As stakeholders eagerly await a new era of agricultural policies implementation, all eyes are on the new agriculture minister to shoulders the immense responsibility of steering the country’s agricultural sector towards prosperity, food security, and sustainability.
Nigeria’s agricultural sector still stands as a cornerstone of its economy by providing livelihoods for millions and contributing significantly to the nation’s GDP.
With the nation’s population projected to reach 250 million by 2030, the challenges facing the country’s food and nutrition sector are both pressing and complex.
No least expectations from farmers who hope to see both medium and long term beneficial strategies that will set the stage for progress in most prioritise critical areas and measures to ensure the sector thrives and benefits all Nigerians.
Interestingly, the new agriculture minister has a momentous opportunity to shape the future of Nigeria’s agriculture sector positively by setting a clear agenda focused on delivering on goals set by extant agricultural policy direction.
For instance the National Development Plan (2021-2025) has spelt out the federal government commitments to “deploy knowledge, technology, innovative and global best practices to integrally strengthen the economic diversification process by revamping research, training, extension, improving access to inputs, technology and markets to revitalise agricultural production and processing in a manner that would create job opportunities and increase export revenue.”
Already the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development had conceived the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) to modernise the agricultural sector in line with the changing global food systems and supply chains.
The NATIP, (2022-2027) as a policy direction in the Nigeria’s agric sector was launched by the then, minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar in 2022 to operate within other policies and strategies of relevant MDAs to ensure synergy and better coordination and to consolidate the successes recorded in the implementation of the previous agricultural development policies.
The thrust also seek to reposition the national agricultural research system, holistic mechanisation drive, provision of rural infrastructure, standardisation of inputs and processing systems and techniques; development of commodity value chain through clusters and special agro-processing zones.
Although the challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector are numerous, but they are not insurmountable as stakeholders in the agricultural sector are already asking that with a clear vision, comprehensive strategies, and a commitment to collaboration, the incoming agriculture minister has the opportunity to lead the sector towards a brighter and more prosperous future.
Stakeholders’s Expectations from the New Agric Minister
Farmers have expressed their renewed expectations for the new Agric Minister in the midst of myriads challenges that affect the agricultural production.
According to the national president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arc Kabir Ibrahim, the new minister should religiously implement the NATIP.
The farmers’ helmsman also said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention in Agriculture should be critically examined and institutionalised.
“The BOA should be recapitalised and shares sold to farmers, and the new minister of agriculture should create synergy with all stakeholders in the agriculture space such as the farmers associations, ministries of transport ,science and tech, water resources, and environment.
“The new minister should synergies with the ministry of trade and investment, NALDA and all state governments because agriculture is in the local government areas,” Ibrahim said.
Similarly, the national president of Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria, Chief Daniel Okafor, asked the new minster to address pressing challenges affecting agricultural productivity.
“The first and foremost agenda for POFAN to the agric minister. Issues of insecurities , climate change, database, insurance, quality seeds, training and retraining of farmers.
“The minister of agriculture and rural development should be where farmers will be carry along, we farmers need a rural route to the farm., irrigation system is required.above all security is needed,” Okafor said.
Also a farmer in Kogi State who re-echoed the need for the new minister to address insecurity and other myriads challenges facing farmers
Williams Egwuda, who is a rice farmer in Ibaji local government area said, “ Our major challenge is insecurity. We wish that the new administration of President Bola Tinubu should address the issue of herdsman and farmer crisis. It has really affected our output and even our production.
“We need the minister to ensure that security is made available for farmers in the next farming season. Though we are almost rounding up with the wet season farming and the dry season farming, which is irrigation, will come up any moment from now. But the major challenge has being that herdsmen are affecting and disturbing our crops. It is very alarming.”
He added, “Another aspect we want the government to come in is a way of palliative to give us chemicals that will enable us to do better and have a commercial quantity of our products. Especially we need seedlings, rice seedlings, modernised or the hybrid seedling that can really assist us. These are most of the areas we actually want the government to come in.
“We also need the government to come in is if they can make a loan, a soft loan for farmers at the rural area, it will be so good for us. It will really assist us because major challenges with the farmers is lack of capital.
Speaking further, he said, “But the major problem which I describe as the hydra-headed challenge or monster that really affects us is the area of road network.Most of our farm is located or situated within the rural area where we don’t really have access roads, good roads that we can convey or we can carry our produce to a major marketing.”
In the cocoa sector, farmers also called for the establishment of a regulatory board that would be devoid of buying and selling of cocoa beans in place of a marketing board in Nigeria.
National president of Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Comrade Adeola Adegoke, said the call became expedient in order to reposition the cocoa industry for growth.
“Cocoa farmers cannot forget in hurry the pain suffered due to the price stabilisation policy of the dissolved cocoa board before 1986 that enslaved our smallholder cocoa farmers completely. CFAN had said it thousands of times that the dissolution of the Cocoa Board was like throwing away the baby with the dirty water due to the setbacks the industry suffered thereafter.
“No doubt, Nigeria has witnessed a negative paradigm shift in all spheres of the industry after the dissolution especially in production, productivity quality , livelihood , deforestation, GAP, extension , policy & plan, R&D, ecosystem , child labor etc.”
He added, “This therefore reinforced our position that the price stabilisation policy of the dissolved Cocoa Board led to her downfall, but not the overall promotion and development mandate of the Board that gave rise to our giant production, productivity and good quality of our cocoa beans with the best aroma in the 60’s and early 70’s in West Africa.
“CFAN is making her position clear to Mr. President and the coming honourable minister of agriculture and rural development that what cocoa farmers are demanding for is a regulatory board that does not involve in the buying and selling of our cocoa beans, but solely for the promotion and development of the cocoa industry across the supply chain in a sustainable path, in view of the prevailing challenges facing the sector and the preparation towards evading the EU ban of unsustainable cocoa beans in the year 2025.”
