Agriculture will be Nigeria’s major revenue earner –Experts

Agriculture is going to be the major revenue earner for Nigeria as global crude oil prices continue to fall, renowned experts from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Biocrops Biotechnology Limited have
said.

According to them, the sector also has the potential of employing thousands of unemployed persons across the country, stressing that what should be done is for the government to give priority to agriculture.

In separate interviews with our correspondent, the experts noted that agriculture should be treated as a business, stressing that the fall in crude oil prices should make the country to work towards harnessing the enormous potential in the sector.

“We need to put agriculture as a top priority,” the Deputy Director-General, Partnerships and Capacity Development, IITA, Mr. Ken Dashiell, said.

He added, “There should be emphasis on making agriculture a business and we should look for all the opportunities inherent in it so as to help in job creation and wealth. I strongly support the diversification of the Nigerian economy using agriculture as a major channel.

“This is because I am 100 per cent confident that agriculture will be a major revenue earner for Nigeria. There is no doubt about it and I have complete faith in the farmers of Nigeria to produce when they are given the correct environment.”

Dashiell stated that this was one of the reasons why the IITA and the Consortium of the Consultative Group of International Research Centres came together to make meaningful contributions to the government’s plans on how to develop agriculture in the country.

Also speaking on the development, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Biocrops Biotechnology, Dr. Joseph Odusanya, explained that aside being a major revenue earner, agriculture would also ensure food security for the country.

Odusanya, who spoke through his Business Development Manager, Mr. Francis Onukwue, during a facility tour of the firm’s seed multiplication laboratories and farms in Abuja, said agriculture could serve as the largest employer of labour if adequately harnessed by the Federal Government.

He explained that in ensuring food security, the government could work with private firms by using improved technologies to increase the production of staple foods as well as create jobs for unemployed youths.


SOURCE