Agricultural Transformation Agenda

Leadership
The council, which is chaired by President Jonathan and coordinated by the minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, will oversee the implementation of the agenda. Leading entrepreneur Aliko Dangote and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, owners of some of the largest agricultural enterprises in the country; Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); and American economist and Columbia professor, Jeffrey Sachs, are also members of this council. The council is kicking off the project by identifying key stakeholders in the public and private sectors as well as the agricultural civil society and mapping out areas of collaboration with all key partners (especially young people) in order to maximise impact in the expansion of these value chains.
Goals
The primary objective of the ATA is value adding, a much needed development in the agricultural sector. The focus will be on the value chains of ten crops: cassava, rice, sorghum, cotton, cocoa, oil palm, tomato, onion, soya beans, and maize, as well as livestock and fisheries. While the 3.5 million jobs are projected to be generated in the first five value chains, many more are promised as programmes in the other chains kick off. Another objective, self-sufficiency, is to be achieved by curtailing the importation of home-grown crops like rice, wheat and sugar for which Nigeria spent a total of over N1 trillion in the year 2010 alone.
Cassava as the Flagship Crop
The ministry is particularly interested in curbing current importation habits in a bid to reach self-sufficiency. To this end, the ministry is on its way to turning cassava into a major export crop with an annual turnover of N40 billion in exports.  According to Adesina, the cassava value chain is projected to generate 1.2 million jobs for Nigerians. The first step in this journey to make cassava a leading food and export crop is the proliferation of the cassava bread across stores and homes in the country. Plans are already underway to export 1 million tonnes of cassava chips from Nigeria to China. It is projected that with the substitution of 20 percent wheat flour with cassava flour in the making of cassava bread, and the decrease in the volume of imported wheat, N60 billion will injected into the economy.
What to Expect
This is an exciting period in the agricultural industry as we celebrate one year under the current minister, who has appeared very focused and in tune with the issues from day one. The cassava bread policy and the fertiliser voucher scheme, while drawing suspicion and even unveiled scepticism from many Nigerians, have ultimately convinced Nigerian that the minister is not sleeping. And now, the launch of this full-fledged agenda has won the hearts and minds of more people. As Nigerians become full of hope in this new project, its real success will depend on its ability to reach smallholder farmers and youths across the nation, adequately support and build the capacities of farmers and entrepreneurs, and use efficient and effective channels of distribution, monitoring and evaluation.: Harambee