• Home
  • Agric
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Hausa Articles/News
  • More
    • Business/Banking & Finance
    • Politics/Elections
    • Entertainments & Sports
    • International
    • Investigation
    • Law & Human Rights
    • Africa
    • Corruption/Accountability
    • Hassan Gimba
    • Column
    • Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Prof. M.K. Othman
    • Defense/Security
    • Education
    • Energy/Electricity
    • Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    • Society and Lifestyle
    • Food & Agriculture
    • Health & Healthy Living
    • International News
    • Interviews
    • Investigation/Fact-Check
    • Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    • Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    • Media/PR/Journalism
    • General News
    • Presidency
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board Of Advisory
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ethics Policy
    • Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    • Fact-Checking Policy
    • Advertising
  • The Stories
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Education: A Bleak Future for the Nigerian University System? By Prof. M. K. Othman
  • Dangote to African CEOs: Invest at home to drive continental growth
  • Former health minister, Prof. Adewole, to deliver 2025 FUTA registry lecture
  • Late Buhari: Nigerian government declares Tuesday public holiday
  • PTDF screens 5,723 shortlisted candidates for 2025/2026 overseas scholarships
  • Environment: Kano governor redeploys heads of key agencies to bolster development agenda
  • GRFFN secures 200 hectares for farming in Anambra
  • Green beans rival okra and peas in nutrition value
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
AsheNewsAsheNews
  • Home
  • Agric

    GRFFN secures 200 hectares for farming in Anambra

    July 14, 2025

    NCRI pushes frontier in zinc-enriched rice seed production through community-driven innovation

    July 13, 2025

    South Sudan’s livestock population outnumber humans in proportion of 3 to 1

    July 12, 2025

    Côte d’Ivoire inaugurates $232m China-backed cocoa grinding plant to boost local processing

    July 12, 2025

    Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa leap: From bean exporter to value creator

    July 12, 2025
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation

    Bitcoin blazes past $122K: Ethereum, XRP, and Dogecoin rally amid market optimism

    July 14, 2025

    ABU Enactus team wins €1,500 at 2025 Schneider battery innovation contest in Lagos

    July 9, 2025

    Investments rise in data, AI, outpacing physical assets — UN

    July 9, 2025

    Expert advises on phone anti-theft tools

    July 9, 2025

    Beyond internet connectivity: African voices urge global tech inclusion and innovation

    July 8, 2025
  • Health

    Former health minister, Prof. Adewole, to deliver 2025 FUTA registry lecture

    July 14, 2025

    Green beans rival okra and peas in nutrition value

    July 14, 2025

    Experts caution against drinking alcohol to fight cold

    July 14, 2025

    Nigerian doctor abroad blames brain drain on healthcare collapse

    July 14, 2025

    FG orders emergency care reforms at FMC Abuja

    July 14, 2025
  • Environment

    Environment: Kano governor redeploys heads of key agencies to bolster development agenda

    July 14, 2025

    Lives lost, more trapped as uncompleted building collapses in Kano

    July 14, 2025

    Heavy rains, thunderstorms to sweep across Nigeria for 3 days – NiMet

    July 14, 2025

    Dutse selected for major environmental milestone event

    July 12, 2025

    Tinubu backs tough action against state interference in mining – Alake

    July 12, 2025
  • Hausa Articles/News

    A Saka Baki, A Sasanta Saɓani Tsakanin ‘Yanjarida Da Liman, Daga Muhammad Sajo

    May 21, 2025

    Dan majalisa ya raba kayan miliyoyi a Funtuwa da Dandume

    March 18, 2025

    [VIDIYO] Fassarar mafalki akan aikin Hajji

    January 6, 2025

    Mafarkin gaisawa da makiyi, Tare da Sheikh Aliyu Y. Sokoto

    January 5, 2025

    [RA’AYI)] Adawar Siyasa A Jihar Sokoto Da Sauran Lamurra

    September 6, 2024
  • More
    1. Business/Banking & Finance
    2. Politics/Elections
    3. Entertainments & Sports
    4. International
    5. Investigation
    6. Law & Human Rights
    7. Africa
    8. Corruption/Accountability
    9. Hassan Gimba
    10. Column
    11. Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    12. Prof. M.K. Othman
    13. Defense/Security
    14. Education
    15. Energy/Electricity
    16. Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    17. Society and Lifestyle
    18. Food & Agriculture
    19. Health & Healthy Living
    20. International News
    21. Interviews
    22. Investigation/Fact-Check
    23. Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    24. Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    25. Media/PR/Journalism
    26. General News
    27. Presidency
    Featured
    Recent

