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Nigeria generates N5bn from agricultural exports

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Nigeria generates N5bn from agricultural exports

Nigeria’s agricultural export earnings rose to over N5 billion in the last one year, indicating 180 percent increase from a year earlier, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, has said.

Ogbeh made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday when the ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with John Deere Tractor Manufacturing Company on the procurement of tractors and the provision of farm mechanisation services.

The minister expressed optimism that the country’s export earnings would continue to increase because of the tractor mechanisation services which would be rendered to smallholder farmers through the partnership with John Deere.

“This partnership means greater wealth, more exports for our country. I like to say how proud we are that agricultural exports in the last one year and half have gone up by 180 per cent, as we earned well over N5 billion from these exports.

“We are on the way and with your support, we will get there,’’ he said.

While speaking on delay in the planned recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) by the federal government, Ogbeh said that designed efforts were being made to restructure the bank in a way that people would no longer be able to take loans and refuse to pay back.

Read also: Nigeria’s airline operators sold N505bn worth of tickets in 2017 – NCAA

“It is taking so long because we have had to remove an entire management and bring in bankers now. The shareholders are mainly the Federal Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and they said they are ready to give us money.

“The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is doing a new restructuring. Farmers are going to own 30 per cent of the shares of BOA.

“And the bank would have a branch in each of the local government areas of the country where they can talk to farmers,’’ he said.

The minister also noted that the newly introduced Agriculture Input and Mechanisation Services (AIMS), which would replace the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme, would soon be launched.

By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan…

 

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