Nigeria’s slow economic growth and development has been blamed on over dependence hence the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration’s main focus in reviving the agriculture sector to diversify the economy. ELOJO IDACHABA, with agency reports, writes on initiatives towards reviving that abandoned sector, especially oil palm farming.
Following his inauguration as Nigeria’s president on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, made a commitment to the diversification of Nigeria’s economy.
The President committed to his administration enacting new policies to diversify Nigeria’s economy form oil dependent to other sectors including agriculture, mining and manufacturing.
True to his promise the diversification was captured in the 2016 national budget, which was fashioned in a manner that it accommodated fresh policies and measures to encoursge rapid diversification of the economy away from over dependence on oil and gas sector.
Agriculture Transformation Agenda
The Agric Transformation Agenda (ATA) is aimed at enhancing the role of agriculture as an engine of inclusive growth leading to rural employment, wealth creation, and diversification of the economy.
It is a process that leads to higher productivity on farms, commercially orients farming, and strengthens the link between farming and other sectors of the economy.
Agriculture Promotion Policy
The Agriculture Promotion Policy (2016-2020) document also known as “The Green Alternative” is the outcome of an intensive consultative process which started in November 2015 through April 2016, and involving multiple stakeholders including farmer groups, investors, processors, civil servants, the academia among others.
This is in line with the Buhari-led administration’s vision to work with key stakeholders to build an agribusiness economy capable of delivering sustainable prosperity by meeting domestic food security goals, generating exports, and supporting sustainable income and job growth.
The Agriculture Promotion Policy was founded on the guiding principles of agriculture as business; agriculture as key to long-term economic growth and technology; food as human right; value chain approach; Prioritising crops; market orientation; factoring climate change and environmental sustainability among others.
Boosting oil palm farming
Recently, stakeholders in the oil palm farming value chain, in collaboration with their foreign technical partner, Solidaridad based in the Netherland, stormed Abuja to brain storm on the way forward towards the revival of oil palm farming in the country.
The meeting, which had in attendance representatives of the governments of Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Kogi states, was attended by their state commissioners for agriculture.
There was a consensus by participants that the time has come for every state in the country, organisations, individuals, and companies to take advantage of the global evolution in the oil palm business in order to compete with countries like Malaysia and Indonesia in oil palm production.
In a welcome address, the Senior Climate Specialist of the organisation for Africa, Dr Samson Ogallah, stated that: “Solidaridad, an international Civil Society Organisation (CSO) founded in 1969, works to create prosperity throughout agricultural, mining and textile supply value chains.”
According to him, “We focus on the production/value chains where our interventions have the greatest impact in coffee, tea, cocoa, fruits and vegetables, textiles, cotton, soy, maize, palm oil, sugar cane, gold, dairy, aquaculture and livestock. We support smallholders and enterprising farmers in developing countries and encourage effective land use and increased production sustainably with respect to people and the environment.”
According to Ogallah, the negative impacts on cultivation of oil palm between now and 2100 include severe drought with the consequences of the highest reduced yield.
This, he said, was because, according to him, oil palm is highly susceptible to drought.
He, however, noted that high temperatures and heavy rains can favour palm oil production but said in some regions flooding could also constitute a major impediment to oil palm produce.
Speaking further, he noted that Solidaridad focuses on small holder farmers who cannot afford the intervention policy of government agencies like the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and other agencies.
“In 2018, Solitaridad’s global network worked with over 673,000 farmers, miners and workers to adopt good practices. This led to improved practices among 520,000 farmers. Engaging with these stakeholders in our 334 projects, we helped to improve the income of 228,000 producers and together we brought 966,000 hectares of land under climate-smart management practices,” he said.
Employment generation
Also speaking on the need for respective state governments to key into the palm oil value chain, a lecturer in Enugu state Polytechnic, Dr Augustine Okolie, said the multifarious problem of the contemporary Nigeria is unemployment and under-employment of the youths, noting that the reinvigoration of the oil palm sector would help to address the issue.
According to him, “Enugu state government and the rest of other states within the oil palm ecological belt need the key in this opportunity and initiative to collaborate with the National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) in order to realise the common strategic objective.
