WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER
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We are grasping with so many challenges that we don’t even know which ones are more critical. Is it the pervasive and unabated corruption, or the gross unemployment, or the escalating insecurity across the country, or the biting hunger in the land? I have carefully analysed these and other challenges and have come to the conclusion that we cannot get out of these problems if we continue to fail to prioritise the attainment of food security for Nigerians as an overriding policy imperative.
It is about time we earnestly enacted new responsive policies to address the Nigeria National food crises. With the inflation rate estimated at approximately 29 percent officially, it seems reasonable in reality to assume it could be higher than the listed figure. For instance, prices of staples have not increased at 29 percent over the last four years, but by a factor of 4 approximately. A measure of garri, has risen over the period from #150 to #600; a.measure of beans from #300 to #1200. This gross and acute food inflation is more than any other, the major problem of the greater population of Nigerians of today; on the streets, among the greater populace, minimum survival based on access to adequate food has become a nonrealistic dream. An average family of five on a monthly earning of #80,000 would require just as much as the income to feed over the monthly period and yet, there would be a list of other equally important bills requiring unavoidable attention.
There cannot be any substantial national development when we have not gotten it right with our agricultural sector, a primary one for that matter; we cannot build a virile nation on the back of a hungry and impoverished population. Our agricultural sector must be gotten right; we must finally solve the problems of food insecurity in the country, having a population that has access to regular, quality and affordable food items as at when needed.
It is then that our excesses can become the input for cottage and large industries and for stable export, and our population would be happy enough to contribute their energies and intelligence to the growth and development of the country.
The challenges facing the agricultural sector all began with the unbridled insecurity that has taken over the length and breadth of the nation’s farming belts across the North Central, East and virtually the entire Northern region of the country over the years. It is either that the farmers are not able to access their farms, or that the crops are destroyed by bandits or the harvest is taken over by the same. Ultimately, with low turnout of products at the market also comes the marked and steep continuous increase in prices.
At the same time, Southern Nigeria has overtime ignorantly moved away from large scale food crop farming and has to overwhelmingly depend on the North for food survival, which has become an uphill task to cater for both sides of the divide.
Then, the subsidy removal on PMS literally, understandably and simultaneously increases transportation cost which also comes around to impact prices of staples as they have to be transported across the country to reach the consuming populations.
The dissatisfaction in the country; the insecurity, the citizens’ impatience and the many unpalatable occurrences cannot be traced further away from the gross pain coming from the obvious food insecurity that currently permeates the country. It is difficult for Nigerians to feed themselves; families are being stressed to sustain themselves and many are breaking.
And, we are now at a point where if there is any intervention that must be prioritised by the government at all levels, then it must be in national food security. To solve the national insecurity problem, we must critically look at addressing the gross food insecurity the wider population is grasping with. As the saying goes, “A hungry man is the devil’s workshop.” How many devil’s workshops do we have now in Nigeria? Even in the midst of high level of insecurity, it is difficult for Nigerians to cooperate with the government because they are hungry and angry at the system. We are witnessing resentments at all corners of the country that, if not appeased, may lead to rebellion.
The question now is what has to be done? Would the government fold its arm and expect the situation to correct itself or strategically take actions that will address the plight of food crop farming across the country and ultimately brings the staples to Nigerians in quantity and at affordable prices? Or are the policies in place adequate to address food insecurity?
Responding to this critical national challenge, the Federal government must identify specific agricultural products, inclusive of essential staples that would command national action towards availability and price moderation.
Unfortunately, the discussion on subsidy abolition has been on the table in the country of recent, but we might not have a way out of the national food insecurity without government intervention via direct and indirect agricultural subsidy. Currently, no developed country of the world, not one, completely allow its citizens to bear the full burden of agricultural products costs.
Virtually, all the developed nations have and run an agricultural subsidy program; also called agricultural incentive program. These nations ensure incentives are given to agribusinesses, agricultural organisations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities and effectively influence the cost and supply of priority agricultural commodities. A well managed program will provide benefits to farmers and consumers such as cash, minimum prices, and crop insurance.
Here, we are suggesting an agricultural product subsidy program that will protect farmers through farm income stabilisation, and successfully peg affordable price ceilings that benefit the consuming population. We should be having subsidy program that targets rice, beans, meat, wheat, pepper, tomatoes and cassava, as staples.
These subsidies are in part, a recognition of the unique challenges that the agriculture sector faces – and the important role it plays in our society by ensuring food security. Farming is highly weather dependent and extremely vulnerable to uncontrollable events such as natural disasters. Agriculture also requires significant investment from producers in expensive equipment, inputs and labour before any profit can be made, and faces an obvious time delay between shifts in demand and supply. And currently, with the uncertainty brought about by insecurity, we can only guarantee adequate supply at affordable prices, through government subsidy intervention.
Researchers behind the OECD’s “Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2020” report found that the 54 countries studied (all OECD and EU countries, plus 12 key emerging economies) provide over US$700 billion a year in total support to the agricultural sector. The vast majority of this, US$536 billion, is in the form of payments to producers; the rest takes the form of consumer support and enabling services such as infrastructure investment or research and development.
Countries such as Norway,Iceland and Switzerland, though small top the tables when it comes to agricultural support with a percentage of gross farm revenue at 57.6 percent, 54.6 percent and 47.4 percent respectively.
China is currently the world’s biggest subsidiser by dollar amount; beginning from 2004, when it stopped taxing agriculture to support urban populations, the Chinese government now subsidises rural farmers to prevent political instability, while bolstering the production of particular crops to reduce reliance on foreign produce, such as US soybeans.
Currently, Japan’s agricultural subsidies as a share of gross farm revenues are two times above the OECD average, at 41.3 percent, remaining high despite over a decade of cutting back. About 80 percent of the support is in the form of market price support, artificially keeping prices at a certain level, which is achieved mainly by border controls for rice, milk and pork.
In India, the farmers are aided by direct payments and large subsidies for inputs, such as irrigation water, power and fertilisers. Producers in India receive support corresponding to about 7.8 percent of gross farm receipts, as well as market price support of 2 percent. India is subsidising agriculture by over US$11 billion.
The USA and other developed nations are not left out. Subsidy is apparent in the government agricultural spending to protect both the farmers and the population.
Though the subsidies as practice in some of these nations might have come with certain demerits, the positives are still strong enough to make the programs a welcome development in Nigeria which needs such earnestly. In fact, there appears currently to be no other way out to setting the country right on many fronts without, first sorting out the challenge of food insecurity, otherwise, nothing else might work.
We should see a situation where all serious and registered farmers, on the strength of the size of their farms, are guaranteed financial safety for all crops cultivated regardless of unforeseen circumstances, inclusive of insecurity interference. Essentially a coordinated system that also guarantees that all crops are effectively controlled to the market at moderated prices.
GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA !
