Setting the tone on Federal Government Emergency Agricultural Programmes
Upon the collapse in the price of crude oil making available less money for Nigeria and the advent of Covid-19, it became an emergency for Nigeria to look more inward for food sustainability and economy diversification.
I proposed and got the nod for Emergency Agricultural programme, further to the brief of my office, to wit:
Working with the Ministry of Agriculture, National Seed Council, Fisheries Institute and Institute of Oceanography and other state institutions bodies to develop and implement Agricultural policies that identifies Agricultural programmes that are sustainable in oil impacted communities as well as fish and livestock species that are resilient in oil impacted water and environment, be in addition to engaging the citizens in Agricultural and National Programmes.
To originate and seek appropriate funding for Agricultural, industrial, commercial, Technical, Educational, Scientific, security and all projects and programmes that will create employment, add value, generate returns on investment and generally employ the citizen of the Region.
In the execution of the larger mandate of the Office to relate and work with the Presidency, the National Economic Council , Economic Management Team ,Ministries, Departments and Agencies on aspects of the National economy relating to these mandates.
Liaise with the Central Bank of Nigeria, NIRSAL, BOI and other financial /Investment windows to work and ensure access to funds from these windows for eligible persons, enterprises, NGOs, and bodies howsoever for investment in agricultural, Industrial and any income and employment generating ventures in the Niger Delta.
The Programme Concept
This programme is justified by the collapse in the price of oil, the effect on the value of the naira which now exchanges at over N460 to the US Dollar and about N600 to Pound Sterling, and the Covid-19 challenge which we keep on importing food, we may also be increasing the infection import from the vessels crew and the entire process.
We reasoned that we needed to embark on Farm Rescue which implies that:
There are mega, large and medium scale land owners / farmers and livestock rearers who have functional farms of Rice, cassava, oil palm, maize, yam, potatoes, Cocoa, vegetables of all descriptions, besides this crops and these are the targeted participants and resources.
Some of them are stressed requiring bailout and / or grants to enable them prune the farms, tend the crops, engage labour, mechanize, fertilize, expand operations process the products, and generally make their products available in our markets to feed the populace and avoid importation, thus conserving foreign exchange.
These are low hanging fruits which can be harvested to the market and shelve while awaiting freshly cultivated farms we are inheriting from the River Basin Authorities to be cleared, prepared, seedlings raised or acquired, planted, nursed, tended and generally managed to start yielding to make food available for the citizens.
On livestock, the same model as above on crops will apply as there are several owners of livestock farms who, with minimal assistance or input can expand, feed their flocks or birds, process existing for the market and restock.
FISHING
We have gone far on fishing having started the consultation and visitation to fishing terminals and farms in the Niger Delta and the entire water fronts of Nigeria from the Gulf of Guinea in Calabar to Badagry in Lagos i.e the entire Atlantic Ocean water front and the creeks of the estuaries.
This is with Federal Ministry of Agriculture which has nominated her Staff into the Committee.
A working group was constituted and two weeks ago, my team, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the CBN, NIRSAL, State Governments visited Ebughu Fishing Terminal, Akwa Ibom & other fishing terminals for reactivation. The team have been alerted of the
proposed intervention and they are on standby for continuation of engagement and productivity.
The entirety of all the above will create massive employment and labor in the entire upstream and downstream of the value chain.
STEPS THUS FAR
We have taken several advancing steps to actualize the Programme and the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministries of Water Resources and Agriculture, the various State Governors and Governments have been of immense single mind supporting the Programme.
Further, I have:
- Constituted State Programme Execution Committees in each state.
- The State project Team have requested for and obtained list of farmers and the crops they are cultivating in addition to input suppliers such as tractors, planters, seedlings, fingerings etc.
- They also profiled Agricultural Processors who owns factories to off-take and process the Agricultural products to be produced by the farmers as well as Anchors. They have also gotten farmers into the clusters. Cooperatives, etc.
- They have forwarded to my office, state by state, the list of the farmers and Agro-processors.
- I have transmitted the list of each states to the Central Bank of Nigeria, in particular, Development Finance Department as selected by the CBN Governor.
- The CBN in turn has transmitted them to NIRSAL, and have, and other participating retail banks.
- My office and the CBN have directed the Team leads, Team Members and applicants in each states to choose three (3) Commercial Banks where they want their loan account domiciled and fill the appropriate loan application and account opening packages for the Programme.
- We are prioritising applicants with existing farms for rescue to quicken the harvesting and processing of food and simultaneously bringing on board new farmers we are processing to commence with lands donated by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources through the Anambra Imo; Cross River; Niger Delta and Benin Owena River Basin Authorities.
