A new form of revolution

The sleepy village of Boje in Boki local government area of Cross River State is just waking to the voice of a new dawn. Anthony Egbe and his household are up early to begin the day’s task. As a cocoa farmer he had previously encountered difficulty in expanding his cocoa farm for many years. But things have changed for Egbe as he goes about his task that morning.

“When I speak in my community people listen,” he tells me while explaining the positive effect of his new fortune in agriculture. “When decisions are to be taken in the community they send for me and seek my opinion because I am now a voice to be reckoned with.”

There is no doubt that Nigeria has experienced real growth in the Agricultural sector which can be seen in all facets of the value chain. Many farmers have been beneficiaries of the growth taking place in Agriculture.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, and from surveys conducted by the International Food and Policy Research (IFPRI) of the World Bank tell of the change in the sector. According to the NBS, the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) has been able to improve Agriculture through the electronic wallet of the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES). GES is an input delivery program that delivers every season two bags (three bags in the dry season) of fertiliser and 10-50Kg of seeds and other inputs via an electronic voucher sent to farmer’s phones.

A NBS data shows that national milled rice production has been up by a 100 percent from 3.5million MT in 2011 to 7.1million MT in 2014.  Maize production has also increased by 60 percent from 9.2million MT in 2011 to 14.7million MT in 2014.  Furthermore, Soybean has risen sharply from 559,000MT in 2011 to nearly 900,000MT in 2014.  Likewise, cassava production has been up from 45.5million MT in 2011 to 55million MT with production increase estimated at 65million MT in 2014.  Also, wheat production has quadrupled from 80,000MT in 2011 to 240,000MT in 2014.

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Egbe tells me part of his success in his cocoa farm comes from his accessibility of 10-50kg of improved seedlings, and three bags of fertiliser made available by the ministry of Agriculture. “I no longer have to beg or bribe anybody to get seedlings and fertilisers,” says Egbe.  “My crops are doing well and my children are well fed. My children can now go to school because I have enough money to pay their school fees. There is much laughter and dancing in my village now. Things have changed considerably.”

Musa was a maiguard in a Lagos suburb for a decade but a couple of years ago he had to return home to his rice farm in Kano which he abandoned many years ago. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the production of rice in the wet and dry season in the Northwest part of the country. This has led to a decline in the number of people who typically migrate to Southwest to work as cobblers and ‘maiguard’, informal security men, during off season.

Saidu Usman Dakingari Kebbi State governor says the ATA interventions in rice production in his State have been remarkable. “There is a reduction in poverty or unemployment in Kebbi State due to the massive production of rice here,” he says.

However, the growth in the sector has not impacted positively on farmers alone, further down the value-chain in the processing and marketing of locally produced agricultural products, there have been remarkable growth.

Five years ago, there was only one functional integrated rice mill with parboiling capacity, the UMZA rice mill located in Kano. Today, there are 23 new integrated rice mills with parboiling capacity, with a total combined paddy milling capacity of 800,000MT.  This is a 1,040 percent fold- increase in milling capacity of paddy rice in the country.  According to statistics, in response to the new government rice policy, US$2.6billion has been committed to new rice mills and rice production fields; they include a US$1billion investment in rice production and milling in Edo, Niger, Jigawa, and Niger State by Alhaji Aliko Dangote; US$300million in a rice mill and 10,000Ha of rice paddy in Oyo State by Elephant group; US$218million by Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) in Niger State, US$213million by Honeywell in Cross River State, amongst others.

Also, there has been an explosion in the number of small rice mills; as at June 2014, there are an estimated 5,000 small rice millers in Nigeria, each with 1-15 small (1-3MT/day mills).  Very notable is the very rapid growth in the largest small mill cluster at Abakaliki where the number of operators has grown from 250 members in 2011 to 360 members in 2012 and now to 450 in 2014.

Analysts say the Abakaliki cluster of small millers is instructive with its 4,560 small scale milling machines, at between 9-12 small mills per miller, 32 destoning machines, and two polishing machines.  In other value chains of cassava, cotton, and oil palm, processing capacity have sharply risen 520 percent, 214 percent and 45 percent respectively from 2011 to 2014.‎

Akinwunmi Adesina, agriculture minister said at the just concluded AGRIFEST held at the Eagle Square in Abuja that 3.5 million jobs have been created in the sector with N777billion of net value generated by farmers. That is almost N800billion that has been ploughed back into the rural economy and is transforming the lives of ordinary people explains Adesina.

According to him, banks that used to lend less one percent of total lending portfolio to agriculture in 2011, have increased lending to the sector to 7 percent of total loans.  In 2014, lending to agro-input dealers – fertiliser, seed companies, and their agents, rose to N23Billion from N3.5Billion in 2012. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s $350 million risk-sharing facility (NIRSAL) has greatly facilitated the upswing in lending by reducing the risk of lending by banks to farmers and agri-businesses and reducing interest rates from 18 percent to 8 percent. There is also the first of its kind Fund for Agricultural Investment in Nigeria FAFIN partly funded by the German kfW bank and the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Individuals that were once taken of no account because they were ‘just farmers’ are becoming forces to be reckoned with because they are ‘farmers’.

Adesina says it is the beginning of the revitalisation of Agriculture in the country.  “The value chain approach to reviving agriculture is being taken to the next level, through the establishment of Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZ).  SCPZs are designated areas where production, processing and storage facilities are vertically integrated and will solve the problems of reliable markets for farmers.  Fourteen SCPZs have been designated all across the country, and Master plans have been prepared for six.  The first SCPZ, for cassava in Kogi State is expected to become functional as early as first quarter of 2016.  . This will not only provide employment for people in the rural areas across the value chains but revive our rural areas attracting young people back from the cities,” he says.

Be that as it may, over 23, 000 farmers like Boje have been empowered and analysts believe the nation’s agriculture has been set on the right path in spite of the challenges the sector is still facing.