Editorial- Need to evaluate value chain agricultural activities.

Ayeni Oladehinde- Publisher food farm News

The agricultural value chains policies implementation of the last administration is worthy of commendation while also there is need for assessment evaluation of all the activities in crops, fisheries, animals and mechanization for proper statistical record of impact to the nation’s economy in the last few years before now. This action would not be out of place for record to be properly put in order for this sector.

 

We  have on many fora heard about the excellent performance of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) policy by both the government officials and private stakeholders, but beyond that in the face of the change mantra, there is need for economic evaluation of the policy on the nation since huge sum of money has been expended on it from people’s taxes, foreign partners’ support and donations running to billions of dollars. 

Since the role of government in this sector is to formulate good policy, regulates, supervises, monitors, evaluates and provides necessary enabling environment for private sector  investment in the agricultural sector, then the evaluation of all the activities in the last few years must not be out of place for proper stock taking in a synchronized statistical figure of each activities of the value chain with respect to the field reports from the farmers’ group for public consumption and accessibility. 

Only some few weeks ago that the second phase of the Federal government agricultural tractorization programme of the Growth Enhancement Support ( GES) was launched at  Ilorin, Kwara state without proper evaluation of the performance of the first phase where many  raised the issues of where are the locations of the hiring centres and who are the private sector beneficiary cum cost implication in term of open price market competitiveness?

At the last National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD) held at Abeokuta, Ogun state between 24^th-28^th, 2013, it was noted at the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting the achievements of the various commodity value chains including Rice, Sorghum, Cotton, Oil-Palm, Cocoa, Wheat, Maize/Soyabean, Cassava, Beef, Dairy, Poultry, Sesame, Groundnut, Leather, Sheep & Goat, Horticulture, Fisheries Aquaculture and other components of ATA without any concrete statistics emanating from the evaluation department of the ministry to back up till date for the purpose of sustainability and accurate information for the public consumption.

It is obvious that there are lots of pending outstanding payments incurred for the inputs of seeds, fertilizers and other chemicals supports for farmers at the value chain of crops, fisheries and animals that we must not over look as we are projecting for better sustainability of the sector in terms of good policy for the year 2016 towards wealth creation and economic diversion from crude to local production to food exportation to checkmate billions of naira and dollar expended on this sector that needs to be well evaluated. The department of evaluation in the FMARD needs to be up and doing towards ensuring the harmonization of this assessment and evaluation reports of all the agricultural value chains activities that have been carried out in the last four year for better economic appraisal and impacts measurement justification based on government money involvement. 

The present Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh must not over look this aspect of evaluation for proper assessment of the sector that billions of naira had been expended for better repositioning to overcoming the present economic inferno ravaging most nations of the world, with our own more pathetic based on the lip service to the development of sector with obvious scarcity of food just in one year of a gap in 2015.

In the ministry’s bit to ensure focused policy instrument for enterprises’ development on commodity value chains of about 24 agricultural produce which include rice, cassava, cocoa, cotton, oil, horticulture, maize, sorghum, wheat, groundnut, sweet potato, ginger, sugar cane, cashew, sesame, fisheries, dairy, beef, sheep and goat, pig, poultry, leather, animal health etc, there is need to put in place a proactive synchronized evaluation of each of this produce for impact measurement of the past and present administration through feedback from farmers and other stakeholders at the processing and marketing end of the market.