Mechanization
Mechanized
farming is predominantly adopted in all the leading agricultural countries studied.
The farming systems in these countries are mainly medium to large scale commercial
plantations with cultivations and harvesting done using tractors. The level and
quality of technology enhances the agricultural productivity recorded in these countries
and sustains their agricultural exports’ competitiveness in the international market,
especially in those crops where they have comparative advantage.
In Nigeria, the level of agricultural mechanization is still very low when compared with some of the leading countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia whose agricultural history and outputs were similar to that of Nigeria in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Tractor usage per 100 hectare is as high as 41, 241, 156 and 137 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil respectively while Nigeria has only 10 tractors per 100 ha.
In Nigeria, the level of agricultural mechanization is still very low when compared with some of the leading countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia whose agricultural history and outputs were similar to that of Nigeria in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Tractor usage per 100 hectare is as high as 41, 241, 156 and 137 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil respectively while Nigeria has only 10 tractors per 100 ha.
Development
Imperatives
Currently in
Nigeria, agricultural activities are predominantly labour intensive, at a subsistence
level and characterized by traditional practices such as the use of machetes,
hoes and other crude implements resulting in very high man-hour utilization, poor
crop yield and high post-harvest losses. Nigeria needs to accelerate the
modernization of its agricultural practice to enhance productivity and optimize
the use of resources towards achieving food security in the medium term and
boosting export competitiveness in the long term. Investment through Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) in mechanizing farm operations is critical to the transformation
of the Nigerian agricultural sector
Irrigation
All leading
agricultural countries depend on irrigation systems for their farming
activities to enhance productivity and sustain a year-round farming. However,
crop production in Nigeria has remained largely rain-fed dependent with minimal
irrigation practices. For instance, less than 1% of Nigeria’s arable land is
irrigated. This is almost insignificant when compared with countries like
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil that have irrigated arable land of
12.36%, 4.81%, 28.19% and 4.38% respectively.
Development
Imperatives
Currently,
smallholders and traditional farmers who use rudimentary production techniques
cultivate over 90% of the arable land, less than 1% of which is irrigated. To
steer Nigeria towards achieving self sufficiency in food supply in the medium
term and increasing agricultural exports in the long run, the concept of
year-round farming through irrigation must be a priority in future agricultural
development programs - in both private and government farms. To achieve this,
government should drive the massive expansion of irrigation infrastructure and
provide incentives to shared usage of irrigation facilities among farmers in
order to spread the cost burden.
Government Spending/ Agricultural Budget
In 2003, African
leaders including that of Nigeria met in Maputo, Mozambique where they all
jointly agreed that at least 10% of the total government spending should be targeted
at the agricultural sector towards attaining food security. While some African countries
such as Ghana, Uganda and Malawi have stabilized their budget expenditures on
agriculture around 10%, Nigeria, up to 2007, consistently spent less than 3% of
its annual budget on agriculture. However, a slight increase to 5% per annum
has been recorded in the last two years due to the new government’s drive to
achieve part of its 7-point agenda for National Development. Malaysia, on the
other hand, has achieved accelerated agricultural development through sustained
annual expenditure of between 20-25% of its budget on agriculture in the last
three decades.
Development
Imperatives
Improved
investments in Research and Development, mechanization and irrigation of agriculture,
manpower development and infrastructural development are all required to accelerate
and sustain the development of the Nigerian agricultural sector. Consequently,
government investment in agriculture must increase very significantly to over
10% (Maputo Agreement) in the next 10 years to strengthen the core drivers of agricultural
development.
Biotechnology
One of the key
problems of Nigerian agriculture is the low yield of its seed and seed stock.
The seeds of most crops and breeds of livestock and fish in Nigeria produce yields
that are far below world averages. In this circumstance therefore, seed and breeding
stock quality improvement is a sine qua non to increased yield and
increased domestic production. Some of the leading countries including the USA
and Ireland have maximally exploited conventional breeding and applied genetic
engineering to boost their agricultural productivity. Genetically modified
crops are typically disease resistant, high yielding and early maturing. For
example, the USA specifically utilizes genetically modified crops for the
production of bio fuels to mitigate the impact of fuel requirements on the food
chain. Advanced livestock breeding system which include Artificial
Insemination, Marker Assisted Selection and Embryo Transplant are being used
for faster breed upgrading and selection for herd replacement and basis for
culling.
Development
Imperatives
Currently, low
level application of conventional breeding techniques has stifled Nigeria’s agricultural
technological development. In addition, lack of Biotechnology (Biosafety) enabling
law and funding has hindered research as well as adoption and use of bioengineering
techniques such as genetically modified seedlings and livestock breeding techniques
in Nigeria.
