WHERE ARE THE ROAD BACK TO THE FARMS

Diversification of the Nigerian economy has become a refrain among the leaders of a country writhing under the callous whips of economic downturn. We all can not understand how we have all abandoned our productive resources for a global oil boom that we all knew from the beginning that it had already ended before it began. From quarrying to artistry and finally to agriculture, Nigeria was able to match world best economies just a few decades gone by when a naira was equal to a dollar.
It is quite unfortunate that despite the several calls by international bodies like the IMF and the world Bank for Nigeria to diversify her economy, our leaders then many of whom are still posing as heroes or national advisers today either did not know how to go about it or were just too comfortable with the temporal surplus of petrodollar. Now the call to go back to the farms has spanned more than a decade as long as I can remember. It only turned into a high pitched wail when global oil prices tumbled suddenly in 2014 and has been sloping downhill until late April. In the midst of the cry and wail for diversification, something seems to be missing. We have all become as it were blind men groping in the darkness of indecision. What has happened to our world class economic gurus?
No doubt, one of the major areas the government hopes to diversify the economy is through agriculture! Why agriculture? Someone may ask. It is only agriculture that has the capacity to employ more than half of Nigeria’s workforce. Also with agriculture, Nigeria has a greater comparative advantage because of our large expanse of arable land, numerous varieties of food crops and cash crops, a workforce of very strong figures, and of course a ready home market. The grains, the various economic trees of which cocoa, Palm kernel, Cashew, cotton ; Animal husbandry, fishery, poultry, and others too numerous to mention are produce that could lead our beloved nation out of the tunnel of economic misery , not forgetting the numerous agro-processing plants that would spring up if we are able to utilise this natural endowment successfully. Little wonder then that the present administration lays so much emphasis on going back to the farms.
Now, it is very important that the government shows us the road back to the farm not just by words of promises but by actions of commitment. In showing us the road that leads back to the farms, those who intend to do so must first of all find out what drove us away from the farms. If we know what drove us from the farms, then perhaps with some strings of luck pulling towards us, we can prefer a solution.
As a young boy growing up in Midwest Nigeria (Now South South) I followed my father to farm from 1987 to the early 90s. We formed clusters of rice farmers. In 1992 precisely, we lost almost all our harvest. Why? Because 1. It was rain season 2.there were no sheds spacious enough to accommodate the harvest. 3. We had the option of transporting them to the nearest town, but the road was not motor able. Only a tractor could ply the road at that time and no tractor could be located. After that year, many farmers withdrew to find some other sources of survival. Those who stayed back could not hold on for more than three years before we all called it quit because the problems persisted.
Sometimes in 2004, during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, there was so much clamoring for cassava production with the promise of exporting same to serve as income for local farmers. Many heeded the call and but in a short time, the government failure to coordinate the market was betrayed. Of course the local farmer does not have the capacity to translate their products into some exportable standard commodities. Only extension workers can do that! These are the problems that drove us away from the farms. We were comfortable with crude implement especially for subsistence, but when you are looking at large scale farming to benefit the economy, you need machineries, you need infrastructure like good roads leading to the farms and the markets, you need storage facilities, you need security for your farm, you need the support of extension workers and finally, you need an organized market with an overwhelming demand. These are some of the things that drove us from the farms.
Well, sometimes ago, I read of a pilot rice scheme in Kebbi and Anambra or so while in July, I also read that the Ambode led Lagos State government has acquired land in Neighbouring states for the purpose of farming- well as usual, I hope all these will not end at ‘news’ and ‘MOU’ levels. The government should provide agricultural infrastructure, stir demands for local produce, form farm clusters in every state so that it would be easy to share infrastructure and security, provide farm machines and most importantly create ready markets both locally and internationally. These are the roads that lead back to the farms.

[b]Lalasticlala please. We need some ideas