Nigerians At Risk Of Starvation By 2050 – Minister of Agriculture

On Thursday, Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, warned that Nigerians were at the risk of starving to death by 2050 if nothing was done to ensure all-year-round farming.

The minister made this disclosures when he defended the 2016 budget proposal of his ministry before the joint Committee on Agriculture.

According to him, the present mode of farming in Nigeria was incapable of sustaining the  increasing population in the country.

He said there was an urgent need for all stakeholders in the agricultural sector to work towards improving ‎mechanised farming and irrigation in order to ensure all-year-round farming that will avert the problem.

“We have written to state governments to encourage them to develop dams and canals so that agriculture becomes an all-year-round activity and it is not confined to the rainy season alone.

“Four or five months of farm activity cannot sustain the country for 12 months. Besides, by 2050, Nigeria’s population will be very close to 500 million, going by the current rate of growth.

“This is just 34 years from now. If we carry on at the current rate of one crop per year and very low mechanisation, Nigeria runs a risk of starving to death,’’ he said.

Ogbeh also said the current crisis between herdsmen and rural farmers was a major setback for the agricultural sector in the country.