Nigeria stands alone as the country with the largest natural gas reserve in Africa, and the biggest exporter of oil in the continent. In the year 2015, the estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $481.1 billion. Oil production and export has been the backbone of Nigeria’s economy for most of its years as an independent nation, and represents approximately 90% of the country’s export, while producing 75% of revenue for the national budget. However, the decline in oil prices since late 2014 has seriously affected the Nigerian economy, which is now in recession since midway through the year of 2016 (worldbank).
Nigeria is at the point where we need to find creative ways to diversify the country’s exports in order to avoid big swings in our economy based on oil prices around the world. The current president has strongly advocated for agriculture as the way forward in building a diversified and sustainable economy, but the process required to implement that vision is still unclear to people. Therefore, I will seize this opportunity to explain what it means to embrace agriculture as an important aspect of our economy, and the long term benefits of embarking on that journey starting now.
Agriculture provides food and income for Nigeria’s farmers. However, most of these farmers are subsistence farmers who do just enough farming to meet their immediate needs. The call for Nigerians to get involved with agriculture is to encourage those people who want to expand from subsistence farming into a profitable business. Farming as a profitable business extends beyond just planting, but also accounts for aggregation and processing of produce, which is essential for large scale marketing and export of these products.
For years now, the World Bank has funded the National-Fadama Project, which has helped thousands of farmers expand their potential from subsistence to profit. The Fadama Project has been in existence since 1993, and has received about $200 million in funding, but most Nigerians do not know about it. Valuable crops such as cassava, rice, sorghum are targets because they can be produced in large scale and exported. Fadama Project offices exist in six states, including Kano, Niger, Kogi, Lagos, Anambra, and Enugu. Interested farmers can register, receive counseling and education on how to expand their agricultural business, and receive some funding with support to initiate the process.
The Fadama Project has recorded many success stories. However, there are many more Nigerians who may not have access to such support and funding, and should not be discouraged. They can expand their agricultural business in stages until it grows to the point where it can bring significant income and employment for others in the community. The government in particular must back-up the goal of increasing agricultural entrepreneurship by providing incentives such as low-interest rate loans to interested participants especially in states where the Fadama Project is not available.
We need to expand our agricultural studies in higher institutions to include understanding of agricultural infrastructure and development of methods to manage climate and demographic factors (i.e. erosion, drought etc.), which can limit yield. There is reward for those who have a sustainable vision for their agricultural business, Mr Ime Uwah of Eni Group Limited is a good example. His company produces poultry and poultry products in large scale, and the processing and packaging of the products is world-class, appealing to the masses, and stands out from other similar products. He was even able to produce tomatoes at a time when tomato was scarce in Nigeria due to an outbreak of Tuta Absoluta (nicknamed tomatoes Ebola).
Eleanor Roosevelt once said “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” This applies to everything, because your faith in the outcome of what you are doing is what drives you to push farther and reach for the stars. So today, I conclude by taking this opportunity to encourage my people to farm. Start somewhere, and start with whatever you have. Believe you can regardless of your age, and seek out those who will have faith in your project. Choose a produce or a group of products you want to start with. Define your brand and standardize it. It may not seem cool to get involved in agriculture as a young person while your peers are working in offices. But remember, the Dangotes of this world built their empires by using their minds, will, and desire to meet a need in the society with their products and services. They soon became indispensable. Make up your mind, educate yourself about the journey you are about to embark on, and start….
Written by Dr. Idongesit Udoh