Make Agriculture Nigeria’s Economic Mainstay, AFAN Advises FG

Making agriculture the economic mainstay of Nigeria will serve as a buffer to the fluctuating global oil price, which has a telling impact on the nation’s projected revenue earnings, National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arc Kabir Ibrahim has advised the federal government.

The global price of crude which underpins the country’s estimated budgeted earnings, took a tumble weekend when OPEC and Russia failed to come to a consensus to cut production. Riyadh’s threat to discount its crude and raise production prompted the price of Brent crude, the international oil marker, to fall to as low as $31.02 per barrel.

With the possibility of the coronavirus developing into a global pandemic, crude’s short-term prospects look bleak. Hopes for an oil price recovery in the short-term have also been pinned on the coronavirus outbreak being contained faster than expected.

Nigeria is a major exporter of crude oil, which makes up the bulk of foreign exchange earnings despite being a diversified economy with weak supportive infrastructure.

Experts have warned that global oil demand in 2020 could contract for the first time since the financial crisis more than a decade ago. Oil consumption could be at least 1-2 percent lower this year than what analysts had expected at the beginning of the year, with demand taking a hit from restrictions on air and road travel.

Speaking exclusively to National Economy on the development and its implications on Nigeria, Ibrahim said: “Our national budget is predicated on the barrel price of oil and will, therefore, suffer a drawback since there is turbulence causing a crash in the global oil price.

“We must upscale our Agricultural production such that our import bill remains sustainably manageable.

“We should seek to make Agriculture the mainstay of the economy by impacting several cross-cutting issues such as energy which will give the required push to processing and overall industrial growth.”

National Economy reports that critical infrastructure for the support of a diversified economic portfolio, including agriculture and industrial processing, is grossly deficient in buoying private sector investments, despite the abundant distribution of natural resources and favourable climatic conditions for crops and aquaculture cultivation.