A don, Dr Ademola Adeyemo, has called on the Federal Government to conduct a census of agriculture to provide a direction on what the nation has to provide the base on how it can achieve the dream of becoming the food hub of West Africa.
Adeyemo, the Deputy Director, General Management Division, Agricultural and Rural Management and Training Institute (ARMTI), said a census would provide data on agricultural holdings, such as farm size, land use, land tenure, livestock numbers, and the use of machinery, as well as crop and livestock distribution nationwide.
With the government urging the private sector to partner it to implement the agricultural transformation agenda (ATA),Adeyemo said the information provided by the census would have many uses. These will include information on agricultural produce that can be raised in Nigeria and where, how and by whom they were grown.
The data, according to him, will help the national, state and local government, farmers, ranchers, agribusiness and others make decisions.
Compared to others, the don said the census will provide a uniform, comprehensive and impartial agriculture data down to the local governments, adding that it would help to shape programmes and initiatives that benefit young and beginning farmers and ranchers; expand access to resources that help women, and help farmers diversify into new markets, including local and regional food systems, specialty crops and organic production.
With the government’s effort to boost food production, he said there is need for agricultural statistics to monitor and reflect current agricultural and food supply conditions and to provide information to help governments and others in short-term decision-making. To this end, he said agricultural statistics has to be produced on a regular basis.
One feature of a census of agriculture, he explained, is that it involves the collection of data at the individual holding level.
On crops, he said the census will provide data on where crops are planted, the number of holdings with each crop, the distribution of crop area, and the average crop area planted, among others.
He said the census provides the most reliable data available on production of crops and a base for estimating crop area and production in the following years.
He said a census of agriculture is one of the largest national statistical collections undertaken by a country.
Right now, he said, livestock production statistics are weak because of inadequate data, adding that a census can help in this regard.