Stakeholders Task All Tiers of Govt. on Agriculture

Farm Market

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have called on the three tiers of government to scale up their investment on agriculture to achieve national food security as well as arrest youth restiveness and generate employment in the country.

The former Chairman of Cross River Commercial Agriculture Development Association (CADA), Mr Owali Ilem, in an interview with newsmen in Calabar said the country had huge agricultural potentialities that should be fully harnessed for the nation to solve her socio-economic problems, including unemployment.

Ilem said that if government focused more on agriculture, there would be enough food for the citizenry and raw materials for local industries and exportation.

According to him, government, especially at the Local and State levels, should not pay lip service to agriculture, but encourage the private sector to embrace commercial farming.

He also noted that there is a need for the government to support the poor and rural farmers through the supply of inputs and farm implements.

“Farmers in the rural areas are poor and need government’s encouragement through supply of inputs, implements and granting of interest-free loans. Government at all levels should therefore provide an enabling environment and help those interested in commercial farming to secure land,” he said.

The former chairman noted that the country’s over-dependence on oil revenue had adversely affected the economy, adding that prioritization was one way to rescue the nation’s economy.

“Before the discovery of oil, we had groundnut pyramids in the north, palm oil in the east and cocoa in the west among other resources. All these were abandoned because of oil.

“From the south to the north, Nigeria has enough agricultural potential that can make her be among the richest economies in the world.

“But this can only be achieved if all hands are on deck. It goes beyond government; individuals and groups must also show interest in investing in agriculture,” he said.

Furthermore, a farmer in Keffi, Mr Isaac Peter, said the negligence of agriculture by government at all levels, had resulted in increased rate of unemployment and crimes in the society.

“Government at all levels must give adequate attention to agriculture if the country must overcome unemployment and other social vices affecting the her and for the country to live beyond oil.

“In 1960s and 1970s, agriculture was the main stay of Nigeria’s economy which had employed more than half of the population,’’ he said.

He recalled that the revenue base of the country and the standard of living of the people in the 60s and 70s improved compare to what is obtained in Nigeria now.

Peter therefore called on Nigerians to go back to the farm in order to reduce overdependence on oil as well as to boost the socio-economic development of the country.

In his opinion, a civil servant, Mr Jatau Attah, said that if the government must tackle youth unemployment in the country adequately, it must diversify the economy, a deviation from the current dependence on oil.

He also called on the Federal, States and Local governments to address youth restiveness through adequate funding of the agriculture sector to motivate youths to embrace farming as a life-long occupation.

Also relating her views, a trader of farm produce, Mrs Jacinta Luka, urged the government at all levels to revive agriculture to effectively address the country’s economic woes.