The President Mohammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has
launched a new agricultural sector roadmap known as The Green Alternative, for
the projected promotion of agriculture for the year 2016 through 2020, reports
NaijaAgroNet.
The launch which took place in Abuja, the nation’s capital,
NaijaAgronet gathered was declared open by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
on behalf of Mr. President on Monday.
He also said government would deploy 100,000 agriculture
extension workers to assist farmers implement the policy, stressing that the
move to diversify the economy through the agriculture sector had become
necessary due to the huge food importation bill and the need to create jobs for
the teeming population of youth in the country.
Osinbajo expressed optimism that the roadmap would address
challenges in the sector and reposition it for economic growth and development
“The present administration came into office to meet an
economy in a meltdown and we have to take difficult decisions on short, medium
term in order to repair the huge damage done, especially by the dependence on
oil, the worst not investing in infrastructure or deepening the diversification
of our economy, or even building our reserves when oil sold at over a $100 per
barrel.
“We knew that we had to set aright and put back the economy
on a fast lane, inclusive growth, job creation for our huge population. One of
the most critical components of that plan is to position agriculture, the
arrowhead of our economic recovery efforts.
“There is no question at all that if we get agriculture
right, we will get our economy right. The great clarity, ‘The Green
Alternative, sets out strategies to resolve these challenges and particularly
impressed that the roadmap does not dismiss the agric policies ‘building on the
successes of the agricultural agenda’.
“This particular issue of alignment is crucial. For
instance, there is no way we can encourage agriculture than to encourage food
production when we allow unbridled importation of the same things we are trying
to produce.
“Still on the issue of policy of alignment, as part of our
500,000 teacher corps that we will be engaging 100, 000 of them that will be
trained as extension workers for our farms.
“I, hereby, launch the Agriculture Sector Roadmap: The Green
Alternative; Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020.”
Further, the Vice President said, the home-grown school
feeding programme will have one meal a day for pupils and specifically the food
will be from farms in each state. He also assured that the Bank of Agriculture
would be recapitalised and repositioned to meet farmers’ financial need by
giving them a single digit interest rate and low interest.
Equally speaking earlier, Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the roadmap for the sector was all
encompassing and would salvage the economy from collapse.
“In this policy, you will see us navigating through the
agricultural terrain, trucking on virtually every aspect. The emphasis on
‘Green’ is to capture the essence, spirit and orientation of this new
policy/strategy document,” Ogbeh said.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Pix: left, Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture, Mohammed Tahir Mongonu; Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed and Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige during the launch/public presentation of the Agricultureal Sector Roadmap, The Green Alternative Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020, in Abuja, Monday.
