By Dele Ogbodo
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was accurately and pointedly clear on the overarching role of food security in Nigeria’s development trajectory which inevitably became compelling to make the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security the foundation and the launching pad under which his Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigeria’s renaissance will be driven.
In a no mistaken terms therefore, the choice and appointments of Senator Abubakar Kyari and his state counterpart, Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi as Ministers were therefore the magic bullet needed by President Tinubu to set abuzz the ongoing revolution in Nigeria’s sector.
Since their appointments last year, the Ministers have become turbo-charged, hitting the ground running with innovation, with an all inclusive stakeholders approach across MDAs using technology to robustly drive down Nigeria’s food inflation.
The emerging good news in Nigeria’s agriculture landscape is the committment and demonstration of team work, shared value across stakeholders’ collaborative approach which involves the Ministries of Finance, Budget and Planning and 15 State Governors have resonated as paradigm shift that will in no distant time begin to yield positive result.
However, the backlash in the terrain in the last few months cannot be overlooked as the President Tinubu Administration evolves concerted efforts to make Nigeria food secured, sustainable and cost effective.
There is no doubt that the fallout of climate change occasioned with the unprecedented loss of crops and farms to flooding in different parts of the country 2022/2023, the insecurity across the nation also in 2023 which accentuated withdrawal from farms and the global spike in food prices caused by the lingering Russia and Ukraine war also took a toll on the country’s food prices and agricultural productivity.
Confronted with these challenges Kyari and Abdullahi have emphasized the need to re-calibrate the landscape in an encompassing all stakeholders which aligns with President Tinubu’s declaration of food security emergency factored along the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security mandate.
It was from the drawing board that and the several brainstorming sessions at the tail end of 2023 that a more articulated and robust and comprehensive National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Programme was birthed along with critical stakeholders, international bodies and Nigeria’s private sector players.
To bring these strategies to bear in the country’s food equation, Kyari, took a bold step on the implementation of the second phase of 2023/2024 Dry Season Farming. The convergence of these measures is aimed at securing a robust and resilient food production ecosystem to drive down the food inflation and boost production.
Speaking at the just concluded strategic meeting which took place at Orozo, a surbub of FCT and attended by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Mr. Wale Edun and Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alh. Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, stated that the objective of the forum was to review the implementation of the 2023/2024 dry season wheat production implemented in the fifteen (15) wheat producing States of the Federation based on their respective comparative advantage and preparatory meeting to chart a new course for the implementation of the second phase for rice, maize and cassava.
While explaining the template of the project, Kyari, stated that aside supporting farmers with critical farm inputs for the production of the priority crops, it will also provide institutional support for better performances and sustainability particularly in the areas of wheat seeds local production across the country.
In ramping up efforts, the two Ministers and Directors in the Ministry were quick to identify areas of strength and weakness while factoring the grey areas as well, it was in this process that the Minister revealed that there were observed lapses in the implementation process hence the need for collective and comprehensive evaluation of the efforts put in place and proffer qualitative remedial measures to forestall their reoccurrence.
He expressed determination that all necessary machineries and strategies would be put in place to address all the observed lapses and infraction from all parties, adding that officers will be deployed to manage and coordinates the supply chain activities, should adhere strictly to the laid-down rules and guiding principles while in their own case.
He also expressed commitment that various ICT platforms will be deployed to trace all the transactions under the agro-pocket, adding that this being the primary purpose government decided to utilize technology in the inputs delivery process to promote transparency, accountability and easy tracking of the impacts and performance
The Minister charged: “The input producers’ fertilizers, seeds, agro-chemicals to ensure that the products supply meet with the prescribed set standards in terms of quantity and quality, the input distributors or agro-dealers to sell only certified and approved products sourced from the registered input producers’’.
However, the Minister stressed that the farmers should use and apply the entire inputs given in line with the best agronomic practices for maximum productivities, noting that a dimension of encumbrance to the dry season wheat farming under the NAGS-AP were cases of farmers’ inability to pay their component of the input cost.
According to him, President Tinubu, who out of his commitment to ensuring improved agricultural production, has graciously directed that additional support be given to farmers to cushion such effect in subsequent interventions.
At the Orozo strategic meeting, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edu, reterated the importance of agriculture sector cannot be overemphasized under the leadership of President Tinubu, even as he expressed Federal Government’s avowed determination that there is substantial intervention funds for the sector.
The Finance Minister, said: “In terms of food production, to produce more rice, maize wheat and cassava. It will help to bring down rate of inflation.
