FIlIm Marlim ~ rNl\lja Buruu CHef)

!:E<lre ind cations that the Jonathan administration has much more to wony aoout than I h~ deadly 801co Haram

ilmbush, remov;>l of contro\~1 petroleum sullsldy and f:dlllic Identity aisis simply classi­ned as federa l ch.racterdiallenges in power ~haring that h.1V~ emerged as an albatross for the six-month-old administration. Typical in the p!llity, political stories have

always oorupiJ~l lo domlnat!' the from pages and prime time Tlews, thus pushing to tfle background cr1tbi issues about \\ny the court­trv'sKOoomyis in mOl"l'danger than we think. And this is wha~ has happt'nrd to the story of Njg~rla's unrqx'ned, but deadly food impon SCilndal. although the government has had occ.ulons to draw alten£lon to tlle remarkable de\"elopmenl. On September~',20u, when t~est:ablishmem

l?egan iI series 01 public relallons blitz, th rough the Instrumentality of the Ftderal fxe(utlve Coundl meml~"S' media briefing to mark the Jonatllan AdmlIJistralion 100 days in offic~, the Minlsterof Agric ulture and Rural De\oelopment, D~_ Akinwunmi Adesina, look his tum. The doctoral gr Iduate of Purdue Uruverslty

and fomler vice Dresklent (Policy & I'3rmership~ at 11111' A111:mce for Creen Re\'Olution InJ\fica (AGRA), told the media tilat food Impor.s had ~n one of tile most cri tical challUlg'5ln Nigeria. But tJle repone~ who covered tJle briefing.

could not put th~ data quett{! by the fonn~r FAO chief fn goocl COnlexl, to mm meaning [0 tJlepopul"ce.. In Ihe 50.1111e Vl!in, on SeJ)temlxr n, 20U, wh~n TlJeSun(newsp.l~rs) publldy pll'sentrd Its book. N~ria's(:Olden nook, at the Var'Adua Centre in Abuja.lhe govemorof OndoState_ DT. Olusegun Mlmil:o, wllo gave a keynot~ address, quOU'd extensively (rom the data rclused by the r t lnister. Mlmiko told th~ captive audience that he had

called the agrla.' lture mlnlsterthe previous day(Sep4.ember 26) 10conOrm the scandalous facts alld ngure.:'! on Nigeria's food Impon pro­file. CuriousJ}\ tJle J:oUtical aspect of Mimlko's

presentatlon, " .. hlch harped on alleged mis· management of federalfsm, dominated the front pages and prime £lme on rndio and tele-vision_ I Even thechldl-oostorUleevenl, n,eSun,dld

not report the wOSIslgnlfkant aspect ofth~

-Imporlod NOElIr ($620lJ) Food In 2007-2010 • In 2010, Spent N632b On Wheat, N356b On Rice, N217b On Sugar, N97b On Fish

pont About NllJiliion PCI' Dqy 011 Rice Alone • Produces 500,000 Tons Of Rice, Consumes 2.5m Tons Mimlkoexposition: "the food insecurity aspt'Ct" In fts prope:rcontext. Again, last Monday; October 10, 2011, Mam

Nigeria organised a Media Forum (Editors' Roundtabre) to mark Ul is year's world Food Dayal the Bolton White HOleiln Grki 2, Abuja, The Issueor"tll~ role of the media In promoting food security In Nigerlaw was the highlight oftJle discusslon_ A memlxrof the National Assembly. Nkoyo

Toyo{Cross PJver}and an International direc-10ro(Mam, was there and she ~ke extert­s[\,t: ly on tile unreported issue of land grabW

In Nigeria witilin the comext offood security il1lhecoumry, Toyo,a deveiopmentS«tor activist, was,

untn recently. Nlj!pia's r:nvoy to Ethiopia. Vet, the issue of Tood Insecurity and Sc.1n­

dalous food Impon data that d"omlnatrd dis­cussion at the fOru m wem Into obscurity, especially In tJle print medla_ Speclnc3.1ly, the follolVl ng Is the food import

