Daily Trust - the online edition

Nigeria is sharing in the global panic on rising food prices. But there is no food crisis in Nigeria. Yes, prices of some food items are rising as normarlly experienced in Nigeria between harvest and the beginning of new planting season. There is no food shortage in Nigeria, now or in the foreseable future.Beside the global trend, the rise in price of food is attributable to poor harvest last year owing to inadequate rainfall and pest infestation in the far northern part of the country.

So what should Nigerians do to contain the rising price of foods? We should tell our wives that next time they go shopping they should buy garri, beans, maize, plantain and soybeans. We counsel our children to accept substitutes to rice and wait for the traditional festive seasons when rice becomes the king on the dinning table.

More fundamental, as a nation, we should begin to look inwards, re-order our priorities, depend less on food imports and strengthen our capacity to grow optimally all the foods that our soil can nurture. Records are there to show that Nigeria can grow rice, maize, wheat, soybean, sugar and many other crops in abundance. Yet, according to information from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Nigeria imports 36 percent of its rice consumption and 99 percent of sugar and wheat requirements.

The present global trend is an eye-opener for Nigeria. It is indeed a wake-up call. The poignant message is that globalisation will continue to distort world trade and hurt countries who depend on food imports.

While developing countries are worried by rising food prices, the developed ones are concerned with the soaring cost of energy. Energy and agricultural prices are becoming increasingly inseparable. For instance, the United States government is subsidizing farmers to grow crops for the production of ethanol in the effort to provide alternative energy sources as oil price continue to hit the roof. So farmers in the US have shifted to massive cultivation of maize to produce biofuel as against cultivation of wheat and soybean which hitherto add to global food stock.

The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute says about 30 percent of US maize production will be used to produce ethanol this year.The same applies to countries, such as Brazil, which divert their sugar cane stock to produce ethanol. The implication is that there is less food globally for human consumption.

The rice saga may not last long because rice growers know why supply cannot presently meet demand. Global rice production is still high. According to US department of agriculture, more than 420 million metric tonnes was produced last year. Prices are rising owing to several reasons. Time Magazine last week listed such reasons as rising long-term demand in China and India,short-term supply shocks induced by cold weather and pest infestation in Vietnam, considered as world’s second largest grower of rice. In Bangladesh, a November cyclone ravaged the fields, destroying about 800,000 metric tons of rice.

Time Magazine also reports the US department of agriculture as putting global rice consumption at 424milliom metric tonnes, showing that the world is consuming more than it is producing, up marginally by 0.9 percent last year.But production jumped by 0.7 percent. That is not a discouraging margin.With minimal climatic impediments, efficient management of rice paddies and fair international trade practices,the world will soon overcome the shortage in rice production.

For African countries,promoting self-reliance is a pragmatic way to assert independence and food security. Agriculture is facing new challenges world- wide. In Nigeria there is a deliberate plan to break from the old policies and practices. The idea is certainly not to re-invent the wheel. But in the words of the Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, Dr sayyadi Abba Ruma, Nigeria must borrow from global best practices in turning round its agriculture.

Henceforth, the private sector should drive the engine of growth in agriculture aimed at rapidly attaining food sufficiency for local consumption and export. Government should act as a catalyst, providing the enabling environment through policies and incentives. To energise the rural-poor farmers, government should give them subsidies directly so they can survive and grow along with large scale, commercial farms.

There will be no quick solutions to food insufficiency anywhere in the world. In Nigeria, the problem lies more in the affordability of quality food in reasonable quantities.The solution for Nigeria is to tap our inherent capacities and ensure increased production in all facets of agriculture—crops, livestock and fisheries.

The statistics are challenging. Nigeria has 74million hectares of arable land, suitable to grow any crop under the sun. Only 34million is cultivated and that portion is not optimally utilised.Owing to obsolete methods and insufficient inputs, yield on the farms are abysmally low. While Brazil harvests 3.5 tons of maize per hectare, Nigeria gets barely a ton on same portion. The Food and Agricultural Organisation reckons that using maximimum potentials, one hectare of Nigerian soil can produce 8 tons of hybrid maize.Presently cassava yield is 16 tons per hectare, although our soil can yield 30 tons. For tomatoes, actual yield is 8 tons per hectare, but we have the potential to grow 20 tons per hectare.

Nigerian agriculture depends largely on rainfall. The land area irrigated is estimated at 220,000 hectares, barely one percent of total area cultivated.While agriculture has become highly mechanised globally, we still depend largely on manual labour, in a country that has 14million subsistence farmers and only 30,000 tractors.

Even with the benevolence of nature, a large proportion of annual yields are wasted owing to inadequate processing and storage facilities. Post-harvest losses for vegetable and fruits is estimated at 50 percent and 20 percent for grains.

Agriculture remains the largest employer of labour and the nation’s most potent weapon against poverty. It requires massive investment and a new approach which combines modern technology with entrepreneurship that is consistent with global best practices.

To guarantee food sufficiency and food security, we must energise and strenghten the value chain. That means we must boost production and devise efficient methods for processing,storage and marketing.

*KAREEM IS A PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST.