A renowned agricultural economist, Prof. Raphael Echebiri, has urged the Federal Government to come up with a pragmatic action plan to revamp production, processing and marketing of oil palm.
Echebiri, made the call at the 57th Inaugural Lecture of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU), Abia.
He said that the recommendation was in view of the huge income-earning potentials of oil palm and its vast usage for human consumption and industry.
Echebiri, spoke on the topic, “The Mirage of Plenty: Facts But Fiction In Nigeria Agronomy and Smallholder Systems.”
Echebiri said that Nigeria was the world’s highest producer of crude palm oil from 1950’s until the mid-1960’s, accounting for 43 per cent of global market.
The Professor of Agricultural Economics, regretted that the country, which could now boast of 1.7 per cent of the global market only, has conceded that feat to Malaysia and Indonesia.
He also called on the five state governments of the South-East to take practical steps, individually and collectively, to reinvent the consciousness of the region’s comparative advantage in oil palm production.
Echebiri equally urged the local authorities, including the traditional rulers, president-generals and other constituted authorities to collaborate and restore the status of oil palm production in their localities.
According to him, one way to do this is to seek assistance from institutions and extension agencies within their reach.
He said : “Nigeria, and the South-East, must reinvigorate the spirit and consciousness of cooperation in agricultural development planning.
“Farmers, processors, marketers other stakeholders in the agricultural value chain must see the need to organise themselves into financial cooperative societies.
“The state and local governments should provide the requisite legal and administrative framework.”
Echebiri said that the nation’s Universities of Agriculture should be mandated, equipped and given the legal backup to generate and manage agricultural data for their various regions.
“The National Bureau of Statistics should serve as a coordinating agency that receives accurate data from these universities and produce national averages that can serve macroeconomic purposes,” he suggested.
In a remark, the Vice Chancellor, MOUAU, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, congratulated Echebiri on his simulating and thought -provoking lecture.
“Let us come together to grow what we eat and eat what we grow.
“Our 57th Inaugural Lecturer has given us food for thought and I thank him for warming our hearts and challenging us again,” Iwe said.
NAN
