Food production not significantly affected despite widespread insecurity: Minister

*Mohammed Abubakar, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, maintains food production continues at an appreciable level for most parts of the country, with 3.6million direct and indirect jobs created through $1.1billion in externally-funded agriculture projects the Federal Government is implementing

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

The Federal Government has insisted, that despite the prolonged security challenges and the attendant disruptive socio-economic consequences, including high inflation on consumers over the years, food production ‘has not dropped’ in Nigeria.

ConsumerConnect reports Mohammed Abubakar, Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, who stated this Thursday, August 4, 2022, during the weekly Ministerial Briefing at the State House, in Abuja, FCT, acknowledged the insurgency, which has been hindering thousands of farmers from accessing their farms, particularly in the North-West, North-East, and North-Central, is a concern for the Federal Government.

Mohammed Abubakar, Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

The Minister, however, maintained that food production continues at an appreciable level for most parts of the country.

Abubakar disclosed that 3.6 million direct and indirect jobs have been created through $1.1 billion in externally-funded agriculture projects being implemented by the present administration in the country.

Besides, he noted that $538 million was approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for special agricultural processing zones to support inclusive and and sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria.

According to him, the participating states include Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto.

Discrediting recent reports that Nigeria may not have initiated measures towards ending food hunger by 2025, Abubakar further cited Nigeria’s food production sufficiency (which has placed the country as number 1 in Africa and 4th in the world in rice production) as evidence that President Muhammadu Buhari is living up to his promise to lift ‘100 million Nigerians out of poverty’ within a decade.

As far as agriculture is concerned, Abubakar insists the all-important sector contributes an aggregate of 25 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and he looks towards an upscale of 26-27 percent by end of 2022.