Dwindling oil price: AFAN President says a blessing to agriculture

As crude oil price continues to dwindle in the international market, analysts have been x-raying the options available for Nigeria to ensure that the economy does not collapse as the clock ticks. The alternative to crude oil which all stakeholders in the Nigerian economy kept hammering on is embedded in the non-oil sector, which is laden with a lot of potentials and opportunities capable of turning around the fortunes of our economy.

The non-oil sector encompasses an array of sectors including agriculture, which experts have since identified as the most viable option for diversifying Nigeria’s economy and pulling the country out of the current economic quagmire caused by the falling oil price.

Many international and local bodies and prominent individuals have been calling for the use of agriculture to free Africans including Nigerians from the clutches of poverty and unemployment among others as many of the continent’s governments have continued to pay deaf ear.  

Nigeria endowed with vast farm land, other agricultural resources and large population neglected the agricultural sector for a long time and chose to depend on ‘easy money’ that accrued from crude oil sales.

As the ‘petro-dollar’ is fast fading away, stakeholders have maintained that the only widely accepted bail out – agriculture, must be well positioned to play hitherto its role of the highest foreign exchange earner for the country.

Farmers and policy makers among others, who spoke to Food Farm News on the implication of the falling oil price, were unanimous in their views, maintaining that the development was ‘good tidings’ for the agricultural sector.

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) President, Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, told our reporter that “Of course, the falling oil price is a very good development; it’s a good omen for agriculture. We should take advantage of that to focus fully on agriculture in this country in order to get out of the economic mess.”

He urged the federal government to create enabling environment for the private sector to fully engage in farming and other related activities, so as to export agricultural commodities and be able to earn ‘agri-dollar’. The AFAN President added that with proper investment in agriculture, crude oil can be edged out from the dominant role it’s playing in the national economy.