The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said that the country could put the growing population into good use by increasing local production of food crops.
The Minister posited that Nigeria’s population which would grow up to 200 million people by the year 2020 could be an advantage for food production if the country could hasten to lift the agricultural sector to the level of China, India and other nations of the western world.
The Minister said “In four years time, our population will be 200 million people and we can put that population into good use if we have the capacity and more organized like the Chinese or Indians”.
Chief Audu Ogbeh made this known recently when he received in audience a delegation from the Kingdom of the Netherlands led by its Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Groffen in his office.
He maintained that there is an urgent need for the country to grow more food crops in order to meet the demands of her growing population and sought for more supports from the international community towards the sustainable development of the country’s agricultural sector.
According to him, Nigeria’s agricultural sector would require international supports in its programmes and initiatives such as the Cattle breeding improvement, climate change, standardization and certification of food products, seed development and improvement, capacity building among others.
Chief Ogbeh further sought assistance from the Netherland government on area of machineries that could convert shafts from rice mills in the country to briquettes for household uses, adding that, the present administration was poised to take life back to the rural areas, mostly for women and youths. He stated that the Ministry was working in collaboration with other relevant ministries like the Ministries of Works, Environment, Water Resources and Industry, Trade and Investment to grow and develop the country’s agricultural sector.
Earlier, the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Groffen who led the delegation said the purpose of their visit was to explore areas of collaboration with the Ministry, describing the challenges facing the nation’s agricultural sector as enormous.