“A successful dry season farming will bring down cost of food production and will bring down inflation’’.
Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, in his good will message said: “Nigeria agricultural space is one of the most elastic in the world, every cropping season can produce a miracle, if there is more investment in the sector.” He said President Tinubu’s Administration is committed to the agriculture sector in terms of improvement in budget allocation and other intervention funds to achieve food and nutrition security.
While expressing their unwavering commitments to collaborate with Federal Government’s initiative to drive down food prices, the Governors of Niger, Jigawa, Ekiti, Sokoto and Jigawa States were united in their resolve to deploy every measure aimed at sailing the country out of the murky waters of food price inflation.
While expressing excitement and preparedness during a collaborative visit to both Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security, Governor Mohammed Bago, of Niger State revealed that his administration has attracted over $1 billion to the state to boost agricultural pproductyion which he said will force down the present inflationary status of food inflation.
He said his state has allocated I million hectares of land to the Federal Government through the Ministry for the 2024 dry season, adding that the state should be showcased as pilot for agricultural development across the country.
He added: “In my state, we have no oother place to go than to go the way of agriculture production, cultivation, animal husbandry and acqualculture as the main focus of our government.”
In a remark, Kyari commended Bago for utilizing the vast potential of the arable land that God has blessed the state with, adding that the governor’s effort in translating the agriculture potential intio sustainable reality aligns with President Tinubu’s deep rooted initiatives on food security.
On his part, the Sokoto State Governor at a similar visit while soliciting the support of the Federal Government through the Ministry, said there aws need to identify ggenuine farmers while at the same time decrying the activities of political farmers which he added that are saboteurs at government’s effort at food security.
He said: “I’m here to solicite your support and to see how wee can collaborate and work together to make food cheap and available to Nigerians irrespective of where they come from.”
He however decried the security challenges in the state as hindrance as farmers now need security to work in their farms.
While also admitting during a courtesy to ramp up the state’s effort at agricultural productivity, the Jigawa State Governor, Mr. Umar Namadi, attested that the visit was like a home to the Ministry.
He said: “Despite our challenges, roundtripping of inputs is now a thing of the past, thanks for your intervention and we have directed our cooperatives in the state to properly identify themselves for the vinputs that will be made available for them.”
According to him, Jigawa, has done 37,000 hectares of land that is official and another 5000 hectares for Nigeria Flour Mills. In addition to 3,870 hectares done owned by individual farmers. On the aggregate we have over 50 hectares in the state.
“So, I assure you that we shall continue to cooperate with you and your team to ensure that we achieve food security for this nation.
“We have the resources in terms of land, farmers that are ready to farming and we are committed to put in place a robust programme that will assist us to achieve food security
“I want to assure you that as today we are updating our farmers register and on the dry season we will be properly guided and once that is done we shall issue the farmer certificate showing the land and the location and all the coordinates and I’m sure that when it comes to rice that will be easy for us to ensure that we have the input from your ministry on rice farming.
In another development, Kyari while welcoming Dr. Mohammed Idris, the Governor of Kebbi State, to the Ministry’s corporate headquarters here in the Federal Capital Territory, reiterated that Idris’visit is the second we in the shortly after the departure of the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Abioudun Oyebanji within the past one week, we have been privileged to host Chief Executives of four states.
He added that there is no doubt that the collective steps the Federal Goveernment is taking to boost food production, reduce food inflation, and more assuredly guarantee our national food security, are matters of urgent engagement that require increased inter-governmental interactions.
The Minister, said: “In November of 2023, we flagged off the Wheat Dry Season Farming across 15 states that are in the wheat-producing belt of the country. As a reminder, the flag-off was intended to ensure that we rely less on rain-fed agricultural production during the Wet Season, and instead have all-year round farming.
“In addition to boosting the volumes of crops cultivated, taking advantage of both Dry and Wet Season Farming will increase job opportunities, reduce poverty, de-escalate food inflation, and enhance inclusivity, which are goals highlighted in President Bola Tinubu’s RHA.”
According to him, Kebbi State is one of the states chosen for the Dry Season Farming across irrigable farmlands, explaining that despite some of the initial glitches, it is reassuring that the state government took necessary critical steps, such as land preparation, and facilitation of tubular irrigation, to enable the cultivation of wheat under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) project.
He said: “We are also aware that your government has supported farmers with additional fertilizers and other inputs and provided funds for commodity associations towards boosting agricultural productivity in the state.”