Agric Minister says Nigeria has enough food to feed the nation In spite of the chronic hunger and rising food prices in the country, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said on Monday that the country has enough food to feed all Nigerians.
Dr Abubakar made this statement on Monday in Abuja while presenting the ministry’s scorecard for 2015-2023, blaming the rising cost of basic food stuffs in the country on inflation and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many countries including Nigeria to shut down key economic activities for many months.
The minister said that while it was not peculiar to Nigeria to import certain categories of foods, the federal ministry of agriculture would continue to produce food to take care of its large population in line with the mandate to do so and improve rural development. The minister announced that in order to improve food stock in the country, the ministry is currently constructing ten large scale integrated rice mills with 320 metric tonnes capacity per day in Jigawa, Kano, Adamawa, Niger, Kaduna, Gombe, Ekiti, Ogun, Bayelsa and the Federal Capital Territory in addition to supporting the production and distribution of breeder, foundation and certified rice seeds for farmers.
HomeNational News Agric Minister says Nigeria has enough food to feed the nation NATIONAL NEWS By Matthew Atungwu On Nov 28, 2022 0 Share Agric Minister says Nigeria has enough food to feed the nation In spite of the chronic hunger and rising food prices in the country, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said on Monday that the country has enough food to feed all Nigerians. Dr Abubakar made this statement on Monday in Abuja while presenting the ministry’s scorecard for 2015-2023, blaming the rising cost of basic food stuffs in the country on inflation and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many countries including Nigeria to shut down key economic activities for many months. The minister said that while it was not peculiar to Nigeria to import certain categories of foods, the federal ministry of agriculture would continue to produce food to take care of its large population in line with the mandate to do so and improve rural development. The minister announced that in order to improve food stock in the country, the ministry is currently constructing ten large scale integrated rice mills with 320 metric tonnes capacity per day in Jigawa, Kano, Adamawa, Niger, Kaduna, Gombe, Ekiti, Ogun, Bayelsa and the Federal Capital Territory in addition to supporting the production and distribution of breeder, foundation and certified rice seeds for farmers. Read Also: Agriculture crucial for economic development, says Gombe Governor In the same vein, the minister said that presidential fertilizer initiative, which was launched in 2016 has increased the number of fertilizer plants from eight to 200 and raised production from 300,000 metric tonnes to 7 million metric tonnes. He also blamed the jerk in the prices of fertilizer on inflation and the inability of the producers of raw materials to do so due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.
