Africa must cut reliance on food imports, says Nigerian billionaire
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said he would address his people on how to deal with the impact of climate change on agriculture on Saturday.
The president said he would address the nation on the implications of climate change on agriculture this month, telling the nation there would be an opportunity to discuss how to take the country out of a food crisis.
The president is set to address the nation on his plans to tackle the impacts of climate change on agriculture.
Last Friday, the president said: “We will soon discuss what we can do as a government, as a nation, to make agriculture more productive from a climate change perspective,” reports the Nation newspaper.
Nigeria’s agriculture sector accounts for about 20 per cent of energy consumption in the country and consumes about 18 million tonnes of food annually.
The country has already had its worst drought in 40 years in 2015, and the sector is forecast to face another drought in 2017.
Despite the fact that Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of maize, the staple food of the country, the sector faces challenges due to climate change and the ongoing fight against corruption in the country.
At the end of last year the Agriculture Ministry revealed a projected deficit of $1bn in the next five years due to climate change.
During his presidential campaign, Buhari also promised to cut the national food aid budget (NFS) to a rate of 0.5% of gross domestic product. A NFS of 0.5% of gross domestic product, while is still a far cry from the budget proposed by former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2010.
This, however, does not go down well with President Buhari’s supporters, who believe the NFS should be reduced.
The Nigerian president’s claim was a direct violation of the constitution.
He was also accused by his critics of
