Coffee remains a big revenue spinner in the world market. But Nigeria’s production has fallen to less than 60,000 metric tonnes yearly. Stakeholders are calling for efforts to reposition the industry to enable the country earn more foreign exchange, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Coffee is a source of livelihood for more than 12 million households in Africa, says the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), a United Kingdom-based organisation.

Over 38 percent  of the population of Burundi, 23 per cent of  Tanzania, 22 per cent of Uganda, 17 per cent of Côte d’Ivoire and 14 per of Ethiopia, for example, depend on coffee farming. However, Nigeria has not been recognised since the crop production has, for over two decades, been on a downward spiral.

The global market for coffee shops is projected to reach $237.6 billion by 2025, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. Also, coffee shops are going to become icons of urban neigbhourhoods. Globally, agro entrepreneurs are pushing for increased domestic coffee consumption.

Driving the product in Nigeria is the Chief Executive, Happy Coffee Nigeria, Princess Adeyinka Tekenah, whose mission is to ensure that Nigerians have access to local coffee.

In 2015, miffed that though Nigeria grew coffee, people were drinking imported products, she launched Happy Coffee, an indigenous coffee brand.

From the pop-up café, the company started bagging its house blend, which is freshly roast coffee from farmers. She is among a new breed of entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on coffee. They are betting that wealthy Nigerians will cultivate a cafe culture that can also spur consumption of local crops.She is supporting research across the industry supply chain, from the farm to production.

Princess Tekenah sees the next wave of growth in the international coffee industry coming from Nigeria and wants to play a role in driving the growth. She  has been part of a comprehensive stakeholder consultation study to understand the problems of coffee industry and also to find ways and means to get coffee farmers out of deep distress and debt.

But there is no one super bullet that can kill the pain of coffee farmers, because the challenges they face are too many.

While coffee has the potential of a key priority agricultural commodity in Nigeria, there aren’t many policies to support the development of the sector.

At present, spending on coffee, according to Fitch Solutions, is 2.5 percent, compared to tea or cocoa, which are forecast to account for close to 40 per cent of Nigeria’s non-alcoholic drink spending by 2023.

According to it, consumer coffee spend for Nigeria is set to hit $286.8million in 2023 Despite this, farmers are not tapping the potential as the produce has seen a significant dip in production and export.

There are two coffee varieties in Nigeria – Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is grown on the Mambilla,Taraba State; Jos, Plateau State and Obudu in Cross Rivers State.

Robusta is produced in Abia, Osun, Ondo Ekiti, Kogi, Edo, Plateau, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Benue, Delta, Nasarawa, Niger, Kaduna, Lagos, Rivers, Ebonyi and Enugu states.

However, analysts believe a competitive coffee market will boost local production.

Despite lack of data, Princess Tekenah claimed that many farmers were involved in its cultivation. Therefore, improving the coffee sector could have a positive impact on development as well as the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable small farmers whose income are dependent on the crop.

In collaboration with AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX), a private commodities exchange firm, Princess Tekenah said her company was establishing a data platform to help coffee farmers. Also, she claimed that the High Commissioner of Uganda in Nigeria Ambassador Nelson Ocheger had promised to support the sector with expertise.

Princess Tekenah said a bill for an act to establish National Tea and Coffee Development Council had passed second reading at the Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Yusuf Yusuf (APC Taraba Central), seeks to promote growth, production and marketing of tea and coffee. If passed into law, it would enhance the rapid diversification of the sector.

To boost competitiveness, she suggested that the government had to develop a master plan to revitalise the sector.

Oloni of Eti-Oni, Osun State, Oba Dokun Thompson, was confident that smallholder farmers could raise coffee quality.

He advocated that the government, work alongside farmers on training – from agricultural practices and farm renovation to post-harvest techniques.

This, he said, would help farmers to achieve higher yields and quality standards that would open up opportunities for them to secure premiums from certification and specialty markets, while lowering their production costs.

Oba Thompson, who has been working  with  international partners to explore ways for farmers to bring in higher returns, said though Nigeria produced some of the most valuable specialty coffees, farmers got only a small share of the profits.

