Introduction
The topic, “How Agriculture Can Transform the Economy of Yagbaland” is one which major stakeholders in the agricultural sector who desires the progress of Yagbaland should make efforts to look into and therefore harness the human and agricultural resources of the land to make it an economic hub in Kogi state, Nigeria and beyond our national boundaries as agriculture has over the centuries, proven to be a pivotal key in the economic transformation of every human society.
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economy of developing society of human, and provides the main source of food, income and employment to their rural populations.
In Nigeria, Yagba vaguely, it has become increasingly evident in the last few years that the conception of both economists and policy-makers regarding the role of agriculture in economic development has undergone an important evolution.
According to my survey in Yagba West local government area of Kogi state, 5 of every 10 people own a piece of land for agricultural purpose. Mostly for subsistence purposes.
What is Agriculture?
Agriculture has been unanimously defined by numerous scholars as the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.
There exist four main branches of agriculture, namely; Livestock production, crop production, agricultural economics, and agricultural engineering.
Livestock Production
Livestock is commonly defined as domesticated animals raised in an agrarian setting to produce labour and commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather and wool.
Crop Production
Crop production is the branch of agriculture that deals with the production of crops for food and fiber.
Agricultural Economics
Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber.
Agricultural Engineering
Agricultural engineering combines the disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science and chemical engineering principles with a knowledge of agricultural principles according to technological principles.
A key goal of this discipline is to improve the efficacy and sustainability of agricultural practices.
The practice of agriculture is also known as “farming”, while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture.
Subsistence farming, who farms a small area with limited resource inputs, and produces only enough food to meet the needs of his/her family. At the other end is commercial intensive agriculture, including industrial agriculture.
Such farming involves large fields and/or numbers of animals, large resource inputs (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.), and a high level of mechanization. These operations generally attempt to maximize financial income from grain, produce or livestock.
Modern agriculture extends well beyond the traditional production of food for humans and animal feeds.
Other agricultural production goods include timber, fertilizers, animal hides, leather, industrial chemicals (starch, sugar, alcohols and resins), fibers (cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax), fuels (methane from biomass, ethanol, biodiesel), cut flowers, ornamental and nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade, and both legal and illegal drugs (biopharmaceuticals, tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine).
The 20th Century saw massive changes in agricultural practice, particularly in agricultural chemistry.
Agricultural includes the application of chemical fertilizer, chemical insecticides, and chemical fungicides, soil makeup, analysis of agricultural products, and nutritional needs of farm animals.
Yagbaland
Yagba is the term generally used to describe groups of Yoruba-speaking communities geographically located in Kogi state, North-central Nigeria.
Yagbaland consists of three (3) local government areas of Yagba West, Yagba East and Mopa-Amuro to make up the Yagba Federal Constituency with total number of three hundred and eighty-four thousand, nine hundred and forty (384,940) people, according to 2011 survey.
Yagbaland is gifted with a considerable number of farmers and fertile land(s) for agriculture and industrialization. While there are rivers and dam flowing through the land which makes it an idea place for massive agricultural production of various kinds.
Having critically examined the concept, “agriculture” and a concise history of “Yagbaland”, it will give more insight on how to transform the economy of the land thorough agriculture.
Towards Transforming the Economy of Yagbaland Through Agriculture
One of the central goals of every human society is to reach high-income status. Agriculture plays a critical role in transforming economies to reach the goal, along with achieving other essential developmental goals like ensuring food security and improving nutrition. Therefore, in order to end hunger and under-nutrition while accelerating economic growth, economy transformation can be better actualized through agriculture.
Nearly all human society started off poor, and only a handful have achieved high income status.
However, the ones that achieved it started with agriculture and went through an economic transformation that accelerated growth and reduced hunger and undernutrition.
Economic transformation – also called structural transformation – means a country’s shift in the relative contribution of its technology and sectors to its overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP): From traditional technology to modern technology and from agriculture to industry and manufacturing, and then to a high-income service economy.
Economic development is a process of structural transformation, and agriculture is the essential engine to jumpstart the process. Ending hunger and undernutrition are also important goals of agricultural modernization and for economic transformation. The economy of Yagbaland can be transformed through the following means;
1. Redefine Agriculture
There is more to farming than just digging the soil and planting crops. Farming includes raising livestock and cultivation of land. It is no surprise that many, most especially the young persons, view agricultural related activities as a archaic and meant only for the old and sometimes, the less privileged youth.
The first step towards improving the agricultural sector for the betterment of Yagbaland economy is to redefine the meaning of agriculture among youths who has over the years viewed agriculture as archaic thereby wait endlessly for the so called white collar jobs.
This can be simply achieved through sensitization programs such as seminars, webinars and the likes.
2. Encouraging Youths (Graduates) to Engage in Farming
Young persons across Yagbaland, most especially the educated ones, should be encouraged to take part in agricultural related activities as it is pertinent to the development of individual and the human society at large. Also, farmers should be encouraged to plan more cash crops for export and exchange and raising of livestock animals for milk, meat, fur and the likes.
This can be simply done through organization of seminars and town hall meeting.
