In its last edition, LEADERSHIP Sunday had reported growing concerns in the north over the delay in the take-off of the Ministry of Livestock Development announced by President Bola Tinubu in July.
According to Kuta, the committee is nearing the completion of its inception report, which will soon be presented to President Bola Tinubu.
The committee’s inception report will detail the modalities for establishing the Ministry of Livestock Development, including its organisational structure, departmental functions, staffing requirements and overall mandate.
This comprehensive report is expected to lay the foundation for significant advancements in the sector to address issues such as meat production, dairy importation, and the broader agricultural economy.
Kuta said that extensive efforts have been made by the 25-member committee to address the 16 terms of reference provided by the president, all aimed at operationalising the vision for the livestock sector.
He stated that the committee has reviewed and utilised a robust blueprint, including a previously submitted conference report, to guide its work.
The blueprint outlines a comprehensive strategy for developing Nigeria’s livestock industry, drawing lessons from neighbouring countries where livestock significantly contributes to the agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Kuta also hinted at the potential policy pronouncements that may follow the report’s submission, which could significantly impact the livestock industry in Nigeria.
He added that Nigeria, despite having the largest concentration of livestock in West Africa, lags in development due to the absence of a dedicated ministry.
Prof. Kuta stressed the economic potential of the livestock sector, citing the example of Burkina Faso, where livestock contributes 55 percent to the agricultural GDP. In contrast, Nigeria’s sector remains underdeveloped, leading to a reliance on imports for dairy products and other livestock-related goods.
He assured Nigerians that the committee’s efforts would soon bear fruit, with the inception report serving as a precursor to the innovative developments that will shape the future of Nigeria’s livestock industry.
He said, “The committee has done a perfect job, and very soon, I’m sure with the arrival of Mr President from China, an inter-inception report will be submitted to him
After that, you will hear the outbreak of the kind of innovations, of the kind of wonders that will happen to that ministry.
“There is enough time to enjoy the bumper harvest that will come out of it, the committee is doing well, and you can see this very interesting environment operating, because it also requires that a permanent structure will be needed to midwife the ministry,” he said.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is a global crisis, it’s not in Nigeria alone and that’s what you should appreciate. And Nigeria has done its best. All efforts have not been wasted. And even when you talk about the threat orchestrated by insecurity, you discover that it’s only localised.
If you see the countries that are in turmoil, you will appreciate that Nigeria should continue to pray, to even do better in terms of our current challenges. Go to Sudan. Sudan has never known peace. And Sudan is at the threat of the world’s worst food crisis in the coming years. Even that will be worse than Ethiopia, they suffer from famine.
You also know that part of the global food threat is some of the products that are coming from Ukraine. It’s all blocked because of the crisis in Ukraine, Russia, but if you look at the trend globally, and then you come to consider the issue of climate change, it’s unbelievable. Because on one hand, you have excess rain and flood everywhere, taking over the farms or you have dry spells, where you suffer from either shortages as a result of drought. And then you are also confronted with an unbelievable trend of population explosion.
In some countries in Europe and other places today, population growth is zero percent. People are not even giving birth. So, they are even more…
Those are the issues that we need to also appreciate that are part of our burden and our challenge. Maybe you don’t understand it yet. It’s a serious matter that we need to deal with, that we need to understand, that we need to appreciate.
Now, Those Are The Backgrounds. What Are The Solutions?
Number one, if you want to solve your problem, you do not worry about who is being subsidised or not.
All you want is to see food in the market. So, those who are producers, they need to be encouraged to keep on producing. But if you don’t encourage them, they will go to other things that are more lucrative. Because there is no doubt, the minimum you can spend to produce certain crops will be 45 or 50 days. Some two months, others three months. While some people go into a trade or something, instantly they make the money, and they even multiply what you are waiting for three months. So that means as a government, you must notice those who are doing that… Because all the actors in the world, in the system, none can do without food for 30 days. Even if you fast. After breaking your fast, you need what? Food.
So therefore, we must incentivise producers. You don’t need simply to give them something free, but give them support that will multiply their production so that they can make gains.
And what are those factors that encourage their production? In elementary economics, we are told about factors of production. Land is key. Labour is critical. So also is capital, if you get all those things, your production can be multiplied.
Land Availability And Preparation
You need to make land available. And assist the farmers with land clearing. That was why the Babangida Administration established the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA).
