Revamping Agricultural Sector, Our Urgent Task, Says Obada Votu

A sensitisation exercise tagged ‘Revamping Agricultural Sector in Nigeria Through Aggressive Industrial Farm Park Project’ took place in Lagos, recently to discuss ways of revamping the agricultural sector in the country.

At the event, held in partnership with Chinese Government Export Credit, the CEO of 1.2 Green Ltd, Mr Obada Votu expressed the company’s readiness and willingness to assist the Nigerian government in resuscitating this crucial sector.

“This crucial sector should not be neglected, but should be given the needed attention. Nigeria became a net importer of food and major importer of wheat, rice, sugar and fish: the importation of these four commodities according to reports, consume over a trillion naira in foreign exchange every year since 2005.

“The CBN report shows that Nigeria is the world largest importer of United States hard red and white winter wheat, with an annual food import of N635bn.

Nigeria’s food imports are growing at an unsustainable rate of 11 per cent per annum, while reliance on the import of expensive food in the global market fuels domestic inflation, and Nigeria is importing what it can produce in abundance. And that import dependency is hurting Nigerian farmers, displacing local production and creating rising unemployment,” he added

He stated further that, there is need for stakeholders to reduce the importation of these products that can be produced in Nigeria. “Nigeria spends a trillion naira annually to import rice, sugar, wheat and fish, translating to N10trillion from 2005 till date. The nation has vast arable land for cultivation, adding that this must be harnessed by stakeholders in order to effectively prevent food crisis considering the growing population and reduce imports to the barest minimum.”