“There will be no famine” say farmers

Contrary to the Federal Government’s fears that pressure on Nigerian grains from West African neighbours could trigger famine in 2017, farmers say Nigerians will not go hungry in 2017 for lack of food to buy.

Farmers who spoke with BusinessDay hinged their belief that there will be no famine in 2017 on the fact that more farmers are going into all-year farming as well as the fact that many more Nigerians are going into farming now as agriculture has become attractive and receives a lot of support from government, private sector and international organisations.

They further observe that some of the external grain purchase pressure will be taken off Nigeria by Mali which has recently recoded a bumper harvest of grains. Mali has produced a record grain

crop of 8.96 million tonnes for the 2016/17 season, an increase of 11 percent that will leave it with a surplus over 3.77 million tonnes, provisional agriculture ministry statistics showed on Wednesday.

 Rice, maize and millet account for the bulk of the West African nation’s grain production.    

“Despite exporters buying up grains in large quantities this year, I do not see the country experiencing famine next year. There was bumper harvest in major crops even grains this year and the figures from third quarter GDP attest to that,” said Emmanuel Ijewere, chief executive officer, Bests Foods Limited and co-ordinator, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).

Third quarter figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product (GDP) jumped from 22.5 percent in the second quarter of 2016 to 28.7 percent.

Growth in the agriculture sector was driven by output in crop production, accounting for 95 percent of overall nominal growth of the sector. The Central Bank of Nigeria has initiated the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, which has boosted rice production in Kebbi State, and promises to repeat the feat in 13 other states. More than 65,000 farmers are involved in the Anchor Borrowers Scheme in Kebbi State alone.

Muhammed Augie, chairman, Rice Farmers Association, Kebbi State chapter said, “There will be no famine next year even if exporters continue to export at a very high rate. There was bumper harvest this year and many people are into farming now than before, with a lot of them farming all-year round.

“Look at rice, there was more harvest than we have experienced before. This also applies to wheat and millet. The only problem the country might have is maize. But with support, farmers can grow enough within the next three months,” Augie added.

Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, had said in a YouTube message seen by BusinessDay that Nigeria has huge harvest of rice and massive harvest of millet but is under pressure from neighbouring states.

“We find now that people are coming from as far as Algeria, Chad to load food from our markets. An average of 500 trucks is loaded per day. It is taking away the stock which we need to survive for next year. We have to start buying up grains to store because if the rains finish in January, February to March, before the next planting season, you may find Nigeria very hungry,”Ogbeh said.

However, Abiodun Olorundenro, chief executive officer, Green Vine Farms, said he knows a lot of people that went into farming earlier this year, using drip irrigation system which helps them to farm all-year round.

“So how can there be famine when we have continuous production and more people going into farming?” he asked.

“The government should start putting policies in place to support more farmers and increase output,” Olorundenro said.

According to Abdurahaman Modibbo Girei, president of Adamawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, more people in the state and its neighbours have left the cities for farming in rural areas.

“I have seen a lot of people go into farming. The only challenge I see is that many people from outside, not just from other African countries but also from other parts of Nigeria, are coming to buy grains from here,” Girei.

Girei said the only impact is that prices of food items are high because of external demand, stressing that the poor people do not have enough money to pay for grains and other food items.

Girei said export should be good news for Nigeria at a point the country needs dollars and wants to diversify its revenue through agriculture and other non-oil sources.

According to Ijewere who spoke earlier, production this year increased tremendously. He urged the government to start giving more support to farmer’s in terms of cheap and single-digit funds, good infrastructure, improved seedlings and fertilizer.

ODINAKA ANUDU & JOSEPHINE OKOJIE