At the Stakeholder conference organized by Daily
Trust Fund, RT- MD Nig. Comm Exchange,
Mrs Zaheera Baba-Ari, NAIC MD, Mr. Bode Opadokun, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and
others.
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While in his
opening address the chairman , Senator Abdullahi Adamu now the chairman, Senate
Committee on Agriculture expressed that
a lot more need to be done for Agriculture than rhetorical with no positive
impact on Nigerians saying the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of inputs supply only grandstand
figures of food increased production without any correlation to food security
position of the country, while the Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Yomi
Somefun, ably represented by Alhaji Sani Ismalia totally disagreed saying the immediate government policy really
positively impacted as the sector was now seen as business with a lot of credit loans being deployed as
intervention to producers and agro dealers of both the seeds and fertilizer
companies for the purpose of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES).
Senator
Adamu faulted the philosophical theory of the administration taking agriculture
as a pure business without considering the inherent cultural heritage of the
sector with the small scale farmers who are in the larger numbers without
financial muscles to meet the prerequisite condition of commercial farming
ideology that provided no enabling infrastructure for competitive agricultural economy
stressed that until when efficient power supply and road are put in place with
mechanized equipments that such ideology could work in Nigeria.
The former
Governor of Nasarawa state further stressed that the cultural heritage of the
Nigeria demands that agriculture cannot be solely addressed as business venture
without considering it as a developmental sector while posited that the two
concepts have to be jointly considered for the benefit of small scale holders
with special attention to building infrastructure towards reducing production
cost at all the values chain levels.
Senator
Adamu, presently chairman, Committee on Agriculture criticized untested statistical
figures always given to described food increase level created as result of ATA
saying there are too much of talking than action thereby decried the inability
of the country for not being able to conveniently feed herself considering the
huge controversial population of 170 million with larger numbers of small scale
farmers like India and China who did not in any way import food from anywhere
saying it was very appalling and down grading.
He berated
the attitude of commercial banks that always depend on government grants rather
than deploring their own fund into financing agriculture saying “farmers are
yet to see the day light through government finance. At the moment if you see
any bank hiring any things to farmers in terms of agriculture credit, it is a
grant provided by government and it is the big boys that will go and corner the
money. In 2007-2009, the CBN with directive of FG made a provision for N200
billion for Agriculture which she wanted to give as grant to farmers. But the
business men discouraged government from doing such but rather advised that
government should guarantee while the money is being disbursed by them. So
government took the money to UBA, First Bank and later to Zenith. It was after
hues and cry about the fund after two years before they start releasing at 9%
digit”.
The former
AFAN President lamented on the inability of farmers not being able to properly
feed themselves due to lack of necessary government’s support saying he was in
support of banning food importion “ I support that 100% because each time we
import food items, we are encouraging producers from the importing country
while we are denying our farmers job and economic wealth”.
Meanwhile,
the Unity Bank representative, Alhaji Sani Ismalia objected this position of
Senator Adamu but rather applauded the ATA for given economic incentives to
support stakeholders through NIRSAL for the sector to be perceived as business
venture pointed that no bank would want to operate in a sector that was not
profit oriented saying “banking is about mobilizing deposits and disbursing
them to commercial activities that will be profitable to all the parties. Based
on the description of agriculture given to us, if I finance an importer of rice
or fertilizer or seeds from anywhere into the country, what it means is I am
also engaging in agricultural business as a bank”.
He further
commended the past administration for its ingenuity to reposition agriculture
as business with a lot of financial back up through NIRSAL for the agro inputs providers
and dealers running to billions of naira of which was well guaranteed for the
confidence of commercial banks to finance the sector.
This
argument was buttressed by the chairman of the Kano state Rice Farmers’
Association (RIFAN) Alhaji Abubarkar Aliu who pointed that the Growth
Enhancement Support programme of the last administration given inputs support
of fertilizer and improved seeds to small scale farmers really assisted the
increased production of rice paddy from 2012 to 2015 saying ATA really helped
the rice farmers to boost production in the last five years stressed the need
for continuity of the programme.
Alhaji Aliu
urged the new administration to continue with the ATA programme of growth
enhancement support with an extension to the medium and large scale farmers
stressed the need for mechanized farming using improved seeds that can
guarantee increased yield like what is obtained in China, India and Thailand.
Speaking on
the occasion the AFAN president, Architect Kabiru stressed the need for
government to provide enabling business environment for agriculture through
provision of energy for agricultural processing and preservation to meet
premium price of the market just as the President of Federation of Commodity
Association of Nigeria (FACAN) wanted the government to do the needful that
will rescue the economy and ensuring job creation for the teeming youths in
Nigeria.
However the
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is already keeping to his
promised as the federal government wheat and rice accelerated programe has
already commenced at Kano with workshop training for the extension workers and
farmers.
Chief Ogbey made the pledge at the Headquarters of the Ministry at Abuja together with the Minister of State, Heinken Lokpobriu lamented that Nigeria spends over $22billion per annum in the importation of food items.
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