He saw a similar thing in the cocoa sector. Since then, he has provided a springboard for farmers to get better prices for raw beans, learn about branding and consumer marketing, and develop business partnerships in foreign markets.

He said there was the possibility for producers to sell their coffee as the market remain untapped, stressing that many farmers were supplying high-quality arabica coffee. According to him, the  geography of Nigeria is ideal for coffee cultivation. In the Southwest, coffee and cocoa represent two of the most important value chains, where they are grown by more than 10,000 farmers and support thousands of jobs.

Nevertheless, the stock of coffee trees is aging and, coupled with a changing climate, farms’ productivity are threatened with increased risk of devastating crop diseases.

The National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, would not want the situation to deter producers and investors.

Ibrahim noted that Nigeria’s coffee was highly appreciated in the global market and that a significant number of opportunities existed for farmers to maximise benefits from the sector, not only in production but at the downstream stages.

With a growing demand for quality, he said encouraging private investment in the industry could lead to the expansion of large-scale commercial plantations and improved quality and productivity.

He hinted that investors were coming in, including Starbucks Inc, associated with the highest quality coffees.

Starbucks has been working with farmers worldwide to produce high-quality coffee beans.

A senior expert with the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Dr. Busayo Solomon Famuyiwa, said the coffee industry needed to experience a resurgence after decades of stagnation. He has seen it all with more than 15 years’ experience researching coffee and other cash crops.

Although the demand for coffee has been increasing, he observed that there had been a dramatic decline in production over the past few years. The reasons, he added, included declining plantation areas, degraded soil, ageing coffee trees, lack of business attitude, knowledge and skills among coffee farmers and little adoption of best farming practices and management.

He explained that coffee production was volatile fot those reasons, noting that a lot had to be done to revitalise the sector and support and encourage coffee farmers with the best coffee agronomy practices and processing techniques.

The reviving of  the coffee industry, he  maintained, would be life-changing for smallholder farmers and CRIN was working to help train farmers in technical skills, providing hands-on lessons in the field at demonstration plots where the participants can see the impact of adopting best practices.

One of the challenges of farmers is market, Famuyiwa said, adding that the institute has solved it.

He was optimistic Nigeria could become a super exporter of coffee, if much is done to empower more farmers to follow modern practices, including use of fertiliser, pesticides and fungicides.

Though Nigeria has proved that it can produce good coffees, Famuyiwa sees farmers earning more premium prices with suitable input, rehabilitation of plantations, and better management of soil to increase the quality of produce.

While CRIN is collaborating with the government to lead an ambitious replanting programme, Famuyiwa said the need for producers to get training in orchard management. The institute had established nurseries to regenerate coffee trees and created a policy that puts farmers in touch with fair-price buyers.

Famuyiwa reiterated that the mission of  CRIN was  to grow, protect, enhance the supplies of quality coffee and improve the livelihoods of the families who produce it.

He noted that one of the biggest challenges facing coffee research was that it is a tree crop; it takes a longer time to grow a tree.

According to the Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC), between 2010 and 2015, about N1.5 billion worth of coffee products were imported into the country.

Several factors have been attributed to the country’s dwindling production, the majority of which have forced farmers to abandon coffee for other crops to make ends meet.

According to analysts, most of the coffee plots are old and farmers have suspended major activities on their farms.

The Secretary-General, National Coffee/Tea Association of Nigeria (NC/TAN), Dr. Usman Hassan, said due to low prices, some farmers plucked their tea, pound it locally and dry it on the ground to sell, saying: “This is not conventional, but because of the demand for tea in Nigeria, it is still marketable.

“Today, Nestlé is anchoring coffee production in Côte d’Ivoire. They bring this coffee to Lagos, process and sell it to Nigerians. They even have a platform on financing coffee production in that country.

“Why are they neglecting Nigerian farmers? Coffee/tea farming alone can employ more than 20 million people if attention is given to it. Twenty-one states, including Abuja, produce coffee in Nigeria,” he stressed.

