FOOD NEWS
The minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has declared that the agricultural sector would soon overtake the nation’s oil sector in no distant time.
According to him, this is feasible because the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) which is a brainchild of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda, is geared towards ushering in agricultural sector-led economic growth.
Adesina made this declaration at the just concluded AGRIFEST 2015, an international Agriculture Exhibition organised by his ministry to aid the sector in achieving green revolution.
The minister opined that as the price of crude oil plummets, he is convinced that agriculture will be the new mainstay of the nation’s economy.
He noted that Nigeria’s greater future for inclusive growth lies in agriculture, stating that food production had risen massively and as a nation, Nigeria has produced additional 21 metric tons of food within the last three years.
The minister however reeled out the achievements of his ministry to include the recent disbursement of N122million grant to 27 Nagropreneurs across the six geo-political zones as a measure of boosting agricultural production and also promoting its newly established project, the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP).
Adesina also listed other milestones of the ministry under him to include the establishment of Marketing Corporation, nationwide census of farmers and supply of subsidised fertilisers to 14million farmers amongst others.
