AGRI-POLICY
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Policy Lessons from the First Green Revolution Programme
By Tukeni Obasi In spite of everything going on in this country, I still believe we live in interesting and important times. For us under-30s, the rhetoric of revolution and transformation is the essence of our youth. But many times I wonder how our parents felt in their day. How did they feel on the eve of Independence when Nigeria was finally wresting itself from British rule? How did they feel when state-led industrialisation became the order of the day in the ‘60s and the understanding was that in no time, Nigeria would assume its place...
read morePolicy Lessons from Operation Feed the Nation
By Tukeni Obasi I started the policy lessons from history series last month with the story of the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP). For the benefit of those who missed that article, I will provide a brief recap. The programme was geared towards increasing the productivity of famers and improving their livelihoods through research, technological improvement, extension, and agro-service delivery. This scheme reported a tenfold increase in the yield of wheat, which competed favourably in international markets, and other...
read moreChallenges, Opportunities, and Innovations for Emerging Agricultural Entrepreneurs Part 2
By Tukeni Obasi Last week, I shared the story of a young entrepreneur and agribusiness strategist, Simileoluwa Lawson. He is one of the minds behind The Global Farmers Register (globalfarmersregister.com), an online agribusiness inventory of all stakeholders in the agriculture industry which provides content management, knowledge sharing, networking, information dissemination, and business matchmaking services for agricultural entrepreneurs. In that article, Lawson, a graduate of Geography, revealed that years of research into business and...
read moreLessons from History: The 1972 National Accelerated Food Production Programme
By Tukeni Obasi As seen from the mobile phone saga of a few weeks ago, government policies are received differently by different Nigerians. While for the group of Nigerians in their twenties, the news of a policy which is purported to create 3 million jobs and really transform the agriculture sector represents something new and truly unprecedented, for some who have lived through the 60s and 70s, this is just another policy which is doomed to fail. But perhaps each side deserves some credit: the former group for the optimism and confidence...
read moreThe Full Text of Dr. Akin Adesina’s Rebuttal on the Mobile Phone Policy
By Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. When the story of 10 million phones costing 60 billion naira for Nigerian farmers first made the headlines, I immediately put out a press release denying that the Ministry of Agriculture was planning to spend such a huge amount of money on cell phones. Since then, I have read several comments on the Internet and in the newspapers and I find that it is necessary for me to enlighten the public about what the ministry of agriculture has been doing to help our...
read moreCitizen Concerns: The 10 Million Mobile Phones Policy
By Tukeni Obasi A recent report alleging that the federal government has earmarked N60 billion to buy 10 million mobile phones for distribution to farmers has irked more than a handful of Nigerians. While some have described the policy as a “half-brained initiative”, others have criticized the minister as out of touch with the Nigerian situation. At this point, the question arises: what is it about these mobile phones that has made Nigerians so furious? For many, it boils down to a disagreement over policy priorities. The detractors of...
read more2013: Our Year of Transformation
By Tukeni Obasi At the beginning of every year, pastors across the country come up with a declaration statement for the new year: the year of divine favour; the year of manifold blessings; the year of unparalleled prosperity; and so on. While the tendency among some members of the congregation is to sit and expect a magical turn-around incommensurate with discipline and effort or any other human input, others realise that they will in many ways reap what they sow. No one understands this better than those in the agricultural sector. Farmers...
read moreThe 2013 budget and sound macro-agroeconomic policies
By Tukeni Obasi As the year gradually winds down, Nigerians across the country are making plans – plans for the holidays, plans for the new year. As students prepare for their exams, companies are preparing their budgets for 2013, and parents are looking forward to being reunited with other family members. Many people have begun to take stock of the year, celebrating feats, identifying shortcomings, and penning resolutions, dreams, and goals for the new year. In the agricultural sector, things are no different. Two months ago, the president...
read moreSmallholder Farmers This, Smallholder Farmers That
Poor farmers are not the problem to be solved. They are the solution.” This statement made by philanthropist and business magnate Bill Gates sums up a perennial conundrum in agricultural development: what is the main problem in agriculture, who are the victims and what are the solutions? For Bill Gates, the simple answer is hunger and poverty against which investments are the most effective weapons. For this reason, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has, over the past six years, reportedly given over $2 billion in grants to smallholder...
read moreShedding Some Light on the New Agricultural Transformation Agenda
By Tukeni Obasi Many Nigerians have begun trading whispers about some new acronyms that have floated over the past few months: ATA, PATIC, etc. These are products of the new and ambitious developments on the agricultural policy front. On May 14, 2012, President Jonathan inaugurated the Presidential Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council (PATIC) for the newly initiated Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). ATA is the brainchild of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development aimed at tackling unemployment,...
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