In recent weeks, the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, took some leadership decisions that amply qualify as people focused.
Some of these actions in no particular order include but not limited to: inspection of the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) at Mbiri Farm Settlement with 30 greenhouses for the cultivation of tomatoes and other vegetables, and the Agro-Industrial Park, Aboh-Ogwashi for rice milling and others, in Ika North-East and Aniocha South local government areas, respectively. This is with a promise that his administration would continue to improve on the agricultural value chain to ensure food security and job creation in the state. Secondly, signing of a Shareholders Agreement by the state with Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and UTM Offshore Limited, for the development of first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas, FLNG in Nigeria.
Thirdly, the allocation of a take-off site for the Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences in Kwale, situated within the Ndokwa West Local Government Area of the state. Fourthly, and very key was the Governor’s declaration that the state will disburse N2 billion in the Special Agricultural Intervention Fund to farmers this month, among others.
Indeed, while these initiatives share a common denominator as they are envisioned to create job opportunities for our youths and advance the socio-economic development of the state, the state governor’s decision to invest N2 billion in agriculture, in the opinion of this piece stands out. The reasons for this assertion are not farfetched.
First, instead of investing massively in agricultural development in the state, particularly as the sector is globally recognized as not only the backbone but the oxygen for human survival, successive administrations in the state on the contrary dissipated the state’s resources on cosmetic empowerment programmes understood within the context of shabbily executed youth skill trainings, unfortunately characterized by neither substance nor concrete plan for sustainability. Presentation of starter packs was the only Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for measuring the success of such slanted visions and misdirected programmes.
Within this period and space, agriculture was brazenly relegated to the background while these past leaders on their part failed to remember that ‘behind every failure lies a failed decision, and behind every failed decision, lies a government that failed its people’.
Secondly, Oborevwori’s investment in agriculture is coming at a time when policymakers across the globe are actively integrating policy frameworks that both protect the rights and opportunities of coming generations and contribute to compatible approaches, and in a season when there exists a veiled agreement across the world that agriculture sector holds the key for resolving youth unemployment challenge.
This piece is not alone in this line of argument.
Infact, many Nigerians of goodwill have lately expressed concern that it is not right for state and federal governments of Nigeria to create agencies that dole money to Nigerian youths with the aim of eradicating poverty. Such huge resources, they argued do not have economic value. Instead, such amount should be invested in the agricultural sector.
They underlined that considering the slow-growing economy but scary unemployment levels in the country, the nation will continue to find itself faced with difficulty accelerating the economic life-cycle of the nation until its handlers contemplate commercial farming into such specialized areas. And a long-term goal of exporting such goods to West African markets should be brought into focus.
Others canvassed less emphasis on university education. Agricultural colleges, they insisted should be established and funded to produce graduates that will champion such crusade.
Still on the relevance of the governor’s decision to invest in agriculture, aside from the worrying reports that by 2050, global consumption of food and energy is expected to double as the world’s population and incomes grow, while climate change is expected to have an adverse effect on both crop yields and the number of arable acres, we are in dire need of solution to this problem because unemployment has diverse implications. Security-wise, a large unemployed youth population is a threat to the security of the few that are employed. Any transformation that does not have job creation at its main objective will not take us anywhere’ and the agricultural sector has that capacity to absorb the teeming unemployed youth in the country.
The above trend has brought about dramatic shifts from agriculture in preference for white-collar jobs – a trend that urgently needs to be reversed.
Take as an illustration; over the past century in the United States of America (USA), a study has it that there exists a shift in the locations and occupations of urban consumers. In 1900, about 40 percent of the total population was employed on the farm, and 60 ppercent lived in rural areas. Today, the respective figures are only about 1 percent and 20 percent. Over the past half-century, the number of farms has fallen by a factor of three. As a result, the ratio of urban eaters to rural farmers has markedly risen, giving the food consumer a more prominent role in shaping the food and farming system. The changing dynamic has also played a role in public calls to reform federal policy to focus more on the consumer implications of the food supply chain.
Separate from job creation, averting malnutrition which constitutes a serious setback to the socio-economic development of any nation is another reason why the Delta State government’s decision to embrace agriculture should be celebrated. As we know, agriculture remains a vehicle for food security and sustainable socio-economic sector.
Infact, it was noted recently that in Nigeria, governments over the year have come to realize that sustainable growth is achievable only under an environment in which the generality of the people are exposed to a balanced diet, not just-food. This explains why agriculture production should receive heightened attention. Again, it was reported that in Nigeria, an estimated 2.5 million children under-five suffer from severe acute malnutrition (sam) annually, exposing nearly 420,000 children within that age bracket to early death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria.
This is unacceptable!
For us to therefore achieve this objective in agriculture that will guarantee food security as well as bring about development that is sustainable, the state government must provide the needed support-funding, technical know-how and other specialized training.
Utomi is the programme coordinator (media and public policy) at Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos
