The much hyped agriculture sector roadmap otherwise referred to as the Green Alternative recently initiated by the Federal Government to fast-track the development of the nation’s huge agricultural potential has continued to generate mixed feelings. In this report, Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf examines the issues
Like Molière, the famous French playwright, most Nigerians, it does appear, are saying that it’s not fine words but good food they need to stay alive.
The foregoing becomes apposite in describing the growing level of despondency being expressed by the populace as they rue the ever increasing hardship, especially the cost of foodstuffs which has literally become priced out of the reach of the common man.
Thus the recent introduction of the agriculture roadmap by the Federal Government, laudable as it is, in the estimation of the vast majority of Nigerians, hardly translates to food on the table at least, in the interim.
At the unveiling of the agricultural sector roadmap, known as The Green Alternative, for promotion of agriculture from 2016-2020, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, which the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo presided over, he maintained that the move to diversify the economy through the agriculture sector had become inevitable due to the huge food importation bill and the need to create jobs for the teeming population of youth in the country.
“There is no question at all that if we get agriculture right, we will get our economy right. The great clarity, ‘The Green Alternative, sets out strategies to resolve these challenges and particularly impressed that the roadmap does not dismiss the agric policies ‘building on the successes of the agricultural agenda’.
“This particular issue of alignment is crucial. For instance, there is no way we can encourage agriculture than to encourage food production when we allow unbridled importation of the same things we are trying to produce.
“Still on the issue of policy of alignment, as part of our 500,000 teacher corps that we will be engaging 100, 000 of them that will be trained as extension workers for our farms. “I, hereby, launch the Agriculture Sector Roadmap: The Green Alternative; Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020.”
A snapshot of the agriculture roadmap
A cursory view of the agriculture roadmap obtained by The Nation as published on the website of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, showed that it’s a 129-page document.
As contained in the document tagged: “The Green Alternative” the policy intends to amongst other things, raise agriculture’s share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 23 per cent; increase the share of labour force to 70 per cent; agricultural activity mix by 85 per cent crop production with a 15 per cent increase in livestock and other non-crop.
It also seeks to enhance the country’s foreign exchange (forex) earning capacity through agricultural exports by growing the agriculture’s share of non-oil exports earnings to 75 per cent.
The roadmap will also facilitate the government’s capacity to meet its obligations to the citizenry on food security, safety and quality nutrition as well as increase budgetary provision for the agriculture sector by 2.0 per cent.
Mixed feelings over the new policy regime
There has been a welter of criticism against the new initiative of the Federal Government by stakeholders who hold the view and very strongly too that the idea, however well-intentioned, may not work as previous experience has shown.
Speaking in an interview with The Nation, Dr. Austin Nweze, a political economist of the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School, said the country has never been bereft of ideas but what is however lacking is the capacity to ensure that the ideas crystallise.
“The idea could be excellent on paper but short on implementation,” he said.
While acknowledging the fact that successive governments have fashioned out one initiative or the other for the agriculture sector, such interventions have not translated into something concrete, he stressed.
Waxing philosophical, Nweze said it is rather disheartening to note that agriculture which is supposed to be the nation’s greatest strength is her weakest links.
Despite the nation’s rich agricultural endowment, Nweze said Nigerians spent $20 billion annually on importation of food.
The country, he further noted, is the largest importer of hard red and white wheat from the United States, and the world’s second largest importer of rice, with the cost put at N356 billion annually.
Huge sums are also spent annually to import agro-industrial raw materials that the country has great potential to produce.
Policy documents by past administrations, he observed, are literally gathering dusts on the shelves in the ministry because of the lack of continuity in the system.
According to him, it is practically difficult to differentiate between the Green Alternative and similar policies by previous administrations. earlier ones. Whether it is the Operation Feed the Nation launched by the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976, the Green Revolution launched by the Second Republic President Shehu Shagari in 1980, the Directorate for Food, Road, and Rural Infrastructure launched by the regime of former military president Ibrahim Babangida in 1986, or the Agricultural Transformation Agenda launched by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2011, self-sufficiency in food is one fundamental target that the various governments have set themselves. But self-sufficiency in food has eluded the country so far.
“What the government can do differently this time around is marshal out action plans backed by a strong political will and let’s see how far it can take us.”
Mr. Adamson Imoh, a produce merchant is on the same page with Nweze.
Much as he agrees that the initiative is great, he would rather the government not interfere at all.
“The Federal Government needs to do away with its role and influence, and allow the states formulate and execute their own agricultural programmes according to their peculiar situations. That’s the way to go.”
Making a case for the agriculture roadmap
Expectedly, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, whose ministry has the singular mandate to achieve the many deliverables of the initiative is quite optimistic that the new policy holds the key to unlock the huge potentials of the sector.
Ogbeh, who spoke during the formal launch of the programme in Abuja said the roadmap for the sector was all encompassing and would salvage the economy from collapse.
“In this policy, you will see us navigating through the agricultural terrain, trucking on virtually every aspect. The emphasis on ‘Green’ is to capture the essence, spirit and orientation of this new policy/strategy document,”said an elated Ogbeh.
Echoing similar sentiments, Mr. Auta Appeh, Special Adviser, International Donor Funding to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who spoke in an interview with The Nation in Lagos recently, said the whole essence of the roadmap is to provide a template for the smooth-running of the sector.
Going back in time, Appeh recalled that the previous administration did certain things right and put agriculture in the map but like everything human, there is still room for improvement.
“When we came in, we realised that there were too many value chains. They had over 13 crops that they were going to target. The discovery is that all these programmes are not new. We found these bottlenecks and we said to ourselves, how do you unbundle these bottlenecks? What are the risks the government needs to take to achieve a little bit of success story even if it’s 10 percent or 20% and then work out the modalities to get more people involved?”
However, as a clear departure from what hitherto obtained, he said henceforth, all the activities would now be streamlined in line with the mission and vision of the new policy regime. “We have come up with three pillars to pigeon hole all the things that they had which were a success which people couldn’t get a grasp on.”
Expatiating, he said, the first task, of course, is to drive more research in the sector in order to open up new vistas of opportunities as well as empower both the rural and the farming communities and to promote financing.
“So we’ve to now look for willing state governments and local governments who will pay their contributory funding and who would take agriculture serious and make sure that this research goes to them and make sure that access to financing that we’re promoting goes there.
Of course, we have to make sure that they get the lobbying support for the interministerial collaboration.”
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, he stressed, is also hoping to form a synergy of cooperation among other ministries in order to achieve the desired objectives of the roadmap.
“For instance, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the electricity, the roads, healthcare delivery must work in sync with the ideals and vision of the ministry to achieve the desired objective. Nothing can be done in isolation. These are all interlaid. To make a successful farmer, you have to provide all these. So basically, what we did was take a step back and then plan and tell you this is how we’re going to go about it. If you truly take your time and look through it, nothing is new under the sun.”
While emphasising that the roadmap shares similar goals with past initiatives like the Operation Feed the Nation in the 70s, he however said what is unique about the present policy document oil and was launched to the public. There was no rocket science to it. Nothing was reinvented. Only that it was streamlined for better understanding and accountability.”
