Nigeria has no business importing rice, fish – Prof. Okoroda

In a paper entitled, “Opportunities and Potentials for   Agricultural Development in Nigeria,” Professor Okoroda said the practice by which government approached agriculture as a single story must be stopped, adding that “it is dangerous to consider agriculture as a single story. “Mr chairman, agriculture is not a single story. There are many stories that are […]

In a paper entitled, “Opportunities and Potentials for   Agricultural Development in Nigeria,” Professor Okoroda said the practice by which government approached agriculture as a single story must be stopped, adding that “it is dangerous to consider agriculture as a single story.
“Mr chairman, agriculture is not a single story. There are many stories that are happening in agriculture and we must get all together,” he stressed. He said that Nigeria which has the opportunity to grow many crops has continued to import them amidst great potentials that abound in the sector.
He listed over 72 crops eaten across the 36 states of the federation but thta attention is given to only few of them.
He wondered why rice and fish continue to dominate our import list despite the great potentials for the production of such products in the nation which are far greater than those of the countries Nigeria imports from, stressing that Nigeria has no business importing rice and fish.
“We have changed the way we eat; we are beginning to eat other people’s food, not Nigeria’s food. We must change and eat what we produce. That is the way out,” he warned.
He advised government to subsidize inputs and make them available on time to farmers adding that loans must be given at single digit interest, and government must be serious about it not only on the pages of papers.