3. Agricultural Modernization
Yagbaland is blessed with human resources, fertile lands and other resources needed to enhance agricultural production. Resources such as Omi Dam in Yagba West which is used to moisturize plans and farmlands in Ejiba and it is also serve as a source of water to the numerous fish farms in Ejiba. Also, there is the Ponyan poultry. Also, the town (Ponyan) produces massive yam for consumption and intensive commercial purpose. While there is also vast cashew plantations in Mopa-Amuro, Igbaruku, Egbe, Odo Eri and banana plantation in Odo Ere to mentioned but few.
But at this day and age, farmers in Nigeria still rely on crude tools for farming and storage and this can inadvertently affect productivity. For instance, lack of proper irrigation tools makes it difficult to farm during the dry season and lack of mechanical tools such as tractors to substitute manual labor hinders productivity due to fatigue.
Agricultural modernization prepares conditions for industrialization by boosting labor productivity, increasing agricultural surplus to accumulate capital, and increasing foreign exchange via exports. Modernization also helps achieve humanitarian goals by raising incomes and productivity of poor farmers, lowering food prices, and improving nutrition.
Indeed, modernizing agriculture can improve human capital by better nourishing the population and avoiding far-reaching debilitative outcomes of malnutrition such as child stunting. Overall, a well-nourished child develops better and becomes more productive and receives higher wages later in life than a child who grew up malnourished. Improving nutrition creates a virtuous cycle that helps propel further economic transformation: Increased agricultural productivity and income increases consumers’ ability to purchase manufactured goods and invest in the modernization of agriculture.
The process of agricultural modernization is critical for economic transformation and achieving food security and improved nutrition.
4. Procurement and Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies and Improved Infrastructure
While modern agricultural technologies can come from private and public sectors, the national and state governments need to play a big role in investing in agricultural research and development (R&D) in Yagbaland. This is due to the difficulty for a private enterprise to fully capture the benefits of developing such technologies.
National agricultural research systems must work at provincial levels to find new technologies suitable for local conditions, and the state needs to have extension systems to disseminate these technologies.
Farmers should be open to learning new techniques to improve their crop yield. They should also actively seek and share knowledge with their farming communities. Adequate training and seminars should be held for farmers and new technologies should be introduced. If possible, farmers should be monitored to ensure new knowledge gained is applied on their farms.
The next key area for agricultural transformation is adoption of modern technologies, as farmers may not use such technologies even if they are available. Many technologies such as high-yielding seeds require stringent conditions for water, inputs, and knowhow. Therefore, governments must prepare conditions including irrigation and improved market infrastructure for farmers to access these inputs and sell their agricultural produce. Governments will also need to build human capital to ensure a skilled labor force to master new technology, handle logistics and boost each node of the value chain.
On the other hand, the absence of fundamental facilities and inadequate systems have been a major stumbling block in the agriculture business in Nigeria.
Poor infrastructure discourages potential local and foreign investment and leads to wastage of the farm products that are cultivated under this. Basic amenities such as good roads, water, and electricity should be provided to farming areas. This will increase productivity and agric output. This output can, in turn, be used to invest in other farms.
5. Farmers’ Education
Farmers’ education is a pivotal instrument to the attainment of economy boom through agriculture. 85% of farmers in Yagbaland plans only food crops for their immediate consumption and for sales within their immediate environment.
As a result of this, farmers in rural Yagbaland plants more food crops than cash crops. While those who plants cash crop lack the knowledge on how to increase or improve their productivity as a result of the use of crude farming instruments and lack or better still, they have little knowledge of cash crops and how to plan them.
While few percentage of the total population of farmers in Yagbaland engage in livestock farming, cash crops are crops planted mainly for intensive commercial purpose. They include, cassava, plantain, groundnut, cocoa, rubber, palm kernel, etc.
Farmers should be educated on the economic importance of growing cash crops as it can serve as a source of income, and mostly for export purposes, while livestocks serves as source of raw materials for industries.
6. Finance
90% of Yagba farmers are considered small family farmers. Some of this stems from the lack of funds to expand to large scale farming. Despite their importance for the domestic economy and due to the sector’s productivity limitations, more than 72 percent of Yagba’s smallholders live below the poverty line of USD 1 per day.
One of the major factors limiting farmers from growing and making a reasonable living is lack of funds. These funds are difficult to come by as some banks do not loan to them for various reasons. This leads to the farmers struggling to make a living, asking disinterested family members to take part in farming instead of hiring proper human labor, and affecting agricultural productivity overall.
Lack of capital also prevents potential farmers from venturing into farming business.
Granting of loan facilities to commercial farmers and their subsistence counterparts who will jump at the opportunity of expanding their farm and productivity will furthermore bolster the economy of Yagbaland as their will be total eradication of hunger while the land will inevitable become the “food basket” of the nation.
However, improvements in agriculture and land use are fundamental to achieving food security, poverty alleviation and overall sustainable development.
7. Harnessing the Available Human and Natral Resources
Lastly, to transform the economy of Yagbaland, we must recognize the importance and thereby harness the various materials at our disposal.
Ejiba irrigation farming and Omo rice plantation could be a feeder to Nigeria as a whole, while Okoloke and Ponyan are blessed with a very rich fertile soil where tubers can flourish and also, Omi town will accommodate thousands of fish ponds and consequently become a world class fish farm and destination for investors in the fishery business.
Should there be a positive revolution in the agricultural sector in Yagba land, it will no doubt, change the fortune of the land for better.
– Adeyemi Babarinde Sunday writes from Odo Ere, Kogi State.
Email: pauliusnation@gmail.com
