THE Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, on Tuesday, said Nigeria loses over N1.6 trillion annually on importation of food items into the country, just as he declared that the days of importation of cheap food are over.

Dr Adesina, who made the revelation when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, in Abuja, said the present government had started a reform aimed at boosting the sector and to also return it to its glory days.

This is coming just as the chairman, House Committee on Agriculture, Honour-able Tahir Monguno, lamented the total neglect of the sector and the failure of several attempts to revive it by the previous administrations, saying that the House was ready to correct the anomalies in the sector

While unveiling the agricultural transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led ad-ministration to the committee, he said “food exporters have demonstrated a willingness to ban exports from such countries as Thailand, Russia, India, Vietnam, among others.”

The minister, who warned that Nigeria was at the risk of the type of unrest rocking the North African countries, said Nigeria was importing over a trillion naira worth of wheat, rice, sugar and fish from the countries that had signified intention to ban export of these food items.

To this end, the minister solicited the cooperation of the lawmakers in growing the nation’s agricultural sector, saying that measures had been put in place by the Federal Government to drive the sector to enviable heights.

He said the Federal Government would collaborate with states, local government areas and the private sector to execute the policies, adding that there would be subsidiary, partnership, investment and accountability in the execution.

To ensure the proper execution of the project, he said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would provide a de-risk target value chains and stimulants to the tune of $3 billion in a lending with the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

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