The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has called for the repositioning and recapitalization of the Bank of Agriculture and the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation for access to credit and de-risking agricultural production, as well as the strengthening of some institutions and agencies.
The minister made this call in Abuja at the ministerial media briefing on the sectoral update of the one-year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, while enumerating some of the major achievements of the present administration in the last year.
Kyari emphasized the need to reposition institutions and agencies under the ministry, including the National Agricultural Development Fund, universities, research institutions, and colleges of agriculture, to improve agricultural production, food security, and boost export potential.
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He also underscored the need for consolidation and scaling up of the achievements as well as the development of the agro-industrial and agro-tourism sectors, disclosing that the agricultural sector injected an estimated value of N309 billion into the Nigerian economy in the last year.
According to him, the acquisition of the ministry in the last year covered the provision of rural infrastructure, the provision of motorized and solar-powered boreholes, and the installation of solar street lights.
He added that his ministry had launched dry-season farming with the cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states as an acceleration of all-year-round farming in a bid to ensure food and nutrition security.
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As part of measures to guarantee the protection and safety of farmers on their farmlands, he stated that there has been an improvement in farmland security with the provision of additional resources to Agro Rangers and other security agencies.
On livestock production and animal health, the minister stated the Federal Government had in the last year procured and distributed 14,056,467 doses of anthrax spore and foot and mouth disease vaccines for risk-based vaccination exercise in 22 high-risk states across Nigeria.
