Daily Independent (Lagos)
Augustine Madu-West
6 July 2009
interview
Recently, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held a parley with serving ministers, aimed at evaluating their performances, as a pro-active strategy in preparation for the 2001 general elections.
Dr. Danladi Sankara, the Vice Chairman of PDP (North West), who was a member of the team of panelists, said the ongoing reforms in the nation's agricultural sector in line with the Seven-point Agenda of President Umaru Yar'Adua would diversify Nigeria's sources of foreign exchange.
In this interview with Senior Correspondent, AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST, Sankara speaks on the advantages of the country's shift from oil to agriculture by 2011 among other topical issues. Excerpts...
Recently, the PDP introduced an interactive forum between the leadership and some ministers. What was the focus of the forum vis-a-vis agriculture?
Quite alright, the main focus of the interaction between the party leadership and the ministers among others is to appraise the activities of the ministries, particularly in key areas that have direct bearing with the welfare of the people and the nation's economy. It was geared towards achieving the objectives of the Seven-point Agenda of President Yar'Adua.
As you are very much aware, the Seven-point Agenda of Mr. President is the road map for the attainment of the economic recovery programme of the Federal Government, and the agricultural sector is very crucial to the overall success of the entire package.
Indeed, we met with the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Alhaji Abba Sayyadi Ruma, specifically on Wednesday, June 17. The interactive session afforded the party leadership the opportunity to have an insight into the efforts of the ministry, aimed at enhancing agricultural production activities as part of the efforts to achieve the food security aspect of the Seven-point Agenda.
With the details and relevant information made available, we were convinced that the agricultural sector alone, based on the full implementation of the Seven-point Agenda, could rapidly improve the nation's economy as well as its foreign exchange earning to be at par or even surpass what we presently earn from oil.
Let me hasten to say that the Minister of Agriculture gave convincing data to prove that the agriculture sector is undergoing a kind of revolution that could help to diversify the nation's wholesome dependence on oil as the single main source of foreign exchange earning for the country.
What specifically is the new focus on agriculture towards achieving the objective?
The new focus is to boost commercial agricultural development at all levels, targeted at farmers who engage in agriculture as business. This will be through a deliberate government policy intervention to encourage the growth of the private sector as a major player with a view to achieving increased production through the process of modern mechanisation.
The main objective is to enhance food security, provide employment opportunities and the availability of raw materials. It is also aimed at ensuring that agriculture serves as engine for a broad based economic development of Nigeria.
The agriculture development policy initiative is all-encompassing, as it has been articulated to involve all categories of farmers. The interesting aspect of the new agric policy is that, all over the country, special focus and necessary incentives would be given to the massive production of food and cash crops that are peculiar to the various areas.
Nigeria has special advantage in the area of agriculture development, but the problem over the years had been lack of direct institutional support for commercial farming and the lack of storage facilities.
The two obstacles have been decisively eliminated through the new agric policy in tune with the spirit of the Seven-point Agenda. For example, there is now special provision for storage and preservation of all categories of crops through the massive availability of cold chain storage facilities, which includes transit storage chains for the preservation of fruits and vegetables, livestock products, fisheries and on-farm storage facilities.
What benefits are the farmers expected to derive from these facilities?
A lot. By the provision of chains of storage facilities, one major problem of the nation's farmers would be solved. It will eliminate wastages and losses, which have been very colossal in the past. The farmers would be able to preserve perishable crops to enhance their earnings, while at the same time availing the agro-allied industries steady supply of raw materials.
This is a particularly cheering development for the farmers in the North West zone, and the neighbouring areas, which specialise in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables as well as livestock farming.
As I explained earlier, every part of Nigeria has been programmed to derive maximum benefit from these modern storage facilities and the overall government support for commercial agriculture activities. Specifically, in the Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto axes, 80 per cent of the problems encountered by the farmers over the years would be solved through the new focus on agriculture. The cumulative efforts based on the provision of storage facilities and practical government support would now translate into the establishment of agro allied small-scale, medium-scale and eventually large-scale industries. This will, in turn, scale up other economic activities to make the nation self-sufficient in food production and by extension achieving the main objectives of the Seven-point Agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
The issue of fertiliser for the farmers to boost productivity has, to a certain extent, been politicised in many states. In your parley with the Minister of Agriculture, did you discuss that?
Yes, of course. All the issues relating to the procurement and distribution of fertilisers have been the focal point in the new agricultural development policy. That was why the Minister of Agriculture reiterated the determination of the Federal Government to ensure that farmers receive adequate supply of all categories of the fertilisers at relatively subsidised prices. That was why also President Yar'Adua set aside about N15 billion for the procurement of the commodity in the 2009 budget.
We are convinced also that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has mapped out a workable strategy in collaboration with the states and the FCT to ensure that genuine farmers have uninhibited access to fertilisers at subsidised prices. Efforts also have been made to eliminate the nuisance of middlemen who have, over the years, stood between the farmers and the commodities. In the North West zone, for example, the various state governments have taken measures to ensure that genuine farmers get the fertilisers at impressively subsidised rates.
Let's talk about the water resources aspect of the agriculture ministry. What impression did the minister make on this?
There is no doubt that the ongoing agriculture development initiative is broad-based, and so cannot depend on rain water only to achieve the target and aims of the Seven-point Agenda. That is why contingency measures have been put in place to ensure sufficient availability of water.
That was why the 12 river basin development authorities spread across the country have been given new impetus and necessary institutional support for expansion and sustainability of service delivery to the farmers. Not only that, we have it on good authority that the sum of N9.2 billion earmarked for the construction of new dams and general rehabilitation of existing ones as proposed in the 2009 budget across the country will significantly boost water development and steady supply for all-year-round agricultural activities.
What is the scope of your parley with the ministries? Is it going to be a continuous exercise or just a flash in preparation for the 2011 election campaign?
No; this is going to be a continuous exercise. It is in line with the manifesto of the PDP and in tune with the relevant provisions of the party constitution which stipulate the responsibility of the party leadership to all tiers of governments under its control. The party leadership is obliged to monitor the performances of all its elected and appointed officials and institutions at all levels.
This important responsibility is to be carried out periodically to evaluate, aggregate and scrutinise the output and general performance of public office-holders. The exercise will help to keep the party leadership abreast of the realities on ground through cross-fertilisation of ideas to make amends where necessary, to offer our governments at all levels the leverage and practical support to fulfil campaign promises, in our concerted efforts to justify the mandate and confidence reposed in us by the people of Nigeria.
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