Alia: The silent agricultural revolution

Many Benue people are excited about the unprecedented spate of infrastructural development and the stabilized and consistent payment of salaries, so much so that Governor Hyacinth Alia’s innovative strides in the agricultural sector are not given their deserved accolades.

To keen watchers of the Alia administration, the governor has so far accommodated all sectors in his developmental strides. However, a closer look at the agricultural sector exposes a stunning purposefulness that was hitherto nonexistent.

Benue already has a comparative advantage in agriculture. For instance, the nation’s food basket state, the award-winning research-for-development organization, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in one of its most recent surveys, ranks Benue as the highest agricultural-producing state in Nigeria.

Benue stands as the indisputable leader in the production of many crops in the country.

According to verifiable data, Nigeria is the largest global producer of yams, accounting for over 70–76 per cent of yams in the world, and Benue State, in turn, accounts for over 51 per cent of the country’s total yam production, with a turnover of over 4 metric tonnes annually.

By implication, Benue singularly accounts for more than half of the yams produced by all 36 states of the federation and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

It is the same story with cassava. It is also ranked by the IITA as the highest cassava-producing state in Nigeria, with Kogi State coming second. In other staple foods like rice, Benue again tops, coming second only behind Kebbi State.

But in citrus and soybean production, Benue has remained the singular leading state with an ever-increasing marginal output.

Naturally, agriculture is the highest employer of labour in the food basket state. But unfortunately, the agricultural potential of the state was neglected or, at the very least, greatly undermined.

Governor Alia took over the reins of leadership in the state, which, for all its agricultural prowess, had farmers who found it difficult to access even the most common farm input, as basic as fertiliser. Until he came on board, farmers’ morale, especially in the villages, was very low.

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Less than 20 months into his administration, he has, through unprecedented passion, turned everything around. And like in everything he does, he has approached this with a single-minded purpose, putting in place deliberate steps to achieve his goals.

Starting with the most basic, for the first time in recent memory, fertiliser and other farm inputs were supplied in such abundance that every farmer could access the government-subsidized fertiliser.

This was irrespective of party affiliation or connection, as had gradually become the norm. A bag of granulated fertiliser, which was sold for N35,000, was subsidised by 50 per cent by the state government and sold to farmers for N17, 500.

What was novel was that, in all the designated selling points across the twenty-three local government councils, the commodity was in abundance and within reach of all and sundry. Thus, fertiliser and other farm inputs have been effectively removed as a problem for the Benue farmer.

Next was the strengthening and streamlining of the size of bags for the Benue farmer. Before now, farmers were left vulnerable to the dictates of market forces and middlemen. The middlemen took advantage of this lapse and decided the size of sacks to buy from the farmers, who had no choice but to sell.

Now, a unified bag size has been qualified and properly adopted by the government for all markets in Benue State. This is a deliberate policy to protect farmers from exploitation.

To achieve his purpose, Governor Alia, in addition to keying into existing global and national agricultural policies, has created special bureaus directly under his supervision to oversee specific areas of his agricultural drives. For instance, the governor has taken full advantage of the international body for strengthening, ACReSAL. ACReSAL is the acronym for ‘Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes’. It is a World Bank-financed project designed to tackle the pressing issues of land degradation and climate change in the 19 states of Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The project comprises four key components and is scheduled to run for six years, ending in 2028.

The governor has also created the Benue State Agricultural Development Company, the Bureau for Livestock Development and Transboundary, as well as the Benue Agro-Industrial Processing and Economic Transformation Bureau (BNAGRO). This is again in addition to the state Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. The thinking of Fr. Alia is that all commodities and produce in the state will be properly documented and verifiable through the sectoral data generated, which can match the IITA data quality.

These are well-thought-out ideas, the benefits of which the state will continue to enjoy long after Governor Hyacinth Alia leaves office.

Playing complementary roles, through ACReSAL, large swathes of land and fadama comprising the Benue Trough’s richest rice belt are being freed along the banks of the River Benue, cutting across Guma, Makurdi, Gwer West, Gwer East, up to Agatu.

BNAGRO is the industrial arm of Governor Alia’s agricultural revolution. In a state with scant industries, the governor has correctly recognised that Benue’s strength is agriculture. It is evident that, naturally, it has the greatest employment potential. Thus, BNAGRO’s mandate is to convert the state’s immense agricultural produce into finished products. This will ensure the growth of industries and, in turn, jobs, in addition to more income, because processed goods sell at a far higher price and curtail wastage since they can then be stored.

For instance, tomatoes and oranges—both crops that are in abundance in Benue State—are taken advantage of by our emerging entrepreneurs and the private-sector-driven economy and processed into tin or sachet tomato paste and bottled or sachet orange juice or concentrate. The wastage that annually accrues would be automatically nipped in the bud while ensuring more robust profits, with employment for the youth to boot. This is part of the Alia dream for Benue.

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Unlike successive administrations before him, which caged internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps like zoos as objects of pity and charity—a scenario that not only defamed their dignity and humanity but also wasted valuable manpower—Governor Hyacinth Alia has made a departure from this policy.

Rather than staying idle for the public to gawk at, the governor is not only relocating the IDPs to their ancestral homes but has also created special farms to engage them and keep them gainfully employed for all-season farming. This is a masterstroke and a win-win for the state. Rather than being a drain on the lean resources of the state for their upkeep, the IDPs will now contribute to the socio-economic development of society—and in a dignified manner.

The governor himself summed it up in his own words during a recent visit to the farm site: “Today, I had the privilege of visiting the site of our dry season farming project, where we are working closely with our Internally Displaced Persons to restore hope and dignity.

“As we prepare to return them to their ancestral homes, our goal is to ensure they have a legitimate means of living and sustainable livelihoods.

“So far, we have cleared over 280 hectares of land, but we are not stopping there. Our target is to cultivate over 480 hectares, with a focus on planting rice, cassava, and vegetables to boost food security and empower our IDPs.”

Unlike in the past when the Benue farmer was left despondent and frustrated, today he has been given back his pride of place. Today, there is no more shame in farming. In the Benue villages, the rays of hope have begun to shine brighter and brighter.

In the coming days, as Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia’s agricultural revolution gains more momentum and the accruing benefits manifest, the Benue people will be positioned firmly on the path of prosperity—especially now that the world has fully migrated towards technology, agriculture, and hospitality.

The Alia agricultural revolution will be one of the most enduring legacies the administration of the Reverend Gentleman will bequeath to Benue.

Anyam is the Principal Private Assistant to the Executive Governor of Benue State on Due Process, Government House Administration.