Laura Sexton's List: Nigerian Agriculture/Things Fall Apart

• Nigeria's  diverse climate, from the tropical areas of the coast to the arid zone  of the north, make it possible to produce virtually all agricultural  products that can be grown in the tropical and semitropical areas of the  world.

  • Lots of possibility!
• Despite an abundant water supply, a  favorable climate, and wide areas of arable land, productivity is  restricted owing to low soil fertility in many areas and inefficient  methods of cultivation.

  • Need to improve cultivation methods and soil fertility
• Prior to the civil war, the country was self-sufficient in food, but  imports of food increased substantially after 1973. Bread, made  primarily from US wheat, replaced domestic crops as the cheapest staple  food for much of the urban population.

  • Could we make Nigeria self-sufficient again? Increase wheat production or some substitute?
• The most important food crops are  yams and manioc (cassava) in the south

  • This will be important in the novel we read
• In 1999, production of yams was 25.1 million tons  (67% of world production); manioc, 33.1 million tons (highest in the  world and 20% of global production); cocoyams (taro), 3.3 million tons;  and sweet potatoes, 1,560,000 tons. The 1999 production estimates for  major crops were as follows (in thousands of tons): sorghum, 8,443;  millet, 5,457; corn, 5,777; rice, 3,399; peanuts, 2,783; palm oil, 842;  sugar cane, 675; palm kernel, 565; soybeans, 405; and cotton lint, 57.

  • The sweet potato and palm oil/kernel statistics are consistent with the novel--over 100 years after it was set!
• The dominance of smallholders in the cocoa sector and the lack of  farm labor due to urbanization holds back production. Nigeria has the  potential to produce over 300,000 tons of cocoa beans per year, but  production only amounted to 145,000 tons in 1999.

  • Is this another area that could be revitalized by technology?
• Low yield, aging trees, and lack of proper equipment have  inhibited production.

  • How could technology help here?
• In 1979, the importing of many  foods was banned, including fresh milk, vegetables, roots and tubers,  fruits, and poultry. The exporting of milk, sugar, flour, and hides and  skins was also banned. During 1985–87, imports of wheat, corn,  rice, and vegetable oil were banned as declining income from oil  encouraged greater attention to the agricultural sector.

  • Does production need to be increased for all of these items, then?

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• Nigeria needs to build its defence against biological threats to crops just as is being done for the military

  • Is this a worthwhile focus of technology for Nigerian agriculture?
• limited application of technologies, the low skill base in the sector, and its aging population.

  • Perhaps all that is needed is to expand presently used technologies? Or making them simpler to use?
• the post-harvest losses in Nigeria could be turned around with more processing of what farmers harvest.

  • Is processing a valid focus of technology improvement, or would it just result in a dilemma like the corn industry's in the U.S.?
• to move from comparative agricultural production to competitive production, to improve human capital, and to tap into the vast human resources available - the youths - for development.

  • Would technology help the shift from comparative to competitive production? Is there something that can be done through schools there (or here)?

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• spent over $4.2 billion to import food - N635 billion ($4 billion) to import wheat; N356 billion ($2.3 billion) on rice, N217 billion ($1.4 billion) on sugar and N97 billion ($600 million) on fish – commodities we should be exporting.

  • We should focus on increasing wheat, rice, sugar, and fish production--efficiently
• Nigeria was the world’s second largest producer of cocoa with 15% of the world market, the largest exporter of palm oil with 60% market share, and leading exporter of groundnuts with 30% of the world market. We also held dominant positions in the markets for cotton, rubber, hides and skins.

  • Focus less on methods that improve cocoa/palm oil/groundnut production? Should cotton/rubber production be improved?
• Although the farmers relied on rudimentary, traditional tools and methods, the sector accounted for about 70% of Nigeria’s exports, and about 95% of our domestic food consumption.

  • If traditional tools and methods can do this much, would technology increase production TOO MUCH?
• In 1990, we spent $430 million on food imports; in 2000, we spent $1.25 billion and last year Nigeria spent $4.2 billion to import food. Demand has gone up with growing population, rural-urban migration and changing tastes as we moved from the traditional staples to foreign grown foods.

  • Should the focus be shifted back to traditional staples or should the "changing tastes" be accommodated?
• We are ranked 11th in the world in terms of arable land but with fertiliser use of 6kg/hectare, we are ranked 116th out of 138 farming nations

  • Should fertilizer use be increased then?
• we continue to import subsidised rice and wheat, to the detriment of our domestic agriculture and farmers, as well as food security strategy. Nigeria today is the world's second largest importer of rice, next to the Philippines.

  • So rice and wheat should perhaps be primary foci
• Inputs like fertiliser, improved seeds, agro-chemicals including herbicides and pesticides need to be imported at high costs and do not get to the subsistence farmers in timely and affordable manner. Produce when harvested gets lost due to poor storage technologies, absence of a price support system, infrastructure deficits, poor market access and pests. Post-harvest losses in Nigeria average between 20% and 40% depending on the crop, about the highest in the world.

  • Possible technology to develop: fertilizer, biologically engineered seeds, herbicides, pesticides, storage, possibly processing
• a nation without food security, with little participation in global agribusiness except as an importer, and an ageing population of farmers with small farms, without much hope of being replaced by young people, new technologies or large scale mechanisation. A nation with only 30,000 tractors for 50 million farmers is going nowhere.

  • Goals to achieve with the technology: food security, global agribusiness contributor, mechanical progress
• Each state should identify and focus on its areas of agricultural competitive advantage. Rice and wheat which we have capacity to be self-sufficient command special attention of coordinated policy support. Other export crops which we can lead the world should similarly be attended to - sharing the burden between the national and sub-national governments.

  • Break down technology needs by state? Increase rice and wheat for sure
• There should be renewed focus on building infrastructure to link up production, consumption and exporting centres

  • Maybe even work on exportation technology?
• Access to affordable seedlings, including genetically-modified seeds, chemicals and fertiliser should be enhanced.

  • genetically modified seeds, pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer needed
• Global demand for food will continue to increase because in October, world population will hit 7 billion. If you think that our population is large today, imagine what it would be like at the turn of this century – when all our oil would certainly have dried up, or when technology would have made fossil fuels unneeded. By that time, Nigeria would have over 700 million people, 500 million of which would live in cities. What would they eat?

  • Good reason to focus on agriculture!

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• facilitated the establishment of two cocoa quality testing laboratories for CRACCU and Ife Cooperative Produce Marketing Union (ICPMU)as means of assisting them have quality specification for their produce before sales.

  • Do quality testing laboratories improve production?