ISE AGBE: IMPERATIVENESS OF AGRICULTURE AS THE NEW BLACK GOLD FOR NIGERIA.
"When all the talents in society are not fully developed, it is not the individuals that are adversely affected alone who suffer; the society as a whole suffers as well. Now, granting that every Nigerian is given an opportunity to develop his talents, it is imperative that he should also be given an opportunity to employ these developed talents. Full development of man and his full employment are not only social imperatives, but also inseparably inter-connected and complementary." -Address delivered to Ondo State House of Assembly (1980): In Voice of Wisdom (1981).
I want to paraphrase the last paragraph of this quotation using my poetic license that the full development of agriculture with its ancillary services would not only generate full employment which is a social imperative, but that their interconnectedness and inseperability in achieving our developmental goals cannot be over emphasised.
When and if we prioritize agriculture we are indirectly encouraging the full development of all talents for production purposes since agricultural production chain encompases all human endeavour or skill set.
''First, agriculture or exports must provide the source of autonomous demand for manufactures. Such expansion of autonomous demand usually results from increases in farm productivity or from opening of new export markets. Second, income generated in agriculture or exports must be broadly enough distributed that it materializes as demand for mass-produced domestic goods, and not just for luxuries''. -nber.org.
Anthropological and Archaeological evidences abound of the importance of agriculture to the survival of humanity and the development of human economic activities from the Sumerians epoch along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers down to the British modern agricultural/industrial revolution. Therefore, one is not flabbergasted with the recent government emphasis or should I say re-discovery of agriculture as the underbelly of our development agenda.
This reminds me of a popular Yoruba rhyme we used to sing in school in those days, in fact we had to learn it by heart.
''Ise Agbe nise ile wa, eni ko se ise ama ja ole, iwe ki ko, layi si oko ati ada, ko ipe ooo rara ko ipe ooooo.''
''Agriculture is our traditional enterprise, whoever did not work would eventually steal, education without skill acquisiton in farming is incomplete.''
The important message expressed by the rhyme is to inculcate the essence of agricultural enterprise in the youth not only as an hobby but as economic skill, the acquisition of which can be of tremendous advantage after completing one's education.
Most of our people live in the rural areas and engaged in subsistence farming. By setting out policies that will increase agricultural productivity of our people in the rural communes, we are laying a good foundation for our industrial revolution.
If we can increase the productivity of our farmers the direct effect of that would be more income for them thereby increasing their marginal propensity to spend on industrial manufactures and an increase in the demand for manufactured products would create growth in the economy (Ceteris paribus).
Please, note that industrial revolution will remain a mirage without agricultural revolution because of their symbiosis/mutual dependency.
It is imperative to note that Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia made great leap in agricultural production before moving on to industrialization which eventually open up the domestic goods market for consumption of manufactures since there is now an increase domestic/rural purchasing power.
What we have in common with most of these countries are large population, homogenous taste, cornubation and large cities, which all help to create expansive market.
However, income redistribution will be necessary in other to stimulate domestic consumption of agriculture based utilitarian industrial production that are standardised and mass produced. This means more money in the hands of the poor and middle class rather than the few nouveau riche who are addicted to foreign merchandise that has little value added to our economic industrial fundamentals.
We must concentrate on multiple agricultural production with the aim of adding value to them rather than just exporting primary products as cash crops because no country develops industrialization wise by exporting primary agricultural product. We need to move away from the errors of the past administrations and the shameful experiences in oil production.
The positive trickle-down effect based on empirical evidences of policies dedicated to increasing agricultural production on industrial manufacturing are overwhelming; note again income redistribution is of the essence here, that is why the various social programmes of the @mbuhari administration would go a long way in addressing this issue if and when they are justifiably in fairness implemented.
Let us take the Netherlands as our case study given the fact that it is a small country in comparison to Nigeria population wise and in landmass yet it has an economy that dwarfs/bigger than that of Nigeria.
"According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Netherlands was the 18th largest economy of the world in 2012, while the country has only about 17 million inhabitants. GDP per capita is roughly $43,404 which makes it one of richest nations in the world. Between 1996 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP) averaged over 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably in 2001-05 as part of the global economic slowdown. 2006 and 2007 however showed economic growth of 3.4% and 3.9%''. -wikipedia.org
"The agricultural sector in the Netherlands is largely geared to the export market. The main export products from this sector are flowers and plants, fruit and vegetables, dairy products and meat. Together these products represented an export value of 24.3 billion euro. Nearly 90 percent of agricultural products were exported to the fourteen ‘old’ countries of the European union, with Germany the main customer. Exports of agricultural products have remained stable in recent years; their total value of 31.5 billion euro accounts for around 14 percent of all Dutch exports" _cbs.nl
The volume/value of agricultural export of a small country is more than our national budget 2016 and we are talking here about statistics on export for 2004, this alone points to the fact that if we do things right given the favourable factors for agricultural production in our clime we have no excuses for relying on petroleum exploration as the sole revenue earner for Nigeria.
"The agricultural sector accounts for 2.5 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP). The number of farms and horticultural businesses in the Netherlands which is about 85.5 thousand farms operate on nearly 2 million hectares of land, 57 percent of the total landspace" -cbs.nl
There is no gainsaying the obvious that with diligent implemetation of @mbuhari agricultural policy barring cronyism and influence peddling as we have seen in the recruitment policy of the Central bank Of Nigeria the Minister for Agriculture Audu Ogbeh would have created a seismic, tsunami like revolution within the purview of income and employment generation potentiality with its trickle-down effect on our industrial/maufacturing foundation.
