- Agriculture Can Sustain Nigerian Economy — Experts
In a bid to break the monoculture system and widen the resource base of the economy, agricultural experts have advised that Nigeria should return to agriculture fully as it can sustain the economy.
Speaking at the 2017 Agra Innovate West Africa conference in Lagos, the President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Nike Akande, said that agriculture had the potential to become the most significant way to achieve economic development in Nigeria.
Akande, who described agriculture as a very significant sector, said more attention should be paid to the industry as it could provide employment for more than 75 per cent of the unemployed population in Nigeria.
According to her, Nigeria is endowed with the capacity to produce a variety of agricultural products if the right resources were provided to farmers.
The President, Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere, stated that agriculture consists of many activities and not just farming.
“We should all focus on agriculture because it has a lot of potential. Lagos State, for example, has the biggest food market in Africa. According to researches, Mile 12 market has been reported to generate a turnover of over N4bn per day,” he said.
Ijewere further said that the nation’s heavy dependence on oil had negatively affected the economy, and advised the government to invest more in the agricultural sector.
In an exclusive interview, the Executive Director, Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, Dr. Gbola Akande, also stated that agriculture alone was enough to sustain the Nigerian economy.
According to him, there are countries that do not have oil, but are surviving purely as agrarian economies.
He said, “Agriculture is the surest way of generating resources and at the same time, reducing unemployment. However, we must add value to our agricultural produce.”
Meanwhile, the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation says it is supporting smallholder farmers across the country with loans, fertilisers, farmlands and irrigation systems.
It also announced its readiness to support the initiative of the Federal Government to enhance agricultural development, poverty reduction and create successful entrepreneurs from rural farmers.
This, it said, would ensure large-scale food production and improve the skills of farmers migrating from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming.
The Director, BATN, Mr. Yusuf Agemi, who gave this indication at an event organised by the foundation in Abuja, said that arable farmlands, effective irrigation systems, fertilisers and financial support were being given to smallholder farmers to ease their farming methods and boost agricultural productivity in Nigeria.
He said, “We are giving loans to smallholder farmers at an interest rate that is below single digit. Funding has been a major challenge to them; so, we are doing this in collaboration with the Federal Government, thereby increasing from their initial five hectares of land to more land space.
“We are also focusing on cassava development, rice, maize and vegetable cultivation. We are supporting the farmers with irrigation so that they can have enough water all-year round. We are helping them to get real high quality input and high yielding grain.”
Agemi added, “The support also includes providing them with the right quality fertilisers for their inputs, as well as helping them in clearing the land using tractors. This year alone, we have developed modern enterprise farms to train farmers on modern ways of farming.”
In her address, the Chairman, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria, Mrs. Nike Akande, said it was important to develop the value chain in collaboration with private sector operators, in order to ensure climate change consideration.
She said, “More than half of the nation’s population live in rural areas and are mostly peasant farmers. Therefore, adequate attention should be shifted to agriculture, especially efforts that will enhance the economic fortunes of the rural and smallholder farmers, because this can positively turn the economy of the nation around.
“However, this cannot be achieved without the development of the value chain components for our agricultural produce. So, the private sector is critical to the development of the desired value chain component for our agricultural products. It is the private sector that will drive the process and government must create conducive environment.”
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