It was to help farmers clear their land so that they will save money for labour. Because land clearing is a critical and a huge burden.
We must give kudos to Farmer Governor Umuru Bago, who in March 2024 launched a massive agricultural mechanisation in Niger State. The President was the one who commissioned it.
Tractors, irrigation sprinklers, harvesters, all of them. And today, farmers are benefitting from them. So, if you want to improve that, you must provide assistance.
You are not giving farmers free money. No. You are assisting them to ease their production system and to reduce the cost of production.
Labour will reduce. The cost of production will reduce. Then you support them with credit facilities.
That’s where the agricultural bank comes into play.
And then when you invest, sell and take the money back to the bank. Now, how many farmers get access to credit facilities? Absentee farmers take most of the money. Or take on behalf of the real farmers, and the farmers don’t benefit.
Then you talk about agrochemicals. You need to support farmers with what will aid their productivity. Anything that will affect their farms, pests, infections, you help them to protect them.
In the livestock sector, one of the huge problems today is medication. Too many fake drugs. So if a man has an issue, you give him the medicine that will work.
So in essence, the regulatory agencies of government must be alive to their responsibilities.
Like NAFDAC is doing, combating and fighting fake drugs, we should also have agencies in agriculture to fight fake drugs in livestock and in the agricultural sector. I think these are the issues.
Dry Season Farming
And if the government can take advantage of dry season farming, it will also help because farmers are active only for three, four, five months in a year. The rest, they spend it discussing under sunshade, under the mango tree. Nothing to do again.
But with the experience we have had with Fadama, where farmers are able to take advantage of floodplains of rivers by establishing wash pools and irrigation facilities to support them, they go into dry season farming and they make more money. And if you look at Tiga Dam in Kano and Jigawa, the Jariwa Basin, if you see the way the farmers are working, during the dry season they are able to cultivate a lot of tomatoes and other food crops, you will be amazed. The same thing, I can give an example of Tungakawa Irrigation Project in Wushishi local government of Niger State
They produce rice three times a year. The irrigation facility there supports the production of rice three times in a year. So, if the federal government can support it to reactivate, revitalise all the moribund dams, it will be a fantastic development.
Many of the dams have become danger zones, because they were constructed, abandoned, and they become homes for mosquito breeding and wild reptiles that kill members of the community or create health hazards. So if we are able to do all these things, farmers will produce massively.
Guarantee Minimum Price
Then the next thing is to go to the farmers at their farm gates and establish what we call guarantee minimum price.
Middlemen should not be allowed to go and steal their produce from them at giveaway prices. Agents of the government must go there, buy and take them to the grain reserves.
So we now have what we call buffer stock. When you buy from them at the harvest season, you stockpile. When there is scarcity, you open and take the produce to the market.
Government should control the prices so that no middleman can manipulate them. If they say there is a market in this world, everybody will buy 5-5 mudu (measure) of rice or corn at this price, many people will be happy. If you repeat it along communities, it will gather momentum and improve the socioeconomic well-being of the people.
Massive Importation
This massive importation is just a temporary measure. In order to put food on the table of the people, you need to do that as an emergency measure.
But emergencies are not supposed to be a permanent feature. They are supposed to be temporary measures. So the government has done well to have put in place temporary measures to cushion the effect of food scarcity.
I think that is very instructive. Those are the variables that we must not run away from. And if we are able to do that on a massive scale, take advantage of the comparative potential of every area or support system, it will escalate.
If farmers said they need this type of agrochemical. Give it to them at subsidised rates. If there is an outbreak of anything, get experts to attend to them quickly.
Value Addition
We must of necessity improve our value addition to our products. We can’t continue to produce raw materials and send them to other countries to make money at our expense.
Look at our cocoa plantation in Ondo State. We produce all this, we will send it abroad for them to process and bring it back to us in packages. We pay more for them to other people and create jobs for them in their home countries.
Look at sugar. Brazil today is talking about sugar as a by-product from their waste products and that is what we are consuming.
Some of the by-products are used for their animal feeds. That’s why their animals like cows and others are very big. All the waste from there end up in a recycled manner. So, in a nutshell, Nigeria is sitting on huge, massive potential. But unfortunately, wasting.
The potential is huge. And I must give kudos to the minister of agriculture. He is very aggressive and pursuing all Mr. President’s mandate in the agricultural sector.
Look at the wheat intervention that they have done in Jigawa State. And that is one of the huge potential for many industries that depend on wheat.