Revisiting agriculture for economic development

By: O. A Lawal

WITH the economic situation the country is facing, one feels this is the right time to revisit the development of agriculture if the country desires to achieve sustainable economic development.  In the 1960s, agriculture constituted the main source of employment. During the period of 1960s to 1970s agriculture contributed an annual average of 59 per cent of the GDP in Nigeria. And in terms of foreign exchange earnings, before the spectacular rise of oil as the country’s main foreign exchange earner.  The country was so blessed that each region had two or more cash crops that could generate substantial income for economic development. The West was blessed with cocoa, the North enjoyed groundnut and cotton, while the East swam in the production of oil palm and rubber.

Today, the groundnut pyramids of the North have become history, oil palm and rubber plantations in the East and part of the West have become moribund, while the production of Cocoa in the West has nosedived. Agriculture has more beneficial effects on the farmers than petroleum oil, in the sense that incomes from agricultural products go directly to the pockets of farmers while oil money goes to the government, which  should use it to improve the lot of citizens. But what we experience today is poverty all over the place because oil money not only encourages wasteful spending, it is also the harbinger of massive corruption in the society.  Today, inflation has eaten deep into the income of the citizens, particularly food inflation. According to available statistics, annual inflation rose from 33.2 per cent in March to 33.69 per cent  in April of 2024. Food inflation rose spectacular in most states of the Federation, rising up to about 48.62 per cent  in Kogi States. Others states do not fair better.

The attempt of the Central Bank to fight inflation through the monetary policy may not be effective, because there is budget indiscipline; the cost of governance is too high. The amount of money put into the economy through public spending is too much and this makes the Central Bank monetary policy counter-productive. While the supply of foodstuff is decreasing, the population which needs food is increasing thus creating a wide gap between supply and demand. And consequently a rise in the price. The reasonable solution that appears is to revisit agricultural development. And the question that arises is how do we do this. What strategies do we apply to improve agriculture. Various government policies designed to better the future of agriculture failed. Government policies emphasized economic divasification laying emphasis on agriculture. The Operation Feed the Nation under former President Obasanjo was haphazardly implemented. Even though the policy continued under President Shehu Shagari, not much was achieved.

The agric business strategy introduced by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, when Dr Adewumi Adesina was the Minister of Agriculture, was not vigorously pursued after the minister left. As a result of the failure of these policies, we are back to square one, where the supply of foodstuffs continues to fall. We need a policy that will incorporate some of these recommendations. In the first instance, state governments should embark on agricultural development, by purchasing agricultural equipments such as tractors, harvesters and a host of other equipments. Because of the high costs of these equipments, individual farmers cannot purchase them. These equipments should be on loan to individual and co-operative farmers. With the assistance of state governments, agriculture production will boom.  Besides helping individual farmers, state governments should encourage the establishment of cash crop plantations. For instance, the South-West should be able to establish both cocoa and oil palm plantations. The South-East should encourage oil palm plantations, the South South is for rubber and rice plantations, while the northern states should encourage groundnut and cotton plantations.  Each geopolitical region is blessed with favourable climate conducive for the growth of cash crops mentioned above. It is irony of history that Nigeria now imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, where history has it that Malaysia imported oil palm seedlingfrom Nigeria. Today, Malaysia is the world largest producer of palm oil. In some of the regions, particularly the South-West. Oil palm and oil palm plantations were created in many parts of the old Western Region. This is the right time to revive them.

For many years to come, agriculture will continue to be the largest employer of labour. There is urgent need to attract youths to the farms. This can be successfully done through the establishment of Farm settlements. State government, in particular, should provide a conducive environment for youths who wish to go into farming. In places suitable for both food and cash crop production, state government should build single or two room apartments, provide potable water and solar power for settlers. By this, thousands of youths, particularly those graduates in agriculture, will embark on farming. Settlers should be encouraged to embark on both cash crops production and plantations where visible, with financial assistance from the state government.  Additionally, local government councils be encouraged to embark on agriculture, particularly food crops cultivation. Each council should be allocated hectares of land on which to farm. This idea is not new, during the period of Buhari and Idi agbon (1984) local government councils in old Oyo State were encouraged to embark on farming, gari processing plants were established in some local government councils, and food became not only available but affordable for the citizens. Today, many of such farms had gone into oblivion. One of major problems affecting government policy is lack of continuity.

Encourage private entrepreneurs into agriculture. I need to emphasise that private entrepreneurs have a greater role to play in agricultural development. It is the private entrepreneur that can embark on large scale, mechanised agriculture. It is they who can embark on large scale commercial farming. It needs be realised that the government alone cannot revolutionise agriculture, without private sector involvement.  Agriculture should be developed in a way tosupply raw materials to industries. A study of developed country such as Britainshowed that agricultural revolution preceded industrial revolution. Additionally, we must not forget the role of research in agriculture. It is through constant research that agriculture can be developed. Fortunately, we have a number of agricultural research institutes in Nigeria. Cocoa research institute at Ibadan, Oil Palm and Rubber research in Benin, rice research in the North, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, to mention a few.These institutes were created to improve agriculture; those that are not functioning well should be revived.

They should be remolded and made to function to enable us increase our cash crop plantations and also increase food production. Recently on social media, some people were exibiting how yams can be cultivated in sacks. More research should be done on this, to enable us harvest yams more than once a year.  Besides, improving agricultural research centres, each state ministry of agriculture should provide agricultural extension services to farmers. And as explained, agricultural extension is concerned not just with physical and economic achievements but also with the development of rural areas. Extension agents discuss matters with rural farmers, help them to gain a clear insight into their problems and also decide how to overcome their farming problems.

Model farms should be established in all local government councils in the state, with constant assistance from agricultural extension officers from the ministry.

It is advisable we re-introduce marketing boards for some products, particularly cash crops such as cocoa, cotton, groundnut and rubber. Because of the assured markets provided by the boards, farmers are encouraged to increase production. Marketing boards will benefit not only the farmers but even the government who will be able to generate more revenue from the activities of the boards. This arises because the boards set the prices of commodities a bit lower than the world price. The eradication of marketing boards is a result of inconsistency in government policies. One of the major function of a responsible and responsive government is to provide security for lives and property of the citizens. A major reason for the drastic fall in the supply of foodstuff is lack of security. No rational farmer will embark on farming in a place where he can be kidnapped or killed and even his farms destroyed by the activities of the herders. There is urgent need to find solutions to the consistent farmers and herders clash, if the country is really serious in producing more food in order to eliminate food inflation.

Another aspect we need to emphasize is the provision of storage facilities. A large percentage of farm produce are seasonal in nature.  Most of them go bad within few days if they are not properly stored. This is the age of technology and with this new technology, farm produce can be stored for a long time. Such technology should be made available to our farmers, to enable them market their products throughout the year, not merely during the harvesting period. In conclusion, if the country is really desirous of economic development, we should go back to agriculture. Our dependence on a mono product for foreign exchange earning be discouraged. We need to embark on exportation of agricultural products, which used to be our main source of foreign exchange earning in the 1960’s. This is the time to revolutionize agriculture in order to achieve sustainable economic development.

• Dr Lawal, renowned economist and author, writes in from Bodija, Ibadan

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