2018 budget: FG allocates N119bn to agriculture


The Federal Government has allocated N118.98 billion to strengthen the nation’s agricultural sector in 2018 as part of an effort to ensure food security in the country.
 
President Muhammadu Buhari 
President Muhammadu Buhari who disclosed this while presenting the 2018 budget to the National Assembly on Tuesday noted that the sector which helped Nigeria to exit from recession remains the largest employer of labour.

He assured Nigerians that the government will consolidate on existing policies and develop new ones in a bid to address the challenges in the value chain of the agricultural sector. He added that astute investors are already heavily into the production and processing of rice, sugar, maize, soya, cassava, yams, tomato, oil palm, rubber and poultry products, adding that more effort will be deployed to see increased investment in the sector.

Aside getting more of these investments, the president said efforts will be made to protect these investments because food security is a crucial part of his government’s agenda.

“We are determined to protect these investments and encourage more. Food security is an important aspect of this administration’s national security agenda. Any person involved in smuggling of food items is a threat to our national security and will therefore be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

He said a committee chaired by the Vice President Yemi Osibanjo is working to ensure the nation’s borders are protected in this regard. He said a key part of the work of the committee would be the reactivation of the Badagry Agreement signed between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin in 2003.

The president also spoke on other ongoing initiatives in the sector. “We have also completed over 33,000 hectares of irrigation projects that have increased water availability in key food producing states. We shall continue to intensify our interventions through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative to ensure that this momentum is sustained.

“We have also made provisions in the 2018 budget to complete ongoing irrigation projects at Ada, in Enugu State; Lower Anambra, in Anambra State; and Gari, in Jigawa State. In 2017, many factories and projects in the food and agricultural sectors were commissioned in Kebbi, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Anambra, Edo, Jigawa, Rivers, Niger, Ogun and Ebonyi States, to mention a few.


“This is a clear statement that our economic diversification and inclusive growth ambitions are coming to fruition.”

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