Amid an unending insecurity crisis that has negatively impacted farming activities in many parts of the country, the total value of agricultural products imported into Nigeria within the last two years rose to N4.6tn, findings by The PUNCH have revealed.
According to data collated from separate Foreign Trade Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria imported agric imports to the tune of N2.36tn between June 2022 to June 2021, while another N2.31tn was imported between June 2021 and June 2020.
On the other hand, agric exports within this period trailed the import component by a distant mile, standing at a meagre N964.24bn, leaving a balance of trade of N3.7tn.
By volume, durum wheat led the agric products imported into Nigeria. Others included crude palm oil, palm olein, mackerel, edible mixtures, herrings, maize seeds, among others.
Last week, the Federal Government had said that a lot of opportunities abounded in the agricultural sector as over 56 per cent of available agricultural land was still not in use.
Experts blame insecurity as Nigeria’s agric imports exceed exports by N503bn
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, stated this in Jos on Thursday while addressing participants at the ongoing 45th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development.
According to the Minister, “Nigeria is endowed with a total of 79million hectares of agricultural land with only 44 per cent being cultivated. The nation also has 267 billion cubic meters of fresh surface water and 58 billion cubic meters of underground water, with 37 billion cubic meters only stored in dams. Annual rainfall in the country is within 300mm to 4,000mm. Conversely, potential irrigable area is about 3.14 million hectares with less than 7 per cent utilised presently.”
Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH on the primary factors inhibiting Nigeria’s agricultural sector, the Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, Olusola Obadimu, said Nigeria was underperforming because it had failed to realise the potential of the sector.
Obadimu noted that agriculture was key to having a vibrant manufacturing sector, as the majority of raw materials were harnessed from agricultural products.
He said, “In terms of all the processing we do, it’s either you start from a mineral product or agricultural product, which is why we call them primary industries.”
