The recent plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allocate 2.15 million bags of fertilizer valued at N100 billion to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for distribution to farmers to enhance agricultural production is timely. According to the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, the N100billion indirect intervention is part of the apex bank’s contribution to enhance food production and foster price stabilisation within the agric sector. It is also part of the bank’s commitment to ensure economic growth.
The intervention to boost food production and reduce the rising cost of food items is commendable. However, the farm input should be made to get to the real farmers. We say this because past interventions failed due to lack of adequate supervision and monitoring. No doubt, the effort to ensure food production can also be strengthened through sustained partnership with other stakeholders. To reduce the rising cost of food items, some other strategic agencies in the food production chain should be involved. Nigerians would want these efforts to succeed.
In a bid to boost food production, fiscal and monetary policies must go beyond the paper work, and translate to practical steps that will ensure that the disbursement of the fertilizer to the real farmers is transparent. The CBN should draw lessons from the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) that promised so much but delivered little on its objectives.
After investing about N1trillion in the programme from 2015 to 2022, beneficiaries of the programme are yet to repay N577billion. As a result, the federal government recently directed relevant security agencies to recover the loans. It is unfortunate that despite huge amount of investment to boost food production and stem food inflation, food inflation has reached all-time high of 35.4 per cent, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Only recently, the African Development Bank (AfDB) granted a $2.7billion budget support loan to the federal government and an additional $1billion fund for emergency agro industrial zones for food production across some states. With abundant arable land, Nigeria ought not to be in the present situation of food insecurity. The general insecurity, clashes between herders and farmers and corruption in the disbursement of agric intervention funds have also contributed to our food insecurity. Also, the slow pace of mechanised agriculture and our inability to fully embrace all seasons’ farming have exacerbated the problem.
Moving forward, the emphasis should be on mechanised farming and agro-business. Therefore, the recent plan by the AfDB and its partners to finance the expansion of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) programme in Nigeria is laudable. The SAPZ is the flagship of AfDB initiative, and its private sector action plan aimed at quickening the transformation of the agric sector value chain through industrialisation. Last year, the bank committed about $1billion to the agro-industrial processes in 28 states. When fully implemented, it is expected to yield over 5 million metric tons of wheat, rice, cassava and other staple foods. This includes the cultivation of 118,000 hectares of wheat cultivation and 150,000 hectares of maize. The AfDB is supporting the cultivation of hectares of cassava and soya beans as well.
Therefore, we urge the government to address the factors responsible for the escalation of food prices that have worsened hunger in the country. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation(FAO), Nigeria has 70.8 million hectares of agriculture land areas capable of producing massive maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam, beans, millet and rice. Regrettably, the general insecurity has hindered the cultivation of these crops.
Let the government check kidnapping and banditry, which have crippled farming activities. Tackling the rising food inflation requires curbing the triggers of the problem. Though the establishment of the National Food Security Council in 2018 was aimed to address food insecurity, strengthening the necessary policy frameworks has not been followed through.
While CBN intervention will boost food production, farmers should be given loans at low interest rates. The private sector support in this direction is also essential. According to the Economic Impact, an agricultural think tank, Nigeria is ranked 107 out of 113 countries in the 2022 Global Food Security Index.
With over 25 million Nigerians said to be at risk of hunger, government must encourage private investments in the agricultural sector by providing tax relief that apply to both primary and secondary food producers. Additionally, famers should be trained on how to use new farming techniques as well as deployment of technology to farming.