Thousands of people in Central and West Africa are benefiting from Nestlé’s efforts to boost sustainable coffee from bean to cup. These include coffee farmers to sales people.

Nestlé agronomists visit participants’ farms and teach them how to grow coffee more sustainably. As part of the plan, by this year, the company is committed to providing farmers worldwide with over 27 million high-yielding, disease-resistant coffee plantlets, developed by the Nestlé Research and Development Centre in Abidjan.

In line with this, the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) has joined forces with the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) and the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) to launch the $950 million Africa Coffee Facility (ACF) to boost Africa’s coffee industry and achieve a 40 percent increase in high-quality exports worth $5 billion yearly.

The ACF is projected to transform Africa’s coffee production – currently 10 per cent of the global coffee market – into a vibrant and resilient industry again.

Coffee contributes a significant proportion of tax income in a number of these countries.

IACO Secretary-General Dr. Fred Kawuma said: “Africa produces some of the highest-quality and much-loved coffee in the world but its contribution to the global coffee trade has declined significantly since the 1970s.

“The ACF is an ambitious fund, which seeks to attract private and public sector investment to transform Africa’s coffee industry from a subsistence to a commercial or entrepreneurial approach where millions of smallholder coffee farms will see their livelihoods significantly enhanced.‘’

The first-ever Donors and Partners Conference has been held under the theme “Financing the African coffee value chain through the Africa Coffee Facility”.

Things are looking up for the extension services subsector, after a year of neglect by the government. The Federal Government is building the capacity of extension workers to boost their service delivery, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues continue to drive food insecurity, the Federal Government is aiming to reach more Nigerians who rely on agriculture for their survival and livelihoods through interventions to boost local food production and nutrition.

It has focused attention on agricultural extension services. This is because agric extension plays a major role in raising productivity by helping farmers to identify problems and sharing information.

In Nigeria, they have failed to meet expectations because of poor funding and other challenges. Hence, the Federal Government and states have started training for extension workers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

Extension workers are learning and acquiring skills on improved agricultural services as part of an ongoing initiative aimed at improving food production across the country. As usual, the Lagos State governmnent  is supporting the Federal Government in the campaign to strengthen agricultural extension service delivery.

Its Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya said if agriculture is to be modernised, farmers must have easy access to extension services in the form of knowledge transfer, guidance and advice in the application of modern technology, farm management practices and a new orientation of perceiving agriculture as a business.

At the training for extension agents in Lagos, an initiative of the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (LSADA) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the commissioner said empowering extension officers would enhance farmers’ productivity.

Ms Olusanya said the training would boast the food security initiative of the state government, adding that extension officers are teachers of farmers.

The commissioner stated that extension officers had been relegated for far too long, and that this shouldn’t have been so.

She added: “I see the extension agents as teachers of the farmers, meaning we have to do so much more around encouraging them, motivating them to ensure that they are able to help our farmers in terms of increasing yields and enhance productivity, and that we have a more food secured Nigeria and more food secured Lagos.

“But I think that a lot needs to be done for the extension agents that we have. I honestly don’t see so much motivation. It’s not a function of saying that from a place of criticism, but it’s coming from a place of reality. During the lockdown, so much focus was put on teachers by the government to ensure that they do not suffer as schools were shut and income was not coming in.

“But our farmers and our farming communities suffered huge losses, meaning that the impact of the lockdown would have been worse on extension agents and officers. Who thought about that? It is about time that we began to move with one voice and show ourselves more in the light that we want to be seen. That narrative needs to change going forward.’’

Ms Olusanya said Lagos could not afford to continue to be dependent on other states for her food supplies, adding that it was just a matter of time before trouble broke out if anything goes wrong in the supply chain, hence the need to look inward and start growing her own food which highlights the importance of extension officers.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, noted that the declining number of farmers and low skills have hampered the adoption of best practices and new innovations in the sector as evident in the resultant low productivity and lack of adherence to standards causing rejection of Nigerian produce aboard.

