The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has given Nigerian hope concerning the prize of food in the country, promising that it will fall soon.
He disclosed that the Federal Government will stop the importation of rice this year.
Ogbeh algo hinted that the country has enough internal production that can sustain home consumption and meet foreign exchange earnings that can guarantee diversification of the economy.
In order to further boost internal production of the commodity and enhance the country’s comparative advantages in rice and yam production, Ogbeh stated that the federal government will sign a memorandum of understanding with Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Ekiti State Government in the two critical sectors.
“Of recent, prices of diesel increased from N130 pr litre to about N280, which makes the cost of tractors to move up to N14 million from N7 million.
“The interest rate on every loan given to farmers also went up, so the aggregate of all these factors caused an increase in the prices of food items.
“We are concerned with the plights of Nigerians. We knew that many are hungry but we are working around it because it doesn’t speak well of us in government that people are hungry.”
