Agriculture - The future of Nigeria

Nigeria is categorized under the developing countries because  we have not been able to utilize and maximize our potentials and prospects. Nigeria was food self-sufficient in the 1960's and was well known for its global position in major agricultural commodities like cocoa, oil palm, cassava and others. We found oil and became too dependent on it, that we left agriculture and now Nigeria is a net food-importing nation spending on average $11billion on importing wheat, rice, sugar, and even the largest importer of rice in the world. This is nothing to talk about.


Mr Adewumi Adesina the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said in his speech in Columbia university that "Diamonds may last forever, but oil does not. The future trajectory of earnings from crude oil does not look good, as other nations are finding shale oil and shale gas. We must free ourselves from dependency on crude oil and agriculture is the sector where we have the greatest potential to achieve this and now is the time"


Dr Nteranya Sanginga on his statement on the topic Rejuvenation; Investing in agriculture for the future of Nigeria and it's young people, said "You cannot eat oil - at least not crude oil. Oil has not transformed Nigeria agriculture over the last 30 years. It has not fed hungry people and developed rural areas. Nigeria is a developing country and it will remain a developing country unless Nigerians act to seize the opportunities at hand and this opportunities are found in agriculture"


Nigeria is blessed with natural resources, it is blessed with fertile soil. Out of over 84 million hectares of arable land only 40% are cultivated. We have 263 billion cubic meters of water, two of the largest rivers in Africa. We also have a cheap labour force to support agricultural intensification. Our population of 167 million makes us a huge market. But we must not be the market for others, we must create markets locally for our own farmers. Nigeria has been a food exporter of major food and cash crops including rice, groundnut, cassava, cocoa, cotton, and palm oil in the past and can still be once more. All we need is direct investment on Agricultural research and development.


Young people with prospects will build the foundation for their future, young people are encouraged to go into agriculture, to be farmers and food processors of tomorrow. Young farmers shouldn't just farm to feed themselves and their families alone but to grow food for the cities and the nation.


We need the government to invest more on the agricultural sector, to  create more awareness for our young farmers and encourage them. Investing on young, rural people is one of the solutions to our pressing problem. As Dr Nteranya Sanginga have said this will help eliminate poverty and hunger, curtail migration to cities and abroad, and lay solid foundation for national regional and global security.


Most Nigerian farmers are poor, this is as a result of decades of neglecting agriculture and the corruption between our so called "political farmers" that do not allow the rural farmers have access to some of the inputs and facilities given to the farmers generally. We can't do without agriculture in Nigeria, Agriculture generates about 40% of our GDP,  It provides food for the nation and 'without food we can't survive, at least we can't feed on oil' As Mr Adesina said, there is nothing more important than food. A nation that does not feed itself becomes a threat to its own sovereign existence, Growing our own food, processing what we produce and becoming competitive in export markets and creating jobs all across our economy are crucial for our national security.


We the students need to study and understand how the agricultural sector works, we need to be well versed and grounded in technical skills as well as economics, business management, business law, intellectual property rights and our Universities and Agricultural colleges need to be well connected to the agric business and agro-allied industries to develop innovations and technologies and set a good path for we the upcoming farmers.


If Western education should be cancelled in Nigeria today, we will all go back to Agriculture. .so its time to take up the opportunities before us and expand our agricultural sectors. . PROUDLY AGRICULTURIST!