When Nigerian President Buhari took over his office, he made a promise of revamping agriculture through farmer-friendly policies. Four years since assuming the office and now in the fray to get elected once again to the highest office, the high pitched promises still remain as pious wish. Who has to be blamed for the continuous break down of the agriculture sector? A lion’s share of the blame has to be owned up by the President himself since any path-breaking policy measure could not be unveiled in the last four years. Once upon a time, Nigeria took pride as the granary of Africa. Now the oil-rich country is making both ends meet through imports of all staple goods since the domestic production could not catch up with the demand, which vaulted during the recent days thanks to higher income in the hands of people, nay in the hands of a few, who got benefited from the oil boom. The neglect of agriculture denied income and job opportunities to marginalized people, who could not get absorbed into the oil economy due to one reason or the other.
President Buhari also promised that the agricultural imports will be reduced considerably by 2025. Yet, a policy thrust to achieve that objective was visibly missing from the government’s part. Bereft of cash, seeds and haunted by vagaries of nature-flood and drought, farmers are keeping their fields barren. Wherever agriculture is undertaken, it is at the subsistence level, with very little surplus to offer to the market. Farmers of all hues and sizes are complaining about the lack of policy thrust and support measures to help them undertake farm operations. The result is that every conceivable item –grains to meat –is imported at a higher price. The imported items command higher prices and the ordinary folks, particularly in the rural side is left out in the lurch since their purchasing power is way behind the urban compatriot, who is invariably a stakeholder in the oil economy. That has led to migration, which is still continuing unabated.
Admittedly, the reasons for part of the agricultural distress lie elsewhere. The occurrence of frequent floods acted as a dampener to agriculture. Sometimes, such devastating floods happen all on a sudden causing innumerable harm to crops and cattle, pushing farmers back to the square one. Lack of credit support system and difficulties in accessing them are other deterrents. Trouble-torn part of Nigeria is lying mostly in the agricultural belt. In some of the provinces and regions, the troublemakers are in command and that forces farmers to leave such risky habitats and migrate to safer places.
Will these imponderables impact the re-election of President Buhari in 2019? Experts say it is difficult to take a call now because of the way in which elections are held in some parts of Nigeria. Hardly is there any election that goes without any blemishes. The losing side invariably blames the winner of rigging the election. Will this election be different from the earlier ones? Only time can tell that.
