Stakeholders disagree on last administration performance - *Minister commends

  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.

Stakeholders at the last month concluded agricultural conference organized by the Daily Trust Fund together with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) have expressed diverse views on the performance of the last administration while Sen.  Abdullahi Adamu underscored the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), both farmers and bank officials applauded the impact saying present government must build on areas of weaknesses which seems to may have received the positive nod of the new Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh who has promised to ensure continuity with the policy. 

 

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.

Also Chief Audu Ogbeh commended his immediate predecessor, Dr. Akinwunmi  Adesina, for the innovations brought into the nation’s agricultural sector with a promise to improve on it through a better repositioning.

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.