We will vote more resources for agriculture in 2017
Government will sustain concrete measures to
diversify the economy by devoting more resources
to agriculture in the 2017 budget.
The president made this known in a statement
issued in Abuja on Sunday by his Senior Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba
Shehu.
According to the statement, Buhari, who was
speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, on the
margins of the sixth Tokyo International Conference
on African Development (TICAD VI), said that
African countries had a lot to learn from Japan on
developing agriculture.
He said already, Nigeria had started an aggressive
farming programme that entailed organising
farmers into cooperatives in the second and third
tier of government.
“We intend to put more resources in our 2017
budget, especially in the procurement of machinery
for land clearing, fertilizers, pesticides and training
of less-educated farmers as farm extension
instructors.
“We have already registered some success this year
in a number of states; we identified some 13 states
that will be self-sufficient in rice, wheat and grains
before the end of 2018.
“We are very positive that soon we will be able to
export these food products.
“We are also lucky that the farming season in the
northern part of the country has been very good
and we are expecting a bumper harvest this year,’’
he said.
On his expectation for TICAD, the president said
that Japan’s story of rapid economic growth,
hardwork and advanced technology should
encourage Africans to strive harder and solve its
development challenges.
“Japan has greatly advanced in technology,
particularly in solar power, infrastructure to spur
growth in medium and small-scale industries.
“And, because of the advanced use of technology,
farming and agriculture can become competitive.
“Japan has the knowledge, technology and capital to
assist African countries to develop and Japanese
firms are in a very good position to successfully
compete for the development of infrastructure in
Nigeria,’’ he said.
He requested for increased participation of the
Japanese government and the private sector in the
Nigerian economy.
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