Represented by Lagos State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Olayinka Akeredolu, the Permanent Secretary said the determination of the government to revitalise agricultural extension services in Nigeria will help farmers and value chain actors to make effective use of productive forces and advances in information technology to improve the livelihoods of rural populations, create jobs and promote sustainable agricultural and socio-economic development.

He averred that the only way this could be achieved was to re-position the agricultural system through training, provision of equipment and tools as well as funding to carry out their primary mandate and responsibilities to farmers.

The Director, Federal Department of Agricultural Extension, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Satumari Kudla, said the programme was among the recommendations of a special Technical Committee established by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to assist the ministry to develop a workable framework and programme for the training of 75,000 extension workers in collaboration with states’ Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs).

He noted that the factors causing the decline in the National Agricultural Extension Delivery included the decreasing number of extension agents caused by retirements, deaths and non-replacements, youth unwillingness to embrace agricultural entrepreneurship  and low  capacity of serving extension agents.

The other major reason, he added, was poor funding.

He stressed: The training of agricultural extension agents will, among other interventions, serve as a floodgate for many opportunities, such as providing them with tolls that will help them to give,not only agronomic, but also more practical services to farmers that will engender efficiency  and more income.”

Last month, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo-Nanono, said the government would train 75,000 agricultural extension workers before the expiration of the administration.

The training is collaboration among the ministry and the partners, Sasakawa Africa Association and Sasakawa Global 2000 SAA/SG2000.

The number of young people globally, who are either unemployed, studying, or in training, is on the rise, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Hence, the moves to get youths involved in agriculture through good farming practices, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Since 2017, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been harping on the upward swing in the number of youths that are not in employment, education or training (NEET). It said there were 259 million young people classified as NEET – a number that rose to an estimated 267 million in 2019, and is projected to continue climbing to around 273 million this year.

“Not enough jobs are being created for these young people,” said Chief of the Employment and Labour Market Policies of the ILO Employment Policy Department, Sukti Dasgupta.

“Not enough jobs are being created for young people, meaning that the potential of millions is not being properly tapped,”said Dasgupta.

In Africa, organisations are deploying agribusiness to provide jobs for young people and help countries achieve development goals. Trainings that link young people to climate-smart agricultural practices and profitable new agribusinesses are underway in several countries. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s (IITA)) and the African Development Bank are through ENABLE Youth Programme helping 200 youths from 30 African countries to learn about agribusiness, new agricultural skills and technologies, climate change, mechanisation and agricultural value chain approaches. In Nigeria, British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) launched the Farmers for the Future (F4F) grant aimed at giving young people the opportunity to access funds for viable agricultural enterprises.

Read Also: Don seeks policies to encourage youths into farming

The organisers said the scheme, a yearly competition organised for final year students of Agriculture in tertiary institutions and fresh graduates in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), seeks to promote agriculture among young people and turn their creative ideas to successful and sustainable agribusinesses.

“Interested candidates that are eligible for the competition develop creative agribusiness proposals and submit by responding to an online Expression of Interest.

Shortlisted finalists present their ideas during an interview with the Project Management Committee (PMC) and the best three candidates are selected and presented to the public at an awards. Thereafter, the winners are provided with technical and financial support to establish their agricultural enterprises after their National Youth Service. In addition to the prize, the scheme provides technical support in capacity building programmes. The second season of its Farmers for the Future (F4F) project, is starting.

The programme is targeting serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, aged 18 and above, and is part of BATNF’s drive to encourage and support young Nigerians in sustainable agriculture.

BATNF is committing N16 million in cash and support for the grants. This includes the award of N3 million as first cash prize, N2 million as second, and N1 million as third.

Other benefits that will accrue to the winners include technical support to establish their agribusiness; participation in an intensive “Think-through-your-business” boot camp; mentorship under seasoned entrepreneurs and agriculture experts; and opportunities for follow-on financing/or credit facilities from financial institutions and investors. Winners will also enjoy membership of the F4F alumni network, participation in other partner-driven training and support with business registration as well as other legal and regulatory requirements.

Nigeria’s wheat production has fallen in recent times. But things could be better with new technologies and high quality seeds, experts have said. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Wheat production has fallen in Nigeria. Its total production last year was about 200,000 metric tonnes, according to the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN). The problem was caused by harsh weather conditions and poor seed varieties.

