President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his administration's determination to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production. He said that his government plans to achieve the capacity to export 10 million tons of grains and other processed foods annually by 2019.
Buhari said this in a message to the Green River Project, an agricultural initiative sponsored by Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, and its partners, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and Oando, an indigenous oil and gas company.
The message was read on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Arc. Sonny S. T. Echono.
The President said that government was returning marketing corporations as the main platform for the raising of 740,000 market-oriented young agricultural entrepreneurs.
He added that government has set up the Youth Employment in Agriculture Program (YEAP) to help 20,000 school leavers and rural youth leaders in each state of the federation and groom 18,500 university graduates into agribusiness entrepreneurs.
He also said that government plans to inject a total of 6,000 units of tractors and implements, 15,000 power tillers, 20,000 planting and post harvest equipment to mechanise an estimated 4 million hectares of land nationwide, through the
Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHEs).
President Buhari noted that
" the Green River Project has become more important at this time in our national life when oil has ceased to become the cash cow of our economy. We have no option than to turn to agriculture.
”Diversification of our economy is no longer something to pay lip service to”, he said.
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