"If we are in the habit of practising the opposite of what we preach, our admonition will not only lose their force and cogency, but also we ourselves will forfeit every claim to credibility. An ounce of example, it has been widely said, is far better than a ton of precepts." -Address to the Congregation of the University of Ife (1970): In Voice of Wisdom, (1981).
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
I want to paraphrase the last paragraph of this quotation using my poetic license that the full development of agriculture with its ancillary services would not only generate full employment which is a social imperative, but that their interconnectedness and inseperability in achieving our developmental goals cannot be over emphasised.
When and if we prioritize agriculture we are indirectly encouraging the full development of all talents for production purposes since agricultural production chain encompases all human endeavour or skill set.
''First, agriculture or exports must provide the source of autonomous demand for manufactures. Such expansion of autonomous demand usually results from increases in farm productivity or from opening of new export markets. Second, income generated in agriculture or exports must be broadly enough distributed that it materializes as demand for mass-produced domestic goods, and not just for luxuries''. -nber.org.
Anthropological and Archaeological evidences abound of the importance of agriculture to the survival of humanity and the development of human economic activities from the Sumerians epoch along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers down to the British modern agricultural/industrial revolution. Therefore, one is not flabbergasted with the recent government emphasis or should I say re-discovery of agriculture as the underbelly of our development agenda.
This reminds me of a popular Yoruba rhyme we used to sing in school in those days, in fact we had to learn it by heart.
''Ise Agbe nise ile wa, eni ko se ise ama ja ole, iwe ki ko, layi si oko ati ada, ko ipe ooo rara ko ipe ooooo.''
''Agriculture is our traditional enterprise, whoever did not work would eventually steal, education without skill acquisiton in farming is incomplete.''
The important message expressed by the rhyme is to inculcate the essence of agricultural enterprise in the youth not only as an hobby but as economic skill, the acquisition of which can be of tremendous advantage after completing one's education.
Most of our people live in the rural areas and engaged in subsistence farming. By setting out policies that will increase agricultural productivity of our people in the rural communes, we are laying a good foundation for our industrial revolution.
If we can increase the productivity of our farmers the direct effect of that would be more income for them thereby increasing their marginal propensity to spend on industrial manufactures and an increase in the demand for manufactured products would create growth in the economy (Ceteris paribus).
Please, note that industrial revolution will remain a mirage without agricultural revolution because of their symbiosis/mutual dependency.
It is imperative to note that Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia made great leap in agricultural production before moving on to industrialization which eventually open up the domestic goods market for consumption of manufactures since there is now an increase domestic/rural purchasing power.
What we have in common with most of these countries are large population, homogenous taste, cornubation and large cities, which all help to create expansive market.
However, income redistribution will be necessary in other to stimulate domestic consumption of agriculture based utilitarian industrial production that are standardised and mass produced. This means more money in the hands of the poor and middle class rather than the few nouveau riche who are addicted to foreign merchandise that has little value added to our economic industrial fundamentals.
We must concentrate on multiple agricultural production with the aim of adding value to them rather than just exporting primary products as cash crops because no country develops industrialization wise by exporting primary agricultural product. We need to move away from the errors of the past administrations and the shameful experiences in oil production.
The positive trickle-down effect based on empirical evidences of policies dedicated to increasing agricultural production on industrial manufacturing are overwhelming; note again income redistribution is of the essence here, that is why the various social programmes of the @mbuhari administration would go a long way in addressing this issue if and when they are justifiably in fairness implemented.
Let us take the Netherlands as our case study given the fact that it is a small country in comparison to Nigeria population wise and in landmass yet it has an economy that dwarfs/bigger than that of Nigeria.
"According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Netherlands was the 18th largest economy of the world in 2012, while the country has only about 17 million inhabitants. GDP per capita is roughly $43,404 which makes it one of richest nations in the world. Between 1996 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP) averaged over 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably in 2001-05 as part of the global economic slowdown. 2006 and 2007 however showed economic growth of 3.4% and 3.9%''. -wikipedia.org
"The agricultural sector in the Netherlands is largely geared to the export market. The main export products from this sector are flowers and plants, fruit and vegetables, dairy products and meat. Together these products represented an export value of 24.3 billion euro. Nearly 90 percent of agricultural products were exported to the fourteen ‘old’ countries of the European union, with Germany the main customer. Exports of agricultural products have remained stable in recent years; their total value of 31.5 billion euro accounts for around 14 percent of all Dutch exports" _cbs.nl
The volume/value of agricultural export of a small country is more than our national budget 2016 and we are talking here about statistics on export for 2004, this alone points to the fact that if we do things right given the favourable factors for agricultural production in our clime we have no excuses for relying on petroleum exploration as the sole revenue earner for Nigeria.
"The agricultural sector accounts for 2.5 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP). The number of farms and horticultural businesses in the Netherlands which is about 85.5 thousand farms operate on nearly 2 million hectares of land, 57 percent of the total landspace" -cbs.nl
There is no gainsaying the obvious that with diligent implemetation of @mbuhari agricultural policy barring cronyism and influence peddling as we have seen in the recruitment policy of the Central bank Of Nigeria the Minister for Agriculture Audu Ogbeh would have created a seismic, tsunami like revolution within the purview of income and employment generation potentiality with its trickle-down effect on our industrial/maufacturing foundation.
"If we are in the habit of practising the opposite of what we preach, our admonition will not only lose their force and cogency, but also we ourselves will forfeit every claim to credibility. An ounce of example, it has been widely said, is far better than a ton of precepts." -Address to the Congregation of the University of Ife (1970): In Voice of Wisdom, (1981).
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
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