Minister Links Insecurity To Lack Of Food

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina has said that the current security challenges in the country would be overcome if the government invested in agriculture.

The minister who stated this at a one-day meeting he held with Commissioners for Agriculture and Natural Resources of all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT in Abuja recently disclosed that in the last four years, Nigeria spent a whopping sum of $1.6 trillion on importation of rice, wheat, sugar and fish.

He said with a strong will power the country would soon be self sufficient in food production and export.

He therefore, called on the state governments and the federal capital territory administration not to leave any stone unturned in ensuring food security in their various states.

While explaining that the agricultural transformation agenda introduced by President Goodluck Jonathan was to make Nigeria a leading agriculture industrialised nation in Africa, the minister promised that in the next four years, the country would have been the largest producer and exporter of food.

He maintained that the federal government was determined to make Nigeria “the powerhouse for food sufficiency in the country and export for foreign earnings.”

He further explained that the purpose of the meeting was to dialogue on value chain and manifestation of the agriculture transformation action plan.

“It is the aim of Mr. President to make agriculture the biggest sector of the economy in Nigeria.”

According to Dr. Akinwunmi, Nigeria is blessed with vast and abundant arable land that can support the production of various crops for consumption and export.

The minister who lamented that agriculture performances have been declining since 2006 noted with delight that state governments have been working with the federal government towards ensuring the success of the agriculture transformation agenda.

He revealed that currently, agriculture’s contribution to total exports had been relatively low between 0.58 percent and 2 percent in the last four years.

“Number one problem in Nigeria is low productivity because only 8 percent of our farmers use improved seeds and without improved seeds, fertiliser and water (irrigation) only very little can be achieved,” he said and called for proper use of fertiliser the organic ones and improved seeds.