By Jide Ayobolu
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono
has called for the adoption of modern biotechnology in achieving food
security amid COVID-19 pandemic. The Agric Minister said the adoption of
technologies in plant and animal breeding has become imperative
following the enormous advantages attached to it. Speaking during a
webinar session on technological interventions in mitigating impacts of
COVID-19 organised by the National Biotechnology Development Agency
(NABDA), Alhaji Nanono said with biotechnology, the shelf life of
agricultural produce could be extended. “Technology is critical in
today’s world, and its relevance in agriculture is all the more
crucial in preventing farmers’ crop losses to disease; enhancing
market access; and the achievement of appropriate pricing for farm
inputs, services and produce. “This is particularly important for
smallholder farmers at this time as the vagaries brought on by the
unavoidable movement restrictions imposed by government at the onset of
the pandemic have served to disrupt agricultural supply chains across
the world. “However, biotechnology, in particular, looks set to play
an even more intense role in the food security situation in Nigeria.
“It is important to state as a preliminary point, that for thousands
of years, farmers have been using breeding techniques to modify the
genetic state of crops and animals to improve quality and yield.
“Modern biotechnology is, therefore, a crucial tool in the drive to
produce plants and animals that possess traits capable of enhancing
humanity’s capacity to secure its food systems. “Similarly, with the
aid of biotechnology, we can extend the shelf life of agricultural
produce. Indeed, without the galvanizing power of biotechnology,
processing and value addition, which are critical for
agro-industrialization would be retarded,” he said.
Agric Minister further said with the COVID-19 pandemic, biotechnology
has proven to be an integral part of the medical response. The Minister,
however, said the Ministry will continue to support and engender
investments in science and technology.
On his part, the Acting Director-General of NABDA, Professor Alex Akpa,
said scientists must strive to find solutions facing mankind through the
deployment of technologies, despite the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
He said biotechnology has been proven to be a powerful tool which can
help to address lot issues including disease outbreak, hunger and pest
infestation. “The Covid-19 pandemic has placed on us a lot of
restrictions and as scientists, we must strive to find solutions to the
challenges facing mankind through the deployment of science and
technology. “The webinar, therefore, is our attempt to fashion out
strategies on how we can take advantage of modern biotechnology to
address this monster – COVID 19 pandemic. “Biotechnology is a very
powerful tool that has the potential of helping us address a lot of
situations including disease outbreaks, hunger, malnutrition,
insects/pest’s infestation and drought,” he said. Professor Akpa
said with technology in agriculture, Nigeria can leapfrog its
production, have better quality products and high yields, reduce
drudgery, improve resistance to pests and diseases. “We have been able
to unfold a programme capable of producing about 5 million yam seedlings
using the aeroponics technology for farmers across Nigeria in this
Covid-19 lockdown era. Last year, 1 Million seedlings were produced,
which was distributed to farmers for cultivation,” he added.
Furthermore, the Nigerian government said it has concluded plans to
carry out COVID-19 tests for five million Nigerian farmers across the
different regions in the country. This was disclosed by the Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono while delivering his
keynote speech on the theme, ‘Technological interventions in
mitigating impacts of COVID-19’, during a virtual meeting with major
players in the sector. “I am happy to announce that plans are in place
to test five million Nigerian farmers as part of Mr President’s
mandate for famine inhibiting food production,” he said. The minister
did not disclose the plans for a country that has tested less than
300,000 people for COVID-19 since February when it had its index case.
An earlier announcement by the health minister, Osagie Ehanire, for the
country to test two million people in three months could not be
achieved. Mr Nanono highlighted some of the major roles biotechnology
has played in achieving food security. He said modern biotechnology is a
crucial tool in the drive to produce plants and animals that possess
traits capable of enhancing humanity’s capacity to secure its food
systems. He said with the aid of biotechnology, the shelf life of
agricultural produce can be extended.
