Insecurity, Food Security And Unemployment

By Tayo Ogunbiyi

It is no longer news that the country has been under the siege of insecurity in recent time. Certain parts of the northern region of the country, especially, have become a nightmare for natives as well as visitors. The once peaceful city of Jos has continued to be a volatile place and nobody really  knows when the fire on the Plateau will be completely doused. The untold genocide taking place on the Plateau is, to say the least, frightening.

The primary concern of this piece, however, is the implication of the security situation in the country on food security.  The United Nations defines food security as “all people at all times having both physical and economic access to the basic food they need.” For approximately 2 billion people throughout the world, this security is anything but guaranteed. The northern part of Nigeria is, undoubtedly, the food basket of the country. Hence, it is not surprising that the tensed security atmosphere in the region is beginning to take its toll on food security, particularly in the southern part of the country. For quite some time now, prices of food items in Lagos in particular have skyrocketed beyond imagination. According to analysts, farmers in the north no longer enjoy the conducive working atmosphere that could enhance massive food production. Similarly, transporting food items from the north to the south, analysts say is fast becoming a risky venture.

Unless the security crisis in the country is tackled headlong, a worsening food crisis might be imminent. However, like every human challenge, if well managed, this might be an opportunity for governments across the southern part of the country to creatively device ways to boost food security in the region.

It is sad today that Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of cocoa, groundnut, rubber, and palm oil. Ironically, these were the produce that the nation’s founding fathers built the prosperity of the country upon.  It is amazing how a nation that was once the biggest poultry producer in Africa now has its total output reduced from 40 million birds annually to about 18 million. The truth of the matter is that agriculture has suffered from years of neglect, poorly conceived government’s policies as well as lack of basic infrastructure. Despite the fact that agricultural production rose by 28 percent during the 1990s, per capita output rose by only 8.5 percent during the same decade.  Consequently, agriculture has not been able to keep pace with Nigeria’s rapid population growth as evident in the sad reality that Nigeria, which once exported food, now relies heavily on imports to sustain itself.  Contented in its newly found oil wealth, succeeding governments in the country simply allowed investment in agriculture to decline to a ridiculous state. The prospect of the sector, nevertheless, still reflects in its being accountable for over 26.8% of GDP and two-thirds of employment in the country.

To reverse the trend, budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector must first and foremost be increased. As against the United Nations specified 10% of  annual budgetary allocation, what we budget for agriculture in recent time is just around 3 %. When one considers the fact that we have not been able to achieve full budget implementation, in the last twelve years, then the precarious state of agriculture will better be appreciated.

Second, the communication gap between farmers and those who implement policies need to be bridged. In most cases, the policy implementers don’t really carry the farmers along in the process of policy implementation. This, perhaps, is responsible for the inability of subsidized fertilizers and loans from the government and its agencies to get to the reach of the real farmers who are in dire need of it.

Third, governments in the southern part of the country should begin to embrace large scale mechanized farming. This, aside helping to enhance food security will assist in tackling the monstrous question of unemployment in the country.  Nigeria’s growing unemployment is a major concern as the figures increasingly suggest dwindling potentials. Official figures from the Bureau of Statistics puts this figure at about 20% (about 30 million), but this figure still did not include about 40 million other Nigerian youths captured in World Bank statistics in 2009. By implication, it means that if Nigeria’s population is 140 million, then 50% of Nigerians are unemployed, or worse still, at least 71% of Nigerian youths are unemployed. This is particularly disturbing and counterproductive because at least 70% of the population of this country are youths.

The agriculture sector is one area where governments across the country could resourcefully provide huge employment opportunities for the people. Interestingly, the Lagos State government is already moving in this direction with its Marine Agriculture Development Programme for Accelerated Fish Production. Till date, the programme has created over 6000 direct jobs and over 35,000 jobs indirectly to cage manufacturers, fingerlings producers, feed millers and sales, fish marketers , processors and storage amongst others with the possibility of specialization. The Ikorodu Fish Farm Estate which has been fully subscribed is currently producing at 70% of its capacity. An average of 3,000 Tones of fresh fish was produced annually from the Estate with over 400 jobs created directly and over 100,000 jobs indirectly. The Rice for Job initiative has equally successfully offered employment opportunities for over 5000 youths that are currently engaged in rice cultivation and sales across the state. In same vein, the AGRIC-YES initiative, designed to produce first class entrepreneurial elite farmers, is a three phased intervention programme that has so far produced over 3,000 elite farmers in the state. Equally through the state’s greening programme, a total number of 12,000 people are directly employed while the cleaning exercise has generated over 6000 jobs.

Consequently, southern governments need to recreate a modernized professional and commercial farming sector, supported by improved infrastructure and research into high performance seeds and livestock. To encourage the teeming army of un-employed youths in the country to take to agriculture, government should make access to loans meant for agriculture much easier while large scale farming powered by mechanized infrastructures should be the central goal.

Equally, local food production needs to be encouraged by making inputs available, giving farmers access to more farm land, providing micro credit at subsidized cost, supporting adequate processing and storage, providing market facilities, and discouraging import of produce with local substitutes through tariffs. It is also important that a significant portion of the country’s annual budget be set aside for the development of the sector. This can be achieved if government reduces its expenses on ventures that are grossly unproductive.

With an array of vastly available agricultural friendly land, southern states, especially those from the south west, need not look further in their bid to address the question of unemployment. Agriculture remains one major sector that could readily take care of youth restiveness as well as unemployment in the country, if only the various authorities concerned could follow the path of the Israelis, who despite being in a desert area, has a sustainable green agriculture all year round. The time to start is now!

•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja