Akin Adesina , Minister of Agriculture for the Republic of Nigeria, is an agricultural economist with decades of experience working to make agriculture productive and profitable. His appointment three years ago was hailed as merit driven rather than political, especially by international agriculture and development specialists. But that didn’t protect his ambitious reform programme from initial widespread skepticism and critical media scrutiny at home.
AllAfrica’s Reed Kramer sat down with Minister Adesina on a Saturday morning, thethe 2nd of April,2016 in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, when he squeezed time from a packed schedule for a lengthy interview. From his early days in the job, he framed the goal of his wide-ranging initiatives around the idea of “inclusive growth” – which is the theme of the World Economic Forum’s annual Africa meeting in Abuja this month. The minister hails agriculture as Nigeria’s path to prosperity – in contrast to oil, which left most Nigerians in wretched poverty while social services crumbled and hunger mounted. And at a time when the country’s domestic peace seems increasingly fragile, he sees agriculture as a tool to curb conflict.
Last year AllAfrica asked a class of Nigerian school children if they wanted to be farmers, and they said, “No, because we don’t want to be poor!” On the other hand, oil has earned $50 billion or more a year and made a Nigerian elite fabulously wealthy. But you’ve said that agriculture is the new oil. Really?
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