‘Agriculture Rewards Ten Times Better Than White Collar Jobs’

Ademola Green

Ademola Green is the Head, Management Information Systems(Cocoa Division) at Olam Cocoa Nigeria Limited, a leading global agri-business with presence in 70 countries and currently Nigeria’s leader in non-oil export.


Green, a graduate of  Statistics from Usman Danfodio University Sokoto speaks about the opportunities in agriculture which Nigerians are shying away from and Federal Government’s score card agriculture in the last one year.
He also speaks on areas of improvement for better output from agriculture, the nation’s once viable sector.

Excerpts:

To what extent has the agriculture sector been explored by Nigerians?
The sector has not been explored maximally by Nigerians. This is due to some factors. A lot of people in agriculture are doing it as a side business while maintaining their white collar jobs. It’s even the foreigners who come into Nigeria to establish some meaningful agricultural enterprises. Take a look at companies into export in Nigeria. How many of them are established by Nigerians?We are not taking advantage of the potentials at our disposal.

What could be cause of Nigerians not maximizing opportunities in agriculture?
There are so many reasons. One, the foreigners have opportunity to access loans at minimal interest rates. However, for farmers here in Nigeria to access loans from any of our banks, nothing less than 20-25 percent interest rate.

Also, there is the problem of orientation. How many young people want to go into farming? Many of us grew up to see our fathers farming but it was at the local level of hoes and cutlasses. They looked haggard and wretched. So, most people who grew up from this background avoid farming because of their mentality. However, one thing they don’t know is that between then and now, a whole lot has changed.

Third, people have this defective knowledge about agriculture. Even when the land is there and opportunities abound, there is low knowledge. I meet people who say they have the money; they want to invest in agriculture yet keep their white collar jobs. I tell them that what they pursue in such white collar jobs can be gotten in agriculture ten times.

I’m not exaggerating. People can make ten times what they make from white collar jobs through agriculture. It is through agriculture, that many have made a fortune. All these factors contribute even without including the government angle to it.

Going on to the current administration whose tenure clocks one year by May 29, how do you rate their achievement in the agriculture sector?
There is something about the government of Nigeria. I have decided to talk less about the government of Nigeria because successive governments have not been impressive in keeping to the policies that have been laid out.

In my opinion, this government is talking so much and doing so little. If the government had hit the ground running, there would have been significant results. Take for example, in the last six months with the exchange rate brouhaha, everyone has been complaining but as far as agriculture is concerned that is the best time ever had. This is because it will scale up volume of procurement as well as enjoy the benefits of exporting in return for the foreign currency. Rather than taking advantage of the situation, it was only a case of lamentation.
There are a lot of crops that would have been cultivated. Some of these crops within four months would have matured for export.

In my own honest opinion, this administration has not matched words with action. As a matter of fact, I still give kudos to the Jonathan –led administration for their foray in agriculture. Enough of the talking. Enough of having policies upon policies. We need to match our words with action.

Are you aware that the NEC Retreat which held last month came up with 13 propositions in agriculture?
I can tell you that more than 30 percent of such propositions are yearly put in place by every administration. It’s just about taking some policies here and there, tweaking it and bringing it out again. The issue is with the implementation of such policies. Make me a president in Nigeria today; I won’t need to bring up a new policy particularly in the area of agriculture. I will take the existing policy and implement.

For example, there is this policy by the previous administration about one state to one product. This means that for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, at least a product should be developed in order for us not to solely depend on the revenue generated from oil every month. This is a wonderful policy. I have travelled to a few states in Nigeria and I can tell you categorically that there is no part of the country that cannot produce agricultural products.

There are so many policies. How about that which deals with the youth empowerment and the likes? The same way the National Youth Service Corps is being run where these youths are posted to schools to teach.
Why won’t government be committed to engage these graduates, get agricultural experts to train them within three months and equip them with the necessary resources to explore these rural areas?
Once graduates can be exposed to the opportunities available in the agriculture sector before the one year service ends they won’t want to go to the white collar jobs. But nothing has been done.

What’s the role of the private sector in agriculture?
The private sector is always profit driven. Some of them are already playing their part in the sector but they need the help of the government. For example, the roads are an example of discouragement. I can tell you that a lot of people are discouraged to continue in agriculture because of bad roads. Farming is not done in the cities. They are done in rural sites. By the time harvest time is in place, how can such crops be adequately transported from hinterlands to the city?
Government can help in this aspect because no private sector will want to go into a business without making profit.

Source: AgroNigeria,