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Obasanjo: Agriculture Is The New Oil In Nigeria

Obasanjo: Agriculture Is The New Oil In Nigeria

Written By Olusegun Obasanjo | From Forbes

When Nigeria announced recently that it had become Africa’s biggest economy, you could be forgiven for thinking that oil was the only reason. After all, Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa. What many people didn’t realize was the growing role of agriculture in boosting Nigeria’s economy – and the lives of its large rural population.

I’ve seen close-up how hard it can be to succeed in agriculture – not only when I was president but also during the 35 years that I have been a farmer myself. So I’m proud that Nigeria is emerging as a leader in agricultural transformation in Africa.

However, Nigeria needs to spend much more on agriculture than its current commitment of only 1.6 per cent of the national budget. But the Agricultural Programme is already proving its potential to produce a dramatic turnaround that sets an example for other African countries, as we show in the Africa Progress Report 2014, Grain, Fish, Money – Financing Africa’s Green and Blue Revolutions.

The Programme aims to put an end to Nigeria’s “agriculture paradox”. Nigeria was able to feed itself in the 1960s. But then oil was discovered. The country began to depend on oil to drive growth and development. Yet Nigeria has abundant resources – 84 million hectares of arable land, two of Africa’s largest rivers and a large, youthful workforce.

The Programme aims to unlock that potential, aiming to boost food production by 20 million tonnes, create 3.5 million jobs in agriculture and food-related industries, and make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice by 2015.

The four pillars identified to achieve these goals illustrate what agriculture needs not just in Nigeria but across the continent: better infrastructure to improve market access; income insurance for weather-related crop failure; a privately managed fertilizer subsidy scheme for poor farmers; and an increase in import tariffs to promote self-reliance through import substitution.

Read more at Forbes