28 August 2008
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Lagos — Time was when agriculture used to be the main stay of the Nigerian economy with the country's defunct regions having their competencies. The food crisis being experienced around the globe appears to be bringing agriculture to the front burner once more. Blessed with enormous arable land, Nasarawa State is said to be capable of feeding the nation given a conducive environment. George Okoh writes
Before the discovery of oil as the number one income-earning commodity for the country, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria economy. The famous groundnut pyramids in the north, cocoa farms in the west and palm oil plantations in the east represents Nigeria's giant stride in agriculture. However, due to the oil boom of the 60s, agriculture took a back seat as a major contributor to Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But even at that, today, agriculture still contributes about 40% to our GDP and about 5% of the National total foreign exchange earnings. It also accounts for over 80 per cent of the nation's active labour force with a substantial percentage being women.
With huge encouragement coming from the Federal Government to boost agriculture following cases of severe food shortages reported all over the world, some states in the country heeded the advice and embarked on massive agricultural production. One of such is Nasarawa State.
Nasarawa State agricultural potentials cannot be under-estimated. The state is highly agrarian with a large percentage of its populace engaging in farming and agro-allied activities. The state lies within the guinea savannah region of Nigeria, which has the most fertile soil in the whole of Nigeria.
Most soil types found in the various part of the state are of the highest quality for farming of all sorts of crops and the state also shared from the presence of the Benue River - valley. The Nasarawa State government has been in the forefront of providing improved seeds and plant varieties to all the farmers in the state thereby improving crop yields for the farmers.
This year alone,the state government, in order to boost food production, undertook various steps to see that the state becomes the food basket of the nation. The first step was a record budget allocation of #3.2 Billion to agriculture. This was followed with the launching of the 2008 cropping season where the state government procured and distributed 31,500 metric tons of fertilizer at a very subsidized rate to farmers. The gesture was an increase of over 400 per cent as against those procured last year. In addition to the procurement of fertilizer, the government also distributed to farmers agro-chemicals and other farming inputs such as herbicides, pesticides and improved seed worth several millions.
Yet, another step taken by the government to improve food production is to pay its counterpart fund to enable the state participate fully in the Fadama III project due to take off this month. As it is today, Nasarawa State is ready to meet the food challenge of the country. It is expected that farmers in the state will reap a bumper harvest.
According to Audu Yusuf, a yam farmer in Obi Local Government Area: "The state government has really done well with the early procurement and distribution of fertilizer and agro chemical to us. Very soon the entire state and Nigeria as a whole, will be flooded with food produce from Nasarawa State."
Basically, all the local government areas in Nasarawa State have very rich and arable land for farming. In Awe, Akwanga, Doma and Keana, bumper harvest are experienced in melon seeds, rice, yam and sugar cane and beans. Also in Obi, Wamba, Toto, Lafia, Keffi, Karu, Kokona, where the soil type is very good for grains, farmers are in a joyous mood as maize, millets, beans, plantain and palm kernel, cassava, groundnuts, cashew and sesame seeds are doing very well. Soya beans have done very well in Nasarawa and Nasarawa Eggon Local Governments.
Outside crops, livestock and acquatic farming are the other very viable potentials of farming in Nasarawa State. Due to the good climate and disease-free environment, livestock and poultry products such as cattle, goats, ram and birds are reared in large amount all over the state. Also, for the fact that there are pockets of rivers, streams and ponds scattered around the state, fish farming has become one of the most income-generating ventures in the state. The presence of River Benue, which flows through some parts of the state and the Farin-Ruwa waterfall, provides excellent conditions for fish production.
According to the state Commisioner for Information, Alhaji Mustapha Aliyu, one objective of the Doma-led administration as contained in the 13-point development agenda is to facilitate the economic empowerment of our people. "We intend to use the agricultural sector as a spring board for the setting up of small and medium scale enterprises for export promotion. One of such measures, is the on-going construction of a yam conditioning centre at Keffi aimed at processing yam and sweet potatoes for export to the United Kingdom and other European markets.
No doubt, despite all the investment by the state government, a lot still need to be done in the area of food preservation and processing. These are the areas the state needs intervention from both the Federal Government and international investors.
All the efforts put in by the state government will go in vein if investors are not exploring the huge genuine agricultural potentials of the state. As discovered, the state is capable of feeding the entire nation.
The most significant approach to galvanize mechanized agriculture in the state, can be seen in the farm development project in Panda Development Area. The project, which is being handled by 20 white farmers from Zimbabwe on the invitation of the state government, is capable of putting Nasarawa State in the world map of crop production. Already, about 2000 hectares of land have been cultivated in Panda. The project, which is of similarity to the Tunga farm project in Kwara State , has already provided job opportunity for well over 2000 unemployed persons in the state.
Nasarawa State is known for its solid mineral large deposits, but agriculture is still the most viable means of actualizing the goal of sustainable and accruable income for the state and Nigeria as a whole.
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