{{Nigeria is considering to revive its Agriculture sector on a large scale to deal with the effects of oil curse. }} <\/p>\n
When President Goodluck Jonathan was elected two years ago, he pledged reforms that would transform the lives of tens of millions of farmers who live on less than $2 a day despite occupying some of Africa’s most fertile land.<\/p>\n
Oil remains the main source of foreign currency and state revenues, but agriculture is by far the biggest contributor to GDP, making up 40% of Africa’s second largest economy.<\/p>\n
With 170 million mouths to feed and a growing food import bill thanks to the disarray in the farming sector, agriculture ministry officials say there’s no time to lose.<\/p>\n
If productivity does not improve Nigeria could face a food crisis within a decade, its current account surplus would be wiped out and the credit worthiness of Africa’s second biggest debt issuer would be under threat.<\/p>\n
“If we did nothing, it would be a disaster,” Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina told Reuters in the capital.<\/p>\n
“We don’t eat oil, we don’t drink it … We cannot sustain the amount of money we use to import food,” Adesina said, a Nigerian flag hanging behind his office chair.<\/p>\n
In some cases, the imports substitute for things Nigerians are growing but can’t get to market or lack the means to process.<\/p>\n
The country is the second largest grower of citrus fruit in the world after China and yet it spends $200 million a year on imported fruit juice while its own produce rots, Adesina said.<\/p>\n
It also produces 1.5 million metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.1023 tons) of tomatoes annually of which 45 percent perish, while consumers spend $360 million on tomato paste imported from countries such as Italy and China.<\/p>\n
{Additional reporting, Agencies}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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