“This can be done by developing a framework towards the interaction which includes but not limited to the production of best management practice by leveraging on the oil palm for which Nigeria is about leading in the production of palm produce for export to the rest of the world.”
Sustainable oil palm production
Also speaking, the programme manager, Oil Palm SWA Nigeria, Kene Onukwube, said the whole concept is designed to ensure increased productivity of palm oil in an environmentally-friendly way in order to improve the livelihood of smallholder oil palm farmers.
According to him, “The interest in National Initiatives for sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) project from the four states is a good indication as the project is designed to transform oil palm production in the country with much concern to the environment during cultivation and processing.”
He stated that the project would achieve for Nigeria self-sufficiency in palm oil productivity, reduction in greenhouse gas emission at the mill level and improvement in income and livelihood of smallholder oil palm farmers.
Rising global demand
On his part, a Lecturer and Research Consultant at Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Dr. Rowland Okoli, said NISCOPS came at the time the global demand for palm oil is on the rise due to its multiplicity of use.
“Palm oil production has the capacity of engendering pro-poor development by lifting millions of rural poor out of poverty and contributing to the attainment of SDGs as evidence abound in Malaysia and Indonesia,” he stated.
For millions of Nigerians, oil palm cultivation is part of the way of life and in some cases it is part of their culture. This is as investigation by Blueprint Weekend indicated that 80 per cent of production comes from dispersed smallholders who harvest semi-wild plants and use manual processing techniques.
However, several million smallholders are spread over an estimated area ranging from 1.65 million hectares to 2.4 million hectares and to a maximum of three million hectares.
World Bank, FG inteventions
The World Bank has been playing important roles in the promotion of the oil palm business in Nigeria. According to a recent World Bank document, Nigeria has been the second largest recipient of the bank’s palm oil sector projects, with six projects over the 1975 to 2009 period.
In the recent time, the federal government appears to be ready to revitalise oil palm production. For instance, in April 2010, the government launched together with the UN’s Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the government of Cameroon a Common Fund for Commodities with the intention of improving the income generating potential of oil palm in West and Central Africa.
The initiative was developed by UNIDO with funding shared between Nigeria, Cameroon, UNIDO and the private sector.
In line with the above, officials of Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) has recently said that the promotion of private sector participation in oil palm plantation is a panacea for effective revival of the sector.
According to Director, NIFOR, Dr Dere Okiy, “The land tenure system in the country is a limiting factor against private mass production of palm oil by individuals.”
He, therefore, called on local and state governments to provide lands to oil palm farmers to encourage mass production of palm oil.
Oil palm production and export in the country contributes substantially to Nigeria’s external reserves and agricultural GDP as palm oil and palm kernels exports composed 15.0% to 20.0% of the country’s total exports so far.
Bridging employment gap
Speaking with Blueprint Weekend, an oil palm farmer based in Kogi state, Mr Joseph Idoko, said with the revitalisation of the oil palm a good number of Nigerians would be gainfully employed as the sector has the capacity to employ thousands.
According to him, “A hectare of oil palm plantation employs four to six permanent workers. Our 10,000 heactares oil palm estate about to commence in Kogi state has the capacity to employ 40,000 to 60,000 workers.”
He noted that with the global acceptance of palm oil, in few years to come, its fortunes would outweigh petroleum.
“Every part of the oil palm fruit is useful right from the seeds to the oil extracted to the chaff, stem and wine. The log is also a veritable alternative to iroko trees. Most individuals, organisations are coming on board and that is good for the industry,” he said.
Recent studies show that in Nigeria at the moment, only four state governments have keyed into the oil palm revival project being assisted by Solidaridad. These are Kogi, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Enugu states where research indicates that improved varieties of the crop are being planted as against the wild specie that had hitherto existed and common in every part of the country.
While it is not clear why state governments like Edo, Delta, Oyo and others with large palm oil belts are yet to key into this initiative, it is certain that in months to come, the oil palm bug would have caught everyone like what petroleum did in the 70s when agriculture was abandoned.
Among the agriculture value chains, analysts have said oil palm has the propensity to command global acceptance within a short period.
