ECONOMIC BLUEPRINT PROPOSITION FOR BAYELSA STATE (PART1)

MY ECONOMIC BLUEPRINT PROPOSITION FOR BAYELSA STATE Year 2013(Part 1)

AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

With over 70 per cent of the population in our rural area, and most of them dependent on agriculture, it follows that the strategy for economic transformation must address the constraints on efficiency, production and funding. This calls for substantial investments in land and water management, infrastructure, supply of improved seedlings, an effective system for delivery of rural credit, efficiency of waterways transportation and inter states transportation system and the empowerment of value chain in the sector.

These are my 17 point Proposition for the economic transformation of our Agricultural sector.

1. Food self-sufficiency should be and continue to be the central goal of Bayelsa Transformation Agenda.

1. The Agricultural sector need a direct intervention approach .we need to divest off the unproductive ministry bureaucracy and get interventions to the sector direct
2. Government need to invest in machinery and tools and make them available on subsidized basis for existing and would be farmers.
3. We need to consciously create awareness and drive for direct local participation in Agriculture. While there are obvious advantages for direct foreign investment, they can only complement the existing and thriving local operators. We cannot cede the control of our existence in the hands of international competition. Bayelsa can and will grow its own local giants
4. Significant capital inflow to the agriculture sector should be through Rural Credit Cooperatives. Government should intervene directly to encourage farmers to create credit cooperatives which would allow ease of identification, registration of farmers and access to loan
5. We need to create a seedlings and irrigation fund that would provide access to funding seedling and irrigation challenges of our primary producers at single digit interest rate. This would also definitely increase agricultural yield

7.  Government need to approach the Agricultural value chain concepts holistically. We need to empower value chain and not to talk about it. if we empower value chains in the agricultural sector we can  create a whole new set of industries in Bayelsa and create up to about 200,000 jobs yearly.
   1. Create partnerships between farmers and private actors (input suppliers, produce buyers) to boost farm-level productivity and secure direct marketing to wholesalers, supermarkets and retailers.
   2. We should encourage only the development of value chains for commodities peculiar to us.
   3. Allow at least 30% allocation of Government direct intervention loans to startup companies whose primary and only source of materials for production would be from government registered farmers and agencies.
8. We need to Increase farmer’s knowledge of market demand and pricing. In other words training should be a critical role of the transformation agenda.
9. We need to Strengthen land access and tenure security for would be investors in the agricultural sector making it easier for investors acquire lands for agricultural purpose
10. In addition to various interventions funding propositions. We need to create other financial bridges for our local farmers to access wider range of financing. Typical example is helping farmers secure bulk purchase contract which can be used as a guarantee to secure credits by the farmers.
11. We need to create a farmers loss insurance scheme that guarantees the part recoupment of their investment in the case of natural disasters.
12. In a growing economy characterized by a large number of small farmers like Bayelsa state, Government need to play an important role in the creation and delivery of new Agricultural technology.  The idea is that government must reduce the cost of discovery and/or learning given farmers the opportunity of learning new discoveries that can be adapted for a better yield.  Therefore the need to create a Bayelsa Agricultural research centre is proposed.

 

13. We need to increase government provision of extension services to farmers.

 

14. Government need to sponsored and encourage privately controlled seed companies that will create farming input and guarantee the reliability of the output

 

1. There are a number of natural barriers towards the realization of the food security goals of the Government of Bayelsa State, which exist within all economies, regardless of the nature of its structure. These barriers are mainly infrastructural and support system. The following is proposed

 

1. Create a National commodity Market for the region since Bayelsa is centrally located within the South. It is a known fact that 80% of goods that are sold in Bayelsa come from other states then it becomes imperative to create an integrated market for this purpose. This market should be a melting point for producers and buyers in the region.
2. Government need to encourage the development of interstate road infrastructure. We need to directly take over the Bayelsa portion of the east west road bordering Rivers and Delta and places the charge on the federal Government. This would provide ease of movement of goods and services within the region. In any case direct foreign investment will be a mirage where this road remains un completed. Financing of the road can be sought through a public private partnership (concession) with part funding from the international vendor notably The world bank.
3. We need to improve on our inland waterways transportation system to make it easier and more economical to transport commodities of farm produce from the rural places to the city. Government need direct interventions approach in this sector and also encourage the federal government through its agencies to help  As the first step 50% of our subsidy subvention can be allocated to improve this sector. We also need to allow private companies build and operate modern Cargo jetty in Yenagoa.
4. We need to take the Private Public Partnership PPP approach to managing the proposed Government Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for commercial agriculture development in the state, notably the Bayelsa Oil Palm Ltd, Niger delta Seafoods Ltd, Bayelsa farms Ltd and Creek Foods Supplies Limited. Government need only to set baseline and deliverables for these vehicles and allow private firms to manage (not control) them. Part of the deliverables should include responsibility and capacity to increase local farmers yield, strategic purchases of farmers output, creation of a strategic reserve systems, and an integrated marketing systems.

 

17. The livestock, aquatic, red meat, poultry, and other animal product demand are increasing in the region. This is putting pressure on supply from the northern part of the country. We need to spearhead and encourage animal husbandry in the region. Definitely this will reduce market price of these products and create an aggregate feed grain demand.  The baseline scenario is that a new set of livestock farms and grain production companies will emerge.

 

 

P.S Watch out for the Part 2 (Small and medium Scale Enterprises)