Despite insecurity, Benue shares food basket title with 65% poultry farming production
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Benue in the North Central remains one of Nigeria’s food baskets despite rampant disruption of its farmlands by terrorists, sharing the status with Jigawa in the North West and Ebonyi, the lone state from the South.
Latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows Benue has the largest percentage of poultry farming households, Jigawa (livestock farming), and Ebonyi (crop farming).
The figures, gleaned from newly released NBS National Agricultural Sample Census Report 2022, also show national agricultural households stood at 40.2 million that year.
Ebonyi had the highest number with 99.5 per cent of agricultural households in Crop Cultivation, Lagos at 48 per cent had the least.
The highest percentage of agricultural households engaged in Livestock Production was recorded in Jigawa with 84.2 per cent followed by Bauchi with 79.7 per cent.
For Poultry, the highest percentage of agricultural households emerged in Benue (65.2 per cent), followed by Ebonyi (63.3 per cent).
The last time Nigeria conducted the report was in 1993/1994, the NBS said.
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