Sekinah Lawal/
Nigerian’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has given the assurance of plans by the Federal Government to commence mechanized farming in the country very soon.
He made this known in his keynote address at 4th National Discourse, organized by The Companion (an Association of Muslim Men in Business and the Professions) in Lagos.
According to him, Nigeria is witnessing tremendous growth in the agricultural sector since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
Prof. Osinbajo revealed that the Federal Government has partnered with the Brazilian government on industrial mechanization with an investment worth $1billion.
He said that six Tractors’ Assembly Plants would be established in six geo-political zones of the country with 5,000 tractors to be assembled this year.
“Service Centres will also be established in all the states of the federation including the federal capital territory. This will afford us the opportunity of producing our own fertiliser, improved seedlings and other inputs through rentage,” he said.
The vice president reiterated that self-sufficiency in food production is a priority to the present administration, adding, “Our President believes that we must produce what we eat and that’s exactly what we are working towards.”
He also made it known that there will be 109 Product Service Centres in all the Senatorial districts in the country with the processing of farm produce and haulage to markets from designated aggregation points.
In addition, the vice president noted that Nigeria’s population is a huge market which we need to take full advantage of.
His words, “We need to also take advantage of our arable land and huge local market.
“The focus of this administration is to achieve food self-sufficiency and we have been working towards achieving this through improved budgetary allocations.
“Self-sufficiency in food production has been the major pillar of our administration’s economic policy, President Muhamadu Buhari actually set a clear direction on the issue of self-sufficiency in food production, when he said that we must eat what we produce and must produce what we eat and we must consume what we produce. And we backed that with substantial budgetary allocation to agriculture. In 2015, it was N8. 8 billion but by 2016 we moved up to N42.6 billion and by 2018, N120.38 billion was allocated to agriculture.
The Vice President also called on the state governments across the federation to contribute their quota in assisting the Federal Government’s agricultural initiative.
He also appealed to the states to contribute to agriculture in the way that the Federal Government is driving agriculture in order to achieve food self-sufficiency.
According to him, the Nigerian agriculture sector’s performance grew by 14.27% in 2018.
Also speaking on the theme of the discourse, “Food Security: Unleashing Nigeria’s Natural Potential for Self Sufficiency”, the Guest Speaker, President, Nigerian Academy of Engineers, Prof. Fola Lasisi urged the states and Federal Government to maximize agricultural growth through technology.
The chairman of the occasion, former Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola urged all stakeholders to up their activities regarding agriculture because the country’s productivity in agriculture and other sectors is abysmally low.
Aregbesola said, “We need more commitment in agriculture because of hunger breeds frustration, aggression and anger which subsequently fuels insecurity.
“Our economy has not grown in proportionate to our population. Getting high yielding crops will also help a lot while having varieties of our indigenous farm produce will reduce the appetite for imported foods.”
National Amir of The Companion, Alhaji Thabit Wale Sonaike commended the current administration in its efforts geared towards revamping agriculture stating readiness of The Companion in supporting the states and Federal Government towards achieving good governance.
The occasion also had in attendance, Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe; Ogun State’s deputy governor, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele; Prof. Lateef Sanni, deputy vice-chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta; Otunba Femi Oke; the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Southwest; Barrister Musbaudeen Oyefeso, Alhaji Tunde Popoola, Alhaji Salis Shuaib, Alhaji Lere Alimi, Alhaji Nojeem Jimoh among other dignitaries.
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