Governments urged to invest heavily in agriculture

A call has gone to government at all level to make agriculture a viable sector in the country by investing heavily in it.

Making the call was the immediate past Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Professor Akapan Hogan Ekpo, during a breakfast meeting at the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce in Lagos.

He urged the governments to make the business of agriculture a viable one, so that the people would not see it as an occupation that belittles them.

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Highlighting one of the challenges being encountered by those interested in the sector as unavailability of land, Prof. Akpan noted that those who have arable lands do not have the Certificate of Ownership (C of O), which makes it impossible to access loans from banks.

He added that Nigeria needs visionary leaders to grow the economy so that the youths can stay and venture into the sector, rather than seek greener pastures elsewhere.

According to him,“People that studied agric in school don’t even want to venture into it. Even the school lacks practical facilities for the students. If they can be empowered, they would see it as a good business. That’s the way to go to make agric a viable sector.”

The former DG further indicated that the increase in output of Agric production in Nigeria is still due to nature (rainfall), adding that modernized production which involves large scale farming now depends on science and not on nature.

Stressing the need for quick passage of budgets, he noted that the time and period budgets are being passed, has an implication on the economic growth of the country.

“If the budgets are not passed on time, the investors don’t know the next step of the government regarding the various sectors. There is an anticipation from the sectors and if delayed, the implication will last more than the time delayed.”

“A budget is a one year plan and the capital part of the budget should be derived from the plan. So if it comes out on time, we’re good to go. Delayed budget delays economy from making progress.” He said.