    Education: A Bleak Future for the Nigerian University System? By Prof. M. K. Othman

    July 14, 2025

    Dangote to African CEOs: Invest at home to drive continental growth

    July 14, 2025

    Former health minister, Prof. Adewole, to deliver 2025 FUTA registry lecture

    July 14, 2025
  • About Us
    1. Contact Us
    2. Board Of Advisory
    3. Privacy Policy
    4. Ethics Policy
    5. Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    6. Fact-Checking Policy
    7. Advertising
    Featured
    Recent

    Education: A Bleak Future for the Nigerian University System? By Prof. M. K. Othman

    July 14, 2025

    Dangote to African CEOs: Invest at home to drive continental growth

    July 14, 2025

    Former health minister, Prof. Adewole, to deliver 2025 FUTA registry lecture

    July 14, 2025
  • The Stories
AsheNewsAsheNews
Home»Food & Agriculture»Nigeria’s Dwindling Oil Rvenue: A Case For BT Cotton
Food & Agriculture

Nigeria’s Dwindling Oil Rvenue: A Case For BT Cotton

Abdallah el-KurebeBy Abdallah el-KurebeJanuary 7, 2015No Comments6 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

By Abdallah el-Kurebe

Oil is described as ‘Black Gold’ while Cotton is ‘White Gold’. While Nigeria is blessed with both, the former is threatening the nation’s economic strength while there are glittering economic opportunities in the later.

From a population of 4.4 billion people in 1980, the world dwindling economies is being further threatened with a population explosion of 7.1 billion, presently.

More so, the World Bank and FAO report reveals that arable land is declining – from 0.4 hectares in 1961 to a projected less than 0.13 hectares per person in 2050, thereby creating a damning gap of economic growth from 9% in 1965 and 2030 when 14% is projected.

Nigeria’s over-dependence on oil and her negation of other reliable sources of revenue, particularly agriculture is now telling heavily on our economy and by extension, Nigerians. Good to know that the best economies in the world today are NOT oil-dependent.

The need to diversify, specifically to agriculture which is now at the center of global change, is now. “We must diversify from oil, especially in the face of the present global threats of falling oil prices,” said the Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Lucy Ogbadu.

And, as an advantage, agric biotech stands as a veritable way of boosting the agricultural potentials of Nigeria. Biotech should be part of Agric ‘toolkit’ for Nigerian farmers of the present day.

There may not be any better assertion than Prof. Ogbadu’s during a meeting on Cotton Value Chain that “Nigeria must key into Biotech in order to promote development and move from the present state.”
A Case for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cotton

If Nigerian agriculture must be prosperous, the cotton segment must be seen to dominate other segments in order to replace oil. This is because Bt Cotton has turned out to become a major revenue earner for most developing countries like India, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, etc.

India, for example, generates $6 billion annually for her economy from cotton exports and 66% of Pakistan`s export is from Cotton.

While Nigeria’s economic over-dependence on oil is telling negatively on government’s performance due to decline in global oil prices, on the other hand, Burkina Faso’s economy dependence on cotton has remained positive due to record cotton prices in the world market as well as a growing level of gold exports.

President of Cotton Farmers Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), Alhaji Hamman Kwajaffa told me during the Cotton Value Chain meeting held recently in Abuja that Nigerian farmers now wanted Bt Cotton because at present, “while the Indian cotton farmers produce up to four tons of cotton per hectare, Nigerian farmers produce between 500 –800kg per hectare.”

Additionally, Burkina Faso which is less than the population of Nigerian Katsina State, “produces the highest cotton in the West African sub region even though Nigeria makes 80% of West Africa.”

