President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed that his administration’s agricultural policies including the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme have led to a sharp decline in agricultural imports into Nigeria, resulting in food import bill reducing from $2.23 billion in 2014 to $0.59 billion by 2018.
The President disclosed this in his Democracy Day statement on Saturday, citing that interventions led by the government have driven economic growth and are targeted mostly at agriculture, infrastructure, power and the healthcare sectors.
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What the President said about the reduced food import bill
“In the agriculture sector, Anchor Borrowers’ resulted in sharp decline in the nations major food import bill from $2.23 billion in 2014 to 0.59 billion dollars by 2018. Rice imports dropped from $1 billion to $18.5 million dollars annually,” the president noted.
He added that his administration has supported the local production of rice, maize, cotton and cassava, adding that the government-financed 2.5 million farmers are cultivating about 3.2 million hectares of farmland across the country, creating 10 million direct and indirect jobs.
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What you should know
According to Nairametrics Research, despite the increase recorded in agricultural export, imported agricultural goods surged by 78.58% in 2020 compared to 2019. Nigeria imported agricultural goods worth N1.71 trillion in 2020 as against N959.5 billion in 2019.
