Agriculture
From The Report: Nigeria 2019
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Long a critical sector for the Nigerian economy, agriculture recorded steady growth throughout the country’s recent recession and supported macroeconomic stability against a backdrop of volatility in the global oil market. Although the sector’s workforce, exports and GDP contribution have fallen in recent decades, as oil and gas production became Nigeria’s economic mainstay, the country is home to vast amounts of arable land and a large, diverse production base that includes many high-value cash crops, offering significant opportunity for development and investment. Recognising the sector’s high growth and export potential, the federal government of Nigeria has increasingly focused on agricultural development as a support mechanism for macroeconomic and non-oil growth.

This chapter contains an interview with Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; and a roundtable with Chaim Zach, Managing Director and CEO, Agric International Technology and Trade; Kabiru Rabiu, Group Executive Director, BUA Group; and Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed, Managing Director, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Promising yields: Agriculture is a propitious option for an administration looking to decrease dependence on oil revenue
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Long a critical sector for the Nigerian economy, agriculture recorded steady growth throughout the country’s recent recession and supported macroeconomic stability against a backdrop of volatility in the global oil market. Although the sector’s workforce, exports and GDP contribution have fallen in recent decades as oil and gas production became Nigeria’s economic mainstay, the country is home to vast amounts of arable land and a large, diverse production base that includes many high-value…

Analysis

Leveraging growth: Agricultural exports are on the up, although various hurdles still need to be overcome
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The federal government of Nigeria has prioritised agricultural development under its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which seeks to create new jobs in labour-intensive sectors including agriculture, boost agriculture’s GDP contribution to more than 8% by 2020, up from current levels of between 3% and 4% annually, and make the country a net exporter of key crops including rice, cashew, groundnuts, vegetable oil and cassava (see overview). The government is moving to build on steady recent…

Interview

Strengthening efficiency: Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, on rebuilding self-sufficiency in food production
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Interview:Audu Ogbeh What steps can the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) take to increase self-sufficiency in food production? AUDU OGBEH: Our first duty is to address the continued population growth. We have 200m inhabitants, and in 30 years this will reach 450m. Meanwhile, we have less than 1m sq km of land – a key challenge for a large population. In the past oil and gas revenue left us content, but we misapplied this fortune. Now we need to intensively…

Analysis

Rice and fall: Demand for rice is rising, but domestic underproduction and over-reliance on imports need to be addressed
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The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports that Nigeria is Africa’s leading rice consumer and one of its largest rice producers. It describes rice as an “essential” cash crop for Nigeria, with small-scale farmers accounting for 80% of production but just 20% of consumption. Shifting consumption trends have seen domestic rice demand rise in recent years, with Bloomberg reporting that domestic demand rose by 4% to hit 6.7m tonnes during the 2017/18 season ending in May. Nigeria…

Overview

Home-grown focus: Chaim Zach, Managing Director and CEO, Agric International Technology and Trade; Kabiru Rabiu, Group Executive Director, BUA Group; and Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed, Managing Director,
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Interview:Chaim Zach, Kabiru Rabiu, Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed To what extent is the lack of data affecting policy-making and investment in agriculture? CHAIM ZACH: We are facing a problem in terms of both data availability and reliability. When investing in poultry, for instance, Nigeria’s average consumption is around 1.6 kg per capita per annum, as opposed to the average of 9-10 kg per capita per annum in the rest of Africa and 48 kg per capita per annum in Europe. That number speaks to…

Overview

Seeking sustainability: Digital and precision farming practices are poised to bolster global agriculture resiliency
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Against a backdrop of increasingly severe and financially straining climate events and natural disasters, technology is poised to play an important role in maintaining and improving global agricultural output. The adoption of digital and precision farming practices has been shown to improve crop resiliency, and boost productivity and incomes, particularly in emerging markets where small-scale farmers are often more vulnerable to climatic impacts. With increasing support from international aid organisations, as well as the public and private sectors, precision farming should help emerging market economies maintain production levels through…