By Peter Osalor
The intricacy of issues involved here is reflected in the fact that the National Poverty Eradication Programme of 2001 identifies agriculture and rural development as its primary area of interest.
The fact that all development has to begin from the bottom_up cannot be overemphasised in the context of Nigeria, where a farming boom can ensure not just food supply and exports but also provide industrial raw materials and a market for products.
Agricultural expansion is critical to economic prosperity across Western Africa, considering the region’s crippling poverty levels. A 2003 conference organised by NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) in South Africa strongly urged the promotion of cassava cultivation as a poverty eradication tool across the continent.
The recommendation is based on a strategy that focuses on markets, private sector participation and research to drive a pan_African cassava initiative. What was once a rural staple and famine_reserve food has become a lucrative cash crop!
The NEPAD initiative has strong relevance for Nigeria, the world’s largest cassava producer. With its large rural population and extensive farmlands, the country boasts unrivalled opportunities of transforming the humble cassava to an industrial raw material for both domestic and international markets.
There is a growing and well_justified belief that the crop can transform rural economies, spur rapid economic and industrial growth and assist disadvantaged communities. While production grew steadily between 1980 and 2002 from 10,000 MT to over 35,000 MT, there is scope for significant further increase by bringing more land under cassava cultivation.
Nigeria must take the lead not only in developing better production, harvesting and processing technologies, but also in finding new uses and markets for what is undoubtedly a wonder crop. Nigeria stands to make giant strides towards inclusive and sustainable development simply through the intelligent and judicious promotion of cassava farming.
The following are some of the most urgent requirements for a successful revolution in Nigerian agriculture:
“Active promotion and establishment of agro_based industries that generate employment, sustain local food requirements and encourage exports. “Effective steps to modernise and diversify the agricultural economy as a means of buttressing entrepreneurial growth in ancillary sectors.
“Institution of a tariff system that promotes local produce against cheaper imports, together with the removal of institutional barriers against agricultural profitability.
“Subsidies on technologically advanced farm equipment and practices that help boost productivity without any adverse ecological side effects.
“An umbrella poverty alleviation programme designed specifically to promote agrarian reforms while simultaneously improving the quality of life in rural communities.
“Enhanced access to agricultural enterprise loans through a network of regulated lending institutions sympathetic to farming realities.
“Adult education programmes designed to help Nigerian farmers upgrade to locally relevant but modern methods of cultivation, marketing and distribution.
“Encouragement of both public and private sector agricultural research aimed at correcting technological constraints faced by local farming communities.
If Nigeria’s agricultural potential is enormous, it is partly because more than 90% of its 91 million hectares of total land area is arable. While soil fertility is generally estimated on the lower side, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicts medium to high yields across the country with optimal utilisation of resources.
Combined with Nigeria’s substantial rural population traditionally involved in agriculture, this projection translates to gigantic prospects in terms of agricultural productivity and, by extension, economic resurgence.
For a nation emerging out of a troubled past and struggling to attain social, political and economic stability, the ideals of agricultural and entrepreneurial revolution hold vitally important. Because they are also inextricably linked in the Nigerian context, the country’s future position on the world economic stage depends literally on the bounty of its harvest.
The intricacy of issues involved here is reflected in the fact that the National Poverty Eradication Programme of 2001 identifies agriculture and rural development as its primary area of interest.
The fact that all development has to begin from the bottom_up cannot be overemphasised in the context of Nigeria, where a farming boom can ensure not just food supply and exports but also provide industrial raw materials and a market for products.
Agricultural expansion is critical to economic prosperity across Western Africa, considering the region’s crippling poverty levels. A 2003 conference organised by NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) in South Africa strongly urged the promotion of cassava cultivation as a poverty eradication tool across the continent.
The recommendation is based on a strategy that focuses on markets, private sector participation and research to drive a pan_African cassava initiative. What was once a rural staple and famine_reserve food has become a lucrative cash crop!
The NEPAD initiative has strong relevance for Nigeria, the world’s largest cassava producer. With its large rural population and extensive farmlands, the country boasts unrivalled opportunities of transforming the humble cassava to an industrial raw material for both domestic and international markets.
There is a growing and well_justified belief that the crop can transform rural economies, spur rapid economic and industrial growth and assist disadvantaged communities. While production grew steadily between 1980 and 2002 from 10,000 MT to over 35,000 MT, there is scope for significant further increase by bringing more land under cassava cultivation.
Nigeria must take the lead not only in developing better production, harvesting and processing technologies, but also in finding new uses and markets for what is undoubtedly a wonder crop. Nigeria stands to make giant strides towards inclusive and sustainable development simply through the intelligent and judicious promotion of cassava farming.
The following are some of the most urgent requirements for a successful revolution in Nigerian agriculture:
“Active promotion and establishment of agro_based industries that generate employment, sustain local food requirements and encourage exports. “Effective steps to modernise and diversify the agricultural economy as a means of buttressing entrepreneurial growth in ancillary sectors.
“Institution of a tariff system that promotes local produce against cheaper imports, together with the removal of institutional barriers against agricultural profitability.
“Subsidies on technologically advanced farm equipment and practices that help boost productivity without any adverse ecological side effects.
“An umbrella poverty alleviation programme designed specifically to promote agrarian reforms while simultaneously improving the quality of life in rural communities.
“Enhanced access to agricultural enterprise loans through a network of regulated lending institutions sympathetic to farming realities.
“Adult education programmes designed to help Nigerian farmers upgrade to locally relevant but modern methods of cultivation, marketing and distribution.
“Encouragement of both public and private sector agricultural research aimed at correcting technological constraints faced by local farming communities.
If Nigeria’s agricultural potential is enormous, it is partly because more than 90% of its 91 million hectares of total land area is arable. While soil fertility is generally estimated on the lower side, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicts medium to high yields across the country with optimal utilisation of resources.
Combined with Nigeria’s substantial rural population traditionally involved in agriculture, this projection translates to gigantic prospects in terms of agricultural productivity and, by extension, economic resurgence.
For a nation emerging out of a troubled past and struggling to attain social, political and economic stability, the ideals of agricultural and entrepreneurial revolution hold vitally important. Because they are also inextricably linked in the Nigerian context, the country’s future position on the world economic stage depends literally on the bounty of its harvest.
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