Agricultural transformation Agenda-Blue Print

As part of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s effort to revamp the agriculture sector, ensure food security, diversify the economy and enhance foreign exchange earnings, the FMARD embarked on a Transformation Agenda with a focus on the development of agricultural value chains, including the provision and availability of improved inputs (seeds

and fertilizer), increased productivity and production, as well as the establishment of staple crop processing zones. It also addresses the reduction in post-harvest losses, improving linkages with industry with respect to backward integration, as well as access to financial services and markets. The Transformation Agenda targets rural communities particularly women, youth and farmers’ associations as well as improving rural institutions and infrastructure. 

His Excellency, President Goodluck E. Jonathan once submitted that ‘Nigeria can no longer continue to be a sleeping giant; we have to wake up and if we wake up, we must begin to do things differently’. In the pursuit of this, the transformation agenda sets out to create over 3.5 million jobs from rice, cassava, sorghum and cotton value chains, with many more jobs to come from other value chains under implementation. The programme aims to provide over 300 Billion Naira (US$ 2 billion) of additional income in the hands of Nigerian farmers. Over 60 Billion Naira (US$ 380 million) is to be injected into the economy from the substitution of 20% of bread wheat flour with cassava flour. Nigeria would therefore, be enabled to be food secure by increasing production of key staples.

2.0 OUR HISTORICAL DOMINANCE IN INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TRADE 

2. An account of the performance of the sector in international trade over years depicts declines or stagnations. These are observed in the global trade of groundnut, palm oil, cocoa, cotton. 

2.1 Nigeria's lost Glory in the World Trade of Groundnuts

3. Nigeria was the leading exporter of groundnut as at 1961. The share of world’s shelled groundnut exports in 1961 was 42 %with 502,000 metric tons (figure 1).  However, the growth rate in groundnut export between 1961 and 2008 showed a negative annual growth rate of 16 percent ( -16 %) (figure 2) which is a decline, hence Nigeria dominance in the export was eclipsed by United States of America (USA), China and Argentina.  

Figure 3 presents the global market-share trend of shelled groundnut among the key producers. Nigeria has been displaced from her earlier leading position partly because the competitors were able to have a strong marketing organization that linked the farmers to markets and hence were able to meet new strict sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, particularly for Aflatoxin, which a serious food toxin. The new technologies-Aflasafe- developed in Nigeria by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in order to meet the new strict sanitary and phytosanitary requirements could really restore the lost glory of Nigeria among other measures. Click here to download the complete document 

Also download: FILLING DATA GAPS IN AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS by Frederick I. Okoukoni