“Forex: Food crisis likely as northern farmers opt for export.”
Report, January 8, 2025.
The report coordinated by six reporters of the national paper went on to say this: “This projection is based on the decision by farmers in the northern part of the country to export their bumper harvest to neighbouring countries in exchange for foreign currency while neglecting local demands as the dry season approaches.”
First, a correction to the well-written report is needed to set the record straight.
Obviously, none of the reporters is a farmer or is aware of the age-long pattern of farming which invariably means that large quantities of food are available during early harvest period.
The supply reaches a peak at one point and is followed by steep decline.
The large supply now does not indicate a bumper harvest – only an annual pattern. Abumper harvest occurs if farmers are reaping more this year than last year or previous years.
Unfortunately, that is not the case now. The aggregate food production in the 2024/5 year is less than the 2023/4 year overall.
Otherwise, the alarm raised by the reporters is not only timely and patriotic, it poses a distinct danger to southerners and the Governors must collectively effectively address – unless they want their people to starve more than they are doing now.
Out-Sourcing Southern Food Supply.
“Terrorists kill 50 in Borno, Nasarawa.: The sub-head to that story said “40 Borno victims include farmers and fishermen, 10 in Nasarawa.”
The week before the murder of farmers in Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara states was reported.
Hardly a day passes without herdsmen killing people in rural and sub-urban areas of Benue and Niger states. For the sake of those who might not be able to draw the obvious conclusion, permit me to help them out.
The states which constitute Nigeria’s food baskets in the North are now under direct attack by bandits and terrorists.
It requires no rocket science intelligence to understand that once terrorists abduct a few farmers in any community, farming comes to a halt in the area – well beyond the boundaries of the place besieged.
I travelled through Niger state in 2019 and took a long route from Izom to Agae, Lapai, Zungeru, Wushishi, Badeggi to Bida.
We passed through a community between Zungeru and Wushishi Local Government Headquarters which was a ghost community.
A friend then living in Wushishi, who told me that one horrible terrorist attack on one village, during which about 25 people were abducted resulted in over 2000 farms being abandoned and homes deserted for more than eight months.
The roads were empty; and my friend warned me never to try that road again.
According to him, it was a miracle that my driver and I survived.
Multiply that scenario by several thousand communities in the North, and you will begin to understand to what extent Southerners have out-sourced our food supply to a region which increasingly will find it difficult to feed itself; not to talk of feeding others. In reality, thing were not initially like this.
Before the agricultural, especially food, revolution spearheaded by Alhaji Audu Bako, 1924-1980, the first Governor of Kano State, under General Gowon, who was succeeded by Sani Bello, most basic food items consumed in the North came from the South.
Bako led the change which has turned the situation around; and the South is now almost totally dependent on the North.
Ordinarily, there would have been nothing alarming about the situation.
The North has more land mass; and the two major rivers defining Nigeria, as well as the largest lake (at least until now) passed through the region. Most dams and irrigation systems should be, and were, situated there.
The economic principle of comparative advantage dictated that. However, that was no reason for the almost total abandonment of farming by Southerners.
It is almost impossible to find a Southern youth registering for JAMB who selects agriculture as their first choice.
In the even that they are offered concessional admission for agriculture, one thing is certain. They have no intention to be farmers. That is a pity.
Why Southerners Must Embrace Agriculture.
“There are people in the world, so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in form of bread.” Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948.
“Food is national security, food is economy; it is employment, energy, history. Food is everything.” Chef Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen.
A friend of mine living in Adamawa State close to Chibok in Borno state and who travels frequently along the axis recently told me about how vast areas of Borno State formerly farmlands have become deserted today.
Farming has now become the shortest route to the graveyard in several Northern states. Clearly, if those who fed us in the past, and are presently feeding us, cannot even feed themselves, Southerners have three options open to us.
The first is to increase food imports; the second is to gradually starve to death in large numbers; and the third is to roll up our sleeves and start growing our own food – especially in urban and sub-urban areas.
The first choice is not sustainable for long because foreign exchange is getting more difficult to earn for Nigeria.
At any rate, it depends on the FG to allow imports. What happened to the food import levy promised last year should serve as a warning to us about reliance on politicians’ promises. And, we will only transfer dependence to foreigners; whereas, what we want is self-reliance.
Starving to death gradually is certainly not an alternative any serious leader would wish on his people. So, we might as well not even discuss it.
The third, and admittedly most difficult, is to start growing more of our food.
The more difficult part is to convince town and city dwellers to accept the challenge of feeding themselves.
Contrary to what most readers would assume, the effort is not as difficult as it seems; does not actually require everybody to be involved (although the more the merrier) and once the results start rolling in, few would want to stop it.
The real treasures are perennials – food items which when they take root last for years – fruit trees, plantains and bananas, bitterleaf, etc. Plantains, bananas, bitterleaf, avocado and mangoes planted in my backyard at Ibadan 30 years ago still yield harvests with minimal care.
Southern Governors owe us a duty to place food security at the top of the Southern Agenda for their next meeting.
I am aware that Governors Sanwo-Olu and Soludo are taking steps in this direction. However, with all due respects, what I have read about the two initiatives has not gone far enough; and none of them provides a framework for measuring progress.
It is an axiom of management science that what you cannot measure you cannot control. What the governments do now does not allow for measurement and control. That is basic to the effort. We can learn from India which was food deficient at independence in 1948 and is now the world’s leading food exporter. About 18 per cent of the food in that country is produced in urban areas – including terraces of skyscrapers, balconies of apartment buildings and offices.
Stop Press.
“Again Boko Haram sacks Chibok community,,,,,” Report January 15, 2025.
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