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According to a 2018 report by the CBN, Nigeria’s monthly food import bill fell from $665.4m in January 2015 to $160.4m as of October 2018.
Nigeria spends $22 billion on food importation annually.
Nigeria spends $22 billion on food importation annually.
This staggering figure exposes why Nigeria’s balance of payment has remained in the negatives whilst it continues to wallow in the doldrums of dependency. Nigeria imports more than it exports while we have vast arable lands and growing youth unemployment.
Nigeria will remain a consuming nation if no action is taken now. A nation blessed with huge human capacity and population strength has no reason to import. With over 200 million people, why should we even import food.
We import virtually every thing we can consume locally.
We import virtually every thing we can consume locally.
We import items like maize, wheat, rice, fish, toothpicks, eggs and other poultry products. Of this items, milk and tomato paste importation gulps over one billion dollars (N300 billion) and $400m (N1.2 billion) respectively annually, according to the CBN report.
Are you saying Nigerians can't grow enough tomatoes for processing? Or we don't have the technical know-how and capital to establish a tomato processing plants?
Don't you also think we can develop our diary sector and harvest more litres of milk per cow and stop milk importation?
Don't you also think we can develop our diary sector and harvest more litres of milk per cow and stop milk importation?
Nigerians are just lazy and we want the Government to do everything for us. We like cutting corners. We clamour for reforms but we don't want to be reformed. We hate to sacrifice while we keep condemning government policies. We can't grow our economy of we keep importing.
We keep sending billions of Naira abroad in the name of food import, developing other countries agricultural sector while our own agricultural sector remain in shambles. Nigeria is blessed with land, water, human capacity and the tech-knowledge to do agriculture the right way.
With a population in excess of 200m and 51% of that population in rural areas, there is abundance of human capital to spearhead agricultural revolution.
The country is blessed with land mass of 92.4 million hectares, large expanse of arable land amounting to 82.0 million Hectares
The country is blessed with land mass of 92.4 million hectares, large expanse of arable land amounting to 82.0 million Hectares
There is hardly any year the country does not experience constant rain. It was no coincidence that agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigeria economy. This sector was once responsible for 65.7 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1959.
but upon the discovery of crude oil and the profligacy that followed, its contribution began to shrink and now contributes barely 25 per cent to the annual GDP. Whilst the country spends trillions of naira importing food, we earns less than $1.5 billion from food export annually.
FOREX for 41 items were banned by CBN not long ago, do Nigerians die? Do we noticed any upsurge in these items price? No. Nigeria will adjust to whatever effect this ban will berth. We will overcome to become an exporting nation. More hands will farm if this ban is effective.
Today, our local farmers are producing enough broilers. The partial ban on poultry products has really boosted local broiler productions in Nigeria. State like Osun state during @raufaregbesola reigns keyed into this opportunity.
The Osun state OBOPS II Broilers out-growers scheme in partnership with @natnudOfoods (Amo Seiberer Farms) and SAYED FARMS produces over 500 tons of processed chickens on a monthly basis, all cropped from farmers from the state. Now, any individual can rear and sell broilers.
Those who argued against this policy are only protecting the interest of rich elites making millions from food import. We can not continue to bless other countries with our money while we keep condemning government policies aimed to better the lots of the farmers.
Ban FOREX for food import,our brain will reset as a nation.We wil all go back to farm. It may be frustrating for those who eat imported foods but they will soon adapt their palates to local foods.
And if they can't,they should take a flight to London for breakfast.We no send them
And if they can't,they should take a flight to London for breakfast.We no send them
The last time Olam and cohorts imported Maize in 2016/2017,what we witnessed is increased in poultry business fold up.The grains are of low quality unsuitable for our birds. Many poultry closed down but Olam remain in business
Imagine Nigerians importing soup, porridge and jollof
Imagine Nigerians importing soup, porridge and jollof
Nigeria must be food sufficient. We must grow what we consume. We don't have any reason to import. I repeat. We can only grow our economy by making agriculture our main focus and national pride.
Don't forget at Ottab Synergy Farms & Agro-Allied Consult we make Agri-business simple and profitable for you.We can help you with farm infrastructure setup and technical support.We also have quality Point of Lay birds for sales at affordable prices. DM for details
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