Also, wheat imports by flour millers averaged 4.7 million tonnes yearly over the last few years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), making local wheat production insufficient.

At the National Wheat Farmers Field Day recently in Kano, the Managing Director, Crown Flour Mill (CFM), Mr. Ashish Pande, noted that the demand for wheat is growing faster than any commodity, and that as a member of Flour Miller’s Association of Nigeria (FMAN), the organisation was committed to improving production, through adequate financing and research.

He added that the agribusiness conglomerate’s wheat development effort has led to the execution of several well-coordinated capacity building initiatives, which include bringing local wheat farmers up to speed up innovative wheat farming practices.

Pande explained: “We wish to get new technologies in Nigeria to further build on the wheat initiative. We look forward to partnering organisations across the wheat value chain to improve farmers’ yields through high-quality seeds, expanded extension services and improved access to irrigation.”

He said over 30,000 farmers had been trained and equipped through the efforts of Crown Flour Mill (CFM), Flour Millers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) and the Federal Government, to deepen the national agricultural extension scheme, especially in the wheat segment.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, explained that the Federal Government prioritises the programme, considering its implication on national agricultural productivity ad food security.

Nanono said the Federal Government is targeting 70,000 workers, adding that 30,000 of them had completed the training designed to expose them to modern farming techniques, fertiliser and chemical application.

According to him, the agricultural development effort would encourage the development of small-scale wheat processing mills to make wheat flour and other wheat products available in the market. He explained that encouraging wheat production and processing would go a long way to boosting food security and economic growth.

WFAN Chairman, Alhaji Salihu Muhammad stated that the drive of the association has introduced the durum wheat variety, one of the most cultivated varieties of the crop, and engaged the services of experienced seed scientists to accelerate wheat production in the country.

Read Also: ‘Over $6b spent on wheat import’

He called for the inclusion of wheat farmers in the Federal Government’s Anchor Borrower Programme (APB) because the exclusion of their members had affected wheat production.

Kano State Deputy Governor, Nasiru Gawuna said the state government had concluded plans to establish more water bodies and upgrade dams to encourage wheat cultivation and other irrigation activities.

Gawuna said the government had embarked on the rehabilitation and desalting of Watari dam and upgrade of irrigation schemes in Bagwai Local Government Area.

Reiterating the government’s commitment to supporting farmers, Gawuna urged the farmers to utilise the input distributed to them to improve their productivity.

Precisely, the agricultural extension programmes are transforming the national agriculture landscape and driving national food security. The coordinated measures taken by Crown Flour Mill, FMAN, WFAN, the Federal Government and Kano State Government are equipping farmers with modern farming techniques, crop processing and entrepreneurial skills, and would add value to agricultural produce.

Apart from contributing to training the 30,000 farmers, CFM and other members of FMAN have supported 800 farmers in Kano, Kebbi and Jigawa states. They were provided with improved seeds variety, fertiliser, chemicals and 50 threshers under a soft loan scheme designed to enhance farmer access to input and extension services.

It would be recalled that the miller’s association also recently collaborated with Oxfam and the Agricultural Research Institutes to establish wheat farming service centres in 15 LGAs in the Northern wheat-growing states.

Wheat is a popular ingredient in households, and it is critical to feeding the over 200 million strong national population. It is milled into flour which is then used to make staple foods such as Semolina, noodles, bread and biscuits. These staple foods are eaten by a larger portion of the population.

Maize is the backbone of the livestock industry. Its abundance helps the sector to thrive. Farmers have been facing shortage of seeds, prompting fears of food insecurity. DANIEL ESSIET looks at the steps taken to address the problem.

Insecurity, border closures and restrictions following the COVID-9 pandemic contributed to the challenges maize farmers are facing to get seeds as the planting season kicks in across the country. The situation has raised fears that productivity will decline and threaten food security, as seed shortages are predicted for most staple crops.

