*Hint reduction in import bills
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mahmood Abubakar has disclosed that the country's national food reserve is expected to increase from current 109,657 metric tons to 219,900 metric tons in year 2022, just as the foods import bill received a level of reduction.
The Minister said this at the opening ceremony of the World Food Day yesterday at Abuja.
Dr. Abubakar explained that the increment is expected to happen following various intervention programs and policies of the present administration towards driving the sector to boost food productivity.
According to the minister “The Ministry this year alone has raised her national food reserve stock to 109,657 MT, a figure expected to be further increased to 219,900 MT by the end of 2022.
“Nigeria recorded a boost in the production of her major staple crops especially, maize and rice production rose from 12.8 and 12.3 to 13.94 and 14.28 million metric tonnes (MMT).
“The same is obtainable for cassava with production increase from 58.47 MT in 2018 to 73.91MT and even projected to rise to 93.6 by 2023. Growth has also been recorded for groundnut, tomatoes, and sorghum production. Cattle beef, dairy and fish production also rose by 166%, 146% and 11% respectively between 2020 and 2021.
Speaking import bills, the agric minister said that the country has recorded reduction based on intervention performance in some foods productivity saying that “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics report indicate that Nigeria’s National Agricultural Import Bill also reduced from N1.2 billion to N1.1 billion”
The Agric Minister futher disclosed that Agriculture for Food and Job Plan (AFJP), a component of President Buhari’s Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) targets five to ten Million jobs in the agricultural sector with provision for zero-interest loans to farmers to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
“The first phase of the scheme has produced over 1.1 million beneficiaries across all states and the FCT.
“Out of the 5 million planned beneficiaries for AFJP, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has empowered 1,138,000 farmer-beneficiaries across the 36 states and the FCT under the first phase of implementation”
Speaking at the event the Country Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Fred Kafeero said FAO is working with governments across the globe for the transformation of Agri-food systems to ensure that they are rooted in several agro-ecology focusing on sustainable natural resource management.
Kafeero, who was represented by Dr Guy Kouame said in Nigeria, for 12 years now, FAO has been cooperating with the FG in planning and implementation of agricultural policies, strategies and programmes towards sustainable food security.
“FAO’s work in the country focuses on improving food and nutrition security and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, thereby creating the impetus for economic growth in the agriculture and rural sector” Kafeero said.
He spoke on the need to create climate change awareness to food productivity saying that “This show should continue to help countries to promote more use of climate-smart and environmentally friendly agricultural practices that incorporate innovation and digitization to slow the habitat destruction that contributes to disease outbreaks and perennial flooding”
He pointed that the world food day should also gear policy decisions towards transformative change based on data, scientific evidence and analysis, and besides, work with the international community to close the digital gap and ensure that technology flows.
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