SGl.ndalous data tilat has reportedly added to the wonying listof rresidentJonathan, who's smanlng from the fallout of government's resolve to remove fuel subsld"y In January next ~ar. Mlrnlko h.:ld this tosayoll agr1ru1rureand

deOnitely food security In Nigeria: "From Independence In 1960, Nigeria is ytt

.to sumlOunt Ule challenge of good gO\"er· nalla. Nothing demonstriltes tl iisdalm bet­[ertJlan the gnm realities of ournational Ufe. "Ours Isa nation si tting on abundant natural

resources wi th fertile land but completelr unable 10 feed Its citizens.. The MIn15ler o IIgriculture, Dr_Akinwunml Adesina. recently noted that: "Nigeria Is now one of the IaJiest. food

imponers In theworld.Accoming to him, the food impon bill ofNlgerta In 2007-2010 was N98 trilnon orS628 bill ion. In 2010 alone, Nigeria spent N6]2 billion on Imponallon of wheat, N3S6 billion on importation of rice (that means we spent NI blllion perday on

rice aJont'~ N217 blllion on sugar Importation and with a ll the marine resources, nvers, lakes ilnd creeks weare blessed \ .. 1th, Nigeria spent NCJ7 billion Importing fish: 'he simple calculation from the above is

that Nigeria spends on the aYr:rnge N24.5 oil­lion yearly, wlllclt Is aboutS1GO billioll. lll is revelaLion Iscenainly unwhoresorn~ If one considers that Nigeria has over 74 mha of arnb~ lands and yeta net imponerof food as o£toda)t ~Is Is a cle.udeparture £rom Ule reality of

Nigeria in tile 1960s when agrlrultur~ provid­ed tile main source of employment, income and foreign exchange umlngs for Nigeria_lhe adYr:nt of commercial oil exploitation In the mid 197050 no doubt, her­alded an ern of decay for agricultural output In Nigeria. "It is Interesting to nOll' that as a nalion

today, we produce 500,000 IOnnes of rice whereas we consume 2.5 million tonnes. W

CIMIlARlYat Ule saki Mam forum In Abuja ..Jtut Monday, the following facts on Nigeria's food securitystarus emerged from the main presentation by a senior journalist, whoquot­ed copiously rrom Food and AgrIcultul"l' Organization (FA03 faer sheet on Nigeria: • NIgeria has a Ian area or 98.3 million Ita; 74 mUllan ha Is good for farnllng; bUI less than hams being explored. • The popuradon InvolYr:d in (anning is 6o. 70~ • Agrtculrure's contribution toGOP isalso 41.5%. • OutJlut of food per ca.plta Is among the least In SSA(South Sahara Aliica). • Crops, Uvestodcand fish ha\"e potrn£lals for providing food and nutrition.

Emftrglllg P9J11dOlC • Vet, there is th~t or hunger and poverty; 70Xofthe population live on less than NIOO (S 0.7)pt'r da){

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, October 16, 2011

• Youth unemployment Is embarrassing. • Smallholder Tarmers COl\5titut~ 801 of a ll farm holdings; their production ~'Stem Is Ineffidem; thell' Is regul.lf ~hortf;]n in nation­al domeslic production_ - r-ood Impen is thus a common feature. Only_Hope< - I\griculture Is a kry sector tJlat can affect maJor1tyofNig~r1ans.. Food S«urity Situation Food Securily Status: • TItis Isa fundamental agr1C\Jl tural objective in Nigeria: - Households should ltaYr: access to goocJ and nulIititJus food for healthy living. -Population should ~ ~altJlY tocreate national \Yr:ahh.

.... f'undamental Issues of Food Securtty: • Is Food Avallable7 - Domestic food production Is on the increase but not enough to lOeet national food demand • Is Supply orFood Stable7 - Post llarvt:St losses are 2Q.4~ beGluse har­vestin~ processing/slorage tcchnlques are ineffioent;as a result, supply Is unstable. • Do pe.opl~ havt Act:r.ss to food7 -Access toadequate;llld nutri tious food is limited by low Income/povcny. because nutri­tious foods are sometimes ~nsi\"e_ "WbatIsFood ~ 1!kr7 - Food iMake and nutritional wellbeing of many households are of relatiVl!ly 10\'" quality. and are affected by their low economic status.. - The vulnerabl~and food Insecure ioclude the poor, smallholder f;lnners, dlildren, prt:g­flam \vomen, lactating mothers and the elder-

lbout60.81 Nigeriaru are malnourished. • Frevalent Dtffdency Di!N!l'5: - Iron defiCiency, which arr~ physical capac­Ity,and In sevel"l'cases lead to death and sus­ct'ptibUityto Infections.. - Protein Energy Malnutrition (f'£M). whkh causesgrowth failure in chlklren, and wclght loss In adults; relationship exIsU bel\\1!en PEM and inrectlons like measles, diarrhoea, whooping cough, tuberculoslS,a nd malaria. -VitamlnA.de:fldency, whldl fights mist'­ance to infections.. -Obesity, which is on the increase, affects more of urban d\\"elJers; and results £rom Imbalanced nutrition. Hypen eruion. dialxtes mellitus, and carulO\'ilscUlar diseases acoom­panyil. • Problem of the vulnerable and rood insccu­

