Year 2022 began very promising for Nigerian farmers and from the onset rains started in early April, heralding a hope of bountiful harvest.
However its was a year that will go down in history as a most traumatic one for many farmers as their hopes were dashed midway and between August and October. While they were preparing for harvest, the year suddenly turned the “year of the locust” where floods came, wrecked havoc and destroyed farmlands worth billions of Nigeria.
According to the president of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), the 2022 floods remain the worst Nigeria experienced in the last 10 years. Over 500,000 hectares of farmlands where estimated the be destroyed.
By October 2022, most farmers expressed pains and agony as their investments and livelihoods had varnished within days with little or no support from the government.
The year opened with the launch of the rice pyramid in January containing over a million bags of unmilled rich which were collected from famers as part of payment for the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) loans extended to them by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN).
The pyramid attracted attention from far and near and symbolised Nigeria’s capacity to produce rice for domestic consumption and export.
Unveiling the pyramid, President Buhari said that Nigeria’s rice production capacity had jumped from less than four million metric tonnes in 2015 to 7.5 metric tonnes.
The president assured Nigerians that the present production feat would flatten the price and discourage importation once they were milled and released into the market. But today, the reverse is the case as a 50kg bag of rice is sold between N42,000 to N45, 000.
In the second quarter of 2022, agriculture brought significant growth to the nation’s economy. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the sector contributed 23.2 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GPD).
In 2022 also President Muhammadu Buhari signed the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) Bill into law.
The fund seeks to provide financial support for the underfunded agricultural sector with focus on strategic aspects of agricultural development in the country.
While farmers hailed the President his assent to the bill, experts believe that the law will help to ensure food production and security.
Part of the way the new NADF will be funded by law includes derivation from 0.5 per cent of natural development resources fund and five per cent of the duty levied on import rice, wheat, sugar, milk, poultry and fish.
While the federal, state and local government are to give take-off grants, special intervention fund as such money must be appropriated to meet the requirements of the Act establishing NADF by the National Assembly in the budget.
Another major event that shaped year 2022 in the agricultural sector was the persistent rise in food inflation. For the first time in 17 years Nigeria’s headline inflation hit a record high of 21.09 per cent according to the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS).
This persistent rise in inflation backed by soaring food prices has worsened the economy and undermined some laudable achievements in the agricultural sector.
Also for the first time, in 2022, the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development launched National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS), a comprehensive animal information management system that will utilise forgery-proof ear tags and cattle passports combined with digital technology to identify and track livestock.
It is aimed to support livestock owners identify their animals, curb livestock rustling and facilitate interventions in the livestock sector.
According to the minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, NAITS will also aid provision of credit and insurance, livestock movement control, genetic improvement and research, enhance disease surveillance and control and enable global trade among others.
In October, 2022 report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) show that 25.3 million Nigerians across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are projected to face acute food and nutrition insecurity between June and August 2023.
Among the states with the highest rate include; Borno with 1.4 million people Yobe 1.3 million people and Adamawa with one million people.
In the projected period, food consumption is expected to slightly worsen due to possible reduction in household and market stocks and its attendant rise in food prices.
The 2022 October Preliminary Food Security and Nutrition Analysis (Cadre Harmonise CH ) results released in partnership with the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development also posited that, about 17 million people including IDPs and returnees in 26 states and FCT are expected to be in phase 3 of the crisis or even worse through October-December, 2022.
In November 2022, following the severe damages often caused by flood to the existing rice varieties, the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) began a robust campaign calling on Nigerian farmers to adopt the new flood tolerant rice varieties to address yield losses.
The innovative FARO 66 and 67 are improved varieties which were earlier released in 2017 by the Africa Rice and are suitable for planting in flood prone rice growing zones in Nigeria with potential to yield up to 80 and 10 times higher than their parent varieties.
Additionally, the varieties have been breed to withstand water submerge for two weeks, reach maturity within 120-125 days with yield capacity of 6.6 and 6.7 tonnes per hectares respectively and are resistance to stem borers, bacteria leaf blight and African rice gall midge disease.
In 2022, the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development unveiled National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) 2022-2027, a document articulated to guide sectoral activities for ensuring food and nutrition security in the country.
The five-year policy is premised on ten thematic areas of stakeholders synergy and alignment, knowledge creation and transfer, rapid mechanisation, agricultural development fund establishment, extension service delivery revitalisation and livestock development.
Other area of focus include; priority crop value chain strengthening, fisheries and aquaculture, marine and inland fisheries development, market development, and agricultural lands and investments partnership.
The policy document also covers the crosscutting areas of digital and climate-smart agriculture promotion, rural infrastructure development, nutrition, and exports standardisation.
Unveiling the document in Abuja, minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar said embracing technology and innovation becomes inevitable for transforming the nation agricultural system of empowering small scale framers to adopt new technologies and best practices for an enhanced production and processing of agricultural commodities for local consumption and export to other countries.
