The Federal Governent said on Thursday that the raging insecurity across the country has not affected food production.
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Abubakar, in spite of the security challenge food production in Nigeria has not dropped.
He stated this during the weekly ministerial briefing at the State House in Abuja.
Abubakar noted that insurgency, which is inhibiting farmers from accessing their farms, particularly in the North-West, North-East, and North-Central, remains a concern for the Federal Government.
He, however, Insisted that food production continues at an appreciable level for most parts of the country.
He said that 3.6 million direct and indirect jobs had been created through $1.1 billion in externally-funded agriculture projects implemented by the current administration.
The minister further said that $538 million dollars was approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for special agricultural processing zones to support inclusive and sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria.
He listed the participating states as Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto.
He insisted that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, contrary to claims in some quarters, is still on track to end food hunger by 2025,
Abubakar cited Nigeria’s food production sufficiency (which has placed the country as number one in Africa and 4th in the world in rice production) as evidence that Buhari is living up to his pledge to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within a decade.
He added that the agriculture sector, so far, contributes an aggregate of 25 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and looks towards an upscale of 26-27 per cent in 2022.