As prices of food continued to rise globally, most of Nigeria’s fertile land remains largely under-utilised.
Hyperinflation hit the prices of food items and household products across Nigeria. The development has effectively pushed many Nigerians into poverty as they find it extremely difficult to feed and meet their other daily obligations.
Densely-populated states like Lagos, Kano, Oyo, Kaduna, Rivers, Katsina, Bauchi, Anambra, Jigawa, Benue, with a combined projected population of 121 million residents are being daily pressured by the soaring prices of staple food items and household commodities.
Major cities like the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with its millions of inhabitants are also grappling with the soaring prices, with the grumblings of Nigerians ringing around the country.
Agriculture is one of this century’s great opportunities for the continent, yet most of our fertile land is under-utilised.
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One of the key issues around agriculture is the governance of it. The country continue to struggle to implement effective policies that are conducive to agricultural investment.
Attacks on farms, forex scarcity and naira devaluation have contributed to seeing local food demand outweighing production, causing food prices to steadily rise.
Government needs step up its game to fill the huge investment gaps because the population is growing, and the demand will remain solid.
Nigeria – is yet to benefit from global food inflation.
Prices of perishable items like tomatoes, pepper, onions and others have skyrocketed as people now seek alternatives.
There is an attractive investment case to be made for the agriculture sector – Nigeria has had a great season, good maize crops, tomato seeds and fruit crops are looking decent and, the citrus industry is booming – yet global food prices are skyrocketing and, we are not at the receiving end of it all.
What we’re observing globally is, there are drier conditions in South America, particularly Brazil and Argentina but also in the US, we are seeing some bit of dryness in Canada – and those two combined, obviously with what’s happening in China, which is that strong buying pressure for grains and all various agricultural commodities, is what we see driving the global prices and obviously being mirrored in the domestic market.
The reality is, if you are farming somewhere in Benue State, you are competing with someone in Sinaloa, Mexico – it’s about how do you then in Nigeria become much more competitive and I think that commercialisation… is the way to go.
All of the new farmers that are coming in – we have to set them up and say okay, how can you be a commercial farmer but participate in the markets, see other resources that are available like anybody else. If the state does assists, it assists at the entry-level but after five years or so, somebody has to show some entrepreneurial spirit and be able to show if they can run the entity.
