THE ROLE OF UNIVERITIES IN

ACHIEVING NATIONAL FOOD

SECURITY

A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 24TH CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF VICE-

CHANCELLORS OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES 2009

JUNE 1 – 4, 2009

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN

PROFESSOR D. V. UZA

VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF

AGRICULTURE, MAKURDI

BY

“FOOD SECURITY EXISTS when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle.”

Conversely, food insecurity situation results principally from inability to have access to food in quantity and quality at an affordable price when needed in the various utilization or consumption forms.

The ‘catch’ words as underlined above interplay in various forms to generate degrees of food insecurity.

1. DEFINATION

“Access” probably accounts for the highest variability in the patterns of food availability in the agricultural value chain.

The starting point in the chain is PRODUCTION that generates the quantitative outputs into the storage, processing, marketing and industrial components (Fig.1).

1.1 Access

PRODUCTION

 

 

MARKETING INDUSTRIES STORAGE

 

 

PROCESSING

 

Fig. 1. Agricultural Value Chain for Crops, Livestock and Fisheries.

Source: Uza, D.V. (2008).

Key: = main value chain

- - - - - - = sub value chain involving agric-dependent

industries.

Where the necessary supportive factors of production are not sufficiently accessible in forms and amounts and on timely basis, the production component of the chain diminishes to levels that cannot sustain the other components.

The fundamental problem is therefore to maintain a sustainable agricultural production system.

This has remained illusive due to several factors that block the productivity pathways among which are:

This category of farmers appears to be most vulnerable when issues of food insecurity are addressed. Their agricultural activities are often characterized by:

ageing farming population

poor technology-base in production, protection, processing and storage and compounded by poor marketing

Lack of rural infrastructures is further compounded by

lack of access to agro-support services due principally to low capital-base

In the overall, the quantum output per unit time cannot

equilibrate with the supplies needed to sustain the agriculture chain and therefore poses serious implications on food security.

1.1.1 Over dependence on the rural-based resource-poor and ageing farming population.

Critical among these are:

Climate/weather variability/changes resulting in various forms of natural disasters such as floods, drought, erosion, land degradation, unprecedented build up of pest and disease complexes in agricultural systems.

Unstable social and political environment characterized by poor governance systems, civil

strife, social vices as evidenced from impact of HIV/AIDS.

1.1.2 Environment related factors.

Poor to non availability of good quality seeds and parent stock.

Weak research-base for generating forms of improved seeds and parent stock on sustained basis resulting in high level of recycling of produce from the previous seasons.

Seed industry supplies unable to cope with demands.

Genetic improvements not assured on sustained basis especially as research oriented interventions (e.g Biotechnology) are not sufficiently empowered.

1.1.3 Unreliable sources of seed and parent stock and distribution mechanisms.

Food insecurity creeps in due to inability to meet the quantity actually needed to sustain livelihood. Quality refers to the natural qualitative attribute of the food commodities in satisfying basic nutritional requirements.

Preferences to low quality food though often tied to food habits are also attributed to inability to afford the combined quantities of other food items for a qualitatively balanced diet. The critical controlling or limiting factors to all the above are related to PRICES.

1.1.4 Complicated Mix of Quantity, Quality and Prices.

Vulnerability to rising food prices is largely based on how much food is bought as a share of expenditure.

All available information confirm that high food prices have a disproportionate impact on the poor.

This category of the populace spends at least 60-70% of their income on food. Consequences are that as food prices increase

1.1.5 Implications of Prices on food Insecurity

the most nutritional foods are cut out from their diets to save money.

negative nutritional and health outcomes come in play.

poor people begin to sell their assets to buy food and enter into debts regimes.

Malnourishment sets in and could lead to poor labour output.

Some would take the option of engaging in social vices as coping strategies.

Progressive rise in variable costs of on-farm activities, such as land preparation, fertilizer use etc. that result in commodity price increase in order to achieve any meaningful marginal returns.

Persistent high cost of oil has implications on transportation costs that create drastic differences between farm gate prices and market prices.

Processing industries that depend on oil would increase the prices of outputs in order to remain afloat.

1.1.6 Some Underlying Factors Responsible for High Food Prices.

Recently, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has developed a National Food Security Programme whose major Policy Thrusts are:

1) Import Substitution for rice, sugar and wheat.

2) Substantial food security aimed at enhanced food production and provision of gainful employment.

3) Promotion of Modern Agricultural Practices and Agro-Processing.

4) Natural Resources Conservation with emphasis on irrigation farming system.

2.0 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMME

Strategies have also been developed in the short term, medium term and long term to address issues of:

1. Production2. Storage3. Processing4. Marketing5. Research and Development, etc.

3.1 The Roles of Nigerian University Education.

(i) Teaching: the imparting of knowledge.

