#CRSLeadership Goals is a column by Wofai Ewa focused on the #CRSConversation. It is aimed at improving social consciousness.
AGRICULTURE, AGRI-BUSINESS & FOOD SECURITY
Prior to the 4th Republic, the Agricultural sector averaged an annual growth rate of 7%, due to the expansion of staple crops into new areas, with Nigeria considered a global leader in the production of cassava, cowpea and yam. With Cross River State well placed within the region known for the production of cash crops such as oil palm, rubber and cocoa, and especially considering the investments in these crops from the days of the Michael Okpara Eastern Nigeria Development Plan (ENDP) of the 1960s to the abandonment of Agriculture after the oil boom of the 1970s, there is now a grave need to fix the compass, drastically reevaluate our commitment and refocus significant and practical efforts towards Agriculture, as a State and sub-national entity.
In 2017 and prior to the previous general elections in Cross River State, Agriculture accounted for around 13% of the Gross State Product (GSP), a meager N114.5 Billion, which accounted for 0.5% of Nigeria’s Agricultural sector, ranking 25th in the country, 7th in Southern Nigeria and 3rd in the South-South Geopolitical Region. This meant a 61% (N69b) output from crops, 20% (N23b) from forestry, 14% (N15.95b) from fisheries and 5% (N5.8b) from livestock. With these numbers, every lover of Cross River State will agree that these are way below the capacity, capability and potential of CRS. CRS can surely do much better.
Through a combination of bold executive actions, focused and renewable long-term agricultural policies and effective legislation, CRS could make a bold claim of her leadership role in the Nigerian Agricultural sector, which has since been relinquished, even with neighboring Ebonyi State making the much needed quantum jump.
Agriculture is a gold mine all over the world, and Cross River State contains multiple gold mines, so to revamp our Agricultural sector and hence improve the agriculture-based contributions to the CRS/Nigerian economy, we could consider the following, amongst others:
- Grow and practically develop agro-allied manufacturing, tying the future of Agriculture in CRS to the potential linkages between agriculture, manufacturing, food processing, storage, transport and trade (export), building an effective value chain and servicing the ever-ready and ever-growing local, regional, national and global markets:
- Complement private effort through improved offerings of hybrid seedlings, effective fertilizer procurement and distribution, mechanization support, adoption and implementation of local research findings and technologies, access to affordable credit, investments in agro-storage, processing and transportation:
- Provide financial subsidies for serious farmers (individuals, cooperatives or communities) holding acres of land and planting major cash crops such as oil palm, yam, cassava, cocoa and rubber – the latter two being the second and third leading foreign exchange earners after oil and gas – with the exploitation of these crops leading to the provision of food and raw materials for industries such as the food, cosmetic, pharmaceuticals, bio-energy and plastics. This is also expected to facilitate and ease more farmers in Cross River State into the Nigerian Commodity Exchange, which has since 2014 introduced electronic warehouse receipts for cocoa and other commodities.
- Explore and facilitate investments in tea, coffee, ranching and livestock/dairy production, with the human resources and assets of the Ogoja Campus of the Cross River University of Technology (formerly CRUTECH, now UNICROSS), being an affordable and necessary case-study in the North of Cross River State.
- Pursue and review all pending agricultural proposals and engagements, such as the plan by the National Rubber Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NARPPMAN) to cultivate 25,000 hectares of rubber plantation in CRS, amongst others.
The economy of Cross River State greatly depends on the exploitation of the abundance that the Agricultural sector offers, so through effective and productive agri-business initiatives, food security can be practically achieved.
Staying focused on the #CRSConversation, let the discussions continue.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Wofai Ewa and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.