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The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has unveiled a new policy and strategy document for revamping the agriculture sector. The Agriculture Promotion Policy (2016-2020), also tagged 'The Green Alternative,' is designed to address Nigeria's food security challenges and position the country as a net food exporter.

The new Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) was launched at an event in Abuja on Monday with the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the Special Guest of Honour and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, as the Chief Host.

The APP builds on the achievements of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), launched in 2012 by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The vision of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is to build an agribusiness economy that is capable of delivering sustained prosperity for farmers and meeting the domestic food demand of the country. A key objective of the new policy is also to generate non-oil export revenue from food exports.

"We believe in building on a previous foundation and avoiding policy somersault. We are not throwing old policies overboard but expanding, deepening and adjusting policies where necessary," Chief Ogbe said.

Among the key achievements of the ATA (2012-2015) was the restructuring of the federal fertilizer procurement system, and the establishment of the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) which registered smallholder farmers and provided them with targeted input subsidies through the e-wallet scheme. The GES database has captured 10.5 million farmers, according to FMARD.

However, Nigeria is still a net food importer, spending about $22 billion annually importing food items such as rice, wheat, fish, etc. The country has a rice deficit of about 4 million tonnes and wheat deficit of 4.6 million tonnes.

According to the APP policy and strategy document, the three overarching themes of the policy are: i) improve productivity of the agriculture sector by expanding access to inputs and enhancing production processes; ii) crowding-in private sector investment to improve access to finance; iii) and the institutional alignment of FMARD by strengthening the capacity of the ministry and its stakeholders.

The Minister of Agriculture said the Green Alternative is also designed to achieve the economic diversification agenda of the administration, promote inclusive growth and sustainable development in the country.

“The emphasis on green is deliberate; it is to underscore, not only the imperative of building a strong, vibrant and resilient economy, but also a green refreshing, generating, transformative-agriculture-led economy. It is to ensure mutual complementarity between efficient, effective and productive agricultural production, system and processes on one hand and environmental sustainability,’’ Ogbeh said.

In his address at the launch of the Green Alternative, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced that the federal government has a plan to employ 100,000 youths as extension workers who will provide support services to farmers. The extension workers will be selected from the 500,000 teachers currently undergoing recruitment under the federal government scheme to enhance basic education in rural areas, according to the Vice President.

President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, commended the government for the policy, stating that it would assist farmers and boost productivity.

“The Nigerian farmers are seeking more availability of fertilizer, timely application of the research findings, adoption of good science and technology, provision of good seeds and small irrigation facilities for all-year-round farming,” Ibrahim added.