Food security: FG unveils new agric investment incentives

— As Shettima says hunger unifies humanity

—Pledges enhanced recognition access, irrigation expansion, and full-time agrarian jobs

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA – THE Federal Government connected Tuesday announced caller incentives to boost cultivation concern nether President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

This is portion of ongoing reforms to unlock Nigeria’s immense nutrient accumulation imaginable done caller policies that service arsenic a game-changer for agriculture and infrastructure investments successful the country.

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, disclosed this successful Abuja, during the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) National and Subregional Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum.

According to him, portion hunger poses a planetary information issue, Nigeria indispensable mobilise its strengths to unafraid a aboriginal of abundance.

“Nothing unifies humanity arsenic overmuch arsenic hunger. It is the large equaliser that reveals our vulnerabilities and the shared fragility of our existence. Food is not simply a substance of survival, it is simply a substance of planetary security,” helium said.

The Vice President noted that the medication is introducing single-window platforms for onshore registration, strengthening cultivation recognition systems, expanding irrigation infrastructure, and scaling mechanisation.

“We indispensable facilitate entree to onshore and resources for superior investors. We indispensable thrust mechanisation to trim drudgery and heighten productivity. We indispensable fortify the cultivation recognition strategy to guarantee superior flows to wherever it is needed most,” helium said.

Senator Shettima specifically observed that irrigation is simply a game-changer, noting that Nigeria has stream basins and aquifers susceptible of irrigating implicit 3 cardinal hectares but presently uses little than 10 per cent.

“Strategic concern successful irrigation unsocial could triple yields, escaped america from seasonal dependency, and fortify our resilience against clime shocks,” helium added.

The Vice President besides assured investors that Nigeria’s policies are being re-engineered to pull superior done regulatory reforms, public-private partnerships, and agri-tech innovation.

“Nigeria is unfastened for business, and we are acceptable to spouse with you. Let america enactment hand-in-hand to physique a Nigeria and a subregion wherever nary 1 goes to furniture hungry, wherever agrarian communities are hubs of wealthiness creation, and wherever agriculture is the existent instauration of our prosperity,” VP Shettima said.

The Vice President further assured that Nigeria is unfastened for concern and acceptable to spouse with applicable stakeholders and investors successful implementing its nationalist blueprint targeted astatine creating 21 cardinal full-time jobs successful agrarian and agrarian communities, portion securing nationalist nutrient and nutrition sufficiency.

“The conveyance to this aboriginal is the prime of policies we person chosen to prioritise. At the apical of these interventions stands our National Development Plan (2021–2025), which has acceptable distant ambitious but achievable targets.

“This blueprint seeks to assistance 35 cardinal Nigerians retired of poverty, make 21 cardinal full-time jobs successful agrarian and agrarian communities, and unafraid nationalist nutrient and nutrition sufficiency done deliberate and strategical investments successful agriculture,” helium added.

Earlier, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, made a presumption connected Nigeria’s concern ambiance and state profile, highlighting cardinal challenges and potentials for concern crossed the agribusiness worth chain.

He said a operation of Nigeria’s home market, ample arable land, clement upwind and accelerated increasing integer economy, contiguous unsocial opportunities for concern crossed the agribusiness ecosystem.

For his part, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, said the economical imaginable of Nigeria remains mostly untapped particularly successful agriculture and irrigation which clasp important committedness for economical diversification and transformation.

He noted that agriculture, peculiarly agribusiness, remains a pivotal constituent of Nigeria’s nationalist improvement program successful the mean and agelong term, arsenic good arsenic the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security of The Gambia, Dr Demba Sabally, commended the FA...