63 Years After, Nigeria still Depends on Food Imports 

There is no gainsaying that Nigeria recorded the best days as an agrarian economy in the 1960s. Gilbert Ekugbe writes on the need for economic managers to target at least 50 per cent agriculture sector contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product in the next five years.

63 years is a whole lot for any serious government to draw out a road map to address all the bottlenecks hindering the potentials of its agricultural sector as well as its value chains.

Gone are the glory days of Nigeria’s agricultural boom such as the groundnut pyramid and cocoa that were symbols of Nigeria’s agricultural wealth in the past, but the agricultural sector has faced several challenges that have hindered its growth and development over the years.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and the country spends approximately $22 billion annually on food imports this is even despite the government’s efforts to boost local production capacity in recent years, Nigeria still spent a whopping N1.9 trillion importing food in 2022, a huge sum of money that could have been channeled into development projects.

Nigeria’s agricultural sector contributed about 21 per cent to the country’s GDP in the second quarter of 2023 recording a 2.31 per cent growth rate in the second quarter of 2023 as the GDP from agriculture in Nigeria averaged N4079275.90 million from 2010 until 2023, reaching an all-time high of N5625362.33 million in the third quarter of 2022.

All of these indications show that all hopes are not lost as the agriculture sector remains the largest sector in Nigeria, contributing an average of 24 per cent to the nation’s GDP over the past seven years, but despite the contribution of agriculture to the economy, the sector faces many challenges that impact its productivity, such as poor land tenure systems, low level of irrigation farming, climate change, and land degradation. These challenges have stifled agricultural productivity, affecting the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP and leading to increased food imports due to population rise, hence declining levels of food sufficiency.

Despite touted to be one of the world’s most promising agricultural producers in the 1960s, Nigeria’s rising food imports at $22 billion on annual basis is still a source of concern to agricultural gladiators even as the country continues to struggle to grow its foreign reserves.

Agric sector before independence

It is an established fact that the history of Nigeria’s agriculture dates back to the pre-colonial era, where subsistence agriculture was the dominant practice. This era was characterised by hoes and cutlasses as the British colonials focused their policies on deploying all human and material resources in the country to meet the needs of their industries abroad. 

Cocoa, oil palm and groundnuts accounted for about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s total export during the colonial era. The agricultural sector served as the nation’s main source of food and livelihoods, and agriculture was the nation’s main source of employment and income. Export cash crops were responsible for 62.2 per cent of the young nation’s foreign exchange and 66.4 per cent of its GDP. Northern cities like Kano, with its towering groundnut pyramids, employed large swathes of the population and became regional economic hubs, emblematic of the nation’s agricultural wealth.

The major crops grown in Nigeria before independence include maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam, beans, millet, rice, sorghum, groundnuts, cocoa beans, palm produce, and gum arabic. 

Agric sector post independence

Disheartening, the sector’s output and earnings have declined over the years as many successive governments have failed to adopt various agriculture policies. Some of these policies include Operation Feed the Nation, (OFN) the Green Revolution Programme and agricultural credit and finance policies. Other policies that have been implemented in recent years include the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) launched in 2011, the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) launched in 2016, and the Green Alternative Policy (GAP) launched in 2016. 

Regrettably, these policies have all failed to see the light of day as previous economic managers have prioritised food importation over food exportation.

These policies aim to enhance agricultural productivity, promote food security, and increase the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP.

The sector has continued to receive high neglect from successive governments due to its inability to generate immediate revenue for the economy. 

With the help of modern day technology agricultural productivity has been enhanced through the adaptation of new technologies and innovations to ensure food security and nutrition, especially with the increasing population estimated to reach 400 million by 2050, but despite the potentials of agricultural technology, it is yet to receive the necessary support in terms of financial and policy support. To this end, support from all partners to the efforts by the federal and state governments is central to achieving this goal.

Agric stakeholders recommendations

Agricultural gladiators have consistently called on the federal government to increase its level of partnership and engagement with the real actors of Nigeria’s agriculture sector while also yearning for the political will to implement effectively most of the agricultural policies designed for the sector’s growth which most governments have fallen short of. Key issues still remain the capacity to implement these policies to take the sector out of doldrums.

The National president, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Mr. Kabir Ibrahim, in a chat with THISDAY explained that it is time for the Tinubu-led administration to parley with stakeholders in the agricultural sector to outline agenda that might salvage the precarious food situation in Nigeria.

Ibrahim advised that the federal government must ensure that the 100,000 metric tonnes silos strategic food reserve in each of the six geo-political zones be managed by the Strategic Grains Reserve (SGR) and directly supervised by the Food Security Council (FSC).

The AFAN national president also advised the present administration on the need to resuscitate the GMP (Guaranteed Minimum Price) and implement a special committee through the SGR (Strategic Grains Reserve) to be directly supervised by the Food Security Council.

He noted that this can be achieved by creating a special revolving fund for the GMP to revolve for 2021 and 2022.

He also urged the federal government to create food banks in the six geopolitical zones at close proximity of 100,000 metric tonne silos each totaling 600,000 to guarantee food security for the Nigerian populace.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf,  pointed out the need to combat the challenge of desertification, climate change, flooding saying that it is affecting a lot of agricultural locations while also strengthening the agric value chains. 

“All sets of the value chain needs to be strengthened so that the entire value chain will be uplifted,” he said.

He also stated the need to support the nation’s research institutes, saying that most of the research institutions are wasting away. 

“They are not being properly funded and not playing the role they should. We must also invest largely in irrigation facilities and not continue to rely on rain-fed agriculture because it is not sustainable for improved food production,” he said.