{"id":13870,"date":"2018-12-16T15:12:44","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T15:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=13870"},"modified":"2018-12-16T15:12:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T15:12:44","slug":"bandits-twin-with-floods-to-shatter-nigerias-food-export-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=13870","title":{"rendered":"Bandits Twin With Floods to Shatter Nigeria&#8217;s Food-Export Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"navi\" class=\"navi navi-sub-menu-container navi--stick\" data-brand=\"markets\" data-sticky=\"true\" data-reg-env=\"production\" data-user-signed-in=\"false\" data-user-subscribed=\"false\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"transporter-item current\">\n<article class=\"\" data-story-id=\"PJ99M6SYF01S01\" data-theme=\"markets\" data-type=\"article\">\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2 lede\">\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2__container\">\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2__content\">\n<h1 class=\"lede-text-v2__hed\"><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-well-v2\">\n<section class=\"main-column-v2\">\n<ul class=\"abstract-v2\">\n<li class=\"abstract-v2__item\">\n<div class=\"abstract-v2__item-text\">Reviving West African nation\u2019s farming faces serious obstacles<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"abstract-v2__item\">\n<div class=\"abstract-v2__item-text\">Country is seeking to ease reliance on oil, cut import bills<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"lede-small-image-v2 lede figure-expandable\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<div id=\"lazy-img-333248700\" class=\"lazy-img \"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy-img__image loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/i5Cj1smjJgAc\/v0\/1000x-1.jpg\" data-native-src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/i5Cj1smjJgAc\/v0\/-1x-1.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><span class=\"lede-small-image-v2__caption caption\">Rice farmers remove weeds on a rice field in Kano\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"lede-small-image-v2__credit credit\">Photographer: Aminu Abubakar\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"body-columns\">\n<div class=\"middle-column\">\n<div class=\"body-copy-v2 fence-body\">\n<aside class=\"left-column\">\n<div class=\"share-article-button\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"blens\">\n<div class=\"datastrip datastrip__c0b5bbd3 blens__cb47e381\">\n<div class=\"instruments__c06d06c1\">\n<div class=\"showMore__86f8d892 item__5fd87d4b blens__75a2494c  negative__3467c923\">\n<div class=\"itemAbsoluteChange__ce70ead1 negative__3467c923\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Nigeria dreamed of a farming renaissance that would slash food bills and rival oil as its top export. It didn\u2019t count on gun-toting herdsmen, heavy floods and a persistent Islamist insurgency.<br \/>\nThat perfect storm of insecurity and poor planning has hobbled one of President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s flagship pledges &#8212; to cut an annual $22 billion in food imports &#8212; just as he gears up for elections in February. It\u2019s prolonging the West African nation\u2019s reliance on crude revenue, a downturn in which sparked a 2016 recession.<br \/>\nThere\u2019s a \u201clack of strong public governance and political will to take important decisions in the areas of security,\u201d said Femi Soneye at Mount Olive LLC, a Maryland-based company that advises Nigeria\u2019s agriculture ministry. The government has also struggled to provide the support promised to farmers, he said.<br \/>\nReviving wheat and rice production would help restore farming to the economic primacy it had before Nigeria\u2019s 1970s oil boom. As crude revenue grew and the country became Africa\u2019s top producer, large-scale agriculture languished. Today in Africa\u2019s most populous nation, petroleum accounts for 90 percent of foreign-currency earnings and two-thirds of government income.<\/p>\n<h3>Turnaround Promised<\/h3>\n<p>Buhari\u2019s 2015 election and the dramatic fall in crude prices the previous year fueled plans for a turnaround. New varieties of wheat and cocoa &#8212; already Nigeria\u2019s largest export after oil and gas &#8212; were to be introduced; farmers were promised better access to credit, inputs and equipment.<\/p>\n<div id=\"desktop-in-article-1-PJ99M6SYF01S01\" class=\"page-ad\" data-position=\"desktop-in-article\">\n<div class=\"desktop-in-article-ad-dummy\">But agricultural data show little has changed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"desktop-in-article-ad-dummy\">The world\u2019s 10th-largest wheat-buyer, Nigeria pledged to cut imports by 60 percent by 2025 by bringing in varieties that can thrive in warmer climates. Output, though, hasn\u2019t shifted from an annual 60,000 metric tons. That\u2019s dwarfed by the more than 5 million tons it shipped in 2017 from Russia and the U.S., according to the Agriculture Ministry.