By Ishaya Ibrahim
Acting News Editor
By the 2017 fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report of the Abuja based National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), one of the sectors investors would be eyeing is agriculture, particularly crop production.
Agriculture, which has four sub-activities including crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing, grew by 10 percent in fourth quarter of 2017 (year-on-year).
Crop Production was the major driver, accounting for 92 percent of overall growth of the sector.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, agriculture contributed 22 percent to GDP.
The growth in the sector was bolstered by Nigeria’s government policy to ban the importation of rice, which the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh said has dropped by 95 per cent, saving Nigeria $600 million in foreign exchange annually.
Business analysts anticipated more investments in the sector owing largely to consumer demand for rice which stands at six million metric tonnes annually.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects a 2.1 percent growth for Nigeria‘s GDP this year. This will translate to a rise by 150 percent from the 2017 fourth quarter performance of 0.8 percent.