Vanguard, MONO"V. OCTOIIÂŁH 10, 201 'i -
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Economy
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Appraising Nigeria's agriculture since independence - BRIEFS AmbaLsador calls on lebanese businesses to exploit transfurmatlon agend/l he N ig e rian Am l.assador to Lebanon , Amb . O luwole Idowu has ca ll ed on the Lebanes.! bu s iness com munity to exp loit Nigerla ' i tra n sfo rm ation agenda to s t ren gthe n existing trade relalion s between N igeria and lebanon . In a s tatement in Bei ru t Oil the occasion 0 1 Nigeria's 51st Independence anniversuy, Idow u recalled tha t tbe lye -long re la tions be tween the countries had enco ura!.l e d st ro nge r economic ties as re Oected in the prommence of Lebanese busmes s men and industrialists in Nigeria. He also h ighli g hte d the achieven!ents of Presid ent J ona tlia!l to include the creation of th e Minis try of Infonnllti .m a nd Technology (I CT), promotion of U N Millenni u m Development Goals agend a to e radica te poveny a s well as reduct ion o f ma tuna l and child mortality.
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By HAWA I,.AWAL. f't(ewA
Ageacy 01 Nigarlil (NAN) ince the nation's independence in 1960, agricultu re had been the mainstay 01 th e nalion's economy, providing th e la rgest c hunk 01 foreign exc h ange inflow into the country. M o reover, it contributed about 63 per cent to th e nation 's Gross Domestic Prod u ct (GOP), according to official statistics . The incomes were derived from the export of major cash crops as rubbe r, cocoa, palm oil, cas hew nuts, groundnut and colton , among others. No twith standing th e low prices that agricu ltural products suffered at that lime, th e ag r icu lt ure sector managed to s tll ve o n , continua lly sustaining the nation's eco nomy. With the dramaHc shift of focus to crude o il exp lo ration and the atte nd an t oil boom o f th e 1970s, however, agriculture was displaced as the nation's main foreigu exchange ear n er. As a conseque n ce , th ere fore, agricult ure's contribution to the nation's GOP declined to 34 per cent. just as unemployme nt began to make an upward movement. Dr Akinwunmi Ades hi na , Ministe r of Ag ric ulture lin d Rura l Development, decried the decline in th e nlltion's agricultural sector, Illmenting that since 1975 , the nation hilt! become a net imponer of basic food Items. The Minister said that agricult ural productivity h ad fallen to ils lowes t ebb , compounding food insecurity, e ve n though there was vast e conomi c pote n tia l in the
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country. "In those good years, Nigeria accounted for over 60 per cent of the global supply of pa lm oil, 35 p e r cent o f groundn u t, 23 per cent of g roundnut oil and 25 percent of cocoa, while fanners [rom the nort h and sout h ma d e money from their sweat. ''TIlen, the quality of life was good; children went to good schools, the nation was food sufficient but today, that has become history." P rin ce Ubaka, Na ti ona l Secreta ry, A U Parmers Associat io n of Nigeria (AFAN) bemoa ned th e neglect o f the agricu ltural sector, blaming it mostly on the discovery of crud e oil. According to him . th e discovery o f the crude oil lured many youths away fron\ the farms into the cities in search of white-coll ar jobs . Perceptive observers also say that s u s tena nce of th e agricultu ra l sector h a d not been he lped by th e phenomenal growth o f the mining and manufacturing sectors. which also attracted a large work force. Professor Ayo Gboloban, an agronomist, lamented Ulillt t.he dec line in ag ricu lture hlld been catastrop h ic {or the coun try, especia ll y as Nigeria, which once led the world in palm oil production bad n ow become a majo r importer of vegetable oil since 1976. "Betwee n 19 70 an d 1982, agricultural production stagnated at less th an one per cent annual growth rat e at a time when the population growth was between 2.5 to 3.0 pe r cen t per annum . There was a sharp decline in export crop production. while food produ ction increased only marginally and this led to the augmentation of the domest.ic
