“Number of farmers in Nigeria has increased by 12 million” – Ogbeh
The Federal Government has expressed satisfaction that its focus on agriculture has started to yield positive results.
Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh said while representing President Buhari at the 4th Nigeria Rice Investment Forum in Abuja on Wednesday that the number of farmers in Nigeria has increased by 12 million due to new policies.
“The impact of our interventions in the rice sector has resulted into job creation, increase in wealth while reducing migration from rural to urban areas,” he said.
“As of July this year, the number of farmers has increased by 12 million. The Rice Farmers Association (RIFAN) has five million members. The number of people working in the rice mills, small or big is over 1.7 million.
“These include harvesters, loaders, off-loaders, transporters, distributors and markets. Unemployment is one of our biggest challenges in the country.
“We want to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production and the fact that we are currently the largest producer of rice in Africa, followed by Mali is good news.
“We have cut down rice importation by 90 per cent in the last three years and our milled rice is available in every store and supermarket in the country.”
The minister added that plans were underway for the privatisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA). He said 40% of the shares would go to farmers in a bid to solve the challenges of farmers seeking loan.
