SAFAR 25 1431 A.H.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2010.
Print This Page 
Nigerians to reap dividends of investment in agriculture--Minister
Nigerians will in the next few months reap the dividends of the federal government's huge investment in the agricultural sector, Dr. Abba Sayyadi Ruma , minister of agriculture and water resources, has said.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja that as part of the package, the storage capacity of the 20 silos with 300,000 tonnes capacity in the country will be increased to 1.3 million tonnes.
Ruma said each of the silos would be fitted with processing facilities for animal feeds and edible flour which were in high demand and leased out to private sector operators.
`` Through this, government hopes to introduce produce receive system.
``As soon as the farmer produces, he knows where to deposit the produce,’’ he said.
He said the essence of ``massive’’ construction and rehabilitation of silos across the country was to guarantee maximum price for farmers, stimulate production and keep farmers in business.
The minister told NAN that 10 crop handling and conditioning complexes will also be established in different locations to prevent crops from losing value.
According to the minister, each of the complexes will have the capacity to clean, process, condition and regulate the temperature to make stored crops meet the sanitary requirements needed.
``Nigeria produces close to five million tonnes of tomatoes annually at over 16 tonnes per hectare of land, but close to 75 per cent of these crops are lost annually due to absence of conditioning centres,’’ he said.
He said in order for Nigeria to access the international crop market, government would collaborate with foreign and local investors to establish multi billion Naira modern livestock and dairy processing complexes.
``In spite of the existence of private dairy processing centres in the country, we still import powdered milk worth over $2 billion annually and there is urgent need to address the gap,’’ he said.
He said Nigerians should look up to the delivery of three modern livestock and dairy processing complexes in Abuja as well as in Lagos and Imo states, adding that necessary arrangements had been put in place.
The minister said a modern fish estate would be established in Bayelsa and Kogi states, both of which have comparative advantage in fish farming that could be exploited.
``All these are coming under the short-term intervention programmes in critical value chain programmes that we hope to deliver less than a year from now,’’ he said.
