Minister Assures Nigerians Of Wheat Production Increase, Import Reduction

Chief Audu Ogbeh

The minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has decried the huge sums of money spent on food importation.

Speaking on Tuesday in Kura, Kano State, during the flag-off of the 2015 dry season wheat and rice production in the state, Chief Ogbe faulted the N1.3 trillion annually expended on importation of assorted food commodities into the country.

Also speaking at the occasion, the state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, promised to help the farmers improve productivity and objected to the idea of continuing to use agriculture to manage poverty.
“In Kano State, agriculture is now to be treated as a business,” he said, adding that the state is trying to transform agriculture into viable economic activities.

Ganduje said, “We urgently need an approach to improve agricultural production, with sound agricultural policies to back it up.”

He announced that the state’s wheat farming programme has registered 18,200 farmers as part of the priority attention given it by his government.

Dr. Gbenga Olabanji, executive director of Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) having the national mandate for genetic development of wheat, noted that Nigeria has the potential for wheat production and is able to produce wheat yielding 8 tons per hectare. He said Nigeria has 600,000 hectares of land that is good for wheat production.

“The production capacity has increased from 1 to 2 tons per hectare to 5 to 6 tons per hectare through improved varieties.