There is no gainsaying that Nigeria after oil will depend so much on the harnessing of its agricultural potential. The realization of this goal is possible if state governments invest heavily in agriculture, especially in those cash and food crops in which they have comparative advantage. Good enough, every state in Nigeria has enough arable land to massively grow some of these crops for local consumption and for export. They also have the resources both material and human to engage in animal and fish farming. They have enormous capacity to grow assorted fruits and vegetables, including mangoes, pawpaw, avocado and soursop. Besides, Nigeria also has capacity to grow dates, cashew nuts, coconuts, sesame seeds, rice, beans, corn, sorghum and other cereals.
Currently, Nigeria is the largest producer of yam and cassava in the world. However, we have not done enough to process yam and cassava products for more profits. Beyond having yam and cassava flours and garri from cassava, we can produce cassava starch and cassava chips. We can also produce ethanol and biogas from cassava. Similarly, we can produce yam chips, frozen yam chips, and yam-based snacks like French fries. Yam flour can be used to produce noodles and other products.
The dream of growing $1trillion economy as envisaged by President Bola Tinubu administration is achievable if we can revolutionize our agriculture and make it profitable.
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While exporting agricultural products as raw materials can earn us some foreign exchange, exporting them as processed products will earn us more and even create more jobs. Lifting over 133million Nigerians, who are multi-dimensionally poor, out of poverty will be achieved if our agriculture is mechanized and made attractive to the youths, who represent a large percentage of the unemployed population.
Following the discovery of crude oil, our agriculture, which was the highest employer of labour and the backbone of the economy in the First Republic, was utterly neglected. But with the new thinking of Nigeria after oil, interest in agriculture is growing and the ugly narrative of neglect is changing for the better and the federal and state governments are paying the much-needed attention to agriculture. While some governors are procrastinating over embarking on agriculture, others are busy playing politics with it and doing nothing to support local farmers or farmers’ cooperatives. However, only a few governors have practically shown their commitment to mechanized farming and investing heavily in the sector.
Undoubtedly, the governor of Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, has eloquently demonstrated much zeal towards revolutionizing agriculture and making it attractive to young people in the country. He is committed to improving agro-business in the country by heavily investing in high yielding crops that will boost the export potential of his state, create jobs and ensure food security.
Some weeks ago, Governor Bassey Otu strategically partnered a multinational agribusiness company, JR Farms, to revolutionize coffee farming in the country with the launch of an initiative to cultivate 30 million coffee seedlings across the state. This bold initiative and silent agricultural revolution by the governor will likely become one of the largest coffee cultivation projects in Nigeria and West Africa.
The governor intends to use this achievable project to reposition Cross River State as the coffee capital of Nigeria and hopefully a major player in the global coffee market, currently dominated by Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Indonesia, Ethiopia and others. Apart from Ethiopia, other major coffee producing countries in Africa include Uganda, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Kenya and Cameroon.
The governor was full of optimism during the launch of the biggest coffee cultivation project in the country. “The 30 million Robusta and Arabica seedlings will be distributed and cultivated based on ecological suitability.
This project transcends mere coffee production; it promotes inclusive growth, sustainable investment, ethical practices, and green development,” the governor stated. Apart from repositioning coffee cultivation, the governor has launched initiatives to revive cocoa and palm oil production in the state with a view to create jobs and boost the income of farmers of these agricultural commodities.
It will be recalled that Nigeria at independence was the highest producer of cocoa and palm oil. But now the reverse is the case. We are trailing behind other countries that lead in cocoa and palm oil production. Ivory Coast is now the highest exporter of cocoa in the world. It is quickly followed by Ghana, Indonesia, Ecuador, Brazil, Cameroon and Nigeria. Unfortunately, Indonesia is the highest exporter of palm oil in the world. Others include Malaysia, Thailand, Columbia, and Nigeria.
In the 1960s, Nigeria was a global leader in palm oil export and held 43 per cent of palm oil production. With a production of 1.4 million metric tons or 2 per cent of the global supply, Nigeria now relies so much on imported palm oil from Asian countries that collected their first palm seedlings from Nigeria. It is sad that Nigeria imports over $500million worth of palm oil annually. With the renewed interest in the production of these cash crops which Nigeria used to have comparative advantage by Governor Otu, Nigeria may likely become a major exporter of palm oil and cocoa in the future.
Under the Cross River State Smallholder Cocoa Allocation Scheme, the government has allocated 3,400 hectares of cocoa farmland to smallholder farmers to boost productivity in the cocoa sector. It has also distributed sprouted oil palm nuts to farmers in the state aimed at boosting the production of the commodity. Under the Project Grow initiative, the government has introduced a 6-year N30billion digitally enabled commercial agriculture credit guarantee scheme, tailored to enable farmers have access to funds.
The agricultural credit financing will enable farmers scale up their operations and promote agribusiness. Also, the government’s Smallholder Farm Input Support Project has equally provided fertilizers, seeds, herbicides and pesticides to farmers in the state.
The state’s ministry of agriculture has distributed 8,000 bags of NPK fertilizers, 220 bags of cowpea seeds which will support increase in agricultural output. Cross River State can also produce rubber, and embark on massive cultivation of food crops like cassava, yam and rice. It also has enough water for aquaculture and large-scale fish farming. So far, Governor Otu has made giant strides in agriculture worthy of emulation. Besides, Otu has done well in other sectors, especially urban renewal and road infrastructure, education and health.
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