Investing in food security

The Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, of the United Nations, UN, observes World Food Day every16th of October. Incidentally, FAO was established on the 16th of October, 1945. The initial World Food Day edition was held on 16th October, 1981. The essence of the day is to draw the attention of the world to the reality of the crisis of hunger and to promote financial and technical collaboration among diverse governments and non-governmental organisations.

Indeed, the hunger situation in the world is becoming quite alarming and as such need to be carefully brought into the consciousness of all stakeholders. A recent study reveals that an estimated 1.02 billion, people across the world, suffer from persistent hunger and malnutrition. This, without doubt, is a serious matter worthy of utmost consideration from all policy makers. With a constantly growing population, experts have predicted that by 2020, the globe might face the threat of a major food crisis.

In order to avoid a looming global food disaster, it is vital that all key global players come together to chart a new course. This is why the theme of this year’s World Food Day: “Feeding the world, caring for the earth”, is quite apt. The theme is very decisive because it appropriately underscores the significance of agriculture in the protection and preservation of man and his environment. Therefore, it is expected that efficient expansion in farming will result in sufficient food productions for feeding the world, a process that should ultimately enhance the safety of our environment.

Perhaps, the most important thing that holds the key to human and earth survival is massive investment in agriculture. Investment in agriculture is critical to poverty reduction, especially in developing nations. One way through which the twin issues of food security and poverty eradication could be addressed, across the world, is for governments and their development partners to pay more attention to the development of agriculture.

It is ironic and sad to observe that, despite the apparent status of agriculture as a major driving force in the economies of many developing countries, fewer nations accord the sector the attention it deserves in terms of the much needed investment outlay. A recent survey indicates a remarkable slump in the flow of foreign aid to agriculture in the last 20 years.

The African food situation, undoubtedly, needs urgent attention. In  2003, member states of the African Union, AU, signed a pact to commit a minimum of  10 percent of their national budgets to investment in agriculture, but as at 2013, only seven countries, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Malawi and Ethiopia, have been able to make progress in that regards. Till date, nations such as Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and the Democratic Republic of Congo, allocate a mere three percent of their national budgets to investment in agriculture. The current situation naturally has far reaching implications on the economy of the continent as most of the countries spend huge amount of money on food importation. In Nigeria, for instance, in 2010 alone, a staggering N635 billion was spent on wheat importations while another N35 trillion was spent on rice importation as well as N217 billion on sugar importations and another N97 billion on fish importation!

In Nigeria, as a result of the neglect suffered by the sector, the export potential of cash crops such as cocoa, groundnuts, cashew among others, has seriously diminished. It is sad today that we are no longer a major exporter of cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, and palm oil. Ironically, these were the produce that the nation’s founding fathers built the prosperity of the country upon.  It is amazing how a nation that was once the biggest poultry producer in Africa now has its total output reduced from 40 million birds annually to about 18 million. Despite the fact that agricultural production rose by 28 percent during the 1990s, per capita output rose by only 8.5 percent during the same decade.

  Consequently, agriculture has not been able to keep pace with Nigeria’s rapid population growth as evident in the sad reality that Nigeria, which once exported food, now relies heavily on imports to sustain itself.  Contented in its newly found oil wealth, succeeding governments in the country, except, perhaps, until recently, simply allowed investment in agriculture to decline to a ridiculous state. The prospect of the sector, nevertheless, still reflects in its being accountable for over 26.8 percent of GDP and two-thirds of employment in the country.

To continue in this neglect of agriculture will amount to laying a solid foundation for the perpetration of poverty. The way forward is to develop agriculture to a level where it could attend to the food needs of the population and at the same time become a major source of revenue for government. This used to be the trend in the colonial and immediate post colonial era when the giant strides attained by the various regions were anchored on agriculture. In the Western region, for example, the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to accomplish many firsts namely: the construction of the Liberty stadium, Ibadan, establishment of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), creation of the defunct Western Nigeria Television, formation of several industrial estates, among others, solely from the proceeds of government’s huge investment in agriculture.

This is the time to return to that glorious path. Though, a large chunk of the investment needed to achieve this might have to come from the private sector, but government would have to demonstrate sufficient political will that would spur corporate individuals and groups into diverting their funds for that purpose.  Consequently, government must recreate a modernized professional and commercial farming sector, supported by improved infrastructure and research into high performance seeds and livestock. To encourage the youths to take to agriculture, access to agric related loans must be less cumbersome while large scale farming powered by mechanized infrastructures should be the central goal.

Equally, local food production must be encouraged by making inputs available, giving farmers access to more farm land, providing micro credit at subsidized cost, supporting adequate processing and storage, providing market facilities, and discouraging import of produce with local substitutes through tariffs. It is also important that a significant portion of the country’s annual budget be set aside for the development of the sector. This can be achieved if government reduces its expenses on ventures that are grossly un-productive.

We could draw lessons from China which bounced back from a great famine that took millions of lives between 1958 and 1961 to become the world numero uno in food production. It is only in doing this that the real essence of this year’s World Food Day could be appreciated.   

Tayo Ogunbiyi