Several parts of Africa are facing challenges of producing quality seeds for farmers as a result of the pandemic. Analysts have noted that unless a swift action is taken to facilitate producers’ access to seeds, the disruptions caused by the pandemic would lead to a decrease in agricultural production.

Last month, the Central Bank (CBN), through its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), released about 300,000 metric tonnes of maize into the market, to help reduce the prices of the product.

Earlier, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) facilitated waivers for four agro-processing firms to import 262,000 tonnes of maize to bridge the shortfall in production. The National President, Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Bello Abubakar, blamed insecurity in the major maize producing belt of Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and some parts of Kano for the insufficiency of the product in the market. He explained that the planned dry season farming which is first of its kind in the country, timely distribution of inputs to farmers and improved security would significantly enhance production and ensure stability in price.

As part of the bank’s financing framework, the CBN has facilitated the funding of maize farmers and processors through the ABP Commodity Association, Private/Prime Anchors, state governments, Maize Aggregation Scheme (MAS), and the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).

Confirming the release of credit to its members by the apex bank, Abubakar said over 200,000 farmers were planning to produce more than 25 million metric tonnes of maize in the 2020/2021 planting season.

According to him, the credit is disbursed to members along the maize value chain, located in different states of the country.

On the CBN’s gesture, the National President, Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama, noted that though the measure was short-term, it would go a long way to ameloriate the situation.

Iyama said since maize was one of the nation’s major grains and efforts should be focused on boosting production through continued support of famers with higher-quality seed at subsidised prices to farmers. Also, that the government should encourage farmers to increase maize cultivated areas across the states.

An Executive Director, Animal Care and the Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Chapter, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Dr. Opeyemi Agbato, said the allocation and release of maize to key feed millers under the CBN’s Strategic Maize Reserve programme was a much-needed intervention.

Read Also: CBN releases 50,000mt of maize to reduce price

His words: “For it, we sincerely applaud their initiative. They made true to their words and pronouncements of release. It was unfortunate that the release coincided with a time when the prices of soy beans seeds (whose by-product a critical source of protein in poultry feed) experienced an astronomical increase mostly due to rapid exportation. Even though there is a dire need for foreign exchange in the country, Soy is insufficient for local use, current exportation is at the detriment of local livestock farmers, particularly poultry farmers. We hope that in the future, more strategic holding and release facilities for maize would be made available in all regions for ease of accessibility and reduction in the cost of transportation.”

With skyrocketing prices of some essential foods, he hoped that the price of subsequent maize release would be further reduced to as low as N135-145,000/ metric tonne (MT) or about 35 per cent lower than prevailing prices to the consumers to force the drop in prices of maize and cost of producing animal feed and food.

The Chief Executive, AFEX, Ayodeji Balogun, said his organisation was providing a roadmap to high-yield growth opportunities in the aggregation, storage, and marketing of maize in Nigeria.

AFEX provides storage warehouses with a warehouse receipt system to enable the market viability of the crops and a fair price share for farmers.

Since Maize remains an indispensable staple role in the food processing and feeds industry, Balogun said the organisation was happy to be associated with the release to aid increased maize production and productivity.

“By facilitating the release of the 300,000MT Maize, leveraging support from credible players in the ecosystem including our team at AFEX, the CBN will offer over 35,000 farmers and agro-processors a channel through which they can trade maize at a subsidised rate, and thereby reduce the adverse effect of the maize price hike, increase local demand, and improve farmers’ livelihoods.

“With maize being a core food basket, the allocation of the commodity to smallholder farmers, prime anchors such as Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Flour Mills, Livestock and Feeds processors, will create a sustainable availability and pricing structure in the market, reducing maize prices and bridging the supply gap and scarcity in the national and local market regions,” he added.

By 2030, the International Fertiliser Association (IFA) projects that there will be 750 million smallholder families. With nearly one billion mouths extra to feed, forecasts of world demand for fertiliser use is expected to rise, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). DANIEL ESSIET looks at efforts to boost Nigeria’s sufficiency in fertiliser production.

