fundamental issues that relate to growth and development of the main artery of the nation’s economy, which is agriculture.
He further pointed out that the conference is coming at a time that a major continental policy, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which has the potential to help lift the Nigerian economy from its sluggishness, has just been endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria, he said, has the potential to not only feed itself but also export agricultural produce to its entire sub-regional neighbours, yet it imports huge quantity of its food requirement to sustain its massive population.
“For those of us who are either farmers or agricultural experts, we know that agriculture in Nigeria is still largely practiced at the rudimentary level even though about 70-80 percent of the country’s population depends on it for livelihood.
“This is fundamentally why we harness much lower yields from our agricultural production and at much slower pace. For instance, a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers(PwC) has shown that the average yield for rice production in Nigeria remains at two tons per hectare, which is about half the average in most Asian countries.
“Virtually the same scenario painted in the rice value chain applies in the case of numerous other crops over which Nigeria has economies of scale advantage, if it raises the production.
“I believe this partly explains why a recent report by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) listed Nigeria among 41 countries in need of external assistance for food due to high levels of food insecurity.”