PREAMBLE

The just-concluded Southwest Governors’ Forum meeting highlighted the challenges of food inflation in Nigeria and its peculiar impact in the Southwest (SW) States. The Governors tasked the DAWN Commission with facilitating a strategic meeting with the Commissioners for Agriculture from the six SW States and relevant industry stakeholders. This meeting aimed to devise actionable plans to bring down food prices within the next few months.

In attendance were the Honourable Commissioners as well as stakeholders from the private sector, including experts in crop and livestock production, finance, geographic information systems (GIS), and other relevant fields.

KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED

Each State presented their ongoing initiatives such as tractor service subsidies, data gathering and analysis and strategic farm input distribution. However, they also highlighted major challenges around land clearing, mechanization, insecurity, irrigation, production, processing, logistics, and infrastructure among others.

RESOLUTIONS

The meeting, having considered the issues arrived at the following resolutions:

·         Consumption:

• Replicate Farmers’ Market, following the Lagos model, albeit with slight modifications to immediately reduce economic pressure and security risk.

·         Enabling Environment:

• Strengthen security, following the Ekiti model, by creating Amotekun Agriculture Units to protect farming clusters &/or rural farming communities.
• Review policy on land use and acquisition with local traditional leaders in partnerships with local government councils and other land owning institutions.

·         Production:

• Adopt cluster farming model to centralize land clearing, mechanization, production, and processing thereby improving productivity.
• Improve access to tractors and implements for smallholder
• Expand strategic distribution of inputs using
• Increase production with immediate focus on short-term crops like maize, potatoes, and vegetables; subsequently, revitalize cash crops like cocoa, rubber, and oil palm for export.
• Empower women and youth by training them in handling farm machinery and use of social media as an extension tool.

·     Extension & Information Service:

• Harmonize regional agricultural calendar across the
• Enhance e-extension services by adopting technology across State Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs).
• Improve data-driven approach to ensure productivity, profitability, oversight, traceability, and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
• Develop a Regional Agricultural Data Management & Information System to enhance data-driven interventions and hasten Inter-State trade.

·    Infrastructure:

• Irrigation: Revitalize dams and allocate agricultural lands for integrated, year- round farming to stabilize food prices.
• Undertake massive clearing of strategic agricultural land to support commercial production.
• Construct strategic access roads, following the Oyo Fashola Agribusiness Industrial Hub model, for production, processing and storage clusters/facilities.

·    Financing:

• De-risk Agriculture: Implement measures to identify, measure and mitigate investment risks across the entire agricultural value chain.
• Strengthen collaboration with all Federal Government Agricultural Agencies to attract more funding and other benefits.
• Promote Southwest as the preferred investment destination for local and international investors, and development organizations.

·     Stakeholder Management:

• Facilitate a Southwest Agriculture Summit in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to explore and deepen Public Private Partnerships.
• Work closely with other stakeholders, beyond Ministries of Agriculture & Food Security, such as Finance, Planning & Budget, Lands, Industry, Trade & Investment, etc.

CALL TO ACTION

Each State agreed on setting timelines to achieve these priority actions based on their short, medium- and long-term goals.

Signed

• Ebenezer Boluwade, Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ekiti State
• Emmanuel Audu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Lagos State
• Bolu Owotomo, Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ogun State
• Olayato Aribo, Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture Food Security, Ondo State
• Tola Faseru, Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture Food Security, Osun State
• Olasunkanmi Olaleye, Hon. Commissioner for Agriculture Food Security, Oyo State
• Theo Adewale Onadeko, MD Southwest Agricultural Investment Company Limited
• Seye Oyeleye, DG DAWN Commission