Increased
agricultural production and conservation of land can both be achieved through the
adoption of biotechnology. Adopting the use of genetically modified seedlings
and livestock improvement techniques will significantly increase Nigeria’s
agricultural productivity, enhance food security and improve the quality of its
agricultural exports to meet international standards. In doing this however,
due consideration must be given to the ethics of the Biotechnology practice.
Farming Techniques
Mono culture,
organic farming, green house farming, selective breeding, dry land farming and
use of remote sensing to aid agricultural activities are some of the improved farming
techniques that are leveraged by some of the leading agricultural producing countries
to enhance their agricultural development. All these techniques have significant
positive impacts on agricultural productivity.
Development
Imperatives
Currently,
limitations in the level of mechanization and technology may hinder the immediate
adoption of some of these modern farming techniques in Nigeria. For instance,
mono culture is typically practised on many large scale farms and is dependent on
mechanization. The support of Nigerian agricultural research institutes is
required in developing or adapting some of these techniques to suit local
conditions. Public-Private Partnership funding is equally crucial in ensuring
long term sustained support for the required R&D activities.
Current
Operational Considerations and Constraints
Key Issues and Challenges
In spite of
consistent growth in the agricultural sector in recent years, it is not yet performing
to its optimum in terms of productivity, wealth creation, foreign exchange generation
and food security. The agricultural sector has been constrained by various challenges
that have impeded the development of the sector. These challenges need to be
addressed in order to sustain and even surpass the current agricultural growth
rate. A review of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy
(NEEDS) programs implementation highlighted the challenges to include inadequate
funding which limits the scope of intervention, absence of institutional
mechanisms in the area of input production and distribution particularly in the
case of seeds, fertilizer and credit, poor infrastructure and low or
inappropriate technologies which have also limited the growth of the sector.
Others include gender inequality and the scourge of HIV/AIDS in agricultural
production communities in the country. The overall consequences relate to food
insecurity, intensification of poverty and inadequate wealth creation. In order
to properly tackle these challenges and position Nigeria in the path of
attaining the ambitious target of becoming one of the leading 20 economies by
year 2020, the following key issues must be addressed:
Agriculture – Industry Linkage
The linkage
between agriculture and industry in Nigeria is still very weak. A good synergy
between agriculture and industry will involve the existence of processing firms
for perishable and marginal products for the purpose of value addition in order
to reduce losses (currently estimated at about 15–40%), enhance food security,
stimulate production and increase employment generation. More so, agriculture
still employs over 70% of the labour force in Nigeria. This is mainly at the
primary production level because of low mechanization and small holding. To promote
national development, agriculture must release labour to other sectors of the economy.
It is envisaged that as agricultural mechanization improves and the food processing
capacities of Nigeria expands, agriculture will need less people to till the
soil, harvest the crops and handle raw yield. The concomitant effect will be
reduced human labour and increased industrialization. However, such “released”
labour need to be trained with new skills to fit into the merging industrial
economy.
Inconsistent Agricultural policies
Agricultural
policies in Nigeria have not only been inconsistent but they have often been poorly
coordinated as well. Against a background of short political cycles,
agricultural policies tended to change frequently with changes in political
leadership, and often the political will to implement the policies had also
varied as well. The history of Nigerian agriculture is littered with abandoned
policies, programs, and initiatives. The fragmented approach to policy-making
has constrained agricultural growth because it has prevented a sustained
commitment to a coherent, integrated strategy for agricultural development. Such
a sustained commitment is needed to achieve good results in a sector that not
only requires longer time spans to yield desired outcomes, but also relies on
other sectors for its development.
Finance
Nigerian
financial policies have been designed to ensure the stability of the financial system
and, thereby, guarantee the flow of credit to all the economic sectors
including agriculture. Although several reforms have been designed to redress
the abuses inherent in credit rationing, the issue of inadequate access to
credit by farmers has persisted. The high interest rate constrains demand for
credit by farmers whose returns have remained low. When concessionary and
agricultural credit support schemes were introduced, their administration have
often been bedeviled with abuses and lack of access by those that need the
support most. Hence, there is need to provide a structure to ensure that the
rural resource-limited farmers have unfettered access to credit.
Land Reform
Incentives to
invest in agriculture are also undermined by policies regarding land ownership
and land tenure. The Land Use Act (LUA), introduced in 1978, invested proprietary
rights to land in the state. User rights are granted to individuals through administrative
systems rather than a market allocation system. While uniformity and equity in
land allocation are major areas of emphasis in the LUA, various tenure systems are
in practice around the country that fall outside the provisions of the LUA.
While cosmopolitan and enlightened land owners can obtain deeds and use their
land as collateral, it has not been easy for rural based small holder farmers.
Hence their access to credit continued to be limited to the level not requiring
collateral.