In the 60s, the agricultural sector enjoyed spectacular growth. Nigeria prided itself as a food-secure country and ranked well among its peers on the continent until crude oil brought a boom. Since then, the farms have been abandoned for petrol naira. This has affected food production.

Nigeria lost the crown as a major food producer, according to last year’s Global Food Security (GFSI) Index. It ranked 100th most food-secure country out of 113 countries.

In 2019, Nigeria ranked 94th. GFSI is produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit and supported by CortevaAgriscience.

Observers expected the country to improve on its position. This is because it has arable land. Many in the agribusiness space such as the President and Chief Executive, NIJI Group, Kolawole Adeniji, are concerned with removing impediments to food production.

According to Adeniji, Nigeria’s agro sector will continue to support global food security. He’s not alone in this assessment.

Many, including Prof Samuel Agele of the University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, point to small and large-scale producers as the saviours of the economy.

Agele, a professor of Crop Physiology in the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, warned that to avoid the impending danger of hunger, the government and other key actors should put in place structures that would enhance the capacity of small- holder’s farmers.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), according to him, has listed Nigeria as among the nations that are unable to meet their food needs from rain-fed production and low level of input use. Though some analysts point to some progress made in recent years, smallholder productivity supported by fertiliser use remains extremely low, particularly in Nigeria.

International research fir, Oxford Business Group corroborated that Nigeria has some constraints in the agricultural sector, chief among which is limited productivity. For instance, the country suffers from sub-par yields, which curb farmers’ profitability and restrict efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the sector.

Furthermore, the World Bank, puts Nigeria’s fertiliser use at between six and 20 kg per ha, well below the figures for developed nations, where usage often exceeds 200 kg per ha. Meaning: The country is not getting closer to meeting the international standard of fertiliser usage of 50kg per hectare.

Experts believe the implementation of a fertiliser expansion programme will enable Nigeria to boost food security. It would have to increase its use by 500 per cent to catch up with markets such as Egypt and South Africa. Increase in the productivity levels, analysts believe, will play a vital role in the growth of the industry, as fertiliser accounts for at least half of the crop yield.

Therefore, in the last 10 years, many actors have entered the sector. As such, the fertiliser market is entering a period of growth that will have sector-wide benefits. FAO estimated that the country required about seven million metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser yearly; and with the production of five million mt, the government had to grant waivers to some fertiliser plants to import the product.

There are over 33 fertiliser blending plants across the country, with many more underway, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,  Sabo Nanono, is optimistic that Nigeria would have no business importing fertiliser by 2023.

He said with the enabling environment provided for private sector investors, through the National Fertiliser Quality Control Act 2019, Nigeria may end the product’s importation.

Under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), the government supplies discounted fertiliser input from Morocco and Europe to blenders, through the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) fertiliser fund vehicle. These are then blended with local urea and distributed to farmers. The urea application in the country is continuing full-steam, bolstered by unscathed supply chain in most parts of the country.

New investments are expected to increase ammonia and urea production in response to increased domestic demand, reducing Nigeria’s significant dependency on the international market.

At present, there are two major urea plants in the country: the Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Production Unit, considered the world’s largest single-train urea plant, with a production capacity of 1.5m tonnes of urea fertiliser, in Rivers State and the Notore 500,000 tpy production facility.

The former produces 1.5 million tpy of nitrogen products at its Train 1 facility. It has a new train, with a urea capacity of 1.5 million tpy. Indorama exports 70 per cent of its production to markets, including Latin America, while 30 per cent is allocated to the home market.

On the other hand, Notore’s production is consumed internally. The Brass Fertiliser and Petrochemical Company Limited (BFPCL) is expected to set up a 1.3m tonne/year urea and 1.7m tonne/year methanol plant in Bayelsa State.

Also, being expected this year is the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertiliser Plant, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote. Located in the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ), in Lagos State, the urea fertiliser plant is expected to manufacture three million metric tonnes of urea yearly, with core focus on the reduction of fertiliser imports, and $400million foreign exchange from export to Africa countries. The facility comprises two trains each of urea, with a daily production capacity of 3,850 tonnes.

