ABUJA: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh yesterday reeled out worrisome statistics, which showed that the country spends over $22 billion (N7trillion) annually on importation of various food items like wheat, rice, fish, and poultry products among others. But the Federal Government said the continued importation of products that could be produced locally was a big threat to local production.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who unveiled the agricultural roadmap christened: “The green alternative: Agriculture promotion policy-2016-2020”, said the government was committed to developing the sector as the driver of economic diversification process of the administration, stressing that the policies of previous administrations were being reviewed and incorporated.
The vice president stated that government would engage 100,000 of the 500,000 employments being provided by the administration to extension workers that will help in agricultural information dissemination, adding that the implementation of the school feeding programme will be home-grown based on local agricultural products.
