The struggle to eliminate poverty and hunger through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) is positively gaining ground as farmers on various platforms continue to applaud the efforts of President Jonathan who has assured Nigerians that Nigeria will surpass its food production demand for the year 2014.
Agriculture in Nigeria used to be the mainstay of the economy until oil was discovered and the sector became neglected to the detriment of the whole nation. Sadly , this state of affairs led to increased poverty, unemployment and famine as the farming population dwindled.
The implementation of the agriculture transformation agenda marked a turning point as it promised to not only restore the glory of Nigeria through farming but ensure food on the tables of all Nigerians with enough left over for export.
This was confirmed by the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, who said Nigeria would surpass its target to produce 22 million tonnes of additional food by 2015.
Adesina made this known on Friday during a media chat on `Self-sufficiency in Rice,’ in Abuja.
According to Akinwumi: “When we started in 2011, our aim was to produce additional 20 million tonnes of food to the existing production, but as at the end of 2013, 17 million tonnes of additional food had been produced since 2011 and by 2015, 22 million tones of additional food would be produced,’’ he said.
Adesina said Nigeria was now the reference point for agriculture on the continent as the country was rapidly closing food importation gap. He observed that the impact of the agriculture transformation agenda was noticeable as food import had dropped by N2.5 billion in the last three years.
According to him, when ATA started in 2011, the land area for rice production was increased by 1.9 million hectares saying rice varieties known as faro 44 and 52 which was as good as the imported rice had been introduced to about six million local farmers.
Adesina said these varieties could give farmers five to six tonnes per hectare as to one to two tonnes per hectares hitherto produced by the local grain.
He said the intervention of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had seen the production of paddy rice grow from four to nine million tonnes in the last three years. Within the same period, “integrated rice mills had also grown from one to 18 in the country with lots of small- scale millers also processing the commodity.”
He said the ongoing revolution in the rice sub-sector was adding a lot to the domestic economy of rice producing states which had increased from10 at the start of the programme, to 22 states today.
The minister noted that a total of N750 billion had been added to the economy of the states, and thousands of jobs had been created as youths no longer seek cheap temporal jobs during dry season.
Adesina described rice importation as `prodigal economy’ saying that Nigeria had no business importing rice when rice could be grown in all parts of the country.
He blamed the situation on oil discovery, but acknowledged that the situation was changing as rice produced in Kebbi was being processed in Lagos, boosting economic relations between the states and creating wealth and jobs locally.
According to him, Nigerian rice was all over the markets and that Nigerians were consuming it without knowing as they expect the grains to be short, have stones and smell burnt. He alleged that “some companies package Nigerian rice in foreign bags to make them look imported.”
Adesina said the ministry was working in collaboration with the federal ministry of finance to set up paddy rice bulky collection centres where there would be guaranteed price for the commodity.
He said that rice importers must produce or process rice locally before they would be allowed to import to meet the total demand of the country.
On the menace of rice smuggling in to the country, Adesina stressed the need to protect local farmers by effectively manning the boarders, adding that government was determined to cub the activities of saboteurs.
He attributed the successes recorded in the sub-sector to the support of President Goodluck Jonathan, and the collaborative efforts of state governments especially their contributions to the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme.
He adviced unemployed youths to go into agriculture as people do not eat gas or drink oil but eat food to stay alive, urging them to form clusters as that would enable them have access to funds set aside by government to support youths in agriculture.
The minister expressed concern on the effects of climate change to agriculture produce saying that government was interested in proper insurance for farmers.
He said the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Cooperation (NAIC) had been repositioned to meet the demands of farmers saying, “Government was also putting an insurance programme in place called “Farming with Peace’’ which targets about 10 million farmers.”
Adesina described agriculture practiced with hoe and cutlass as `punishment,’ saying that government was setting up 250 agricultural equipment hiring centres across the country to enable farmers practice mechanised farming.
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