Nigeria to ban agricultural products’ purchase at farm gates
The Federal Government has concluded plans to enforce a ban on foreigners purchasing agricultural commodities at the farm gates. The buying of agricultural commodities at farm gates is the exploitation of farmers by foreigners who come to Nigeria to mop up agricultural commodities at the farm gates and in turn, offer farmers prices below market value.
This act has led to the failure of many contractual agreements between farmers and indigenous off-takers. It has also affected the production capacity of our local factories due to the fact that foreigners buy off supplies and deprive the factories of required stocks.
The practice of direct purchases of agricultural commodities at unfair prices by foreigners at our farm gates poses serious dangers which include: a reduction in farmers’ income, declining productivity in the agricultural sector, unemployment and insecurity,
The Birth of FBS
Nigeria spent over N2 trillion last year on food imports due to heightened insecurity, The Federal Government has embarked on activities to determine trends in food supply and demand in the country.
The Financial Brokerage Services (FBS), is germane and will be essential for sustainable food security and to take Nigerians out of hunger. The food balance sheet provides a sound basis for the policy analysis and decision-making needed to ensure food security.
One of FBS’s strides was equipping no fewer than one hundred and fifty smallholder farmers with equipment and inputs to smallholder farmers in the Kaduna state. 35% of the inputs are targeted at women farmers while 15% are targeted at farmers with special needs.
Diary and Fish Product
Fish, poultry eggs, milk, dairy, and fish products worth $3.49bn were imported into Nigeria in the last two years, according to data from the International Trade Centre. Within the time under review, fish products worth $2.14bn were imported into the nation, while dairy products valued at $1.35bn were brought into the country.
According to the Federal Government, there were 10 million primary and secondary fish producers in the nation. The nation is working to reduce its fish import bill in collaboration with the private sector through backward integration.
To improve local production and reduce imports, the government needs to discourage backward integration through commercial aquaculture production for local consumption and exports.
Wheat Importation
In a recently concluded stakeholders validation workshop on importation and consumption of wheat in the country, it was disclosed that the growing population and consumption have impacted the rise of importation of wheat to a tune of $6bn into the country between 2016 and 2020, a period of five years.
This is because the national requirement for wheat is 5.7 million metric tonnes annually, while our production is 420,000 metric tonnes.
Agricultural Growth Q2’ 2022
Nigeria’s Agriculture sector grew by 1.20% (year-on-year) in real terms for the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of 1.96% points from the preceding quarter which recorded a growth rate of 3.16% and also a decrease of 0.10% points from the corresponding period of 2021.
This static was disclosed in the Q2 2022 GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. The report said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.54% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2022, showing an increase of 0.44% points relative to 3.11% in Q1 2022.
Key Events from the News
- FG Reads Riot Act to Fertilizer Producers, Seals Illegal Fertilizer Plants
- Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector Records 1.20% Growth (Q2 2022) – NBS
- 262 farmers receive N82.4m loan from USAID
- Reps query agric ministry’s N18bn bush-clearing contracts
- NAEDC, FG to resurrect ADP to sustain food security in Nigeria
- NEPC says Nigeria exported $2.59 billion worth of non-oil products in first half of 2022
- Wheat imports gulped $6bn in five years – FG