Lest We forget – GEJ’s Successful Agricultural Revolution in Nigeria By Danjuma Lamido

When Nigeria announced recently that it had become Africa’s biggest economy, you could be forgiven for thinking that its a lie or oil was the only reason. After all, Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa.
What many people didn’t realize was the growing role of agriculture in boosting Nigeria’s economy and the lives of its large rural population.
Agriculture was the backbone of the economy before petrol grew in importance, and this administration is working to regain this strength by increasing GDP from farmed products.
Since the inception of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, agriculture has seen a new day. What is evident across the country today, is that an agriculture revolution is taking place.
The first success recorded was in the sanitation of the Nigeria’s agricultural sector by implementing numerous programs to encourage growth and prevent corruption.
As we know, the government is in charge of providing subsidies for farmers (fertiliser, seeds, and farming equipment). However, corruption and rent-seeking prevented the majority of them from making it into the farmers’ hands. These bottlenecks and corrupt practices were tackled headlong, saving the government the sum of N25 billion in 2012 alone, while farmers now receive subsidies without stress.
In Kogi State, over 7,000 hectares land of rice have been cultivated in the dry season, the first ever in the history of the state.
A major foreign investor, Dominion Rice, came into the country, investing $40 million in a 30,000-hectare commercial rice farm with international grade rice mill in Taraba.
Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State testified that “the dry season support for rice farmers is the best thing to have happened in the sector in the past 40 years”.
Dan Rabi, a local entrepreneur who provides mobile threshing services for rice farmers, said “agriculture under the administration of President Jonathan has been greatly transformed”.
It is not only in the production of rice that the transformation agenda of the current administration has paid off. It is on record that Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world with a total production of 40 million metric tons.
The federal government, had distributed 24 million stems of improved cassava varieties to farmers which were cultivated on 8,000 hectares of land. Through 2013 and 2014, the Federal Government had also distributed an additional 65 million stems to farmers to boost cultivation as 21,000 hectares of cassava would have been cultivated.
Additionally, through encouraged research and collaboration, 40 per cent substitution of cassava flour for wheat flour in bread was achieved in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the Federal Institute for Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos.
The benefits of Government’s renewed focus on local production is already yielding with China ordering 3.2 million metric tonnes of cassava chips from Nigeria for ethanol production.
The administration is also transforming the way the country produces sorghum and cocoa, offering high-yield hybrid seeds to farmers as well as developing implementation agreements with private companies to increase production and create jobs. Over 3.6 million hybrid cocoa pods are being distributed to local farmers as well as 1,506 tonnes of improved cotton seed in the 2012 season alone, all free of charge.
Clearly, these commendable strides in the agricultural sector by the Jonathan administration has considerably reduced the number of unemployed youths in the country. Gone are the days when agriculture was not attractive to young people. Now young people are going into agriculture because of the enabling environment created by the current administration.
Jonathan is encouraging youth to join commercial agriculture with a new self-employment initiative, the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), unveiled in 2014, with a plan to support over 750,000 youth.
Some are already beginning to see success: Mosumola started a small farm in her grandmother’s backyard, which has now grown to 25-hectares with the help of YEAP. Muniru Umaru, another Nagropreneur, went from being unemployed to owning a 70-tonne fish farm. The Youwin also complement the efforts.
Today, the Agricultural Transformation Action Plan of the Federal Government with the goal of decreasing reliance on imported foods and improving farming as a way to earn a living has become a reality. This is the first time we have reduced our imported food cost astronomically, from 1.1 trillion naira in 2009 to 448billion naira in 2014.
Between 2011 and 2014, local food production has expanded by 21 million metric tonnes, ahead of the 2015 deadline set by the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal on agriculture.
True to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s words, “The prosperity of Nigeria must start with improving the living standards of our farmers, and revitalising rural economies across the nation,”
“Agriculture is now the lifeline for Nigeria. As crude oil prices decline, we must create new wealth from the richness of our soils, the vastness of our rivers and the abundance of our cheap labour. We will produce more, and we will industrialise the agricultural sector.”
As a nation, a strong agricultural force is the key to eradicating widespread poverty, as well as increasing food security and promoting self-reliance.
This notion has renewed the determination of President Jonathan as he announced the release of N26 billion for the 2015 Dry Season Farming Program.
No doubt, what has been destroyed over the years would sure take time to be better, however under this government, president Good luck Ebele Jonathan is gradually and silently showing genuine concern and great transformational change.
“Lest you forget” there was a time in Nigeria when lip services were paid to revitalising agriculture, that was the era when fertillizers and seedlings got into wrong hands.
Though they are destroying his image daily to make him look like a weakling to an average Nigerian. You need to STOP listening to concocted lies, vile propaganda and well orchestrated deceit of the desperados who are hell bent on seizing power for their selfish ends by playing on your psyche.
Let’s give it to this man of honour who is busy transforming Nigeria positively, by supporting Jonathan for a second term in office to enable him to finish the good work he has started.
Its not about noise, GEJ has genuinely done well!