By: Samuel Ugonna Benson
Government acquisition of private and rural farmland for agricultural production is a strategic decision that has the potential to solve the challenges of right-to-food, inflation rate, and crop production in Nigeria. It has been viewed as one of the solutions to persistent food problems facing the country, compounded by factors such as population, economic, and climate change-induced growth in production. Besides the potential of increasing the level of farm production, this approach may as well help to keep the food price stable as well as enhance the rural economy.The Nigerian agricultural sector, which remain its bedrock in the past and takes place on a large area of Nigerian territory with fertile land for farming, has recently been unable to satisfy the population’s constantly growing food needs. The National Bureau of Statistics has said that the agriculture sector contributed about 23% of the GDP in the country. Agriculture remains Nigeria’s largest economic sector, contributing 78% of the country’s GDP in 2020, but has been identified to suffer from various bottlenecks such as low productivity and inadequate investment. According to the FAO, from 2015 to 2020, Nigeria’s food import bill rose above 60 percent. This has exposed the country to whoever is controlling the prices of foodstuffs in the global market, hence causing hyperinflation pressures and food insecurity in the country.
To counter these challenges, one efficient technique is for the government to either employ or rent private and rural farmland for the big farming programs. In doing so, the government can facilitate a drastic rise in the amount of local produce utilized to meet the domestic food demand and hence decrease food imports. Such measures would imply the government owning the land and actively engaging in farming or contract farming as part of agreements entered into with private owners to encourage the private sector to engage in farming through contracts and by providing incentives and subsidies and technical know-how.
The economic advantages that are likely to accrue from such an endeavor are numerous. This is because the supply-demand theory states that the more the supply of food increases, the lesser the prices of food tend to be, as the demand will be lesser. Citing the data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), it is possible to learn that food inflation in the country has hit the 22% mark. The indicators were 67% in September 2020 and raised to 95% in March 2021 due to disruptions in the supply chain and low agricultural yield. In this way, by increasing yields attainable per unit area of the available land for cultivation, the government would also be able to curb. By using quality farm machinery and implements, appropriate fertilizers, and available farmland, the government can assist in stabilizing food prices to make basic food items more affordable to the average Nigerian. This would also have a positive impact on other categories of inflation, which has remained a major problem for the Nigerian economy in the last decade.
Besides, this strategy of economic liberalization would be a boost to rural growth since it would offer employment to the people in the rural setting as well as helping to spur development of the economy in the same view. Agriculture is one of the leading sources of employment in Nigeria, most especially in the rural areas where other investment opportunities are scarce. The government can therefore use the utilization of rural farmland to allow locals to get employed, cutting down on rural-urban movement and eradicating extreme poverty. The FAO has urged governments to focus on rural development in efforts towards the provision of nutrition security due to the potentiality to foster sustained economic returns in the supervision of agricultural land by rural people.
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From a statistical angle, the outcome of this program can be extrapolated for five years, given that such programs have a tendency to slow down after the first year of implementation. We can therefore estimate that owing to the enhanced usage of the farmland, Nigerian agriculture can increase its yield by about 5 percent per year, conservatively; the overall food production would therefore rise by approximately 28 percent by the year 2029. This would not only help to reverse the nations ever-increasing import bill on food but also assist in the envisaged 10-15% cut on the food inflation rate within the same year. On the same note, employment opportunities linked to agriculture in the rural area could rise by between 15-20%, boosting the standards of living of the people in rural regions and the rates of poverty.
For this particular endeavor therefore to be successful in the eyes of the government, the following policy measures toward land acquisition and investment in agricultural structures and markets would need to be put in place and effectively. This entails offering attractive terms to owners of private land for them to offer their land for leasing to the farmers, offering the farmers access to appropriate technology and farm inputs, as well as ensuring that there are functioning markets to supply the output of farming. Moreover, engagement with international organizations and growth partners can help orthopedic surgeons get the needed technical and funding aid to ramp up these initiatives.
It is necessary to state that the utilization and leasing of private and rural farmlands by the Nigerian government is a very prudent and effective solution to Nigeria’s food crisis. Through this scheme, one earns hope for a wider production of local food that in turn will assist in managing food prices, preventing inflation, and most importantly, supporting the progress of rural tracts. If harnessed over five years’ time, the surged agricultural productivity could transform the Nigerian economy and improve food security and a better standard of living among millions of Nigerians. This is in agreement with the best practices in sustainable agriculture from around the world and is a win-win formula for a long-term economic transformation.
