The Federal Government is investing N600bn as stimulus-response into Nigeria’s agricultural sector after the COVID-19 shutdown, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, has said.
The fund would be targeted at small-scale farmers to ensure food security and sustainability, Nanono explained.
Unlike in the past when governments invested cash which did not get good results, the new intervention would be done through inputs, the minister explained.
The minister disclosed this during a tour of Dangote Fertiliser Plant and a meeting with other fertilizer companies in Lagos, which was aimed at pooling them together for the production of agricultural inputs.
The minister’s comments were contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Director, Information, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Theodore Ogaziechi.
According to the Minister, the N600bn stimulus-response is targeted farmers nationwide and is planned to commence with an initial 2.4 million farmers.
Nanono said that it had become evident that Nigeria has the capacity to feed itself, given the experience from the forceful closure of all international borders, which was induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nanono said the ministry would support Lagos farming communities with rural roads, solar lighting and water boreholes, to help them raise their productivity.
He promised to collaborate with the Lagos State Government in the fishing sector to tap the potential of the state’s marine endowments and reduce the importation of fish in Nigeria.
