FG, ABUAD, Ekiti to collaborate on rice, yam production

Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has said the Federal Government will enter into a partnership on rice production with Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Ekiti State Government.
  
Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Chief Ogbeh, who was in Ekiti State recently, announced this as part of plans by the federal government to ban the importation of rice by the end of 2017.

He said in order to further boost internal production of the commodity and enhance the country’s comparative advantage in rice and yam production, the federal government would sign a memorandum of understanding with ABUAD and Ekiti State government in the two commodities.

After a visit to vast, highly mechanised ABUAD farms, he also announced the ministry’s intention to supply ABUAD with 20 tonnes of rice seedlings in the next planting season to boost rice production.

Explaining the reason behind the policy to ban rice importation, Ogbeh hinted that the country has enough internal production capacity that could sustain local consumption and meet foreign exchange earnings that can guarantee diversification of the economy.

Ogbeh said the current economic recession being experienced under Buhari’s government has helped the federal government to think outside the box and had succeeded in bringing the deserved revolution to agriculture sector.
  
“Of recent, prices of diesel increased from N130 pr litre to about N280 which makes the cost of a tractor to move up to N14 million from N7 million . The interest rate on every loan given to farmers also went up, so the aggregate of all these factors caused increase in the prices of food items.

“We are concerned with the plights of Nigerians. We knew that many are hungry but we are working round it because it doesn’t speak well of us that we are in government and people are hungry.

“But the major challenge is that Nigerians produced children more than other Africa nations put together and youths are not interested in farming and the question now is that, who will feed all these children?

“Nigeria has about 150million population and if these people can’t be fed with food, then they will be fed with anarchy and chaos,” Chief Ogbeh cautioned.


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