The Minister of Agriculture and Meals Safety, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, says Nigeria spends $10 billion yearly on agro-imports, together with wheat and fish.
Kyari disclosed this on the First Financial institution of Nigeria Ltd., 2025 Agric and Export Expo, on Tuesday in Lagos.
The minister who decried the rising charge of agro-imports emphasised the necessity for elevated financing of agricultural actions to spice up native exports.
The Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) experiences that the minister was represented on the occasion by his Particular Adviser, Mr Ibrahim Alkali.
Kyari harped on the significance of accelerating financing for the nation’s agriculture sector to spice up meals export income technology.
“Nigeria spends over $10 billion yearly importing meals resembling wheat, rice, sugar, fish and even tomato paste.
“Agriculture already contributes 35 per cent of our Gross Home Product and employs 35 per cent of our workforce.
“We sit on 85 million hectares of city land with a youth inhabitants of over 70 per cent below the age of 30, but Nigeria accounts for lower than 0.5 per cent of worldwide exports.
“Nonetheless, Nigeria earns lower than $400 million from agro exports, to construct a non-oil export financial system, we should rethink how we finance agriculture,” he stated.
He reiterated the Tinubu’s administration’s stance on making certain meals sovereignty of the nation, whereas insisting on elevated financing of agriculture.
“President Tinubu’s administration has made it clear that meals sovereignty is the aim. Nigeria should not solely feed itself, however to do by itself phrases, free from extreme dependency on imports.
“Sovereignty means making certain that no Nigerian goes hungry due to shocks within the international meals provide chain, permitting each neighborhood to face on the energy of our land, our folks and our productiveness.
“Boosting home manufacturing and constructing assist for exports usually are not separate agendas. They’re two sides of the identical coin.
“We’ve got the land, the labour, and the markets, however we lack the system of financing, worth addition and infrastructure that converts potential into prosperity.
“The basics compel that we pilot from dependence on oil rigs to resilience in meals and export earnings from rural commodity exports to value-added agribusiness.
“From fragmented farmer credit score to structured monetary methods that appeal to vital capital and from stereotyped perceptions to improved participation of youth within the agricultural sector,” Kyari stated.
He additionally harassed the necessity for improved mechanisms and demanding pondering to spice up meals safety.
“Nigeria can do higher if we start to assume critically and enhance mechanisms resembling income sharing, finance, agricultural objectives with efficiency triggers, factoring ahead contracts Pay-as-Harvest, and the remainder.
“These usually are not summary theories. They’re working in actual economies,” he stated.
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