The Federal Government of Nigeria has explained why the country should continue to partner with investors from the United States in the area of agriculture.
In his keynote address at the on-going Nigerian Investors Forum on Agriculture in Washington DC, USA, Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, said that the country was committed to mechanised farming.
His words, “ The government of Nigeria is? committed to mechanised farming and there is every need for the federal government to partner with American investors to transform the sector”
The Minister who said that agriculture accounted for 40 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, added that the sector was the country’s leading employer, hence the? need for the government to prioritise agricultural development by infusing $3 billion and creating Staple Crop Processing Zones.
He said that Nigeria was Africa’s most populous nation with an estimated 10 million people in its rapidly growing middle class.Adesina noted that the country was a major consumer of a range of agricultural products, seeking to dramatically increase domestic production and processing of such products through technology, capacity building and value-chain enhancement.