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| Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State Receiving an Award of Excellence for his continues strides in Agriculture |
Governors The Nation’s First Summit on Food and Agriculture sought more funding for agriculture.
Nigeria pins its hope of diverting its economy on agriculture, but
the sector remains underfunded — so goes the polular thinking.
The country has not been pumping sufficient cash into agriculture,
Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu said. He spoke at The Nation’s First
Summit on Food and Agriculture, which was organised in Abuja by Vintage
Press Ltd., publishers of this newspaper.
Group representative Jibrin Abubakar receiving his company’s award from
The Nation General Manager (Training & Development) Soji Omotunde
Also at the Summit, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola advocated ranching as the panacea to incessant herdsmen/farmers’ clashes.
The former Federal University of Technology Akure(FUTA) Vice
Chancellor noted that ranching is more profitable and leads to the
production of healthier livestock.
Bagudu said of the over N4 trillion debts the Asset Management
Company of Nigeria (AMCON) took over from the banks, only less than a
billion was owed by the agriculture sector.
Borno State Governor ,Kashim Shettima and his Plateau State
counterpart Simon Lalong also spoke at the summit. Bagudu said:”We have
not been putting money into agriculture. Let’s start from there. When
AMCON was created in 2010, it took over from the banking system about N4
trillion worth of bad loans but less than a billion naira related to
agriculture out of it.”
He noted that from three months ago, the Anchor Borrower Lending for
the agricultural sector lent about N54billion for the development of the
industry which is less than $200million .
Bagudu said in comparison, the Federal Government invested about
$9billion in oil production, which made evident the gap in the funding
for agricultural development.
According to him, there is no state, including the oil producing
ones, that does not have about three crops which with the right
investments can produce food for Nigeria. He insisted that inadequate
funding is the number one factor that is missing from the development of
the sector.
The governor noted that Brazil produces the same volume of oil as
Nigeria but the former is the leading global producer of maize, sugar,
soya beans and other commodities.
Bagudu added: “We have a very dynamic, entrepreneurial and
hardworking populace and they are ready to work. There are
opportunities. We have to mobilise for them.”
Shettima said a country that is not independent of its food needs cannot be said to be truly independent.
According to him, the present administration has created an enabling environment to make entrepreneurial agriculture possible.
Entrepreneurial agriculture, he said, provides jobs and opportunities
for people, so it deserves to enjoy the government’s intervention like
other sectors, such as aviation and power.
Shettima advised that Nigeria should embrace change and modernity to improve output and coalesce for a common purse.
The Borno State governor lamented that Nigeria had become a dumping ground for all kinds of garbage.
He said: “Kebbi and Sokoto states can meet the cereal needs of the
nation. From Benue to Taraba can meet up with the tuber needs of the
nation while the coastal states can meet our protein needs, especially
fish.”
To Shettima, Nigeria is a rainbow nation,withwhich the hope of the black man lies. The future of Nigeria is bright, he said.
Lalong said he and his team attended the summit to demonstrate the significance the state government attaches to agriculture.
He said the days of oil were gradually becoming history.
Lalong said there was no doubt that President Buhari had laid the foundation for increased agricultural production.
He insisted that the country must diversify, especially when nobody is talking about petrol any longer.
The governor said they are determined to improve the fortunes of his state through agriculture.
Daramola, in his lecture, said small holder farmers should be
encouraged to transform from their subsistence level to “ agroprenuers”.
He noted that the old practice of farming with hoes and cutlasses was not attractive to young graduates.
According to him, subsistence farming is recipe for poverty. He
explained that a farmer that consumes about 70 per cent of his produce
is a subsistent one.
Vintage Press Limited Managing Director Victor Ifijeh said in his
opening remarks that the objective of the summit was to ensure that
government at all levels and Nigerians participate in agriculture to
ensure food security in the country.
Ifijeh said the company was offering the platform of the summit for
cross fertilisation of ideas to enhance the production of food so that
the country can become not only self- sufficient in food production but
can also have affordable food for the teeming population.
He reminded Nigerians that experts had consistently said that a country that cannot feed itself is at great risk.
Ifijeh noted that “the essence of the summit is to ensure that the country is not at risk food wise. Nigeria must be able to