Wednesday, August 3,
2016
The Minister of
Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has advised Nigerians to set up plantations to
boost food production in the country.
Addressing a town hall
meeting in Enugu, Ogbe expressed regret that Nigerians had abandoned
agriculture for which they were known for oil and gas, adding that the recent
fall in oil price had caused a lot of problem to the country.
He said that before now,
the South East was the highest producer of palm oil but that it was no longer
so due to over-dependence of oil.
The minister said that
the Federal Government spent N22 billion annually to import food and food
items, adding that it is not the duty of the government to farm but to
encourage farming.
Ogbe explained that the
South East and North West had done well in agriculture since the renewed
attention on the sector, adding that the ministry planned to attain
self-sufficiency in the production of beans, rice, millet, tomatoes and others
by 2018.
The minister explained
that the Federal Government would provide ranches across the country where
cattle and their herdsmen would permanently stay.
Ogbe said that the
ministry would not encourage people to go back to agriculture and also allow
cattle to destroy their effort overnight.
He said that the
president had set up a committee to probe allegations that the herdsmen moved
about with AK-47 rifles, adding that the report would be out soon.
The minister said that
a booklet on fertilizer mapping had been produced to aid farmers in various
parts of the country to get better yields.
He assured the people
that in two years, the country would be back to what it used to be in terms of
production of grains and beans.
SOURCE: VANGUARD