Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu said on Monday that Nigeria will save over N400 billion annually with increased local production of wheat.
The governor made the disclosure in Sokoto at the Pre-Season Training Workshop organised for wheat farmers from Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.
Explaining the arithmetic, Bagudu said wheat users across the country in 2014 imported 4 million tonnes of wheat, worth more than $4 billion.
”With the steps taken so far to bolster local production of the commodity this year, local farmers are capable of producing two million tonnes of wheat amounting to about $2 billion and equivalent to over N400 billion,” Bagudu, added.
The workshop was organised by the Lake Chad Research Institute, Maiduguri in collaboration with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the Support For Agricultural Research For Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARDS-CA).
Bagudu commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his renewed commitment to revive the local production of wheat and rice.
He also commended the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria, commercial banks, wheat users and farmers, as well as research institutes, among other stakeholders for their resolve to revive the local production of wheat and rice.
”It will no longer be business as usual, as there will be no policy somersaults again in the country.
”The wheat and rice farmers in the country will now have it so rosy like they had never been before,” the governor assured.
Bagudu explained that the farmers will as from this year’s dry farming season get more soft loans, water pumps, improved seeds and seedlings, pesticides and herbicides, among others.
Bagudu appealed to Nigerians to patronise Nigerian farm produce to save foreign exchange, reduce poverty and unemployment.
”Mostly, imported foodstuff like rice and wheat, and other canned foods are expired or they expire before being imported into the country; hence, they pose serious health hazards,” Bagudu said.
Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Bashir Garba, also promised to continue to give priority attention to the agriculture sector.
”Agriculture is one of the topmost agenda of the current administration in the state, as food security is next to none,” he said.
The Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Maiduguri, Dr Gbenga Olaganji, said that the workshop was aimed at preparing the wheat farmers for the 2015/2016 season.
”It is also aimed at increasing their level of wheat production, as well as brainstorm on their prospects and challenges, with a view to proffer plausible solutions,” Olaganji said.
-NAN
