‘Smallholder farmers key to food security, economic development’

The role of smallholder farmers in food security, poverty alleviation and economic development cannot be over emphasized in an economy like Nigeria, when you consider the demographic structure where majority of the population are poor. At a recent British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) dialogue session held in Abuja with the theme ‘National Agriculture and the Smallholder Farmer’, experts reviewed the industry, proffered solutions and other critical issues. Modestus Anaesoronye reports.

Agriculture is an important factor for viable economic growth in Nigeria as well as other African states. It is very critical to the eradication of poverty, which is a key component of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In developing economies, smallholder farmers are critical to the realization of this development goal and have a huge stake in locally-consumed food as well as agricultural exports. It is estimated that smallholder farmers constitute over 70 per cent of the labour force in the agricultural sector and contribute significantly to poverty eradication and food security in the country. Smallholder farmers are usually rural farmers owning small-based plots of land on which they grow subsistence crops and few cash crops relying almost exclusively on family labour.

Sadly, numerous factors mitigate against their ability to produce maximally. These include inadequate infrastructure, such as poor policy implementation, lack of credit facilities, poor access to market, inadequate information on best and modern agricultural practices and shortage of improved technology along the value chain.

Recently, efforts by government to address this setback to farming business have been frustrated by lack of adequate funding, arising from a dip in oil revenue. Hence, the intervention of the organized private sector in agriculture helps to reduce the burden on government.

Aware of the critical role that smallholder farmers play in national food security and growth of the economy, and determined to ensure that government policies and stimulus packages are inclusive of smallholder farmers, the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) advocacy recently organized its second dialogue on smallholder farmers and sustainable agriculture series in Abuja. The dialogue session, which was in continuation of its support to this group of farmers mostly located in the rural areas, engaged key stakeholders in the Nigerian agriculture and allied sectors to deliberate on the implementation of the Federal Government’s Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) in order to proffer strategies that can help in improving the productivity of the smallholder farmer, despite existing challenges.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture had in 2016 set up the APP to address the factors inhibiting agricultural development in the country. It consolidated the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the previous administration.

Some of the objectives of BATN’s dialogue were- to identify the level of policy implementation and its impact on smallholder farmers; examination of how policy implementation should be undertaken at all strata of the government to aid the productivity of smallholder farmers; and to develop strategies in the policy implementation process that can enhance the agricultural value chain for farmers for shared prosperity.

The dialogue session, titled ‘National Agriculture and the Smallholder Farmer,’ had in attendance representatives of research institutions, civil society organizations, commodity-based associations, government parastatals, international development partners, the academia and the private sector, who gathered to deliberate on the implementation of the APP.

In his remarks at the occasion, Kola Jamodu, chairman of BATN Foundation represented Yusuf Ageni, a director in the Foundation, said as part of its support for sustainable agriculture, the foundation constituted an Executive Working Group (EWG) in 2015 to examine the challenges facing smallholder farmers and proffer solutions in the context of a review of the national policy framework of the previous administration.

“The findings of the EWG assessment were documented in a report that was presented at the 41ST meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development in February 2016 and handed over to the then Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe,” he said.

Jamodu noted that the reason for convening the session was to proffer solutions that can improve the productivity of smallholder farmers, regardless of their environment in order to drive a stronger economy. He charged participants to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the thematic groups they were assigned to.

Speaking on the significance of the occasion, Nike Akande chairman of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Business Group Nigeria (BGN), who was represented by Oluwole Dosunmu, head, NEPAD BGN Secretariat noted that the attention given to smallholder and rural farmers at the dialogue session is appropriate, considering their far-reaching impact. She commended BATN Foundation for its commitment to poverty alleviation and its effort in stimulating socio-economic development, especially among the nation’s teeming populace.

“The emphasis of the dialogue on smallholder and rural farmers is apt and right. More than half of the nation’s population lives in the rural areas. They are mostly farmers and poor. Therefore, adequate attention to agriculture, especially efforts that will enhance the economic fortunes of the rural and smallholder farmers, will automatically turn the nation’s economy around,” she said.

The former Minister of Industry stated further that through relevant investments, the private sector can help develop the desired agricultural value chain component across the agriculture sector provided that government “creates a conducive environment and provides direction with proper policies and regulations.”

Earlier in her opening remarks, Abimbola Okoya, executive director, BATN Foundation, said that the dialogue session was conceptualized three years ago with the goal of making the forum the voice of rural and smallholder farmers many of whom are often neglected. She expressed the desire of the Foundation to replicate the success of the first dialogue session held in 2015.

While explaining the theme of the forum, which she said was on agriculture and smallholder farmers, Okoya also highlighted the achievements of the Foundation.

“The Foundation has increased support to smallholder farmers by 200 percent, improved their agricultural practices through capacity building, provided access to finance through input contribution and linkage to markets and ultimately aimed to move them from subsistence to commercial farming,” she said.

The current situation of the components of APP, the key challenges as well as achievements made so far were examined by the various working groups and highlighted in their presentations. They also gave further suggestions on how the policy can take cognizance of issues bordering on smallholder farmers’ ventures and remove impediments to their productivity. Members of the organised private sector were implored to emulate BATN Foundation’s interventions in rural and smallholder farming.

In his presentation, Innocent Azih, a technical committee member of the BATN Foundation, identified flooding and other climate-related challenges as a constant hindrance to smallholder farmers. He noted that funds dedicated to climate change are inadequate, adding that “state governments do not have enough support to scale up, within their own systems or policies, capacity to manage climate-related issues.” He also observed that the level of awareness among policy makers and other actors about climate change issues is very low. He expressed concern that climate change support systems are usually non-existent or grossly inadequate, stressing that smallholder farmers’ need the awareness and ability to process information to overcome these challenges.

Other areas underlined in the presentations made by various other participants are the review of the Federal Government’s land use policy, increased access to fund through the anchor-borrowers scheme, promotion of ranching policy, promotion of home-grown agriculture technology, recognition of value chain and increased level of various commodities in agriculture, improved standardization of products and quality management among others. Aggressive attitudinal reshaping of the smallholder farmer’s mind to land use was particularly canvassed, considering that it is the most expensive asset in the agriculture enterprise. There was also demand for a review of the Federal Government’s land use policy so as to give more room for land access.

It is hoped that recommendations from the dialogue session will contribute immensely to the Federal Government’s bid to diversify and revive the nation’s economy through enhancement of the agricultural practices and output of the sector, and as well attract foreign direct investment through APP and small-scale agriculture enterprise.