From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Federal Government yesterday expressed readiness to partner Osun State Government in the ongoing efforts aimed at massive food production to take the nation out of the current economic recession.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, stated this yesterday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, in his office.
Ogbe also disclosed that Nigeria will, by December this year, stop the importation of rice, as the country had embarked on mass production of the commodity.
The minister said it was unfortunate that Nigeria was still spending billions of dollars on food importation.
He called for maximum collaboration and partnership between and among the various authorities to revamp agriculture.
The minister said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture had been restructured to meet the nation’s food production needs in order to end all forms of food importation.
He said the purpose of the visit was to cement the existing relationship between the Osun State government and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the need to achieve a better agricultural productivity.
Ogbeh attributed the current economic recession to the nation’s failure to harness her huge potential in agriculture.
“By December this year, we will stop importation of rice into the country. It is a pity that as a nation we spend about $5 million on the importation of rice on a daily basis.
“We have no choice in this country now but to go back to farm to free ourselves and the land from poverty because oil and gas can no longer do it.
“In Osun, there are potentialities through various crops. Just two crops alone are enough for Osun to make over $3 billion in a month.
“We have to find extraordinary means to make agriculture work in this country, because, by 2050, Nigeria’s population would have risen to about 450 million and we have to quickly begin to look for means of being capable of feeding ourselves by then,” the minister said.