Chuka Asadu
Nigeria’s calamitous economic state can be likened to that of a man, who lives on the bank of the river, but washes his hands with spittle. The consequence of the protracted obsession with petrodollars and abandonment of agriculture, which used to be the nation’s economic mainstay, is that a country so blessed with rich, arable lands and wonderful climate, has been reduced to a net importer of foods. According to the Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s international trade in agricultural goods in 2021 totalled N3.24 trillion with the import towering above exports by a whooping N2.23 trillion.
It is also recalled that Nigeria used to be the largest palm oil producer in the 1950s and early 1960s, commanding 43 per cent of the world market share of palm oil. Today, Nigeria has not only dropped, the country now imports to meet local deficits. According to Statista, a German market and consumer data firm, Indonesia lead in palm oil production with 45.3 million metric tons in 2021/2022, followed by Malaysia with 18.3 million metric tons, Thailand with 3.1 million metric tons, Colombia with 1.7 million metric tons, while Nigeria produced a paltry 1.4 million metric tons to place fifth despite the country’s huge potentials.
Likewise, Nigeria imports 99 per cent of her wheat needs, mostly in forms of flour. Out of the 5 million metric tons of national wheat needs in 2021, Nigeria only produced a paltry 36,943 tons, according to NBS. Also, Nigeria imported N258.3 billion worth of wheat in the first quarter of 2022, making it the second most imported goods in that quarter. Ours is such a pathetic case that even a war-torn Ukraine, in November 2022, announced plans to ship 125 tons of wheat and corn grains in humanitarian aid to Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, and Kenya.
However, despite these backdrops, the agricultural blueprint of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah has continued to elicit massive interest, awakening hopes of brighter agricultural future in Enugu State in particular and Nigeria in general.
It must be admitted that the current administration in the state has commendably taken some positive steps such as the local cow-breeding venture, the Public Private Partnership with Ellah Lakes Plc. towards the overhaul and restoration of Adani Rice Farm (Adarice) in Uzo-Uwani LGA of the state, and training of farmers. It is good news, therefore, that Dr. Peter Mbah is not only ready to build on these, but has made agriculture one of the cornerstones and major contributors to the state’s GDP in his agenda of building Enugu from a $4.4 billion to a $30 billion economy in eight years.
His core objective in the agricultural sector is to feed and turn Enugu State into the food basket of the nation and the hub of export of cash crops. He targets to eliminate food insecurity in the state by 2031. Dr. Mbah seeks to make agriculture a profitable business that creates jobs for the youth and women, increase factor productivity five folds, deepen agricultural markets, increase incomes to farmers and revenue contributions to Enugu State, and turn the rural areas into agricultural economic zones.
It is also noteworthy that Dr. Mbah is not talking about just agricultural revolution in Enugu, but also agro-allied industrialization that transcends production to fully exploiting the economic gains in the value chain like processing, packaging, logistics, and marketing.
To achieve this, he plans to create Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in each senatorial district with catchment power sources, integrated rural infrastructure that covers roads, ICT, water, and sanitization, among others. These will facilitate access to farm inputs such as improved technologies, high-yielding seeds, machineries, and fertilisers, among others.
The accelerated Technologies for Agricultural Systems Transformation in Enugu State (TASTE) programme, which is modeled after African Development Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) that has assisted many African nations in achieving self-sufficiency in key staple crops will engage the private sector and development partners towards a rapid access to agricultural technologies like fertilisers, machinery, seeds, logistics, and fertilisers that promote productivity in the sector.
Adopting the car-sharing platforms models like Bolt and Uber, the above will be implemented through technology-enabled machinery sharing mobile platforms, partnering with existing platforms like “Hello Tractor” and equally motivating local entrepreneurs to collaborate with international investors to set up indigenous companies through local and international franchising policies.
The E-Wallet system, which has worked in over 32 countries, including Nigeria, will also be deployed to avail farmers of high-yielding, disease-resistant, and drought-tolerant seeds, while also making inputs like fertilisers and herbicides readily available to farmers at subsidized rates.
Technology-enabled extension services, on its part, will see the prospective Mbah-led administration provide structured training, technical assistance, and extension to farmers through electronic mobile platforms. Dr Mbah, in his manifesto and various interactive forums with professional bodies and town hall meetings across Enugu’s 68 development centres, continually lays out plans to partner with existing platforms supported by the U.S Department of Agriculture to avail farmers of advisory services to optimise productivity.
There will also be an M-Farm technology to link farmers to markets, improve price discovery, and contact purchasing by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and export markets. The farmers will simply send a dedicated code by SMS to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their farm inputs directly from manufacturers at favorable prices, and find buyers for their produce.
Meanwhile, to develop the agricultural produce value chain, Dr. Mbah intends to have the Enugu State Government partner with the private sector to develop MSME for the processing, packaging, logistics, and marketing of agricultural produce in the SAPZs and the farmer cooperatives in the rural communities. The value chain development will transcend staple crops to equally target cash crops such as Ogbono, maize, Nsukka pepper, palm oil, and cashew nuts, among others.
The agricultural-allied masterplan also includes encouraging and enhancing private investment in piggery, poultry and egg production, small ruminant production, and fish production. In this respect, government will ensure the provision of technical assistance and agricultural extension services, introduction of hybrids of livestock, and encourage investments in value chain, using best practices in order to meet international certifications to facilitate the acceptability and marketability of Enugu’s value-added agricultural products in the international market.
To address the issue of availability of land, Mbah plans to, among others, work with the Enugu State House of Assembly and the communities to legislate the harmonisation of land tenure under government’s control for onward lease to commercial farmers and agro-industrialists.
He also has a clear idea on how to address the insecurity and challenges associated with animal husbandry in the state, as he intends to open up areas for private investments in modern animal husbandry, particularly ranching. This will in turn reduce open grazing and substantially reduce crisis between herders and natives.
Furthermore, while massive agricultural development will take care of the idea of ungoverned spaces that criminals use as hiding places, Mbah explains that each additional hectre of farmland to the existing ones in Enugu will create four jobs. Therefore, he has committed to adding 100,000 hectares of farmland in each senatorial zone. That would amount to 400,000 jobs in each zone and 1.2 million jobs generated from agriculture alone across the state.
Meanwhile, beyond these commendable plans, which many have expressed their faith in Mbah’s capacity to deliver, given his feats in the private sector where his company, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd, sits atop the downstream petroleum sub-sector, they also believe that his agricultural and agro-allied vision, when delivered, is capable of triggering a fresh agricultural revolution and engendering less dependence of states on the Federation Account.
Asadu writes from Nsukka, Enugu State
