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| Why Farming Was Successful 60 years ago- Buhari |
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that farmers’
access to small scale credits, inputs and extension services contributed
to their success sixty years ago.
Buhari said this while delivering the keynote address at the opening day of the National Economic Council Retreat in Abuja, on Monday.“Why was farming so successful 60 years ago? The answers are simple: Access to small scale credits, inputs (fertilizers, herbicides), extension services,” Buhari said.
Recounting his youth age, Buhari said: “When I was a schoolboy in the 1950’s the country produced one million tons of groundnuts in two successive years. The country’s main foreign exchange earners were groundnut, cotton, cocoa, palm kernel, rubber and all agro/forest resources.
“Regional Banks and Development Corporations in all the three regions were financed from farm surpluses. In other words, our capital formation rode on the backs of our farmers,” he narrated.
However, Buhari noted that with the current facilities in place coupled with determination, greater things can be achieved in agriculture. “Now we have better tools, better agricultural science and technology, and greater ability to process. With determination we can succeed.”
Highlighting the problems associated with agriculture, Buhari noted that “for too long government policies on agriculture have (sic) been half-hearted, suffering from inconsistencies and discontinuities. Yet our real wealth is in farming, livestock, hatcheries, fishery, horticulture and forestry.
“On Agriculture today, both the peasant and the mechanized farmers agree with the general public that food production and self-sufficiency require urgent government action,” he noted.
He therefore put forward some solutions to the problems thus: “First, we need to carry the public with us for new initiatives. Accordingly the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the States should convene early meetings of stakeholders and identify issues with a view to addressing them.
“Inform the public in all print and electronic media on government efforts to increase local food production to dampen escalating food prices. Banks should be leaned upon to substantially increase their lending to the agricultural sector. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should bear part of the risk of such loans as a matter of national policy.
“States should increase their financial support through community groups. The appropriate approach should be through leaders of community groups such as farmers cooperatives. Provision of feeder roads by state governments to enable more effective evacuation of produce to markets and processing factories,” Buhari gave these solutions as “not necessarily the final word on our agricultural reform objectives.”
The National Economic Retreat is a two-day retreat billed to “generate immediate, medium and long-term viable policy solutions to the economic challenges facing us at both the Federal and State levels.”
Buhari said this while delivering the keynote address at the opening day of the National Economic Council Retreat in Abuja, on Monday.“Why was farming so successful 60 years ago? The answers are simple: Access to small scale credits, inputs (fertilizers, herbicides), extension services,” Buhari said.
Recounting his youth age, Buhari said: “When I was a schoolboy in the 1950’s the country produced one million tons of groundnuts in two successive years. The country’s main foreign exchange earners were groundnut, cotton, cocoa, palm kernel, rubber and all agro/forest resources.
“Regional Banks and Development Corporations in all the three regions were financed from farm surpluses. In other words, our capital formation rode on the backs of our farmers,” he narrated.
However, Buhari noted that with the current facilities in place coupled with determination, greater things can be achieved in agriculture. “Now we have better tools, better agricultural science and technology, and greater ability to process. With determination we can succeed.”
Highlighting the problems associated with agriculture, Buhari noted that “for too long government policies on agriculture have (sic) been half-hearted, suffering from inconsistencies and discontinuities. Yet our real wealth is in farming, livestock, hatcheries, fishery, horticulture and forestry.
“On Agriculture today, both the peasant and the mechanized farmers agree with the general public that food production and self-sufficiency require urgent government action,” he noted.
He therefore put forward some solutions to the problems thus: “First, we need to carry the public with us for new initiatives. Accordingly the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the States should convene early meetings of stakeholders and identify issues with a view to addressing them.
“Inform the public in all print and electronic media on government efforts to increase local food production to dampen escalating food prices. Banks should be leaned upon to substantially increase their lending to the agricultural sector. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should bear part of the risk of such loans as a matter of national policy.
“States should increase their financial support through community groups. The appropriate approach should be through leaders of community groups such as farmers cooperatives. Provision of feeder roads by state governments to enable more effective evacuation of produce to markets and processing factories,” Buhari gave these solutions as “not necessarily the final word on our agricultural reform objectives.”
The National Economic Retreat is a two-day retreat billed to “generate immediate, medium and long-term viable policy solutions to the economic challenges facing us at both the Federal and State levels.”
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