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"desktop-in-article-ad-dummy\">Processed-rice production is more disputed. The ministry forecast 38 percent growth this year to 6.5 million tons and officials say foreign rice arriving at ports has dropped 95 percent because of new levies. Central bank governor Godwin Emefiele this month said $21 billion has been saved, without giving a time period.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Rice Smuggling<\/h3>\n<p>A U.S. Department of Agriculture report in November said different, estimating 2018 rice output at 3.7 million tons, with\u00a0<a title=\"Nigeria Seen as Biggest Rice Buyer in 2019, Behind China (1)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-11-14\/usda-sees-nigeria-rice-imports-increasing-to-3-4m-tons-in-2019\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">imports jumping<\/a>\u00a012 percent. Rice-smuggling has also become big business for Nigeria\u2019s neighbors such as Benin.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure-expandable\" data-type=\"image\" data-id=\"333175278\" data-image-type=\"chart\" data-image-size=\"full\" data-align=\"center\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<div id=\"lazy-img-333175278\" class=\"lazy-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy-img__image loaded\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/isTvQHyFrUUM\/v2\/960x-1.png\" data-native-src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/isTvQHyFrUUM\/v2\/-1x-1.png\" data-img-type=\"chart\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"news-figure-caption-text caption\">\nNigerian rice output<br \/>\nThe main reason for the failed revival: insecurity.\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Central Nigeria, the country\u2019s breadbasket, has been roiled by more than two years of conflict as herders who traditionally grazed their cattle on plains in the semi-arid Sahel zone move south, clashing with farmers. About 1,300 people were killed in the first half of 2018, prompting the Brussels-based International Crisis Group to dub\u00a0<a title=\"Nigeria Land Conflict Kills More Than Insurgency, ICG Says (2)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-07-26\/nigeria-s-cropland-conflict-kills-more-than-boko-haram-icg-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it the nation\u2019s biggest security threat<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe northeast &#8212; a major wheat producer &#8212; is plagued by violence by Boko Haram. The Islamist group\u2019s nine-year campaign to impose religious law has killed thousands of people, forced others into the cities for refuge and taken a heavy toll on farming.<br \/>\n\u201cPeople who are supposed to enhance agriculture are continuously migrating from areas where they can get killed,\u201d said Wale Adeboye, coordinator of the Terrorism Research Initiative in Maiduguri, a northeastern city.<br \/>\nNatural disasters played a part too. Heavy rains since 2016 have washed away rice, corn, wheat and sorghum planted beside Nigeria\u2019s major rivers.<\/p>\n<h3>Cocoa Losses<\/h3>\n<p>Cocoa took some of the biggest losses. In 2014, authorities planned to quadruple output to more than 800,000 tons per year by introducing hybrid seedlings. After farms were ravaged by rains and disease, the government\u2019s 2018-19 forecast is just 300,000 tons.<br \/>\nMost farmers have lost at least half their crops to disease, according to Solomon Williams, coordinator of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria. Adding to their woe, growers now have to pay full-price for seedlings, fungicides and herbicides that the government formerly subsidized, he said.<br \/>\nFarmers have broadly welcomed the government initiatives, but many say they falter at implementation. The central bank-backed Anchor Borrowers plan, for instance, is pledging 220 billion naira ($605 million) in loans for rice and wheat farmers.<br \/>\n\u201cThe problem we are facing as farmers is that we don\u2019t get money on time,\u201d said Sanni Musa, a rice farmer in Kebbi in the north.<br \/>\nUnreliable electricity supplies and poor transport links have also hit harvests and discouraged investors.<br \/>\n\u201cThere are good policies in place for the growth of the agricultural economy,\u201d said Victor Iyamah, president of the Federation of Agricultural Commodities Farmers Association of Nigeria. \u201cThe lack of growth has to do with policies which get scuttled at the implementation stage.\u201d<br \/>\n<em>Story by <\/em><strong>Bloomberg<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviving West African nation\u2019s farming faces serious obstacles Country is seeking to ease reliance on oil, cut import bills Rice farmers remove weeds on a rice field in Kano\u00a0Photographer: Aminu Abubakar\/AFP via Getty Images Nigeria dreamed of a farming renaissance that would slash food bills and rival oil as its top export. It didn\u2019t count [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5779],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agriculture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}