By Kadiri Abdulrahman
At the inception of the present regime on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his intention to diversify the Nation’s economy and move it away from sole dependence on crude oil.
Top on the government’s list of diversifiable alternatives was agriculture. Government’s intention was to ensure that the country developed the agriculture sector to a point where it will complement crude oil receipts with huge exportation of agricultural products. The idea was for the country to boost agricultural production and for Nigeria to reverse its negative balance of payment on food.
The first step, however, will be for the nation to achieve self sufficiency in food by, at least, “growing what we eat,’’ and then, put a stop to the reckless importation of food items. This was supposed to help save scarce foreign exchange which can then be used for other more pressing needs.