Sequel to the observed rising food inflation across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last week declared a State of Emergency on Food Security to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
The highlight of the policy include the re-introduction of the National Commodity Board to review food prices; protection of farmers and farmlands; immediate release of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal and inclusion of all matters pertaining to food and water availability and affordability under the purview of the National Security Council, among others.
While farmers and other sector players welcomed the development with open arms, there are fears that the initiative might go the way of other failed government interventions in the sector, which were allegedly hijacked by ‘political farmers’.
The recent of such intervention that comes to mind is the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), which industry analysts claimed failed to impact positively on the sector despite billions of naira expended on the scheme.
Though stakeholders view the current move as a right step in the right direction, they, however, noted that implementation is very germane to achieving the desired result.
While applauding the president’s declaration, the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), said the plan, coming through the Security Council purview (especially Agriculture & Water Resources), must not be a mere statement, stressing that it must be backed with actions to achieve food sufficiency in the country in due time.
The National President of CFAN, Comrade Adeola Adegoke, said self-sufficiency is the key to securing any nation, adding that the President’s decision was right.
“However, the present high cost of energy must have rubbed off on or seriously impacted Mr. President’s intention in this regard considering the present skyrocketing inputs price and its negative effect on the cost of cocoa or agro production for the smallholder farmers.
“We do not know how Mr. President would solve this energy crisis, but we know that the objective might be impacted negatively if urgent measures are not put in place to solve the problem and save the smallholder cocoa farmers from degenerating into more poverty,” he said.
Adegoke disclosed that on the issue of the commodity board, the President has never hidden his views on the need to bring back the board to support his food-sufficiency strategies.
“It must be known that the present total deregulation of the cocoa sector after the dissolution of the commodity board in 1986 has set the industry backward without any appreciable progress in quality, production, productivity, and the fair market mechanism to support the farmers.
“The smallholder cocoa farmers have continued to bear the full cost of cocoa production without any appreciable support from the government at all levels unlike what was obtainable during the Cocoa Board era in 1986 and as being done in Ghana and Ivory Coast that still retained their boards and presently with production capacity of one million metric tonnes and two million metric tonnes respectively while Nigeria is presently hovering around 300,000 to 350,000mt,” he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of Green Sahara Farms, Suleiman Dikwa, who said stakeholders were expectant of a clearer and well though approach, noted that the first step was to merge the agencies and develop a direct framework where interventions are directed in a simple manner to farmers.
“The failure of past policies had to do with conception and execution with a multiplicity of actors rather than an actor-centric approach with the farmer and farmland at the reception of interventions and not other non-cultivation interfaces that consume resources and make it difficult for the intended beneficiaries to access help.
“The plan lacks clear specifics on how this will be achieved. We have multiple institutions that consume resources and create unnecessary bureaucracy, which need to be merged to save scarce resources.
“On the other hand, there has got to be a clearly defined purpose to achieve food security and improved livelihoods,” he stated.
He noted that one major challenge that also needed to be addressed is the issue of climate change, which according to him is affecting rain patterns. He added that flooding, poor yield, rising inflation, post-harvest losses, and insecurity are also factors to be addressed.
Dikwa added: “The first step to achieve the desired result is to merge the agencies and develop a direct framework where interventions are made available directly to the farmers. Create a new bio-economy through sustainable development and utilisation of natural capital thereby attracting green investments into the economy.
“There is a need to develop a framework using sustainable development goals as a means of measuring impact rather than restrictive measurements such as the volume of production or export to determine impact.
“We have the opportunity to lift millions out of poverty faster than China within a decade. But we must develop a plan that fits our social context and natural endowments within global market demands, where we have (in some cases) absolute advantage in agro cultivation and production.”
Managing Director/CEO of Bama Farms, Mr. Wale Bama Oyekoya, who also lauded the initiative, said farmers requested the declaration in 2015 during former president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration but the government didn’t have the political will to do it.
He added that the sector performed badly during the former president’s eight years in office, especially with the onslaughts of bandits and herdsmen on farmers and farmlands.
“The crisis led to food insecurity in the country, coupled with the heavy corruption of his cabinet members and the National Assembly as there was misappropriation of agric funds.
“It’s a welcome idea that all the matters pertaining to food and water availability and affordability is in the purview of the National Security Council so that the Presidency can monitor the process. But the president needs to be careful so that the cabals do not hijack the policy and mess it up just like what played out during Buhari’s administration.
“The money saved from the fuel subsidy should be invested in the agricultural sector to improve food production in the country, by providing land with titles to the real farmers; mechanisation of the agricultural sector so that the youths can partake; provision of security for the farmers and others in the value chain ladder; provision of storage facilities to curb spoilage and post-harvest losses.
“All silos in the hand of the Federal Government should be released to private investors to store grains after harvest. There should be the provision of the irrigation system so that farmers can farm all year round and do away with rain-fed systems in the country,” he said.
Oyekoya also enjoined the president to ensure that the intervention fund is made available to real farmers.
“There is need to encourage value chain in terms of processing in all the 774 local councils and strengthen our farm produce’s export to other countries to earn foreign exchange,” he added.
The Guardian
