Agriculture: Transparency, collaboration needed for growth

Transparent inter-sectoral collaboration among the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, other agencies, states and local governments and the enabling environment for a strong private sector involvement and investment in the sector have been identified as part of the policy reforms strategies that would ensure enduring the growth of the agricultural sector of the economy.

Delivering the lead paper on: “Sustaining the Positive Outcome of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda for Attaining Competitiveness, Sustainability & Inclusive Growth,” during the Food Security and Agriculture session at the just-concluded Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, a Senior Agriculture Economist with the World Bank, Dr. Adetunji Oredipe, maintained that finding solutions to the problems of the sector must involve all critical stakeholders.

Oredipe said: “Strengthening collaboration between Federal and State Ministries and improving overall coordination is crucial. A thriving agricultural industry will require support from other ministries and agencies of government at federal and state levels.”

In the well applauded presentation, Dr. Oredipe, who also served as the Senior Technical Adviser to the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, observed that in a major departure from past approaches, agriculture is now being treated as a business, not a development programme.

He recollected that “until the early 1970s, Nigeria was self-sufficient in food production with a small surplus for export and agriculture was the main foreign exchange earner. The sector stagnated thereafter due to the discovery, exploitation and exports of oil and a subsequent policy to shift resources from agriculture to the oil-industry”.

However, since agriculture employs an overwhelming share of the Nigerian labour force, stagnation of the sector resulted in increased poverty incidence.

Poverty, according to Oredipe, “remains largely a rural phenomenon with headcount of 44.9% compared to 12.6% in urban areas thereby necessitating the prioritization of rural transformation and provision of employment, particularly youth employment, and also adoption of a gender sensitive approach in the sector”.

He listed the issues in the sector, which the ATA set out to address, to include value chain development: market access (local, regional, international) and market orientation, complex and challenging land tenure system impeding economic growth and sometimes causing violent land disputes, rudimentary agricultural production techniques despite many years of work on technology generation and transfer, low level of use of key inputs such as fertilizers and improved seeds, mechanization and low Irrigation efficiency.

Other militating factors, Oredipe said, are inadequate infrastructure – such as feeder roads, storage, packaging, processing, and retailing facilities – which weakens the economic and physical bridge between production points and marketing centres, inability to meet producers’ needs because linkages between research, extension and producers are weak, low public spending on agriculture with the average of 3.8 per cent of total spending between year 2000 and 2010, and limited access to finance, especially for smallholder farmers.

The former ministerial adviser also proffered policy options that could strengthen the current processes.

These include proper and full costing of the ATA with an investment plan showing annual financial outlays, transparent outlining of proposed credible sources of internal and external funding, better targeting and focus on conversion of inputs into food production, results monitoring framework showing intermediate milestones and indicators, institutionalization of the monitoring process and regular publication of results of outputs and outcomes against targets.

ATA, according to him, “must find ways of addressing the serious issues of archaic land tenure system that inhibit large-scale commercial and integrated agriculture and exports.  Finding enduring solutions is beyond FMARD and requires inter-sectoral collaboration with other agencies”.

In conclusion, Oredipe called for establishment of a Projects Delivery Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture as “the hub for processing of development partner programs in the sector. Effective coordination of government agencies and donor projects remains key priority”.