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If you had been to provide a reel of how Agriculture contributes to the financial system of Nigeria, the well-known story of the groundnut pyramids would positively take up a significant half of that reel.
While Sesamum seeds, Maize grains, cocoa beans, or cashew nuts account for the Agriculture export revenue in Nigeria at the moment, groundnut accounted for 70 % of Nigeria export income between the Fifties and Sixties.
For a protracted interval, groundnut sustained the financial system via income from exports to each international and native markets throughout the agricultural increase. The groundnut pyramids had been the pillar of the Nigerian financial system they usually had been additionally a spectacle as they towered excessive to a degree greater than most buildings in Kano City.
In the Eighties, groundnut production in Nigeria nosedived and what was left of the well-known Groundnut pyramids in Kano had been solely tales.
The large query is can groundnut production get to the stage it used to be at? Will the pyramids be again?
Groundnut pyramids: The pillar of Nigeria’s financial system.
Were they only for aesthetic functions or was there an financial purpose for them?
To absolutely reply the query it’s a must to first perceive what the pyramids represented. The groundnut pyramids, a logo of wealth and a vacationer attraction, had been erected in Kano, Nigeria by piling sacks of groundnuts on prime of the different into pyramid-shaped buildings.
In the Sixties and Seventies, groundnut production in Nigeria was at its peak. According to a examine on the Regional Assessment of groundnut in Northern Nigeria, an estimated output of 500,000 metric tonnes yearly till its peak capability of 1.6 million metric tonnes in 1973 previous to the oil increase which accounted for almost 41% of the total production in West Africa at the time Nigeria’s dominance in the production of groundnut dates again to the early 1900s. At the time, Agriculture was the main powerhouse driving Nigeria’s financial system, so the authorities inspired the cultivation of groundnut and different money crops.
Alhassan Dantata was one of the main gamers in the Agriculture house in Nigeria who contributed to Nigeria’s dominance in groundnut production. He was additionally one of the drivers of the thought of the groundnut pyramids.
Dantata is somebody you’ll confer with as an aggregator in the Agriculture worth chain in fashionable instances. (An aggregator is somebody who accumulates produce in massive volumes from farmers after which sells to make revenue)
He had entry to the markets exterior Nigeria and he additionally had hyperlinks to native farmers in Kano state and different states in Northern Nigeria the place farmers predominantly produced groundnut. The baggage of groundnuts amassed from farmers had been then piled to make a pyramid in Kano metropolis. The pyramids made the aggregation and delivery course of of groundnut simple from Kano to Lagos earlier than they had been then exported. Also, the technique of stacking groundnut baggage in a pyramid is a storage technique to forestall the infestation of bugs.
So the pyramids had been made not simply because they had been stunning, however as a result of additionally they served as aggregation factors and a single line of transportation for the motion of groundnuts.
Nigeria nonetheless stands as the largest producer of groundnut in Africa and the third largest in the world, coming after China and India. Nigeria currently produces about 2million MT accounting for 5% of the world’s production. However, the country does not export nearly that much.
Why did the Groundnut pyramids crash?
Many consultants consider the shift from agriculture to grease as the main income generator between the Sixties and Seventies as the main export in Nigeria is the sole purpose for the disappearance of the groundnut pyramids. While that is true, a number of environmental elements additionally contributed to the crash of the groundnut trade in Nigeria.
The groundnut pyramids thrived as a result of of two main elements:
The one channel advertising construction of groundnut in Nigeria
Ready marketplace for groundnut gross sales
After the exploration of oil turned widespread in Nigeria, the financial system diversified and the focus shifted from Agriculture to crude oil. Crude oil turned the new pillar that Nigeria’s financial system relied on however as a substitute of pyramids, you had barrels, oil wells and rigs. This brought on a domino impact that resulted in the collapse of the buildings that supported the groundnut trade. The last straw that broke the camel’s again was an outbreak of Aphids (pests) which was facilitated by the drought spells throughout farms in Nigeria. Aphids are carriers of the groundnut rosette virus and the outbreak of the pests made the virus unfold like wildfire.
According to an article by Face 2 Face Africa, the Rosette virus epidemic in 1975 and subsequent viruses in 1983, 1985 and 1988 accounted for the loss of over 700 thousand hectares of groundnut in the area. The epidemic devastated the pyramids erected in Malam Madori, Jigawa State. These elements led to the gradual and eventual disappearance of Nigeria’s well-known groundnut pyramids.
One different issue that contributed to the decline of the groundnut trade was rural city migration. With the oil increase got here diversification and creation of extra jobs in Urban areas. Add that to the dwindling recognition of Agriculture as a viable means of incomes revenue and what you get is an concept that Agriculture was not cool and in the end migration from rural areas to city areas. This was the last nail.
Read our article on how to make Agriculture cool for Africa’s young people
Lots of younger individuals nonetheless have this bias and it’s one we’re all the time attempting to vary.
If not Groundnut, what then?
After the Rosette virus epidemic and dropping hundreds of hectares in yield, a number of farmers misplaced confidence in groundnut production and channelled their assets in the direction of different agricultural crops like cocoa, cowpea, millet and sorghum. The current day agriculture trade in Nigeria nonetheless thrives however most individuals say it’s a shadow of its former self. Although Nigeria nonetheless dominates the production and exportation of sure crops in Africa like ginger, maize and rice.
Groundnut pyramids: to be or ‘nut’ to be
After understanding why the pyramids existed in the first place one can conclude that there isn’t any want for the pyramids in fashionable instances. The gamers in the groundnut trade constructed the pyramids for two main functions.
- A method of storage
- An simple means of transportation and aggregation
There are higher storage strategies now in fashionable instances which reduce down post-harvest losses. This makes the have to construct groundnut pyramids for storage not completely crucial. Also, there’s an elevated demand for and diversified use of groundnut in production (like for oils and cake) and a number of channels of gross sales.
Will the pyramids ever return? Probably ‘nut’.
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