A Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis of the state’s agricultural production indicates that Ogun State has competitive advantages in cultivation of food crops such as cassava, plantain, rice, yam, maize and sweet potato, among others and cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, timbers, kola nuts, cashew and rubber.
Proximity to Lagos, the industrial and commercial capital of Nigeria and by extension Africa, with a population of over 20 million people, relatively stronger purchasing power and international presence, strategically places Ogun State in a very vantage position for agricultural investments, value chain development, and produce exports.
Realising the strength of the state to play significant roles in closing food production gaps and saving the economy of the country from collapse and the foreign exchange crisis associated with food importation, the Dapo Abiodun-led led government has a focus on the sector as a pillar on which the economy of the state could solidly rest.
The State Agricultural Agenda centres around six (6) key strategic pillars, which include Food Security and Support to Smallholder Farmers; Job Creation through Agricultural Value Chain Opportunities; Nutrition and Food Safety through the promotion of Cultivation, Consumption, and Business in Nutritious and Bio-fortified Foods; Agricultural Industrialization and Industrial Linkage of young people/farmers to Industrial process; Agriculture Hub; Strategic Partnership and Private Sector Engagement to key into Agricultural Policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria, including diversification of the Economy.
The state boasts of about the largest concentration of agro-allied industries, such as cassava-ethanol processors in Agbara, rice factories, egg powder and garri processing factories.
Boosting the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) called “Green Alternative,” which aims, among other things, to tackle core challenges limiting food production and security through import substitution industrialisation, job creation, increased productivity and value chain development, Ogun State government has made deliberate efforts to deepen food production, value chain enhancement and investment-friendly environment for agro-industrialists and smallholder farmers.
Food Security and Farmers Support Systems
In its COVID-19 Agricultural Food Security Response Strategy, Ogun State flagged off the 2020 planting season in March 2020 at the onset of the novel COVID-19 pandemic. This was aimed at mitigating restrictions and challenges imposed on farmers and their households through the lockdowns and associated restricted movement, demand limitation and farm input challenges.
Again, in its Free and Improved Planting Materials Palliative Initiative, 40,000 smallholder farmers were supported by the government with seeds, cassava stems, insecticides and herbicides. This was backed with Fertilizer Palliative Initiative for 10,000 smallholder farmers and continued support to production and processing locations in the food and farm sector in Ogun State.
The approach is based on the need to empower smallholder farmers despite the economics of production. The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Samson Odedina, explained: “Before we become self-sufficient in rice production and attain the expectations of our people in this regard, we would need to lend financial support to the growers, as rice production and farming are mainly controlled by the private sector.”
There is a need to empower small-holder farmers, who are proficient in rice production but encumbered by poor productivity as a result of poor inputs, he added. The efforts are yielding fruits, the commissioner said.
There was a flag off of 2020 dry season rice harvest in March 2020 and wet season rice harvest in August 2020 by state-supported Youth Farmers Groups both covering over 900 hectares. Other milestones include:
*Land preparation in 17 locations for 2,500 unemployed youths/farmers in Cassava Production opportunities.
*Strategic partnership and support to unemployed graduates, international development partners and farmers in large-scale cultivation of rice and cassava in 36 locations in 11 LGAs.
Agricultural linkage programme and job creation
*Strengthening of Ogun State Agricultural Linkage Programme: Over 70,000 registered interests from farmers, including youths and unemployed graduates in Agricultural Value Chain Programmes (AVCP) cut across nine (9) agricultural commodities (Cassava, Maize, Rice, Fishery, Poultry, Cattle, Piggery, Cotton and Oil Palm);
*Linkage of 4,462 participants to inputs and credit to the tune of N700m in the cassava value chain, and 1,065 participants to inputs and credit to the tune of N300M in the rice value chain through the CBN/Ogun State Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
*Linkage of 800 participants to inputs and credit to the tune of N360Million under the Ogun State Government/Federal Government/IFAD Assisted Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
*394 Maize Farmers, 54 Rice Farmers and 21 Poultry Farmers in Ogun State have benefitted from the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) through CBN.
