Agriculture has been identified as a key to economic transformation. However, Nigeria is still facing its worst food conditions, faring poorly among leading nations on the continent. The situation has attracted concerns among stakeholders.

For the National President, Federation of Agricultural Commodities of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Iyama these are not best of times. The rising cost of living is going up due to the rising prices of key household commodities. He aligns with citizens' complaints of the struggle to put food on the table due to soaring food and fuel prices.

His concern is that there have not been enough effort to prompt flurry of activities to lower the cost of basic staples and expand farm production. Across Nigeria, price rises have been most pronounced with crops such as soya beans, maize, rice, and cassava that comprise the basic diet of millions.

According to Iyama, many issues are contributing to increasing food loss and disruption of food chains.

Farmers, he continued, were enduring worsening conditions and risking their lives to feed Nigerians.

As it is, Iyama told The Nation, food shortage crisis requires response to increase farm production and self-sufficiency in food-deficient areas.

More funds, he stressed, should be deployed to provide fertiliser, farm implements and improved seeds to farmers to help reduce prices for basic foods.

He also expressed concern that insecurity is adding to migration numbers, and driving more Nigerians from the farms.

Months of attacks and killings by terrorists and bandits, he maintained, have taken a serious toll on farming, with people refusing to return to their farmlands to continue with food production. The farmers, he explained, were afraid to be killed by rampaging bandits as they go about destroying farms and killing people without enough response from the security agencies.

Iyama stressed that agriculture is one of the sectors that should spur the economic success, noting however that not enough had been done to demonstrate commitment to efficiency and productivity.

To achieve growth, he explained that the government has to support and intensification development where crops that can succeed in specific regions, are promoted given factors such as weather and soil type.

According to him, accessing credit has been a long-standing issue for farmers, as many in the industry complain about the risk-averse nature of the banking system.

Until the agriculture sector gets its fair share of public funding, he said, food production will remain a challenge. He called for a transformative strategy, capitalising on technology, innovation, and the drive to make farmers prosperous.

While the sector has brought gains and breakthroughs, a lot of dent remain in the agricultural landscape, including low level of trade and export development, agri-industrial business corridors, easy and affordable access of farmers to agri financing, mechanisation and infrastructure investments, among others.

A consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale, noted that it was apparent that the sector would continue to witness poor food production due to the negative effect of banditry on farming and food production. Besides, he said the sector was facing shortage of inputs prompting a surge in food prices and worries about shortages.

The expert noted that the continuing drop in crop yields and spiraling prices were also worsening the country's economic woes. Among other challenges that could be overcome, he stressed that insecurity is an important issue that needs to be addressed urgently.

Ogunwale said what the sector needed was more investors to boost domestic production and reduce its hefty import bill.

He is among other analysts who believe the government has to open the agric sector to private and foreign investors in an attempt to slash the cost of food imports. Some key challenges to be addressed if Nigeria is to achieve its goals of improving food security, he noted, would include increasing the area of irrigated land, encouraging the use of fertiliser and promoting new farming techniques.

Ogunwale stressed the need for the government to rehabilitate and redevelop sub-sectors across the value chain.

The Executive Director, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr. Olufemi Oladunni, noted that reforms were needed to turn agriculture into sector that can help address the government's goals of generating quality jobs and ensuring an inclusive growth.

He was of the opinion bad governance has not helped the country exploit its comparative advantage in agriculture. Beginning with high input costs during production, he noted agribusinesses have had to contend with a supply chain that progressively erodes the sector's competitiveness.

A lot of challenges and constraints along the supply chain, he maintained, continue to hamper the sector's full potential including inadequate provision of infrastructure and inefficient logistics.

Oladunni said insecurity is impacting agricultural production and food security with more farmers abandoning their farms due to fears of being attacked.

He said Nigeria's agriculture research sector loses about $100 million yearly due to its inability to attract grants from local and foreign foundations and organisations.

During the opening of a workshop on grantsmanship for agricultural research officers by the institute in Ilorin, Kwara State recently, Oladunni said the country needs agric research to improve its food production, reduce food shortages and poverty as well create job.

He stated: “Some of the commodities such as crops, livestock, fisheries or even agro-forestry are already being produced in the country, yet the quantum of our production is far below international output.

“Nigeria is not losing anything below $100 million grants every year due to inability to attract both local and foreign grants. And you know what that can do in the research system only in agriculture.

“When you extend this and look at value chain for research, there are lots to gain by research scientists among other actors along the research value chain that are losing this opportunity.

“For instance, in soya beans production, the highest you can have as output per hectare is 1.3 tonnes as against 10 tonnes per hectare in some other climes.

“You can see the enormity of what we're saying. It's not just in style of production, but varieties being planted. And that's where research comes in. Research must be able to make production high yielding.

“We need to improve the tonnes of food we produce to make food shortages go down, make poverty go down and increase employment within the system. It's only when you have the right varieties of commodities cutting across livestock, fisheries and crop production that you can get some of these things done.

“That's the essence of having research institutes and faculties of agriculture in our tertiary institution because agric research is not meant for research institutes alone. Every participant is supposed to be involved.”

Lagos State Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Otunba Oke Babafemi believes enough has not been done to make agric a transformation agent to increase productivity, create more jobs and raise income.

He emphasised the need to adopt long-term strategies, enhance output of key crops, stimulate rural development, attract higher levels of private and foreign direct investment, and improve market structure.

Babafemi recommended the provision of adequate security and input for farmers.

He urged the Federal Government to provide security for farmers to avoid incessant kidnapping, rape and killing.

He added that without adequate security and provision of necessary inputs, the country would be fully faced with food crisis.

According to analysts, there are still gaps in strengthening long-term performance, especially in expanding the use of irrigation, to yield greater benefits.

Also, undermining growth, analysts believe, is poor governance. They underscored the need to make government agencies aware of growing good governance practices in agriculture.

They want government departments to put governance at the centre of their food development programmes, to bring about real transformation of the sector. To avert food crisis, African Development Bank (AfDB), approved a $1.5 billion to help Nigeria and other African countries.

With the disruption of food supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, Africa faces a shortage of at least 30 million metric tons of food, especially wheat, maize, and soybeans imported from both countries.

African farmers need high-quality seeds and input before the planting season begins in May to, immediately, boost food supplies. The bank's $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility is an unprecedented comprehensive initiative to support smallholder farmers in filling the food shortfall.

The African Emergency Food Production Facility will provide 20 million African smallholder farmers with certified seeds. It will increase access to agricultural fertiliser and enable them to rapidly produce 38 million tons of food.

AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said: “Food aid cannot feed Africa. Africa does not need bowls in hand. Africa needs seeds in the ground, and mechanical harvesters to harvest bountiful food produced locally. Africa will feed itself with pride for there is no dignity in begging for food …”

The African Emergency Food Production Facility has benefited from stakeholder consultations, including those with fertiliser producers and separately with African Union agriculture and finance ministers earlier this month.

The ministers agreed to implement reforms to address the systemic hurdles that prevent modern input markets from performing effectively.

The bank's $1.5 billion strategy will lead to the production of 11 million tonnes of wheat; 18 million tons of maize; six million tons of rice; and 2.5 million tons of soybeans.

The African Emergency Food Production Facility will provide 20 million farmers with certified seeds, fertiliser, and extension services. It will also support market growth and post-harvest management.