Agricultural Productivity in Nigeria Abysmal Due to Rising Cost of Farm Inputs – Experts

The Chief Executive of Nigerian Agricultural Mechanisation And Equipment Leasing Company (NAMEL) Dr. Ahmed Adekunle, has described agricultural productivity in Nigeria as terrible lately.

He stated that Nigeria’s agricultural productivity is growing at less than 1 percent which he lamented is not good for the country as it poses a lot of challenges.

While speaking at the flag-off of the Rural Agricultural Development Consortium (RAD-C )with the theme ” Repositioning Nigeria Agriculture for Global Competitiveness” in Abuja, Dr. Adekunle disclosed that the reason for the slow growth in the nation’s agricultural sector is due to the 200 percent increments in the prices of farm inputs.

In his words, “Today with the rising cost of farm inputs where there are over 200 percent increments in the prices of herbicides and fertilizers, the cost of a tractor in 2013 was 5.5 million naira but today it has increased to 35 million Naira for the same tractor.

“The price of diesel has increased by almost 300 percent and our population is projected to be 263 million by 2030 and 401 million by 2050 according to Development experts yet our agricultural productivity is growing at less than one percent.

“The question is how then do we feed the over 250 million people by 2030? How do we achieve so much economic diversification and be part of the global agriculture competitiveness like Brazil, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, etc?

He further proposed a solution that would solve Nigeria’s agricultural challenges, by stating that the country’s agricultural sector needs to be repositioned to enable it to compete for global competitiveness and also to address the issue of food insecurity in the country.

He said the implementation of the RAD-C Model was necessary, as it would fast-track projects for national food, nutritional and social security.

This model according to him is not going to compete with smallholder farmers for the available lands but will develop the unused contiguous arable lands, opening new opportunities for the communities and the farmers.

It should be recalled that on September 30, 2022, Investors King reported that Nigeria’s Agricultural sector performed below its potential, after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that agriculture accounted for 23% of the country’s GDP.