(ii) Research: the pursuit of knowledge.

(iii) Dissemination: contribution to national and international dialogue.

(iv) Service orientation in community service and professional training of high

level and intermediate manpower.

3.0 CONTRIBUTORY ROLES OF UNIVERSITIES TOWARDS

ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY.

(v) The University would be seen to be housing a critical mass of scientists and experts in all fields of human endeavour and therefore should be well-placed to take leadership on issues of national concern as they have specialist capacities to develop solutions to national problems.

(vi) Such critical mass of “Problem – Solvers” exists

and is all readily available from the various Nigerian Universities.

(vii) The capacity to deal with the heterogeneous nature of food insecurity complexes is mostly domiciled in the Universities and the knowledge base needs to be harnessed. This has not been done leading to major missing links in the quest to overcome hunger and poverty.

3.2.1 Pre-requisites

The Universities should as a prerequisite be fully integrated into the mainstream of national development and intervention programmes.

The Government on its own part should visibly demonstrate its due recognition of the relevance of the Universities (as a system) as

an important tool for national development.

With these scenarios, higher opportunities would present themselves for optimal

utilization of the expertise in the University system to tackle such issues as food insecurity.

3.2 The missing links and strategies to overcome them

In order for the Universities to comprehensively exert their roles in national agricultural and related programmes, there is the need for a proper characterization and documentation of the capacity profiles across the relevant disciplines.

As a follow up from above, there would be the need to establish a common forum for groups with similar capacity characters to interact so as to assure a highly focused team approach in addressing any national programme as in the case of National Food Security Programme. The establishment of Inter University Consultative Group (IUCG) along defined discipline programme lines is being suggested. This would facilitate the development of networking activities among Nigerian Universities.

(i) Repositioning the Universities of Agriculture

The Universities of Agriculture (UAs) were established by the Federal Government of Nigeria as part of the Government’s efforts to rapidly attain national food self-reliance and sufficiency through scientific transformation of the Nigerian agriculture. The Universities are (i) The University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM) Benue State, (ii) University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), Abeokuta, Ogun State and (iii) Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Umudike, Abia State.

The Universities were established under Decree 48 of 1992

and domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the full compliment of funding of their programmes. That

Decree has not been repealed and there have been no legislative backing for the movement of the UAs to Federal Ministry of Education.

3.2.2 Institutional Arrangements

As elsewhere in the entire World where the success stories of the UAs in transforming agricultural

systems are recorded, the funding arrangements remain the sole responsibility of the Agricultural Ministries while

the quality assurance components remain the responsibility of education sector.

The movement of the UAs from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR) has

removed them from the mainstream of agricultural development in Nigeria. The UAs therefore need to be repositioned along the line of the purpose of their establishment. While the FMAWR assumes full responsibilities of intervention funding to UAs on agricultural research and extension activities, the National Universities Commission (NUC) retains its role of quality assurance. Research and extension interests and priorities should be given as tasks to UAs with strong financial backing by the Ministry.

Each University should be able to utilize its internal capacity to address food insecurity problems peculiar to its environment. Some vital areas are:

(a) Programmes on Youth Activities Institutional arrangements for the development of a

“Successor Farmers” programme. Young Farmers Clubs Students Cooperative Farms Entrepreneurship skill development .

On both short and long term, these programmes continually generate and maintain the interest of the youth in agriculture and over time would remove the “ageing farming population” syndrome. They would also assure human resource capacity to secure the agricultural industry and thus reduce food insecurity.

(ii) Strengthening of the Faculties of Agriculture of Nigerian Universities

(b) Harnessing Institutional Potentials in Effective Maintenance of the National Agricultural Value Chain.

 The potentials could be harnessed in the

following areas:

Research and Development

Development of innovative research agenda which can be rapidly implemented at the grassroot levels (villages

and communities) in order to improve output and overall farm productivity.

Development of innovative research programmes with sharpened focus on crop yield improvements, transformations of production and post production systems, reducing post-harvest losses, sustainable use of land and water, preventing environmental degradation and research into adaptation to climate change.

Development of innovative research on low external inputs in agricultural production, processing and storage systems. Such research would generate technologies that will lead to production of more food with fewer inputs and resources and build resilience into the soils and ecosystems.

Development of modern technologies for the

restoration of soil fertility from renewable natural resources.

Funding of Agricultural Research to promote food security be undertaken by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to relevant Universities as is now being done to Agricultural Research Institutes and from the industries

Universities must demonstrate capacity to be problem solvers in agriculture.

