Nigeria is beating its target to raise food production, lifting output by eight million tonnes last year, in efforts to diversify Africa’s second-largest economy away from a reliance on oil, Agriculture Minister, Akinwunmi Adesina, has said.
According to Reuters, President Goodluck Jonathan laid out ambitious targets to raise food production such as rice and cocoa by 20 million tonnes within four years after his 2011 election victory.
This would represent an increase of around 15 per cent by 2015, based on the latest United Nations data.
In 2012, the first full year since the pledge, the West African country produced an additional 8.1 million tonnes compared with a five million tonne target, Akinwumi Adesina said.
“Nigeria has no business importing food. We should be a global power house on food,” he said at a round-table discussion on agriculture in Geneva this week, ahead of meetings with investors at the Davos conference.
Africa’s most populous nation was a major exporter of palm oil and cocoa in the 1960s but production has slumped as the country has instead shifted its economy towards the oil sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of government revenues.
Since an oil boom in the 1970s, a series of administrations have promised to support the agricultural sector to boost employment and alleviate poverty but policy has been inconsistent and lacked commitment.
Poor infrastructure, corruption and mismanagement mean most farming remains at a subsistence level. Nigeria spends around $11bn on food imports annually, Adesina said.