On its part, the Federal Government has raised alarm that the continued importation of products that could be produced locally was a big threat to local production.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who unveiled the agricultural roadmap christened: “The green alternative: Agriculture promotion policy-2016-2020”, said the government was committed to developing the sector as the driver of economic diversification process of the administration, stressing that the policies of previous administrations were being reviewed and incorporated.
Osinbajo stated that government would engage 100,000 of the 500,000 employments being provided by the administration to extension workers that will help in agricultural information dissemination, adding that the implementation of the school feeding programme will be home-grown based on local agricultural products.
In the area of agriculture financing, the vice president disclosed that the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) will by the end of this month commence single digit lending to farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture also stated that milk and tomato paste importation gulps over one billion dollars (N300 billion) and $400m (N1.2 billion) respectively annually.
Ogbeh explained that the roadmap was built on the policies of the former administration because according to him, throwing everything overboard would cost the country far more.