(c) Services from Institutional Centres of Excellence

Use of Biotechnology: Genetic Engineering to improve or modify plants, animals and microorganisms for herbicide, insect and virus tolerance in plants and leaner meat status, transplant organs and disease resistance in animals.The population of Nigeria is presently 140 million while its annual agricultural growth rate is about 6%. In order to allow agriculture to grow by double digits, traditional agricultural practices must give way to modern tools such as the use of Biotechnology for production of genetic modified organisms (GMO). Nigeria needs to put in place a Biotechnology policy and set up national Biotechnology Institutions. Nigeria has signed the Cartagene protocol on biosafety in 2001. A biosafety bill was drafted in 2006 and is before the National Assembly. If the bill is passed, Nigeria will join other African nations, such as Burkina Faso, Eqypt and South Africa in cultivating GMO crops. The National Assembly is called upon to consider and pass the draft biosafety bill without further delay.

Adoption of Villages for purpose of openness in the process of participatory technology development and application involving village level farmers.

Production and distribution of certified seeds and parent stock.

Partnership arrangements with State Governments on development

programmes.

(d) Cooperative Extension Services

Development of modern and highly effective modes of dissemination of improved technologies in production, processing and storage.

Development of training programmes to build capacity of stakeholders in agricultural systems.

(e) Direct Participation of Universities in Nigeria’s N200 billion Agricultural Stimulus for Commercial Farming.

Objectives of the Scheme The objectives of the scheme are:

To fast track development of the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy by providing credit facilities to commercial

agricultural enterprises at a single digit interest rate of 9%.

To enhance national food security by increasing food supply and effecting lower agricultural produce and product

prices, thereby promoting low food inflation.

To reduce the cost of credit in agricultural production to enable farmers to exploit the potentials of the sector.

To increase output, generate employment, diversity the revenue base, increase foreign exchange earnings and provide input for the industrial sector on a sustainable

basis.

Target Agricultural CommoditiesKey Agricultural commodities to be covered under the scheme are:

Cultivation of target crops (rice, cassava, cotton, oil palm, wheat, rubber, sugar cane, Jathropha carcus, fruits and vegetable);

Livestock (diary, poultry, piggery);

Fisheries.

Credit Support to the target commodities shall be administered along the entire value chain of: production, Storage, processing, market and Enterprise development.

Beneficiaries The beneficiaries are two-fold:

Corporate and Large Scale Commercial farms/Agro-Enterprises with asset base of not less than N350 million and having the prospect to grow the net asset of N500 million in the next 3 years.

Medium Scale Commercial Farms/Agro- Enterprises with asset base of not less than N200 million and having the prospect to grow the net asset to N350 million in the next 3 years.

1. From the above, it can be clearly seen that Nigeria is

recruiting commercial farmers from its populace.

This is inappropriate and unsustainable. What we

should be doing is, growing up commercial farmers

from among smallholder farmers who have the

experience, expertise and commitment in the

business of farming. The asset base requirement of

N200 million is therefore too high and unrealistic for

this category of farmers.

2. In order to practice what we teach, Nigerian

Universities should fully participate in applying and

drawing from the Commercial Agricultural Credit

Scheme (CACS) loan package using their investment

companies.

Recommendations

I propose that an institutional model be packaged for the benefit of Nigerian Universities especially the Universities of Agriculture and other institutions as per the funding ratio: 50% as Federal Government Grant to the Institution: 50% loan from the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme at 9% interest rate.

The Agricultural orientated Institutions should also receive financial support from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to enable them serve as centers for training of commercial farmers located in different parts of the country.

3. Institutional Model.

THANK YOU

REFERENCES

1. Adaralegbe, A. (1969). A philosophy of Nigerian education. Ibadan. Heinemann Education Books (Nigeria) Ltd.

2. Adedikpe, N.O. (2006). Development of the Successor Generation of Farmers: Linkages towards sustainable food supply. An invited lead paper presented by the Presidential Committee on Successor Generation of Farmers, Syndicate Group 2. Illorin, Kwara State, Sept. 21, 2006. 47pp.

3. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2008). National Food Security Programme. Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Abuja. 95pp.

4. Madramooto, C.A. and Fyles Helen (2009). Food Security. Foresight Vol.2(1): 1-9. McGill, Canada.

5. Uza, D.V. (2008). Food Security Policies and Programmes in Nigeria. An invited paper presented at the International summit on global Food Security, Montreal, Canada, Sept. 24-26, 2008, under the auspices of McGill University, Canada.

6. Uza, D.V., Aribido, S.O., Abubaka, A. and Ahmed, S.H. (1999). Transferable technologies for enhancing small holder livestock production. Onaivi Publ. Co. Ltd. Makurdi. 135pp.