“Indeed, without the galvanising power of biotechnology, processing
and value addition, which are critical for agro-industrialisation would
be retarded,” he added. He said the ministry will continue to support
investments in science and technology. The minister said he had directed
the commencement of a comprehensive appraisal of the Nigerian
agricultural research system, with a view to identifying ways of
enhancing the performance of research institutions. He noted that the
management and staff of these institutions are hereby requested “to
join hands with the governments in seeking technology-based solutions to
existing problems such as low yield, pest and insect infestation, as
well as post-harvest losses.” “Emphasis should also be placed on
demand-driven beneficial technologies,” he added.
In his remarks, Yemi Akinbamijo, the executive director, Forum for
Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), said Nigeria is a significant
player in the promotion of Sustainable Development Goals in the
continent. He said Nigeria has the wherewithal to deploy technology
“that will not allow Nigerians go to bed hungry every night*. “I
believe very strongly that Nigeria is an emerging leader to deploy
technology,” he said. “We will not do well if we continue to plant
grains instead of seed. We will not do well if we continue to broaden
the yield gap,” he said. He said even as COVID-19 is causing job
losses, there are more opportunities in the agricultural sector to be
leveraged upon. “One plus one should not be two, it should be greater
than three or more. Tissue culture is the way to go,” he said.
Recalled that it is important to note that, the former the minister of
agriculture and now the President of African Development Bank (ADB), Dr.
Akinwumi Adesina lamented that, Nigeria spends over N356 billion yearly
on the importation of rice, similarly, Nigeria spends over N100 billion
annually to import fish. And, the country spends N1.6 trillion on the
importation of wheat, sugar, rice and fish on a yearly basis. The former
minister also regretted that Nigeria has the third absolute number of
stunted children in the world with 41 per cent of children under the age
of five stunted, 23 per cent underweight and 14 per cent wasted. Also,
he said, Nigeria’s import and export ratio has remained at 92 per cent
import and 8 per cent export. It for this reason that President Buhari
said recently in an economic retreat, as it relates to agriculture that,
it has been neglected over the years, and veritable government
intervention is required in the crucial sector, that if carefully
managed, can lead to self-sufficiency in food production, solve the
problem of mass unemployment, increase the country’s foreign earnings,
and grow our per capita income. In his words, he stated that “for too
long government policies on agriculture have been half-hearted,
suffering from inconsistencies. Yet our real wealth is in farming,
livestock, hatcheries, fishery, horticulture and forestry”. He further
explained the some of the challenges in the sector, such as rising cost
of food, lack of agricultural inputs at affordable prices, high cost of
fertilizers, pesticides and labour compound the problem of extension
services, import of food items that can be easily produced locally,
wastages because of the absence of adequate storage facilities as well
as lack of feeder rods to transport foods produced in rural areas to
urban centres, just to mention but a few of the difficulties encountered
in the sector. He also said that, in solving the problem the public must
be carried along and educated about the plans of government so that,
they can key into it and benefit maximally from it, in addition, he
reasoned that, there must be a close working relationship between the
federal government and the state governments, to really boost
agriculture and solve some of the problems in the sector, for example,
the massive availability of feeder roads to make transportation of food
from the country-sides to the city centres less cumbersome, there should
also be the availability of soft loans to farmers with the CBN bearing
some of the risk as well as the exigent need intermittent stakeholders
meeting on how to move the sector forward.
President Buhari has also reiterated that with declining revenues from
crude oil exports, Nigeria’s hopes of an economic resurgence now lie
in the rapid development of its immense agricultural and solid mineral
resources. He said that Nigeria had regrettably depended too much on
crude oil exports to the neglect of other resources and was now paying a
harsh price for failing to diversify its economy early enough. The
president also explained that “With the downturn in the global prices
of oil, we now have to exploit our agricultural potentials”. We have
to return to agriculture.
It would be recalled that the presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu,
says efforts to get the nation out of its present economic challenges
are beginning to yield positive results, especially in agriculture.
