Former Nigeria's Minister for Agriculture: Akinwumi Adesina
Now that Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the immediate past minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has secured an election as the next president of African Development Bank (AfDB), we can conveniently lay to rest any speculation that he might be appointed to continue in that portfolio in the new administration. And that brings a real challenge of who continues the reforms he has worked assiduously to begin in the agricultural sector.
The remarkable change that has been spawned in that sector needs to be jealously guarded for the benefit of Nigeria. But, a big question as President Muhammadu Buhari is set to appoint his cabinet ministers is: who steps in to Adesina’s shoes? And if the ‘change’ that Buhari promised to unleash on Nigeria is truly to be expected, then that change which started under Adesina in the agricultural sector must be sustained, not reversed.
It is on record that, under Adesina as minister, Nigeria’s agricultural sector has become the toast of investors, home and abroad. It was Adesina’s reforms that started the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) programme which has placed the private sector investors, banks, donors, and the farmers, the entire country into worthwhile agricultural investments. The Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme alone ensured that farmers got seeds and fertilizer to massively produce food to reduce our dependence on importation.
Under Adesina, ATA set Nigeria’s agriculture on a trajectory that, if sustained, would soon launch the country onto greatness. Reports on input distribution under ATA showed a rise from 1.5million farmers in 2012 to nearly 7 million farmers in 2014, reaching 14.5million farmers in just three years; Let’s imagine what the achievement will be in another four years of sustained growth along this line. By 2019, no fewer than 32 million farming households would have been reached at a rate of 8 million farming household per year.
Before Adesina, the agricultural sector was managed without clear yardsticks or measures. Adesina ensured the establishment of a know-your-customer programme. For the first time in the country’s history, a farmer database of over 14.5million farmers was amassed and used to efficiently deliver inputs and services to farmers.
Total number of verifiable farmers – complete with address, phone number, crop grown, etc, that redeemed farm inputs from 2012-2014 was 14.3million farmers. The northern part of Nigeria had never had it so good until Adesina came. In the input distribution scheme under GES, the north-western region of the country accounted for the highest redemption, 30% of the total, followed by the north-east (22%), north central (17%), south-south (12%), south-west (11%), and south east (9%).
ATA has set commodity value added chains of key staples in Nigeria on a path toward recovering our enviable position of the 1960s. To take a few examples: the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had it that rice paddy (raw material for milled rice) production was 5.3million mt in 2011, rising to 7 million mt in 2014 and poised to rise to 12 million by 2019 if ATA continues. Besides, rice mills are expected to add another 2 million mt of milling capacity by 2017 and end rice importation, thus removing the shame of a nation living near perpetually on imported rice.
According to NBS, Nigeria’s food import bill fell from an all-time high of N3.19 trillion in 2011 to N635 billion in 2013; a 403% reduction.
Direct farm jobs rose by 3.56 million in the period 2012 to 2014 due to interventions in agriculture.
The introduction of cell phones at first, and the later introduction of smart card technology (Near Feld Technology) to enable farmers combine access to inputs with bank cards and linkage– for financial inclusion and delivery of inputs, micro credit and loans to farmers, and identity management, was commendable. With its continuation, farm inputs, credit, and markets will greatly expand food and nutrition security of Nigerian farming households with improved livelihoods of farmers nationwide.
The June 20, 2015 edition of The Economist magazine, in an article on Nigeria titled ‘After Oil,’ stated that falling oil prices have left a deep hole in the government’s finances, but the economy is beginning to diversify. The magazine recognises the fact that investment in agriculture carries more promise compared to other sectors. This view from outside the shores of Nigeria is a pointer to where Nigeria must look in its quest for prosperity.
Dr Adesina’s new position as AfDB president will be one of great advantage to Nigeria if the reforms he started in agriculture are continued. With Adesina’s background in agriculture, and considering the strategic importance of Nigeria in Africa, we can safely expect Adesina to throw his weight behind a continued reform in Nigeria’s agriculture, which can easily become the largest recipient of development investment on the continent and can become a major launch pad for economic development in the continent. President Buhari has a good opportunity to make history by sustaining the reforms in agriculture, which he inherited from the previous administration. He therefore needs to appoint someone with passion, knowledge and competence to keep the reforms going.
Source: Leadership Newspaper
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