‘Agric Sector Rake In $6bn In Three Years’

The Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that Nigeria’s agricultural sector raked in a total of around $6 billion across its various segments in the past three years.
Adesina who stated this while speaking to newsmen in Abuja last Monday said the ongoing implementation of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in just over 36 months has attracted both foreign and indigenous investment into agricultural input production, primary agricultural production, agricultural processing and agricultural storage activities.
While throwing light on the segments that have received funds, the Minister noted that the fertilizer sector was invested with over $500 million in the past three years.
For the seed production industry, Adesina revealed that there had been an increase in investment in the sector in the neighbourhood of $10 million to $53 million also in the last three years.
As for the poultry sector, the Minister said it grew by $55 million while oil palm and rice sectors recorded $1 billion and almost $3 billion respectively.
On the rumoured widespread fertilizer scam, the Federal government explained how it ended the matter by redirecting farming subsidies back to the actual farmers after 40 years of corruption that became institutionalized in the sector.
Until around 2011 when the transformation in the country’s fertilizer business began to take effect political patronage seekers across the three tiers of government waited eagerly for the announcement of the Federal government’s annual budget for fertilizer which had become a slush fund of sorts and a relatively easy channel through which public fund was diverted.
Speaking at a live public affairs programme organised by the presidency on Channels Television and monitored by The Tide source, the Minister said it took the Federal government just 90 days to end the fertilizer unwholesome practices.