By Awazi Abimiku

Reversing the fading fortunes of agriculture in the country was always bound to be a herculean task in view of the decade long neglect and policy dissonance that accentuated such an ugly state of affairs. But in Nasarawa state the process of reversal is gradually finding a foothold. Even so, it is taking quite some effort to wean the populace from an addiction to a life of subsistence on the periodic handouts emanating from the seat of power in Abuja, while the soil under their feet with far too enormous potentials begs for minimal attention.

While many a governor would busy themselves chasing after a fastly declining monthly allocations issuing from the federation account, the helmsman of Nasarawa State, Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma, OON, has committed his energy and creative instincts towards putting together a movement for a second Green Revolution in his largely rural state. The movement is geared towards bringing about a process of reversal of the criminal neglect and decline of agriculture, and at the same time heralding a renewal, a new beginning of sorts, for a sector with considerable potentials to act as a catalyst for poverty alleviation and wealth creation among the teaming rural population.

In framing his administration’s cardinal policy thrust as encapsulated in the 13-Point Agenda, a broad outline of the critical areas of the public sector considered to be of utmost priority to the state, Governor Doma left no one in doubt about his mission to return agriculture to its pride of place in the scheme of affairs in the state. He positioned agriculture as the center-piece of the 13-Point Agenda as well as the lynch pin of a program of integrated rural development, borne out of a realization that Nasarawa remains largely a rural state, with about 80 percent of the population engaged in farming and agriculture-related activities. As the largest employer of labour, agriculture stands out as the life-blood of Nasarawa’s fledging economy and, consequently, its place in the overall welfare and well-being of the population of the state can hardly be overstated. Invariably therefore, agriculture provides the axis, the critical nexus around which the remaining twelve components of Governor Doma’s policy framework revolve. By revitalizing and expanding the agricultural base of the state, for instance the government is in a vantage position to accelerate rural development and tackle head-on the pandemic of poverty among rural dwellers.

As a derivative of the 13-Point Agenda, the focal thrust of Governor Doma’s agricultural policy is primed on the attainment of food sufficiency, generation of employment opportunities and wealth creation. Meanwhile the flag-ship of the budding green revolution in the country’s Savannah belt consists in the Bada Koshi agricultural Scheme, an initiative designed to maximize the agricultural potentials of the state and ensure a total transformation of agriculture, conscious of the need to contribute to the overall diversification of the national economy.

The scheme was launched with a view to engendering accelerated growth in the sector and consolidating on the position of the state as the food basket of the country within a five year period (2009 -2014). It aims, above all, at stimulating interest in agriculture, mobilizing the populace to engage in agricultural activity, in addition to ensuring that farmers in the state obtain economic value from their produce through appropriate pricing mechanisms. The Bada Koshi Scheme is one project that is so dear to the heart of the state chief executive. Such is the grand vision of Governor Doma for agriculture that he is leaving no stone unturned to reposition and repackage every facet of the sector so as to render it attractive to private investors as well as regional and international funding agencies for the purposes of partnering with government in developing the sector. Already, some of the displaced white Zimbabwean farmers have found heavenly abode in Nasarawa state through a functional partnership nurtured by the state government, and the results are quite evident and encouraging.

 Although largely an agrarian population, an overwhelming majority of farmers in the state are engaged in subsistence farming which is characterized by small acreages, low level technological input, low productivity and limited access to markets and farm credits. The promotion of modern agriculture and agribusiness as envisaged under the Bada Koshi Scheme therefore constitutes an important plank of the vision for the overall socio-economic transformation of the state.

The Bada Koshi Scheme is aptly modeled on the Chinese concept of the “three rurals” – peasants, villages and agriculture. This is an ideological template with which Chinese policy makers have sought to fast track and integrate rural development, poverty alleviation, coupled with the transformation of agriculture into a consolidated programme of sustainable development, with significant breakthroughs. Chairman Mao Zedung’s big idea remains valid for all developing countries: the transformation of agriculture cannot be accomplished in a vacuum. It must proceed in tandem with the transformation of the countryside as well as the liberation from abject misery of millions of peasant farmers who lie at the core of agriculture in these societies. More recently, Vietnam, another predominantly agricultural economy has had to chart a much similar route in its quest for economic growth and modernization, with the result that in economic growth terms, Vietnam is today an emerging Asian tiger in its own right. Vietnam’s success story is undergirded by appropriate and consistent policy initiatives over a period of time which have readily translated into farming inputs, machines, storage facilities, credit extension services and marketing innovations under the umbrella of farmer co-operatives.

After barely a year of its implementations, the Bada Koshi scheme has witnessed tremendous institutional capacity building, the addition of value to agricultural produce through enhanced storage, processing and marketing coupled with the fact that farmers in the state are at the threshold of realizing economic value from their produce through increased access to local and international markets. As well as the ministry of Agriculture and Natural resources, all agriculture-related agencies of the state such as the Agricultural Development Program (ADP) Farm Mechanization Agency, Produce Development and Marketing Company, the Nasarawa state University, keffi and the College of Agriculture, Lafia, have been reorganized, repositioned, and mandated to support increased agricultural production in the state with emphasis on human capacity development and improved productivity.

It ought to be noted that the success of the Bada Koshi Scheme thus far, has been down to a pot-pourri of creative strategies evolved by the state. These include: effective procurement and distribution of critical inputs such as improved seeds and seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides and agro-chemical to farmers; procurement of highly subsidized tractors and other machinery in collaborations with farmer co-operatives; provision of effective extension services; mobilization, capacity building and skills acquisition for farmers, farmer organizations, programme implementers and service providers, in addition to the promotion of market-oriented production of strategic cash crops and commodities. Others include the introduction of an accessible agricultural revolving loans scheme, provision of storage facilities in all local councils; empowering of women and youths to take up agriculture as a profession; development and harnessing of water bodies for all-year round productivity; enhancement of harmonious relationship between pastoralists and farmers through the development of grazing reserves and the demarcation of cattle routes coupled with the active participation of all categories of public office holders, civil servants, traditional and community rulers in the scheme via mandatory ownership of farms.

A preliminary scorecard of the implementation of the scheme is a positive one: the omens are looking up and the future of agriculture has never looked rosier in any given state in the country. Presently, the state has been able to achieve sustainable food security in the face of rising food prices and an incipient food crisis. In addition, the state, through its Produce Development Marketing Company Ltd has been engaged in the export of branded yams PEPA YAM to the United Kingdom and other Countries of the European Union since July 2009.  This is no doubt the culmination and validation of Doma’s vision of a new dawn in the country’s agricultural sector.

The development came on the heels of three successful export trials of the yam species to the United Kingdom during which the product passed the strict test of relevant regulatory agencies in the UK and was well received in the market. In order to ensure sustainability of the export drive about 400 farmers in the state have been enlisted formally into the scheme after receiving special training on standardized yam production mechanism. These specially trained farmers have signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government for massive production of branded yams for the international market. Additionally and in a bid to maintain quality assurance, a modern yam conditioning and export processing centre is nearing completion in Keffi, near Abuja.

The significance of the yam export initiative is underscored by Dr. Mark Abani Chairman of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK, who noted on the occasion of the official launching in the UK of PEPA YAM from Nasarawa State, thus: “this step is also more important for a number of reasons… in setting up this export initiative (the state) Government has created financial link between those of us in the UK and the farmers of Nasarawa and Nigeria. For every time we buy a Nigerian yam in the UK we are putting money in the hands of our farmers back home in an organized direct manner. All benefit, and our non-oil economy receives an important and significant boost and a guaranteed market.”  

Dr .Abimiku wrote from Abuja.