Agriculture

Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector falls by 99.23%

Nigeria’s agriculture sector capital importation falls by 99.23% from $237.83m in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $1.76m in the first quarter of 2022. This means that there was a 99.23 percent decline within three months. This was contained in the Nigerian Capital Importation report for Q1 2022 released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has always encouraged Nigerians to go back into agriculture. He has asked for the involvement of more Nigerian youths in agriculture, urging agencies involved in agriculture to further streamline their priorities in the inclusion of the youth in driving...

Continue reading

Food Prices Rising Worldwide

food prices

Food prices are skyrocketing worldwide as international prices for some agricultural commodities reached a high record in February. This was reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on March 4th. Effects of Ukraine's War on Food Prices Ukraine's war lead to severe food shortages in conflict hotspots and this led to a rise in food prices. The war is likely to make an impact on wheat and fertilizer exports from the region. Due to this impact, it is said that there could be a threat to food security in other regions. This threat can go as...

Continue reading

300 youths to become agripreneurs

The Lagos State Government has said no fewer than 300 youth agripreneurs from its Lagos Agripreneurship Programme and the Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme will be empowered on Thursday. The government said the youths would be empowered at the 2021 Agricultural Value Chains Empowerment Programme on Thursday. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, made this known in a statement on Sunday, noting that this year’s empowerment programme was to create an enabling environment for youths in the field of agriculture. She said, “We have a total of 300 participants out of which 240 is for aquaculture and 60 for poultry. Out of the...

Continue reading

Agro firm partners Sterling Bank to finance 200,000 farmers

sterling

An agro-based outfit, Makarois Global Resources, has said it has concluded arrangements, in partnership, with Sterling Bank to finance 200,000 farmers drawn from eight states, including Kano for the 2021 farming season. Addressing about 2,000 farmers’ cooperatives from eight senatorial zones at an interactive session held in Kano on Monday, the Managing Director of Makarois Global Resources Limited, Binchang Binfa, sensitised farmers on available financial sources for the 2021 farming season. According to him, the interactive session, among others, will link one million farmers from Kano, and seven other states, with access to market and finance, within the next three years. He added...

Continue reading

CBN-financed farmers cultivated 3.64 million hectares – Emefiele

CBN-financed farmers cultivated 3.64 million hectares – Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the bank shows the need for all stakeholders to sustain current efforts by the bank to galvanise agricultural production to meet the requirements of Nigeria’s growing population. He said this in Zauro, Kebbi State on Tuesday during the inauguration of the 2020 wet season harvest aggregation and 2020 dry season input distribution under the CBN-Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, as part of the fifth anniversary of the ABP. He noted that 2.92 million farmers cultivating 3.64 million hectares across 21 commodities...

Continue reading

FG to engage 30,000 graduates as extension workers

FG to engage 30,000 graduates as extension workers

The Federal Government is to engage 30,000 graduates to serve as agriculture extension workers who will provide strategic support to farmers across the country. It also announced on Monday that it had empowered 20 young Nigerian farmers with an initial take off grant of N30m, adding that the fund was provided through the Bank of Agriculture. Executive Secretary, National Agricultural Land Development Authority, Paul Ikonne, told journalists in Abuja that the graduates would be trained in agriculture extension services including the collection of soil samples and how to conduct soil tests. He said the approval to engage the graduates was given by the...

Continue reading

Farmers exported N60.5bn goods in three months– NBS

Farmers exported N60.5bn goods

Nigerian farmers exported goods worth N60.5bn in the third quarter of 2020. During the quarter, total trade in agricultural goods stood at N563.9bn, according to figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics on foreign trade. Analysis by economic region showed that agricultural goods were exported to Asia (N32.2bn), Europe (N16.7bn), Africa (N9.1bn) and America (N2.4bn). The key drivers of agricultural products exports were sesamum seeds, cashew nuts, good fermented cocoa beans and superior quality raw cocoa beans. Sesamum seeds were exported mainly to Japan (N5.3bn) and China (N4.7bn), while cashew nuts worth N8.3bn and N2.2bn were exported to Vietnam and India respectively. In terms...

Continue reading

Nigeria’s wheat production may rise to 450,000MT

Wheat producton in Nigeria

Nigeria wheat farmers have increased the forecast for the country’s wheat harvest for 2020/2021 by seven per cent on the back of availability of improved seeds. Wheat is now projected to yield 450,000 metric tonnes, up from 420,000 metric tonnes produced by farmers in the last season, the President, Wheat Growers Association of Nigeria, Salim Muhammad, confirmed this to The PUNCH on Tuesday. Under the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muhammad said, about 100,000 farmers would be given the necessary incentives to improve wheat production. After harvesting the wheat, he said the grains would be purchased by flour millers...

Continue reading

Nigeria to end fertilizer importation by 2023

• 5 years sentence awaits fertilizer adulterators Citing the over 33 fertiliser blending plants across the country, currently producing about five million metric tonnes (MT) of fertilizer annually, with many more underway, the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, has expressed optimism that Nigeria would have no business importing fertiliser by 2023. According to him, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), estimates that the country requires about 7million MT of fertilizer annually, and with the current production of 5million MT, the government had to grant waivers to some fertiliser plants to import the product. He said with the enabling environment provided for private sector...

Continue reading

Rise in food prices pushes inflation to 11.40%

food

The seasonal rise in prices of food items has further pressured the nation’s inflation rate in May 2019 to 11.4 percent, about 0.03 basis points above the previous month’s record. This would be the second consecutive uptick in the inflation rate this year, haven risen 0.12 basis points in April against March 2019. Food prices Foodstuff prices in the market has gone too high for the average Nigerian to buy The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday, in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for May 2019, said the rise was across all classifications of the inflation index. The Bureau stated:...

Continue reading