According to the World Bank, “As cotton production in Burkina Faso posted unprecedented growth in the 2000s, the share of cotton earnings in export revenues, shot up from less than 40 percent in the 1990s to 85 percent in 2007.”

Agitated by this development, “Nigeria needs to be globally competitive and economically remunerative for our farmers to go back to cotton farming in order to contribute to Nigeria`s GDP,” Kwajaffa said.

If Nigeria buys into Bt Cotton production, our textile factories would be revived and our ginneries would be put back to work. 

Thirteen cotton varieties that are long staple and resistant to alternaria leaf spots and bacterial blight have been developed and released in Nigeria by the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), ABU Zaria with SAMCOT 11, SAMCOT 12 and SAMCOT 13 being the latest.

In addition to these, Nigeria could utilize Monsanto’s Bollgard Cotton, which provides built-in protection against bollworm pests thereby reducing pesticide sprays and increased yields for farmers. This will boost cotton farming as a way of feeding our textile industries as well as earning from exports.

Natalia Voriz, the monsanto’s Commercial Lead for West Africa said that “Bollgard II provides added protection against bollworms, caterpillars amd farmers get maximum yield, reduced pesticide costs and increased protection against insect resistance.”

Bt Cotton in India is a possible model for Nigeria in the sense that the two countries are on the same threshold of population pedestal. India has a population of 1.252 billion (2003) and Africa’s most populous Nigeria has 173.6 million people (2003).

Statistics reveal that cotton contributes 29.8% of Indian GDP (2007) and 25% of the global cotton area, becoming the 2nd largest global producer and consumer of cotton.

Voruz further says that the use of Bollgard II has risen “nations’ cotton acres from an average of 7.7 million hectares to 11 million hectares today; 60% yield increase and USD$7.4 billion incremental income from 2002 to 2010.”

Introducing Bt cotton in Nigeria would encourage seed companies’ research and development (R&D) to improve their own cotton seed germplasm and our
textile industries could be transformed to use substantial cotton produced while the remaining is exported.

Nigeria should seize the opportunity of Monsanto’s agricultural transformation agenda, which seeks to shift “from subsistence farming to an engine of economic growth by increasing yields in Africa,” especially at this time when her major revenue earner (oil) is no longer reliable.

However, in order to accomplish the feat of mass cotton production to rescue Nigeria’s now haggard economy (using IAR’s released varieties and Bollgard II), there is an urgent need for the passage of the Biosafety Bill.

The recent passage of the NABDA bill by the National Assembly, should be accompanied by the passage of the Biosafety Bill in order to, among other purposes, see to the development of agriculture.

In deed, NASS should see to the conclusion of the good job it has started. Biosafety Bill was a baby conceived by the Sixth Assembly but could not see the light of the day. It is important that this one MUST not also be allowed to die with the expiry of the Seventh Assembly. “Too many abortions do not produce a child.”

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
Abdallah el-Kurebe
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Related Posts

GRFFN secures 200 hectares for farming in Anambra

July 14, 2025

NCRI pushes frontier in zinc-enriched rice seed production through community-driven innovation

July 13, 2025

South Sudan’s livestock population outnumber humans in proportion of 3 to 1

July 12, 2025

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Education: A Bleak Future for the Nigerian University System? By Prof. M. K. Othman

July 14, 2025

Dangote to African CEOs: Invest at home to drive continental growth

July 14, 2025

Former health minister, Prof. Adewole, to deliver 2025 FUTA registry lecture

July 14, 2025

Late Buhari: Nigerian government declares Tuesday public holiday

July 14, 2025
About Us
About Us

ASHENEWS (AsheNewsDaily.com), published by PenPlus Online Media Publishers, is an independent online newspaper. We report development news, especially on Agriculture, Science, Health and Environment as they affect the under-reported rural and urban poor.

We also conduct investigations, especially in the areas of ASHE, as well as other general interests, including corruption, human rights, illicit financial flows, and politics.

Contact Info:
  • 1st floor, Dogon Daji House, No. 5, Maiduguri Road, Sokoto
  • +234(0)7031140009
  • ashenewsdaily@gmail.com
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
© 2025 All Rights Reserved. ASHENEWS Daily Designed & Managed By DeedsTech

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.