- In consolidating the State project execution teams, we have requested and obtained nominations from Governors of the respective States and we have consulted the Federal Legislators from those states and have their buy-in.
- The respective state teams are consulting the NIRSAL and Commercial Banks in their states and have problems with the conditionalities given by the Banks pre-requisite for availing the loans.
- The conditions were provided by the CBN in liaison with the banks prior to now.
- The CBN has nominated my office to propose in consultations with NIRSAL and the retail banks the lowering of the bar for lending to make it easy for the farmers to access the loan and invest in the Agricultural economy in the emergency.
- I have held meetings with the Commercial Banks, obtained their input and communicated with CBN and NIRSAL.
The programme has received wide acclaim and other states contiguous to the Niger Delta and rain belt are requesting to be part of the programme namely: Enugu, Anambra in the South-East and Ekiti and Osun in the South-West.
On crops and processes generating Foreign Exchange such as cocoa, fish, poultry, et al, NEXIM Bank has committed in writing to support my office and we have started linking farmers of these products to NEXIM.
WHERE WE ARE
We have, together with the Development Finance Office of the Central Bank of Nigeria and personally with Mr. Tony Ifenyichukwu, Adviser to the CBN Governor on Development Finance launched off the Akwa Ibom Programme where we inaugurated and launched off the Akwa Ibom Project Execution Team with the Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Glory Edet and the Akwa Ibom State Government Nominees personally in the Team.
We will be inaugurating All other states within the next 10 days.
PRAYERS
The conditionalities for the loan by CBN, NIRSAL, and the retail banks are too stringent and the farmers cannot access the facility; and if accessed, recovery will be difficult and the programme may eclipse, besides cultural differences between the Northern and Southern Nigeria.
We, therefore, propose:
That the Conditionalities and processes for this loan facility be reviewed, lowered, liberalized and made more accessible for farmers. If you examine the cost of food today and the scarcity, leading to emergency import of maize – this appears plausible to save the economy, avoid import with attendant pressure of foreign exchange as well as political image of the Government.
That there should be great budgetary funding for this programme in the 2021 and subsequent budgets for a great drive of the Niger Delta and Nigeria Beyond Oil Project.
That the NDDC, NCDMB, and the NNPC and parastatals should be mobilized and harnessed that much of their local content and host community provisions should be in the nature of Agricultural inputs, Grants to the Agricultural Programmes to engage the youths and all farmers for productivity.
That the Farm Rescue programme should be funded expeditiously as these are low hanging fruits for us to plug, harvest and put in the market. The price of palm oil, for instance, has risen by 30 percent in the last two weeks while cassava products and derivatives has risen by 50 percent while maize/grains are now being imported. As we approach the dry season, the woes may be telling.
That the offer of the Minister of State (Labour) Festus Keyamo, SAN, to deploy a great percentage of the Special Public Works Programme (SPWP) participants of 1, 000 per local government to Agricultural sector should be embraced and taken advantage of. My discussion with him on this has the advantage of getting participants on the Agricultural beat to continue being engaged productively after the programme.
That on the fish value Chain, the Niger Delta and the entire Maritime sector of the Altantic, including inland waters and the Dams should be mobilized and taken on board with special funding menu on this beat as we have gone far in inspecting and working on reactivating the fishing terminals, ports and the fish farmers.
The for foreign exchange and alternative use of the mangrove where non-economic trees, plants and vegetation grows with non-economy value, we should encourage the growth Teak Wood and allied for export because this is what is used in shipbuilding by Indians and the world over to reduce import of materials for vessels construction for use in exploiting the blue economy. Our Office is in liaison with Prime Teak Wood farmers, Messrs Badmus Teaks, for other products on display here.
That this programme should be admitted into and made a leg of the National Food Security Council and funded/driven along for greater output and synergy.
That the concept of Integrated Farming should be encouraged by participants in this programme.
Let me appreciate the Hon. Minister and Hon. Minister of State, Finance, Budget & National Planning, Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Anambra/Imo, Cross River, Niger Delta & Benin-Owena River Basin Authorities and their Managing Directors, the Central Bank of Nigeria, NIRSAL, NEXIM, their Excellencies, the State Governors, Mr. Von Kemedi, Managing Director, Alluvial Agricultural Company Limited, the Managing Director, Concept Amadeus; CEO, Thick Triangle Limited, CEO, CropIT Limited, CEO, Bamus Nok Global Concept Limited.
BEING AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY SENATOR ITA ENANG, SENIOR SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, NIGER DELTA AFFAIRS & ECONOMY DIVERSIFICATION AT TRANSCORP HILTON, ABUJA ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2020.
