Business
FG Targets 50m Tonnes In Food Production
The Federal Government is set to reverse the dependence on food imports and has projected the addition of 50 million tonnes of food to the nation’s food supply system between now and 2015.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
According to Adesina, the country’s food import bill between 2007 and 2010 peaked at N98 trillion or $628 billion dollars.
He said that during the period, N635 billion was spent to import wheat, N365 billion on rice, N217 billion on sugar and N97 billion on fish.
He said that to kick-start the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), the ministry was focusing on five crops-cassava, rice, cocoa, sorghum and cotton.
The minister said that the transformation of the sector would strengthen the government’s food security programme, improve the living conditions of farmers and generate more employment.
He said that the government had expanded the processing capacity of rice mills in Ebonyi, Niger and Kebbi states, by accelerating their completion to go into full production by February of 2012.
The mills have a total processing capacity of 90,000 tonnes of rice.
Adesina said that by April 2012, 14 rice mills with a total capacity of 440,000 tonnes would come on stream under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
He said that the PPP arrangement had become necessary for all stakeholders to enable the agriculture sector to regain its lost glory.
“If you look at the rest of the countries of the world, the private sector had always been in the driving seat in agriculture development.
“All the government does is to facilitate; create the enabling environment where banks will support those private sector people that are in agriculture and where markets will be open and value added processes will be put in place.’’
Adesina said that to feed the mills and ensure constant paddy production, the government was targeting 450,000 rice farmers in 2012 and would provide them with all the needed inputs and irrigation facilities for all-season rice farming.
By December 2012, the tariff on rice would be raised to 100 per cent, he said.
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