Agricultural business in Nigeria, by Agbaji Chinedu
The Agricultural business sector of Nigeria’s Economy is vital to economic diversification. Agribusiness which includes all the business actions within the Agricultural value chains such as input supplies, production, harvesting, packaging and processing, warehousing, transportation and distribution, marketing, exporting, consulting and extension services has the potential to build an economy that can generate inclusive growth, create jobs, food security and availability, shrink poverty, if policies within the sector are reformed to be farmers friendly not for the elites. As a result will boost private sector-driven Agricultural business from input supplies, and production through an off-taking system (credit facilities), and post-harvest management (warehousing, processing, packaging and distribution).
Agriculture has been a major source of livelihood for Nigerians for centuries, and it continues to be an important sector of the Nigerian economy. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics growth, agriculture contributes about 22% of Nigeria’s GDP and employs over 40% of the country’s population. This shows that with reforms we can do better. Agricultural business is rural based; the jobs created from the statistic are about 95% rural domiciled. The agricultural business has the potential to be a powerful tool for driving rural growth and development. By promoting agricultural entrepreneurship and providing support for farmers and agribusinesses, rural communities can develop sustainable economic opportunities that create jobs, generate income and improve livelihoods. When our rural areas are aggressively developing through the development of Agricultural value chains, such as processing and packaging, warehousing, distribution, export and marketing, then the economy can be sustained, it will combat unplanned rural-urban migration which has been a big challenge in the recent time in Nigeria and standard of living in rural communities will be improved. In the centre of all these is the Nigerian smallholder farmer who is faced with different challenges daily as a result of policies summersault of the federal government and lack of political will of the state government to redefine the farming profession.
One of the challenges facing Nigerian farmers is the lack of access to modern farming techniques, technologies, and equipment. Many farmers in Nigeria still use traditional farming methods that are labour-intensive and produce low yields. This limits their ability to compete with other farmers in the global market because of the quality and standard of the output and limits their earning potential.
Another challenge facing Nigerian farmers is the lack of access to credit and financing. Many farmers in Nigeria are small-scale farmers who do not have the financial resources to invest in their farms and improve their yields. This limits their ability to expand their operations and take advantage of new opportunities.
To address these challenges, the Nigerian government has launched various initiatives aimed at supporting farmers and promoting agriculture in the country. For example, the government has launched the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and the Anchor Borrowers Program, which provide farmers with access to credit, training, and modern farming technologies. But they failed especially the Anchor borrower program which was designed to favour the banks, input supplies and political and portfolio farmers not real farmers who are in the rural area. To get it right, farming should not be done in the offices but on the farms. Farmers should be part of policy formations through their national bodies. They know the challenges and the way out and should be carried along for us to get it right. For instance, the best credit scheme to facilitate farming and farming-related activities is making farmlands available for farmers to farm. I mean prepared to land.
This credit scheme model is a system whereby the state deploys funds for land preparation in partnership with the local communities who are land owners and are also members of the Farmer’s Associations such as the All farmers association of Nigeria (AFAN) see farming as a noble profession, for farmers to farm. Farmers especially the smallholder farmers will come together to form clusters, as a result, off-takers will take care of the micro-credit facility to facilitate the crop production they want to off-take, in doing this Agro-processing company will step in to establish primary processing plants which will generate jobs and revenue in the state. If the state goes into partnership with communities on land accusation for farming on a good mutual sharing formula to clear and prepare about 1,000,000 hectares of land in the state and share among the commodities association under AFAN, you will see off-takers coming in to take responsibilities of supplying farm input and credit facilities that will facilitate the farming, with QR Code traceability card farmers/farms can be traced through GPS, as a result, will eliminate the sharp practice in the system.
Finally, until we treat farming as a noble profession urbanization devoid of industrialization will continue as a result will affect our economic growth and sustainability which is rooted in our ability to satisfy the want of our people and the demand of the international market.
Agbaji Chinedu writes from Abuja and can be reached via 08035004617, learnder@gmail.com.
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