Nigeria’s food import grows at 11% annually

Senator Adamu, who said this during the Farmers’ Chronicle’s first Agriculture/Agro-Allied Industry Conference, said, “import dependency is hurting Nigerian farmers as well, displacing local production and creating rising unemployment.”He said though the sector is receiving government attention, serious investment is needed across board to enhance production and increase the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic […]

Senator Adamu, who said this during the Farmers’ Chronicle’s first Agriculture/Agro-Allied Industry Conference, said, “import dependency is hurting Nigerian farmers as well, displacing local production and creating rising unemployment.”
He said though the sector is receiving government attention, serious investment is needed across board to enhance production and increase the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
 President, Center for Research and Universal Education, Professor Elijah Bayeri said there are agric business areas that Nigerians are not fully exploiting, adding, “In fact, milk production has been nose diving or at best has remained constant since 1994. The volume of egg supply is low, being 10.56 grams per person per day as compared with the usual recommendation that an egg should be consumed by an adult per day. This recommendation would imply a crate of 30 eggs per month. This story also holds for other meat products including chicken.
“This livestock sub-sector is an important aspect of the Nigerian Agricultural Economy. Its importance derives from the fact that it is one of the key contributors to national economy. For example, using the 1984 factor based data, the sub-sector contributed on an annual basis, a little over 5 percent of the GDP between 1996 and the year 2000.
“Nigeria can now tap into the $31 billion US booming garment market. When African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) came into effect, many Nigerians saw a window of foreign exchange earning in textile and garment section of the act and keyed into it. Such Nigerians now earn millions of dollars from garment and textile exports to the US annually. Nigeria’s textile and apparels have been granted duty-free passage into the United States where a large market exists for ethnic African fabrics and designs,” he said.
Board Chairman of Farmers’ Chronicle, a newspaper that specializes in reporting agricultural stories, Alhaji Ahmed Rabiu, said Nigeria, “should highlight the significance of agriculture in our economy and seek to preserve domestic policy flexibility to guard food security concerns and be ready to favour a market-oriented and non trade distortive approach while favouring gradual and phased reduction in export subsidies.”