ATA at a glance

President Goodluck Jonathan, Gov. Tanko Almakura

and Dr. Akinwumi Adesina at the launch of Olam Rice,

Nassarawa-State.

President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

and Mrs. Asabe Ahmed, Minister of State Agriculture

at the 2015 maiden Agri-Fest

Agricultural Transformation Agenda, (ATA) is the main intervention of the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria on Agriculture; aimed at increasing food security, job creation and economic development. The programme was launched in 2011 with the target of boosting food supply with additional 21 million metric tonnes and generating over 3.5 million jobs. The strategy adopted was a value chain approach and private sector led agriculture to ensure sustainability and continuity. ATA’s main focus was on major agricultural commodities where Nigeria has comparative advantage; they are Cassava, Rice, Sorghum, Cocoa, Oil-palm, Horticulture, Fisheries/aquaculture, Livestock/Dairy Production, Maize, Cotton and Soybeans.

The programme driven by the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is implementing the programme on 5 major pillars which are: Market, Finance, Policy, Partnership and Staple Crop Processing Zone. Implementing the programme also involves addressing the major lingering problem of inputs availability, adequacy and distribution; including the puncturing of the age long corruption of the fertilizer procurement & distribution, (stamped out within 90 days). The policy on Cassava bread also received boost with the 10% HQCF/Wheat composite flour commercialized by Honeywell Flour Mills and Flour Mills of Nigeria and the general 2-3% inclusion across board by the Flour millers.

At a glance, the table below shows other achievements so far:

S/No	Intervention	Base Year-2011/2012	2014	Remarks
1.	Food Production	2,040, 000 MT	21,825,572
2.	Food Import Bill	N3.19 Trillion	N635 billion
3.	Jobs Created	517,949	3,598,529
4.	Farmers Input Redemption	1, 608,148	14,310,780
5.	Seed Production	14, 788 MT	170,672 MT
6.	Seed Production Companies	11	134
7.	Fertilizer Production	178, 942MT-(2012)	664, 025 MT
8.	Impact of Fertilizer Use	13kg/ha	80kg/ha
9.	Jobs created in Fishery	--------------------------	36,723
10.	HQCF Processing Capacity	35,900 MT	222, 260 MT
11.	Investment in Cassava Bread policy	------------------------	N8. 05 billion
12.	Jobs Created in Cassava Bread Promotion		1.39million
13.	Support for Agricultural Mechanization Hiring Services		N50 billion
14.	Flood recovery & Dry Season Farming Fund	2012-2014 N40 million		Approved N26b for 2015