According to him, an increase in the volume of rice production and
processing across the country is already saving the country a lot of
foreign exchange. Mr. Shehu, who is the Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity to the President, said that Nigeria only imported
58,000 tons of rice from Thailand in 2015 as against 1.2 million tons in
2014. He revealed that due to the country’s growing rice production
occasioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to deny foreign
exchange for the importation of rice “parboiled rice mills’’ in
some Asian countries were shutting down production. According to him,
this is because Nigeria, which is one of the world’s largest importers
of rice no longer, buys rice from them. “Five of such mills in
Thailand servicing Nigeria have stopped production due to the withdrawal
of our patronage,” he added. According to him, the government is
watching with a keen interest in the growing investment in rice milling
by the private sector. He said the government would continue to
encourage the Ministry of Agriculture on such efforts through BUA
Industries in Jigawa and Dangote in Kano. He said such encouragement
would also be extended to OLAM and WACOTT in Nasarawa and Kebbi as well
as a consortium of businessmen led by a former governor in Anambra. The
presidential aide noted with delight that the price of a bag of
fertilizer had been reduced from over N9,000 per bag to 5,500. “This
country has about 32 fertilizer blending plants that have remained idle
for many years, but that about half of that number is now in production
with many of them running three shifts a day.” He said some of the
blending plants have now provided direct employment to hundreds of
workers and indirect employment opportunities to thousands of others.
Mr. Shehu said that the Buhari administration’s agricultural
revolution was bringing about other socio-economic changes in the
country. He said that a recent survey carried out in two urban areas of
Jigawa and Kiyawa showed that jobless young men were migrating from
commercial motorcycle business known as, `achaba’, to farming. “In
Kiyawa, it takes a long wait to catch a commercial motorcycle because
they are rapidly disappearing. “The young men are moving to the farms.
These are development issues in the country that our media should pay
attention to,” he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari noted at an economic retreat that,
agriculture has been neglected over the years, and veritable government
intervention is required in the crucial sector, that if carefully
managed, can lead to self-sufficiency in food production, solve the
problem of mass unemployment, increase the country’s foreign earnings,
and grow our per capita income. In his words, he stated that “for too
long government policies on agriculture have been half-hearted,
suffering from inconsistencies. Yet our real wealth is in farming,
livestock, hatcheries, fishery, horticulture and forestry”.
He further explained the some of the challenges in the sector, such as
rising cost of food, lack of agricultural inputs at affordable prices,
high cost of fertilizers, pesticides and labour compound the problem of
extension services, import of food items that can be easily produced
locally, wastages because of the absence of adequate storage facilities
as well as lack of feeder rods to transport foods produced in rural
areas to urban centres, just to mention but a few of the difficulties
encountered in the sector. He also said that, in solving the problem the
public must be carried along and educated about the plans of government
so that, they can key into it and benefit maximally from it, in
addition, he reasoned that, there must be a close working relationship
between the federal government and the state governments, to really
boost agriculture and solve some of the problems in the sector, for
example, the massive availability of feeder roads to make transportation
of food from the country-sides to the city centres less cumbersome,
there should also be the availability of soft loans to farmers with the
CBN bearing some of the risk as well as the exigent need intermittent
stakeholders meeting on how to move the sector forward. Agriculture in
Nigeria is one area that can turn the fortunes, destiny, direction and
dynamics of this great country around for the very best with the
shortest space of time.
Again, President Buhari said for Nigeria to realize her dream of
becoming one of the world’s largest economies by 2020, emphasis must
be placed on improving the agricultural sector of her economy. “It is
no longer viable for Nigeria to depend on crude oil and gas exports as
the country’s major revenue earner.”
Besides, agriculture is the mainstay of mankind, therefore wise nations
all over the globe give it a priority by developing and exploiting this
sector for the upkeep of their teeming populations through the earning
development purpose, as well as employment, stemming down of crimes,
corruption and other forms of indiscipline which work against all
factors of life, living and most of all economic production. With the
recent fall of oil price in the International market, many countries,
including Nigeria have resorted to alternatives. Nigeria as a country
has neglected Agriculture with the discovery of oil. It is important to
go back because agriculture is the major and most certain path to
economic growth and sustainability. It encompasses all aspects of human
activities being the art, act, a cultural necessity and science of
production of goods through the cultivation of land and management of
plants and animals which create an activity web-chain that satisfies
social-economic needs.
It is for these reasons and more that the present administration has
invested heavily in the agriculture sector and the dividends of the
handwork put into the all-important sector has started to manifest, even
with the deployment of technology and modern facilities as well as
adequate finance.