Agriculture Has Added N777bn to the Economy – FG

The Federal Government has said that agriculture has contributed over N777bn in income to the economy.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, made this statement during the inauguration of the African Development Bank-assisted Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme Phase I, held at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Abuja.

He said “The Agricultural Transformation Agenda has added over N777bn in income to the economy. The agricultural GDP of Nigeria rose from N14tn in 2011 to N15.8tn in 2012 and N16.8tn in 2013. The total agricultural GDP in just three years (2011-2013) was N46.6tn, surpassing the total cumulative GDP for the eight-year period of 2000-2008 of N42tn.

“Over 3.5 million farm jobs have been created across the agricultural value chain, spurring a revival of rural economies, especially for millions of youths and reducing rural-to-urban migration. There is renewed hope for millions all across Nigeria’s rural areas.

We moved away from agriculture as a development programme to agriculture as a business. Private sector investments in the agriculture sector expanded by $5.6bn within the last three years, with 80 per cent of the new investments from domestic investors who are rapidly shifting away from oil and gas industries to the agriculture sector.

“We have revolutionised private financial markets for agriculture. Banks are lending to the agriculture sector more than ever before. Total bank lending to the agriculture sector as a share of total lending expanded from 0.7 per cent in 2011 to five per cent by 2014 and we expect this to reach close to 10 per cent by next year.

“We developed a risk sharing facility with the Central Bank of Nigeria, which has expanded lending for seed and fertilizer companies from N13bn in 2011 to N40bn by 2014.”

Adesina who noted that about 6,618 youths have been trained in agriculture business and large scale farming also said “Poverty must not become a natural comparative advantage of Africa.

“We must unlock Africa’s agricultural potential and build a more climate resilient agricultural system. To achieve this, we must turn Africa’s absolute advantage into competitive advantage by adding value to all farm produce. Africa must feed the world.”