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Observers recall that the fall in crude oil prices in the 1980s, which set the nation 's economy on edge, somehow prompted the Federal Government to begin to rethink the vast potential of agriculture
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food supply through large imports." Also sharing perspectives on th e nation's agriculture since indepen d ence, C h ie f Rasheed Gbdamosl, an indu strialis t and former Minis ter of Labou r and Productivity, said that it bad become sha me ful that much 01 Nigeria's fo o d requi remen ts were impolrted. He also lam ented that ag ricu ltura l raw milteria ls were not in s uc h su fficien t quant.lty as to e ffective ly drive th e n a tion 's agro-a llie d indu st ry. "The decline h as been so nauseating that the groundnut pyrllmids of the north, the rubber plantations in the Edo axis, cocoa and kola nuts in the Western ilreas lind other commodities have become things of the past. The decl ine in agric ulture notwithstanding, successive administrations al the federa l leve l, had over th e years, iniHated various programmes aimed at red ressing the drastic d ecline in the sector. Agricultural analysts easily poi.nt to the Operation FeEd
the Nation (OFN) proy ramme introduced by the e rstwhile military regim e of Ol useg un Obasanjo in 1976, the Gree n Revolution programme under Alh . Shellu Shagari and DFFRI und e r Ge n. Ib ra h im Babangida . Gbadamosi said that the OFN aimed to Increase t h e n umbe r of the nat ion's fa mlet'S and ra ise the people 's awareness ot the key role ag ri cul ture played in an economy. Observers recall that the fall in crude oil prices in the 1980s, w hic h set t he nation 's economy on e dge , somehow prompted th e Federal Governme nt to uegin to rethink the vast potential of agricultu re . This inevitably led to th e id ea of th e G re en Revoluti on. Witb the benefi t 01 hindsight, analysts say thai the degree of success attained by the various programmes at diffe rent tlmes, remai n:> a malter for conjeclure but suffice it to say that as a t d ate, the nalion's agriculture is still faltering . The p resent administration under President Goodluck J onathan, nonetheless, has reilerated its resolve to restore the nation's lost glory in agriculture, aside hom tb e in c reased unpredictability of the world's crude oil mark.et. Ana.l ysl5 say thai e.xperu' prediction that the nation's c rude oil could dry up in the nex t 50 years , has further underscored th e necessity for the nation to go back to agricultu re as the most d epe nd a bl e means of s ustaining the na t ion's economy. As if to reinfo rce such a predicti on, Dr Olushola Lakun le, an eco nomis t, said that there had bee n concerns among stakeh olders in the 011 and gas industry.
Gold tu flow from
Congo's cloudcapped hllls igh in the hiUs of Congo ' ::; troub led H northeast modem mine is d
ready to pour gold for the first time in fi Ie decades. For the past yea :, Canada's Banro has been de fying lhe odds to bu ild ilS $2 09 mill ion TWangi7.l: mine in a region known as much for its conflicts as for its mmeral riches. Minin~ e quipm en t was shipped bOI"ll Australia, China an d 50m h Afnca, trucked more thall 1,000 km into the heart of JJlica, before being assembled 2,500 metres up in near-veni cal terrain sometim ~s shroud e d in clouds . Th e fea t, gold mmers hope , marks the start of a new jlHiod fo r mining in the eastern reaches of Democra tic Re public 01 Congo. Ma jor mining g roups, Randgo ld Resources, AngloGoIJ Ashanti and olhers are also 001 track to cash in on reserves Ihat could make the DRe one of Alrica's largest gold producers in the next d ecade . na.mo bought their concession from th e Congo le :;e Government in 1996, at the start ola turbulent politica l period, when successi '/e w.u s tore the region ape.J1 a nd le ft more llian five .rultion dead. Eight years after the end of the last conflict, Soulh Kivu province is s till hallnted by armod groups fighting the Congolese army, wit h both si<ies Beet se d [,f human rights abuses.