Where are all the cassava stems in Nigeria gone to that nearly every farmer of that crop is looking for it to plant in this current farming season? The answer to this query lies in the massive and correct response to the current high price of garri and other foodstuffs which in turn has led to the massive return of many Nigerians to farming.
Nigerians have now realized, to their future glory, I must add, that there is no easy money on the streets and offices of Abuja, Lagos, Kano and other big cities for them to pick as before. Consequently, many wise people have taken the correct step towards rescuing themselves from poverty and restoring themselves to prosperity. We are returning ourselves and our country to our first and more enduring love-agriculture. It is agriculture that catapulted us to prosperity and power in the early days of our nationhood before oil came in with its corruption and deception and plunged us into the kind of poverty and hardship that has robbed us of our personhood and nationhood. I do not think that there is any Nigerian anywhere now that can stand up proudly and talk about our being the giant of Africa and all those chest -beating inanities we took delight in talking about a few decades ago. We have been terribly humbled by our stupidity.
And I think there is none responsible for this but God himself. God loves us and wants us to be truly great to compensate the Black race for the humiliations and sufferings we have gone through in the hands of ourselves and many other people. So do not blame the current hardship on President Tinubu or his predecessors. They have, no doubt, added their own little and great mistakes to the aggregate of our ruin. But that does not tell all the story about our plight.
However, whoever and whatever is responsible for our fate, it is a good thing that the veil that the Evil One has put on our face is torn off now. We can, therefore, see more clearly now that our redemption lies in embracing agriculture. God has endowed us with the land and the type of climate that are needed to grow many crops that will save us from the kind of hunger facing us now. Hunger, it bears repeating every now and then, has an implication for national security.
For me who have repaired to my village, Gakem in northern CRS to embark on some medium scale farming, I am happy that many others have also now seen the light. It is immensely comforting that those who have disdained agriculture for long have now joined the glorious train. Agriculture is a sure and steady means to dignified living. We must learn to discard our love for easy living which the deception of Oil Boom brings to a nation that does not have disciplined and focused leaders and the followership.
I am also engaged in the search for cassava stems but my own is not on the scale of that of complete new comers who cannot rely on an existing cassava farm to get what is the seed for cassava farming. Between now and September, the scarcity will be over as the already planted ones will grow more branches enough to harvest and use on new fields. We have God to thank that cassava is an all-year round crop in most parts of our country.
My plea to governments across our country is to cash in on what is happening now and step in judiciously into agriculture and make it become a viable and prosperous business worthy of attention of a people who have grown used to picking money through rents. The price of garri and other food commodities have gone sky high now. Through sensible policies and reasonable action, government should not make it plummet to an all time low which will discourage farmers from farming again and we go back to square one. We cannot continue to have a circle of forward and backward all the time.
The biggest lesson learnt from the current hunger is that we must come away from the thinking that we must earn our living from office and other forms of ‘’soft’’ engagements. Not many Nigerians love to embrace agriculture which involves much suffering before any sustainable earnings can start rolling in. I am in it and can give this true testimony. You require a kind of patient long suffering before agriculture can give you wealth and riches. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should lead the way by focusing on agriculture, making policies, laws and financial arrangements that will give a big boost to all branches of the enterprise.
I call upon Tinubu and his agriculture minister to personally visit the 4th floor of the Central Bank of Nigeria building in Abuja where the Development Finance department is and find out the billions plus billions of Naira which have been earmarked for agriculture and allied businesses since the days of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan and are warehoused in that giant money house but a dent has not been made about disbursing them to the real farmers to use. This will be the beginning of this call for focus on agriculture.
