The National Bureau of Statistics has said that the total value of trade in agricultural goods stood at N1.5 trillion in the first six months of the year.
According to the data, imports accounted for N1.3 trillion of total trade in the sector while exports stood at N292.5 billion within the review period. This resulted in a trade deficit of N1.07 trillion in the agriculture sector.
Top imported agricultural products during the period under review included Durum wheat, mackerel, Herrings, edible mixtures, crude palm oil and malt, imported from countries such as Canada, Lithuania, Denmark, Russia, Netherlands and France.
In the first quarter of the year, total trade in the sector stood at N757.4 billion. Out of this amount, only N127.2 billion was earned as exports while N630.2 billion was spent on importing agricultural products.
In quarter one, the NBS said, “Top exported Agricultural products were Sesamum seeds exported mainly to China (valued at N23.1 billion), Japan (N8.3bn) and Turkey (N3 billion).
“This was followed by good fermented cocoa beans exported to the Netherlands (N9.2 billion), Malaysia (N5.5 billion) and the United States (N3.2 billion).”