COtmtfUtD ON Po\GE 13

TIlE GUJ\llOW,I, Sunday, October 16, 2011

Nigeria's Food Importation

COImtf\JEO F~ON rAl'E 12 rltycan be addu~!'~~ by r~udngpoveltlt acc~ibi1lt1'of ho.mholds roadequaleand nutritious lood alilhe lime. • U nOlhlng is done about Lhe shortfc1IIs, it may soo~r tJ lJn exprct:~ btcome too InlJi. cate to manage.

-"PO'" " Nigeria is a net bod impaner. • FOOd e:cpon tTilde was betwoeen 0.04m and 035m dUl1ng 1993-2001. ~~FOOdJ'l"oductionforlncrrased

- Food production mustgrowcoflSlstendy well abOve deml.f"d to briilge shortfalls.

n BlDES. on October4, 20U, au National J.}5takeholders' \Vorkshop on ~Iollmenl or Aquacu ltu~V.alue dlaln, the A~culru~ foollnlster <llso mu:rated thal Nigena spent about NIOO billion on the impon:alion of rlOlen flSh In 101(1. While lamenting the shortfall or flSh supply

in theoounI ry. he noted that the ~umated annual fish demand Is about1.66 million itS agalnstlhe annual domestic production of aboul 0.78 millior.givinga demand-supply gap of about 1.8 million mctrictoru.. The minister. rep~nt~ by lhe Penmnent

Sccre:tiIryln the ministry. Or. Ezekiel O}"emom~ disclos"!'d th,u Nigeria itnlJOlts ~r 780,000 metric tons of frozen fish annu<llly from Europe, Latill America and the Eastern (ountrlu He regrrtt~ tha t.theshortf.all

tion.

I I

I , I

lead-

He 51.1[00 lhati!.n (st1mat~ 10 million NlgeriansO)uld be acti~ly engaged in the upstream and downstnam 0I1"eaS of fishcri~ operations. whim could also provide raw matenals for the ar imal feeds induSU)l.

'T1{l:World rood 5'.lll1mlt Of 1996 deOned .!. food securi ty as aistlng ·when all people at all Uml!S ha~a((e-s to sufficient.Si!..re, nutri­tious food to malnt,,-In II he.1lthy and active life. ~ Commonly, LheroiCeplorfood srcurity Is

defined as filCl udin~ boLh physi~1 and eco­nomiCilCCess to fooii lhat ml'(!tli people's dietary needsasw"C!1 as their food prere~nces. In many(ount:ries. heah • .h problems related

LO dietary excess all'an ever.j~lng l.h~at. In fact. mainutritioll OInd foodborn edlarrhoea have become double burden. Food s«urlty Is bullton tJlI~ pi\l;trs;

• rued awfJ!bllity: !:ufficient quantities of food avallable on a ':onslslmt basis. • fOcdaccess: hi!.\'trg sufficient resources to obelin appropnatr: fOods for a nutJidousdieL • Food l!..ceapprel!l late use based on kllowl­edge of basic nutn~on and cart'. as .... '1'11 asade­quateW"ater and sallitalion.

SUNDAYMAGAZlNE 113

Ga$s~va 'tuber: .: __ ._ .. _. . '. ____ .~ __ .. __

Hi(rl . . .. IllCOInc Po1l'nt ial Thrown OV<"Thod rd Br FaID1 0tkIm

FROM the peasant fanne.r'sJ)Osition, all cassa· va (ould do and has ~n Oing Is provide

sustenance for the: family from its pnxluru lIkegarri, 'a{un, (ufu and abdcha (tapioca) When the.re Is 01 bumper harvest and the fannerflas mo~ than enough, the prlces of the proc~sed products sem to the local mar· kers crash to lhe palm of discouragemelll­the~a rter.lhe (uitivation is pur In limbo for fear of labour wi thout commensurate income. Perhaps, .after about two seasons of staying

aWilY from consistent cultivalion, the prices go up itS a result of sc.1rcity, then they return.

