Nigeria Agribusiness Group: Exploring the Business Side of Agriculture for Nation’s Benefit

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

Agriculture is as old as mankind. It is of course far older than precolonial and postcolonial Nigeria.

In the days of Nigeria’s greatness when the country exuded huge promise and was, in terms of socio-economic development, on the same level with countries like Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, UAE etc, agriculture was the mainstay of the economy – the biggest foreign exchange earner and biggest employer of labour.

Having proven to be incapable of sustaining an economy and employing the country’s huge youth population, the oil and gas obsession has proven to be a fatal error. The way the country’s economy has nosedived over the decades has taught everyone a hard lesson – that agriculture is the past, present and future.

One organization which has taken it upon itself to lead the country back to the days of yore is the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).

The NABG is an organised private sector platform working together to grow Nigeria’s agricultural economy, creating jobs and lifting millions of people out of poverty.

In a recent parley with journalists, the new President of the group, Emmanuel Ijewere, reminded Nigerians of the group’s activities and how they are adding value to the agricultural landscape, and also his personal vision for the future.

He said the NABG strives to engage government at all levels in setting policy directions and regulatory reforms to enable sustainable inclusive socio-economic growth.

Ijewere was the vice president of the group until the death of the former president, Sani Dangote, who he has now replaced.

Ijewere pointed out that the group’s investments cut across the entire value chain from input to output markets, export markets, equipment and consumer foods manufacturing.

“Together, we are helping to ensure food security and nutrition, creating systemic linkages between small, medium and large agribusiness enterprises and working together as stakeholders in agriculture to diversify the economy of Nigeria away from oil and gas towards agricultural industrialisation.

“We organise our role as the engine of economic growth with government creating the enabling environment for agribusinesses to thrive. We represent the faces of agribusiness in Nigeria, speaking with a unified voice to identify and provide solution options to resolve issues and challenges and to identify new opportunities for sustainable growth. We recognise that farmers are the largest private sector group in Nigeria,” Ijewere said.

He pointed out that “we promote the principles of inclusive growth and sustainability through gender sensitivity engagements and creating employment opportunities for our youth in a structured manner. We work with government at all levels and with Development Partners to drive sustainable growth in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.”

Ijewere disclosed that the group has a robust partnership with the Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation on advocacy which runs till 2024 and which would among others help to deploy technology in assisting end users in the agriculture value chain.

Ijewere said the group will emphasise smart agriculture and mechanised farming to enable farmers overcome the natural encumbrances that come with the business in terms of storage, farm implements, seedlings, fertilisers, quality of produce etc.

Ijewere noted that the NABG would focus on improving the quality of agric produce going out of the country so they can be globally competitive, adding that Nigeria needs to boost its exports and deemphasise imports..

Fielding questions from journalists on the security challenges stopping farmers from accessing their farms, he said: “No one really wants to kill or attack anyone. It is all about the fight for survival. Herders are not murderers while farmers are not also out to kill. To fix insecurity, economic direction has to change. It has been lopsided for too long. The herders have lost a lot too, just like the farmers.”

Asked to rate the success and future viability of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), he called on

on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to institutionalise it to allow for continuity, and enable end users maximise its full benefits.

Re-echoing Ijewere “Arch Kabir Ibrahim, Chairman, Administrative Board and President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), noted that there was little or no consultation with the private sector before the ABP was commenced, adding that the implementation pattern is not comprehensive enough to have desired effect on the agricultural landscape of the country.

“For example, how many farmers were consulted when they were starting the programme? How many real operators were involved or contacted? Even in disbursing the monies, how many real farmers benefited? How do we know that all the beneficiaries were genuine farmers?” he asked.

Ibrahim informed the audience about an encounter with CBN top management in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital, where he said he and other stakeholders tabled the issues and posed the above questions to the apex bank officials, adding that going forward, the programme has to be reviewed to serve the intended purpose.

He questioned the rationale for limiting the scope of the programme to about 2 million farmers, adding that former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, who is now the head of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), had a vision for 14.5 million farmers which he said would have captured a larger group and brought better results.

As part of measures to institutionalise the ABP, Ibrahim advised government to move it away from the CBN to the Ministry of Agriculture