It is an incontrovertible fact that agriculture has become one of the major ways to go for the diversification of Nigeria’s economy. It is also a settled fact that peasant or subsistence agriculture cannot deliver the quality and quantum of processed and unprocessed agricultural products that will diversify the economy. Technology, particularly modern agricultural machines and methodologies, are needed to increase production of disease resistant agricultural products.
This does not mean that the country will do away with peasant farmers. In most cases, a good percentage of the present peasant farmers will become out-growers for the large-scale farmers who will give the peasant farmers inputs such as disease resistant seedlings, fertilisers and pesticides, and then buy back the produce from them at agreed prices. By so doing, peasant farmers who agree to become out-growers to large-scale farmers will be trained on modern production of crops and livestock and how to deliver them to the large scale farmers who have the benefits of increased production, access to new technologies for farming and increased profits. The rest of the peasant farmers may still choose to continue with their present small farm holdings.
Experts say that the country’s low agricultural productivity is the result of years of low investment in all the factors that contribute to agricultural productivity and effective use of available resources
The fact that the Dangote Group of Companies recently announced plans to invest $4.6 billion in agriculture and $800 million in the beef and dairy industry in the country in the next five years is an eloquent fact that mechanised, large-scale agriculture is the way to diversify the country’s economy and pull Nigeria out of food insecurity. The company said the $4.6 billion investment in agriculture would be used to explore and develop sugar, rice and tomato paste production in the country.
Looking at the scenario of the future for Nigeria, the International Monetary Fund said, a few years ago, that in a few decades , the population of Nigeria will be more than that of the United States of America. If the country’s agricultural situation remains as it is now, how does it feed its large population? How will it educate them and prepare them to face life as educated men and women. This is the time to make such preparations. In short, the country needs large-scale farmers who will use modern technology and plant improved seedlings to deliver astounding results.
The road to achieving large increases in agricultural production is strewn with a lot of challenges. For example, large-scale farmers may not easily emerge across the country because of the lack of the much needed seed capital to do so. It is, therefore, the duty of the government to grant soft-landing to such men and women who have interest in agricultural production and processing.
Also, there is low productivity in farming and in the entire agri-food chain. There are also high post-harvest losses, resulting in higher prices, lack of market information and market access, limited availability of access to extension services, research, technology and expertise; poor governance of land tenure systems and unfavourable weather, pests and disease.
In addition, there is lack of sufficient financial resources/ access to credit and productive assets for smallholders, inadequate access to finance to purchase the right technology to increase productivity, and poor infrastructure for transport, storage, electricity and water supply.
The low agricultural yield in Nigeria, and indeed, across Africa, is the result of the low level of technology applied to agricultural production, such as better seed, irrigation, and fertilisers. In fact, research has shown that irrigation and the use of fertilisers can increase yields of most crops by between 100 and 400 per cent. Unfortunately, the neglect of agronomy research made Nigeria lose market share in tropical products, where it has natural advantage. This neglect enabled South-East Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia to capture much of the world market in palm oil. Yet, palm oil was introduced to Asia from Nigeria.
The country needs technology in agriculture because, while agricultural yields have also been level or falling for many crops in the country for many years, most of the countries that have grown rapidly during the past 50 years have also experienced strong increases in agricultural productivity per worker.
Experts say that the country’s low agricultural productivity is the result of years of low investment in all the factors that contribute to agricultural productivity and effective use of available resources. It is, therefore, not surprising that low productivity has seriously eroded the competitiveness of Nigerian agricultural products in the world
market.
Nigeria is now the leading economy in Africa. It must, as such, wake up and significantly use science, technology and innovation to drive and increase agricultural production, processing and delivery to the markets within and outside the country. This means that local farmers must learn and make efficient use of factors of production (farmland, water, and labour), agricultural inputs (capital, fertilizers, irrigation, improved seeds and equipment) to increase their yields. In addition, the country needs bio-technology and bio-fortification of local crops to deliver crops with better nutrients for the health of the people. At the same time, there must be bio-safety laws in place that will allow for the safe development and commercialisation of genetically modified food products.
