Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, said the federal government has secured a €995 million deal between with the Brazilian Government, and the German Deutsch Bank Group to finance a Green Imperative Programme in Nigeria.
Kyari made this statement on Monday in Minna, Niger State.
According to the Minister, the Programme aims to create mechanization hubs in each of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria as part of its implementation plan.
- “A memorandum of understanding between the Federal Government and the John Deer Group, a subsidiary of Tata Equipment, was signed.
- “The manufacturer has signed to deliver 10,000 units of tractors and implement in tranches of 2,000 units per annum for the next five years.
- “The Greener Hope Initiative is another veritable platform the federal government is deploying to ultimately change the deficit narrative in the Nigerian agricultural mechanization space,’’ he said.
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On his part, President Bola Tinubu said his administration remains committed to ensuring food sufficiency and protecting local industries for sustainable economic growth.
The president who said this during the Food Security and Agricultural Mechanization Programme in Niger State, added that the initiative is for the deployment of cutting-edge agricultural machinery and technology for large-scale agro-value chain development in the state.
- “We have seen the level of commitment here. We have seen leadership. The success of any leader will depend on the ability to do what needs to be done when it ought to be done.
- “It is now time for us to address the challenges and make Nigeria an economy of opportunities. We must care for our people; re-orient our people. I do not see why Nigeria cannot feed all students in its schools,” he said.
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What you should know
Nigeria currently grapples with an unprecedented food inflation which stands at 35.41% according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.
- As a result, the prices of food items have quadruple, leading to food crisis and a nationwide protest by the organized labour over the persistent hunger in the country.
- Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) offered a donation of 25,000 tons of wheat from the Government of Ukraine to Nigeria which will help provide emergency food assistance to 1.3 million crisis-affected people in Nigeria.
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