Even wilh this fitful production, the count·ry ranks among the top three biggest casSilva producers In [he world. of course this cannol go without the outstanding work that has ~n done by the Intemational lnrutute of Tropical Agriculture (IrrA), lbadan in boost­ing production of the tuber. However, In 2001 the Obasanjo administra­

tion took a Step tha[would have turned around fortunl.'l of the fanner and nauon If the policy on lhe oopwasSlIstil ined. The president at the UrnI' Connulated a policy

• (;11111 1 n rkv.\lllfl IIt:clld:\ that would commercia lise cassava produc­tion and lake it beyond local consumption.

In 2001 the production was about 34 mil· lion metric tons (MY) and increOised to 37.9 milliol: MT In 2001. An ave:ra&,: yield of 10.83 MT per hectare was employed in the cultiva­lion of 3.t25 million hectares. BuOyed by the huge production of the tuber.

the0b.1s..1njoadminlStTation aimed at mak· ing the crop an export commodity with a view to generating fiV(' billion NOilra annually. Aside the primary products from the ruber, the plan is to make a number of va lue...add~ Items as secondary products that ;ue able to OIttract forel!;n exchange to the country. These a re ChIPS, pellets, nour, adheslvn, alco­hol, and starch thai are vital raw materi.als needed in industrial production In food and fenllndustries OImong others. To re.alise lhis objective:, there WilS lIe~ to

develop the domestic muket lhal would pla(e a greater demand on the produ({, diversify its use and create nationa l policies that win enil'IOce cassava development. The government at the time sought to do this but

policy Inconsistencies would not k~p the projectanoaL

CASSAVA Is j>eriShable as Its moisture (On· lentls very hl~l (between GO and 70 per cent) and difllcult to preserve without ade­quate technology. This has open~ it up to being expioltedby middlemen who buy cheap and have: the ability to process to other intermediate orena producu that attract better prices and income.

Only recently, NI$erla's Agriculture miniS· ter, Dr.Akillwunml Adcslnil proj'ectsthat fanners em earn up to $450 mj lion (N675bn) under the cassava transfonnatl on agenda. To achieve th is, the ministerSOlid government would pm In pl.a(e a Market and Trade Development Corporation fMlOC)ln the value dlain of cassava mar· ketlng to ensure an dfKtlve market dlain. In the plan, ove:r 1..2 million jobs are expett­

ed to be creotted both on and off fann. NO\v, an IncreOl.scd produ(tMty lJ.1sed on 12.5 tons per heaare under the inftlath'e, seems to give a new bite. Hopefully, 'a new generation of c.aSsaVil farmers, oriented towards com· mercial prOlluction and farm business' would fly the new flag of President 10nOithan's revamped focus on the tuber.

PUOTO: COUR1ES't' fU41 OOUGBEMI

Agric Minister Promises Change oonh tilS( anti north W"C:it,~ he saki. ~ding Ihat the "tnnsfonnallon plans will In(l'ease e..T])Orts ~n fold frem 20,000 MTto 140,000 MT by 1015, enabling Nlgerta to ~Inlt.s le.ading position In

Ity~~

IFtltelederalp~tl2mbmationilg!DJafUI. '~""''''' .... """"""-",,,,,,­.mYing from boi:I frRoadytolixxl SlIfJlh£ Th! m&a. llYoC"fttloJInu"C,~.'desIniI,tmilDln'd thar,Uileed,dlerewili beadWW! within ash:lrttime Heundl'nlCOl"Cd hlsc:onfidw.'ellyllstingthe;ums in \vhk.tl hehasbroughtaOO.rtD"l'leIrmwnrlon. p.tttku­larlyilttheln5tJtWooalle\,u majcI"!Rpt!la:nlDwls dr~dtlrmintstlyintosb:regkm.radt tDbeheadedbvadbutol: , havecanfed outrrujorlnsdtulionaJ (hang~

Involving transformational poliCies and organlsa· tional changes in pIaa-." Before nO'o'o\ he said, no one has done this:"1 am decenmllslng tile endre ministry of agriculture There will be six ~11iI! directOR to~ the programmes" and i1npJe­mentation wiD be done witJi stltts on the grnunc.i -"loci tile mlnistTywUl monitorwhat Is being done.-

Atlhe weekend, the minister told T1leGu.mli.1n of the prt':!!denllal retrcatwhere-the prlvates«­tor said this 15 the best II\alean happen toagriall. ture. We have done a lot of consultation wllh the people. We are already ImplemenUng the pro­~nmu" being talked aboUL The government, through the tr.msfonnation

