Agriculture: Nigeria eyes $10bn in 3yrs- Ogbeh

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has said the country’s economy will be in difficult situation if the nation fails to earn more dollars from agriculture.

Speaking during the official launch of yam export in Lagos he said: “The argument is this if by 2020, Nigeria does not have the capacity to at least earn $10 to $15bn from agriculture; we are in serious trouble because many of the loans we are taking now will be due for repayment.

If we do not have dollars, you can have all the naira in the world nobody wants your naira.”

Chief Ogbeh stated that almost 30 per cent of yams grown in Nigeria rot away because no facilities for preserving yams.

“at the time we are exporting yams, knew yams have started coming out. New yams are here, the stock of old yams are there. I was in the US in August last year and I went to North Carolina, the university there. A group of Nigerians gave me lunch. One 3kg of tubers of yams sells for $15, multiply that by 360.” He said.

The minister said there are about 4 to 5 million Nigerians in the UK looking for yams, and are also calling from North Carolina, Texas, Carlifonia asking for Nigerian yams.

“the yam market is $10bn worth globally. Why shouldn’t we be part of it? We embark on these things because we have the capacity to do so and because the demand for our produce abroad is very high other than oil and gas,” he stressed.