An agricultural economist, Mr Jinadu Balogun, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to use public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements to boost agricultural production in efforts to attain zero hunger by 2030.
Balogun, who is the Managing Director of Rocky Foods International, made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that the expertise of private sector organisations should be utilised to drive the fulfilment of the government’s agricultural initiatives.
He also noted a great variety of organic foods, fruits, and vegetable and cash crops existed in the country.
“To me, Nigerians are not really lacking food, what they really lack is the money to buy the food and the money to produce the food; there is even paucity of funds to procure a small piece of land to engage in farming.
“Do you know that the average Nigerian farmer is still making use of outdated farm tools like cutlass and hoe, which their forefathers used many centuries ago?
“Do you also know that instead of adopting modern agricultural techniques or simple machines, farmers in this part of the world have repeatedly adhered to various archaic agricultural methods?
“The repeated use of archaic agricultural tools and techniques has constituted a very great setback to the country’s quest for increased food and agricultural production,’’ he said.
However, Balogun blamed most of the challenges facing then country’s agricultural sector on bad leadership, mismanagement, ineptitude and corruption which had affected the sector for years.
“Industrialisation and privatisation efforts are supposed to eradicate global hunger and poverty but the reverse is the case in Nigeria.
“Forest destruction and over-grazing by animals has really turned a lot of Nigeria’s arable lands into deserts.
“Most rural communities in Nigeria do not have good roads, water or electricity; these setbacks have somewhat hindered the farmers in rural neighbourhoods to contribute meaningfully to food production.
“Another major problem that is facing the hapless farmers in rural communities is the dearth of food storage and processing facilities,’’ he said.
The agricultural economist said that for the country’s plans to attain zero hunger by 2030 to be fruitful, tangible plans should be initiated to introduce training programmes for the farmers.
“Federal Government should also look at what has been done within and outside Nigeria, this would help in its efforts to adopt global best practices in farming.
“The allocation of lands for farming ventures is an issue which the government should tackle head-on; the government should revisit the Land Use Act of 1978 in order to promote mechanised farming, attract the youth and boost agricultural production.
“The government should create more hubs or collection centres in all local governments and buy farm produce from farmers to guarantee good incomes for the farmers.
“It should partner with private investors and add value to all the produce through the adoption of good processing, distribution and marketing strategies,’’ he said.
Besides, Balogun underscored the need to make the country’s storage silos better and more effective through the adoption of public-private partnership (PPP) strategies.
He said that purposeful PPP arrangements should be introduced across the agricultural sector to drive agricultural initiatives and make them more effective.
“Pragmatic efforts should be made to boost dry season and wet season farming, while farm infrastructure should be revamped or upgraded to enhance crop planting and harvesting.
“Besides, the government should also restructure the Bank of Agriculture to enable it to facilitate the efforts of farmers to go into large-scale production.
“All these proposals will strengthen the government’s poverty eradication schemes, while aiding the country’s efforts to achieve food sufficiency and zero hunger even before the target date of 2030,’’ he added.