The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, has decried the huge sum of money spent on food importation. Making this observation on recently in Kura, Kano State, during the flag-off of the 2015 dry season wheat and rice production in the state, Ogbe observed that over N1.3 trillion annually expended on importation of assorted food commodities into the country.
The state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, at the event, promised to help the farmers improve productivity and objected to the idea of continuing to use agriculture to manage poverty. “In Kano State, agriculture is now to be treated as a business,” he said, adding that the state is trying to “transform agriculture into viable economic activities.”
According to Ganduje, “we urgently need an approach to improve agricultural production, with sound agricultural policies to back it up.” He announced that the state’s wheat farming programme has registered 18,200 farmers as part of the priority attention from his government.
Dr. Gbenga Olabanji, Executive Director of Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) having the national mandate for genetic development of wheat, noted that Nigeria has the potential for wheat production and is able to produce wheat yielding 8 tons per hectare. He said Nigeria has 600,000 hectares of land that is good for wheat production.
“The production capacity has increased from 1 to 2 tons per hectare to 5 to 6 tons per hectare through improved varieties. There is market for wheat in Nigeria now. He announced that, by 2017, a reduction of wheat importation by 50 per cent is possible. While appealing to other wheat-producing states to urgently flag off their own dry programmes, Olabaji said Nigerians must produce what they eat and eat what they produce.
Abubakar Saleh Mohammed: a chieftain of wheat farmers’ association, observed that “wheat farming has started seeing transformation, bringing policy makers, financial institutions, researchers, millers, farmers and other stakeholders together. Mohammed recalled that “the introduction of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)value chain has increased wheat production. Now, wheat is produced in 10 states.” He disclosed that “flour millers are ready to off-take our production” and the “farmers association had positive discussions and agreement with millers recently.”
Auwalu Balarabe, a major wheat seed producer, reflected that the ATA and Growth Enhancement Support have proved a lot of success. Balarabe hinted that, as at 2012, 2013 and 2014, production of certified seed in Nigeria increased from 14,700 MT in 2011 to 44,400 MT, 140,000 MT and 170,690 MT respectively. He called the minister of agriculture to “come to the aid of seed companies,” arguing that the seed producers “have taken loans” that need to be repaid.
Manir Baba Danguldi, a member of the national assembly, representing the House of Representatives, commended Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, former minister of agriculture, for his work on wheat. He lamented the N365 billion annually spent on wheat importation, adding that the national assembly will not allow that continue. Shuaibu Bello, national leader of agrodealers, said that the agrodealers have invested so much within the last regime, urging the new minister to improve upon the performance in agriculture. Representing the Emir of Kano at the event, Alhaji Bello Ado Bayero, a traditional head in Kura, informed government of the need to ensure that whatever that is produced gets sold
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Chief Ogbe, told the farmers that, for health and safety reasons, jute bags would soon replace polythene bags for grain storage as the former is safer. He promised that the universities of agriculture in Nigeria “will be re-oriented to do what they are set up by law to do.”