Basically, the last one year in the country’s agric sector has witnessed attempts by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in trying to finetune policy reform in a bid to ensure food security and sufficiency. There is no doubt that the two agric ministers; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari and his counterparts, the Minister of State, Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, had hit the ground running to achieve food sustainability.
Reform agenda
To kickstart his tenure following his appointment as the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Kyari stated that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu had demonstrated total political will to transform the agriculture by not only changing the name to Federal Ministry of Agriculture (FMARD) and food security, but also, making Food Security a priority.
He, therefore, assured stakeholders that the issue of ‘political will’ as an impediment to policy actions was now a forgone issue. He however, presented the focal areas that hinge on integration, sustainability, and resilience to the country’s agric challenges. These span the immediate, short, medium, and long term. As part of the agric ministry’s reforms, the agric minister explained that his ministry hoped to pursue vigorously four-point agenda out of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Agric sector
In the first year, the agriculture sector was impacted mainly by insecurity, fuel subsidy removal, and consistent exchange rate depreciation, which increased the cost of fertiliser and other input. Some parts of the country recorded the worst flooding in the last quarter of 2023, significantly affecting crops such as rice, maize, and soybeans. The economic conditions have also been difficult for livestock producers and animals suffering from the high feed cost, herderfarmer crisis, etc.
As a result of the challenging conditions, the Federal Government declared a state of emergency on food production to stabilise prices. It implemented several intervention policies, including distributing N100 billion fertiliser to boost food production. According to NBS, food inflation has consistently increased over the last 12 years, reaching 40.53 per cent in April 2024 compared to 24.82 per cent in May 2023.
Agric sector contribution to GDP
In terms of GDP, agric sector growth has mainly been sub-optimal. In the first quarter of 2024, the sector grew by 0.18 per compared to 2.10 per cent and 1.30 per cent in Q4 and Q3 of 2023, respectively. This implies a downward trend in the sector’s output. To address low agricultural output, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry is recommending that the government address the country’s high level of insecurity and the exchange rate crisis. In addition, the government must incentivise agricultural processing and invest in vital infrastructure such as power and transportation.
Fund injection
Sen. Kyari had announced that N309 billion had been injected into the economy following the launch of a dry season farming initiative. This initiative has led to the cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat across 15 states, marking a significant step toward year-round farming. During the Ministerial Sectoral Update on the one-year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, Kyari provided a comprehensive update on food and nutrition security.
He revealed that the Ministry had supported 107,429 wheat farmers with necessary inputs, resulting in a substantial output of 474,628 metric tonnes of wheat. In response to a presidential directive, the Ministry released 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities from the Federal Government’s Strategic Food Reserve to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for distribution.
Dry season farming
One of the key policies taken in the country’s agric sector is that of reversing to dry farming for farmers by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. No doubt, the devastating effects of floods and climate change on the country’s agriculture has been overwhelming and this made the Federal Government to shift preparation for the next dry-season farming beginning from November 2023 in order to salvage food security in the country in 2024.
The need to push the country’s farming attention to November may not be unconnected with the adverse effects of the rainy season, that brought about floods that killed and displaced multitudes in the country. With this, reports have forecast that Nigeria could face more challenges early next year if plans are not in place to start cultivating food by year end in the country.
Kyari had told New Telegraph that the most pressing actions the agric ministry was currently handling was preparation for the next dry-season farming beginning from November 2023. Kyari explained that some preparatory activities had been carried out and that many others were at an advanced stage in order to boost food security and production in the country. According to him, the climate change has brought greater challenge to the country’s agriculture in 2023, thereby causing acute food challenges and other inherent impediments to the country’s agric sector.
Existing projects’ review
The ministry also stated that it was currently reviewing all existing projects in the country’s agric sector to ensure due diligence in achieving the four priorities of the present administration. The agric ministry emphasised that the agric sector’s review was necessary and apt in alignment with minimal distortions while keeping confidence building measures in place to get the total buy-in of agric stakeholders as partners in progress.
Kyari, who disclosed this in Abuja recently, stated that the ministry was in the process of carrying out a robust stakeholder analysis that will produce a working stakeholder map showing who does what, where and how and what are the mutually beneficial areas for the small holder farmers, large scale farmers, processors, marketers and the organised private sector.
AFEX report
Within the period, AFEX, leading commodities player in Africa, unveiled its 2024 commodities outlook, forecasting that this year, global commodity prices were going to be on a downward trend due to factors, such as, improved supplies and the expiration of certain trade policies. AFEX pointed out that this trend was bound to significantly pose a downside or upside risk to commodity prices globally.
Making this known during the company’s hybrid event to unveil its 2024 annual commodities outlook hosted at its Lagos office recently, the Vice President, Financial Markets of AFEX, Oluwafunto Olasemo, disclosed that the annual commodities outlook was a key literature that analyses critical socio-economic factors shaping the demand and supply dynamics of commodities, with a view to highlight challenges and opportunities inherent in the market, while providing an accurate forecast that potentially steers price and volumes for the 2024. Olasemo explained that energy prices are expected to drop by five per cent in 2024 and then further decrease by 0.7 per cent in 2025.
AFAN on fuel scarcity
Also in the first year of Tinubu’s administration, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) attributed the continued fuel scarcity of petroleum products nationwide as the reason behind the shocking surge in the prices of food commodities in the country. The farmers’ association lamented that this had resulted in high cost of transportation of foodstuffs down to the urban cities.
Chairman of AFAN, Lagos Chapter, Dr. Femi Oke, who made this assertion in a telephone conversation with New Telegraph, in Lagos, said that Nigerians could not be expecting downward review in the prices of food commodities when the fundamentals, especially high inflation rate, energy mix, petroleum products and others were not yet addressed by the Federal Government in the country.
Oke explained that many farmers were paying high in an attempts to transport food commodities to the South from the North and is what is responsible for high cost of food products in the country. On what can be done to bring down the high cost of foodstuffs in the country, the AFAN chieftain said that it was time for the government to reopen the borders for inflows of food commodities from the neighborhouring countries into Nigeria, to complement the ones produce by Nigerian farmers.
Poultry farmers’ N3trn investment
Indeed, poultry farmers, under the aegis of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), disclosed that their members nationwide lost more than N3 trillion investments from the economic hardships in 2023 following fuel subsidy removal and floating of exchange rate pronouncement by President Bola Tinubu. The Chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr. Mojeed Iyiola, disclosed this while speaking at PAN conference in Lagos.
Egg price hike
The period also witnessed rise in poultry feed and egg prices. Indeed, this situation has been attributed to the fluctuating foreign exchange (forex) rates. Iyiola stated in an interview with newsmen in Lagos that the increase was also influenced by the greed of certain middlemen, leading to higher prices for various poultry products. He pointed out that the current cost of a crate of eggs from the poultry farm gate was approximately N3,400, compared to N2,700 in January.
“The price of feed materials is the cause for the hike in the price of poultry produce, especially eggs,” he said. “The price of feed materials increases on a daily basis. You buy a bag of layers’ feed for N10,000 today, the next day it would have risen to N10,500 and so on. “Dealers in poultry feed materials have blamed the fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate as the reason for the constant increment.
Rice distribution
Kyari also announced that the ministry had procured and distributed 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice to curb escalating food prices in the country. He revealed thia during his presentation at the ministerial sectoral update in Abuja to commemorating President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary. He pointed out that the ministry’s priority under the Renewed Hope Agenda was to boost agriculture to achieve food security, enhance infrastructure, and improve transportation as growth enablers.
Last line
The performance of country’s agric sector in the last one year can be viewed as low, because many Nigerians are still facing hardship and poverty.
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