Improved Seeds & Chemical Inputs
One reason why
agricultural productivity has remains low in Nigeria is that adoption of improved
varieties and improved breeds is extremely low. Improved varieties of most leading
food crops are available through many Agricultural Development Programs (ADPs),
but the area planted with the improved varieties has remained modest. Most farmers
still plant traditional varieties using seed and planting materials saved from
their own harvest or obtained from local sources, including relatives,
neighbors, or local traders (Cromwell et al. 1992, Jaffee and Srivastava 1994,
Louwaars and Marrewijk 1999). Rapid and sustainable growth in Nigeria’s
agricultural sector has further been constrained by low adoption of chemical
inputs. In the crops sub-sector, the use of fertilizer and pesticides is very
low. For example, in 2000 the amount of fertilizer applied to field crops
represented only about 3 percent of the total agronomic requirements (FMARD
2004).
Appropriate Technologies
There is the
need for the identification of appropriate technologies for the downstream agricultural
activities. The significance of effective linkages between agriculture and industries
to achieve maximum value-addition and processing for exports cannot be overemphasized.
The appropriate technologies and institutions for the achievement of this
objective must promote desired linkage effects. Deployed technologies must
support farm and community level processing to reduce high post-harvest losses
and must also be sensitive to the diversity in soil structure and chemistry
across the country.
Irrigation
The area under
irrigation will need to expand at unprecedented rates if irrigation is to make
a significant contribution to agricultural growth. Estimates of Nigeria’s
irrigation potential ranges from 1.6 million ha (FAO 1991) to 2.5 million ha
(FAO 2000). Currently, only 0.7 percent of the nation’s cultivated land is
under irrigation, or roughly 220,000 ha. Constraints to continued development
of irrigation in Nigeria include:
(i)
high
cost of constructing irrigation infrastructure
(ii)
poor
public management of water resources; and
(iii)
weak
management capacity
Infrastructural deficiencies
Private
investment in agriculture is discouraged by infrastructural deficiencies: a
national road network that is limited in its coverage and poorly maintained
ports and customs facilities that are undersized and overtaxed, an electricity
grid that suffers from frequent disruptions, water supply systems of spotty
coverage and uncertain reliability, and communication systems that fail to
reach many in the population. (Manyong et al. 2004). These deficiencies
contribute to high production costs of agricultural outputs and further undermine
the profitability of agriculture and discourage export initiatives.
Research and Training
The government
has long recognized that technology development is vital to the development of
the agriculture sector, yet the national research system has enjoyed only limited
success in generating new technologies—at least new technologies that have been
adopted by farmers. The disappointing impact of the research system can be attributed
to three main factors: (i) public research organizations are poorly funded and financially
unsustainable; (ii) coordination within the Nigerian agricultural research community
is weak, resulting in unnecessary duplication of effort; and (iii) research
tends to be supply-driven, with little accountability to end-users. Also, a
close collaboration between the academic institutions and the agricultural
ministry/institutes in training agricultural professionals is required to
enhance manpower development for the sector. The recent establishment of the
Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria should enhance coordination and
provide focus for the research institutes, agricultural faculties and
universities, and the Federal Agricultural Colleges
Agricultural Extension
Agricultural
extension in Nigeria suffers from lack of coordination and duplication of efforts,
financial unsustainability and poor accountability to farmers and processors (World
Bank 2004). Key challenges, therefore, include improving coordination and reducing
duplication of effort in the Agricultural Development Programs (ADPs), improving
the financial sustainability of extension services, increasing the
accountability of extension agents to farmers and agribusiness firms. The
national extension strategy also needs to be diversified from its focus on
crops to provide services that meet a broader range of needs of farmers and
agribusiness firms.
Conflict Resolution Strategies
Incessant
conflicts exist between crop and livestock farmers, pastoralists (mainly Fulani
nomads) and arable crop farmers, fadama users and non-fadama users, female
farmers (especially female-household heads/widows) and their male relatives and
neighbours. There is also the sustaining threat to security in some regions.
Such conflicts disrupt production and discourage private sector investment.
There is need therefore, to set up conflict resolution mechanisms to handle
farm-level conflicts between individuals and communities. There should be
effective development of the grazing reserves and stock routes to ensure
availability of forage and opportunities to transform pastoralists to livestock
ranchers. This should greatly reduce the pastoralist – crop farmer conflicts.
Value Re-orientation
There is need to
re-orient the values of the populace, especially youths, on work ethics and
value for money. The old idea of farmers and farming being associated with old
and poor, uneducated and unkempt members of the society needs to be reversed.
The benefits of agriculture as a vibrant and enterprising sector with
demonstrable indicators should be portrayed.
Opportunities for Sector Performance Improvement and
Growth
In order to
fully identify, assess and evaluate the various growth opportunities in the agricultural
sector, a ‘value chain’ approach (see Figure 5) has been adopted. This approach
will enhance a comprehensive assessment of all the possible opportunities across
the value chain i.e. from the upstream to the downstream segments of the sector
and applying same to each sub sector.