Revive cooperative unionism

Dear readers,

Its been a busy period (harvesting) for us involved in the agro-allied industry and the prospects look 'good'.
Now, there are companies already taking bold steps to improve their stride in the agro-allied sector, and I could elaborate on that, but let's first look at:

• upgrading the rural farmers' life especially in income, healthcare, and basic amenities
• upgrading farm production from subsistence to commercial (mechanical)
• reigniting the trend of corporate unionism and farming

The three bullet points above are not the only issue in agriculture, but they can make a difference in the way we handle agricultural activities in Nigeria. 

Upgrading farmers life. For some us that go to rural areas to buy farm produce, it is often appalling and mind boggling to see the wide gap between the less productive cities and the producing community. For production to improve the life of the producer, he has to be active! As much as we encourage mechanical farming there are things that are realistically impossible for the majority of these farmers. For instance, a farmer who feeds his family from hand to mouth (i.e. from produce of every season) will be reluctant to discard his orthodox (but providing) methods to adapt new methods overnight (in one season) because he knows that without the proceeds of each season, his family will starve before the next season comes round. 

However, cooperative unionism and farming provide support to each other. The most agricultural productive period this country has seen, was the 1970's and 80's when cooperative unions where effective in our communities. It provided an umbrella effect on farmers and you can clearly see why it worked: they where all 'one' in pursuing their goals. Even though those periods where short-lived and eventually forgotten, the lesson are always available and a simple look will convince you on 'why it is ideal for us to retrace our steps' to discover where we lost it. 

I strongly advocate the banks' involvement in the quest to revive the agricultural sector; they can afford to take such risk -and they stand to benefit the most. While all banks must make commitments for this to work, the federal government and the CBN should ensure that stipulated funds to improve production reach the rural areas at no/ low interest rates. 

'Pro activity' is the way forward for the industry and this means practical measures have to be applied for the desired result. After all, farming is a practical venture!

To be continued...

Welcome

Dear readers,

Thank you for stopping by to view this post, My name is Bashir Bagu and I want to officially welcome you.

In due course, I will be discussing agricultural activities in Nigeria and across the globe thus, I encourage all to participate and share views on how best to get the result we all yearn for from the 'green revolution' in Africa.

As you all know by now it is no news that we are blessed with enough natural resources to make any continent in the world 'green' with envy. Yes, Nigeria is well endowed but has its own challenges; mostly man-made and can well be reversed through a focussed approach.
In subsequent posts, we will identify the challenges, suggest solutions and pinpoint agro-allied policies that best suit agricultural development in Nigeria and the sub Sahara.

A lot of improvements have been recorded in the agric sector lately. According to reports, Nigeria attracted agric investment worth more than $ 8 billion in the last 18 months plus, a world bank approved credit of $ 300 million for Nigerian farmers to benefit from. But despite agriculture accounting for more than 40% of Nigerian economy, the impact is yet to alleviate the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the country. Over the years and mostly due to high rate of urbanisation, the loss of labour in the rural areas has lead to unused/ underused of land thus low productivity, to dependence on imports. In addition, the discovery and dependence on crude oil has not helped us either coupled with the high rate of post harvest loss due to lack of infrastructure.

With only 40% of our 21 million hectares of arable land cultivated, we are poised to take over the supply of agricultural resources to the rest of the world. Nigeria (and Africa as a whole) has everything in its possession to boost its economic growth rate, create more jobs, reduce poverty, produce nutritious crops for its populace and export the surplus while ensuring our environment is protected...

 These and many more are the issues we will focus on in subsequent posts, I will like to encourage you to log on every week for new post and I look forward to your responses.

Thank you and have a good week ahead....

Acta non verba!