N600bn spent annually on food importation

The Special Adviser on Agriculture and Food Security to Osun State Governor, Mr Festus Agunbiade, on Wednesday said Nigeria spends over N600 billion annually to import food items.

 

According to him, Nigeria is ranked the largest importer of frozen fish and the second largest importer of rice, spending about N356 billion on two million metric tonnes of milled rice annually.

"Nigeria is boosting the economy of countries where these imports are coming from, while we have the vast agricultural potential to cater for our food needs."

Agunbiade said the huge sum of money spent on importation should be invested in farming while the government could substitute food importation with domestic food production to create jobs.

He said such an option would significantly boost domestic food production in the country.
The aide said such a move, apart from creating employment opportunities for Nigerians in the agricultural sector, would equally boost the income of local farmers.

He, however, implored farmers in the state to rise up to the emerging challenges in food production.

Agunbiade said the government had no need for food importation as long as farmers were meeting food demands.

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