Yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari said that his administration would henceforth take agriculture seriously, saying that crude oil and gas exports would no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.
The President stated that his government would cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government, stating that it’s time Nigerians took Agriculture seriously.
“It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice.
We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many as want to go into agricultural ventures,”.
The president said that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming, and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also be given the necessary attention.
“There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organizations like IFAD for advice,” the President said, adding that foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks.”
He told the IFAD President that improvem
IFAD is an international organization dedicated to addressing issues of agriculture and poverty alleviation.
