Despite being touted as the most viable sector for economic diversification, the agric sector is still faced with a lot of challenges ranging from limited access to finance, poor infrastructure, inefficient supply chain for inputs, limited market access, among others.
According to recent Economic Recovery Plan Document released by the budget office, agric development is being hindered by these challenges, despite government efforts geared towards reviving the sector with initiatives as the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
Experts believe much more is still needed to be done in the area of finance, infrastructure and inputs supply.
“Finance is the biggest challenge confronting farmers. It is a very serious problem that the government need to address by providing farmers with single digit loans,” said Tola Faseru, national president, National Cashew Association of Nigeria.
“We need very cheap fund so that our products can be competitive globally,” he added.
Indubitably, one of the greatest problems confronting rural farmers and communities in Nigeria is the absence of critical infrastructure such as ‘motor-able’ roads.
Farmers continue to suffer low levels of agricultural productivity due to infrastructural deficit across the country, which reduces their profit and impact their capacity to expand.
“The problem with agriculture is infrastructure. It is not that we do not grow enough but the infrastructure to move, store and process what is harvested are not there,” said Abiodun Olorundenro, CEO, Green Vine Farms.
“Without critical infrastructure, agriculture will continue to suffer and our diversification through the sector would only be a dream,” Olorundenro said.
He recommended for the development of linkages between farmers and the market, stating that youths can only find agric attractive when such linkages are provided.
Developing agriculture also requires the rehabilitation of dams and irrigation facilities to boost farmers’ productivity, industry sources say.
Nigerian farmers are lagging behind their peers owing to their inability to raise productivity and improve yield per hectare.
“Out of the 264 dams we have in Nigeria, only five are functional. We need the dams to boost productivity and attain self-sufficiency in crop production” Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and CEO, Best Foods Limited, told BusinessDay.
Furthermore, the failure of the government to fully pay an outstanding debt it owes agro input suppliers under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) since 2014 has disrupted inputs supply chain distribution in the country.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