;!gt'lIda.looks forward m generating -over 3.5 mil· lion Jobs !"rom the rtce. C;U5;lva, sorghum, cocoa and ootton value (hairu, wltJl rruny more lobs to come from other\'aJue ch.alns tha.t will be(omplet­ed soon~slilted themlnller. Headded that~.P!'o" gnmme will provide over )OObiliion NaIia (USll billion) or addition<li income in the hOImis of Nigerla.n fanners. ~

' i~rull"li-:<:S t:~'h!!!, JIJ",::t .. r"'(:·!n:; WestMrkiJ. 1111s wUl be a<:hlevt'd through adop-C' r: '~ ~ " ' :' _ I .......' . tion or new ImprO\ord varlelles of cotton,

~ ·" nt'., I "",'.,,,...~ I~'.~. ~-.., ! " 1"""1 1.1.111' .... '11 Improvement In quality and fe\itaUsation or the According to Adesillo.lo, the mnsfonnatioo agenda cononginnl!ries-.

calls forurgeted Intl'n"l!nUons to In(rea.secllklenq To In(~asecCN:Q;l producUvilY. he no(m, "wI!\vill and prolitability along dle value-added (halns of dev"Clop tailored cocoa fert.iliscrblends to r.Jpidly th~(rops. Impl"lM!:ylelds from 300kg per ha to sookg per On rice, he saki. -our 11m b.1n1e Is [0 make NIgeria ha. We will ~lse new fillandng from lhe GlPltal se.lf.suffident In rice production wllhin four years. markets to revitalise the ~ 5ecIOf. The mns­CUrrenUy we Import 500,000 Mr of brown rice from ronnalion of the CO((JOl sect.orwlil (reate 360,000 outlilde the counll)l. \\'e wi ll redu("C this [0 zero by jobsby20t5~. 2013 and ~ will shift to domestia.lly producro And on Bsllet)\ he s.aJd, -me fish mnsronnation brown rice. This ;llone wlll save w N50 billion cur- agenda plans to Inmase .annual fish production rentlybeJngspent Importing bl"O\vn rice.." from thecummt production ofO.i8M ~rr[(lJ.oM The seconil bayttle. said tile mlnJter .sv.riI1 focus on MT in ordt'rto adlleve sdr 5U ITiCIerK)' In fish pro­

assn .... NIgeria Is the largest producer oC assava in duction and supply by the ~ar lOtS. Th15: win be the world with J4 million Mf but oonlributes zero achiem:I through fish farm estate de\""Clopment; penentin tenns or value OIdded in dobal trade. "1M: fish seeds and reed mill ~Iopment: fish pen "'~11 fQCU50n at.lting new-end uses TorCilSSilVil~. and a.geculru~development and fish pon..tJar· The mlnISlt'rcontinued: "OUr third area of battle Is vest managt'mentand marketing progmnmes".

Klrghum totrilrufonn the nonJleaSland nonJl west. With r"CSpectto llvestocksub-sector,tfle mininer Currentl)( woJ'kls,uan advanced state to re l~~ new Indicated tllat -the IIV1':Stock transfonn;arion pro­hl~·yleld[n&. solldtum hybrids in 20U, whl(h wUl gtOIrnme plans toamlf'\""C self ruffidency in me~t r.use the yield of fanners by five times from less than and Ii\~ production by lOIS thmu2h Invest· 05 ton per hecta~ (lu) to 1.5 tons per ha~. menlln the livestock \aluernaln on the following

On maize, the/m inister, he disclosed that wotit Is programmes promoting large K~!e Ih'eStoci( going on -to re.ich a total of 100,000 ranners In u fanning In five geo«ologlcal zones of oompalr sUtes. Each folnntf" 15 being targeted to produce on live; upgrade of loa! b~ tJlroUgh selt'CtfVe 3h.aofland,thwa total of600,000 hawill bemvef!d b~ing ~nd arondal insemlnadon: expandln! In lhe firstyeuand ~ need a total or 12, 000 meu1c hau:hery aJ»dty to achiev"C haldllng oT 25 ml -tons of certified Improved seeds for lOll. We envisage lion day old" chicks, (broilen and 1a}WS per week thatabout .. ometrlctonsoCfoundadOOSl!'eclswiUbe by lOIS); Cll"panston of sm.allholder and pert­ha~ from our fiekis In Mokwa, Zaria, Funtua urban rattelllngschemes; ronlJOl ortr;msbound­and Sam.lrab this month.~. ary anlrTlOl l disUses and 1n0NSe vacdnation roy.

Adeslna sIad. "Cotton will be given attenUon "in the erage from cumnt35 t095 percenl by20tS."