In the first phase, only one urea and ammonia line would be inaugurated. The producer plans to use 25 per cent of its urea output for the domestic market while the rest will be exported, likely primarily to Latin America and West Africa. Siapem of Italy is the engineering, procurement and supervision (EPS) contractor for the project, while Tata Consulting Engineers, India, is the project management consultant (PMC). Dangote Fertiliser has started receiving gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company and Chevron Nigeria Limited, under the gas sale and purchase agreement through which 70 million cubic feet of natural gas will be supplied to the plant. Natural gas forms a large percentage of the cost of urea production.

The fertiliser plant will also compete with Notore Petrochemicals. Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development & Capital Projects, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, said Nigeria would save $0.5 billion from import substitution and $0.4 billion from exports of products from the plant.

“Thus, the supply of fertiliser from the plant will be enough for the Nigerian market and neighbouring countries,” he said.

Analysts believe investments by Notore, Indorama, and Dangote, put at about $4.5 billion, are the largest ever in the agriculture sector. The plants are highly capital intensive.

Outlook

Opportunities for the fertiliser sector abound in Nigeria. The key to the production of nitrogen fertiliser is having a large source of inexpensive natural gas. Nigeria produces over 1.5 trillion ft3/yr of gas, exporting about 900 billion ft3 in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). However, 400 billion ft3 is flared off, and the government wants to monetise it through gas-fired utilities and petrochemical plants. While Nigeria has natural gas resources to produce ammonia products, its relationship with Morocco will enable importation of phosphate.

Last week, the Federal Government and the Kingdom of Morocco signed five strategic Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) that would promote hydrocarbons, agriculture, and commerce in both countries.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, led the Nigerian delegation to the agreement signing at Marrakech, Morocco, while the Chief Executive Officer of OCP Africa, Mr. Anouar Jamali, signed for the Kingdom of Morocco.

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The agreement among OCP, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is expected to utilise Nigeria’s gas and Morocco’s phosphate to produce ammonia and phosphate fertiliser by 2025.

Under the agreement, Nigeria will import phosphate from Morocco and use it to produce blended fertiliser for the local market and export.

As part of the project, the government plans to establish an ammonia plant in Akwa Ibom State. The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Kesiye Wabote, and NNPC Group Managing Director Mallam Mele Kyari were part of the delegation; and they confirmed their organisations would take equities in the plant when the Final Investment Decision (FID) would be taken.

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, signed one of the agreements, which covers land acquisition, administrative facilitation, and common agricultural development projects in the state.

The deal will birth one of the biggest investments in the fertiliser industry worldwide. OCP’s partnerships are executed by its subsidiary known as OCP Africa, created in 2016 to work with farmers.

OCP Africa is constructing three ultra-modern Fertiliser Bulk Blending Plants in Nigeria. The multi-million dollar plants, in Ogun and Kaduna states will be equipped with facilities to produce both crops and soil specific fertiliser blends with micro nutrients.

OCP Africa, using its OCP School Lab project’s platform, has deployed four state-of-the-art mobile laboratory technologies in Kaduna, Katsina, Kano and Bauchi states.

With this project, OCP Africa will reach out to 70,000 small holder farmers in 2019 teaching them on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in 467 farming communities spread over the remote locations in the states. In addition to GAP training, OCP Africa will carry out 21,000 soil analyses and make reports to the farmers on live basis. The farmers will also get professional advice on the best suited inputs for their soil types and targeted crops.

PFI

Following the visit of the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, to Nigeria on December 2, 2016, several agreements were endorsed by the two leaders.

One of these agreements was conceived as a partnership between the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) and OCP, a state-owned Moroccan firm and a world leader in phosphate production and its derivatives.

President Muhammadu Buhari announced the approval and commencement of the initiative shortly after the Moroccan visit, during his 2017 Budget presentation.

According to the PFI guidelines, the goal is to achieve the production of one million metric tonnes of blended Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) fertiliser for the 2017 wet season farming, and an additional 500,000 metric tonnes for dry season farming.

By February 4, 2017, first shipment of potash arrived Nigeria from Europe, while the second shipment arrived the following month.