By Steve Agbota
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that the present reforms in the agricultural sector would boost Nigeria’s agricultural growth and food production.
The Minister made this known last Monday in his opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the 42nd Regular Meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development, with the theme, “Agribusiness Investment for Economic Stabilisation, Diversification and Growth”, which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from April 24 – 28, 2017.
Ogbeh explained that with the prevailing framework of the 2016 Green Alternative Agricultural Promotion Policy, the focus of the government was to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, encourage value addition to local materials, diversify the economy, expand employment opportunities, reduce import dependence and stimulate agricultural exports.
The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Bukar Hassan, said the roadmap’s productivity enhancement, private sector and institutional realignment is to fast-track farmers’ access to land, knowledge and inputs, processors’ utilisation of storage, technologies and marketing and consumer’s nutrition expectations.
He said, “the reforms in the sector would improve the access of farmers to inputs and credit, emphasise the effective application of research results, revive extension services, increase commodity output, enhance processing capacity, broaden market access and expand revenue earnings.”
He said these expectations would require the cooperation and commitment of stakeholders to agribusiness promotion, sustainable livelihood and food security in the country.
Ogbeh added that a private sector-driven agricultural mechanisation programme is being promoted by governments to operate machinery hiring enterprise scheme as well as facilitate the manufacture of durable farm machinery that can withstand the varying geographical terrain and climatic conditions of the country’s diverse ecologies.
While commending the contribution of Rivers State government to national development, the Minister encouraged stakeholders in agriculture sector to familiarise themselves with the objectives and strategies of the agricultural promotion policy to sustainably develop the sector.