By Alex C
The size of Agribusiness and Agriculture sector in Africa is projected to grow by $1 trillion in 2030. Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, minister of Agriculture, who made this known at the 2014 International AgrikExpo held in Lagos, Nigeria, disclosed that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Agriculture in Africa will continue to rise until it gets to $45 billion by 2020.
While Nigeria currently spends about $4 billion on importation of rice, as recently stated by Nigeria’s Central Bank’s Deputy Governor in charge of economic policy, Dr Sarah Alade, the Federal Government‘s self-rice sufficiency plan by 2015 will see the nation save $2.5 billion annually.
A peep into Nigeria’s agriculture sector reveal that rice production rose by 4.3 million metric tonnes and the number of integrated modern rice mills rose from five to 15 in the past two years. As part of the FG’s plan to grow the agric sector, the country launched the Growth enhancement Scheme (GES).
The scheme is designed in a way whereby farmers across the country receive subsidized fertilizer and seed via electronic voucher on their phones popularly called e-wallet, as part of effort to fight corruption in the procurement and distribution of fertilizers.
Within two years, the e-wallet system reached over eight million farmers and the production of millions of farmers has risen dramatically. The impact of the scheme has been massive, observers have identified.
Nigeria is the first country in the in the world to adopt this electronic platform for farmers to purchase subsidized farm inputs on mobile phones.
Image: https://www.dfz.bg/assets/6307/