By Fatima Saka
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that no government had invested in driving an agricultural revolution like that of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Minister made the assertion at a media briefing in Abuja, on Monday.
“Today, rice production in Nigeria has increased to over 7.5 million metric tonnes annually, thanks to the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
“Before the programme, the average production in Nigeria between 1999 to 2015 was less than four metric tonnes annually.
” Before this administration launched the ABP, there were only 15 standard rice mills in Nigeria, but as of today, we have over 50 Standard and integrated rice mills creating jobs and reducing unemployment,’’ he said.
The minister said no fewer than 4.8 million smallholder farmers had so far been supported by the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, across the country.
He said the support had resulted in increase in the production of 23 agricultural commodities, including maize, rice, oil palm, cocoa, cotton, cassava, tomato and livestock.
Heedless to all of these achievements recorded, Nigerians are still hungry and the price of the staples had remained high, the minister responded:
” The impact of our agriculture revolution will soon be felt on dining tables across the country.
“In this regard, we want to appeal to our farmers to be more patriotic by not allowing foreigners to buy their commodities at farm gates.
“They should reciprocate the support being given to them by the Federal Government by slowing down on exports in order to increase the supply of local staples and also reduce prices.” He said.
