FG committed to eradication of hunger — Minister

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment towards the eradication of hunger in the country  by the year 2030 in line with the global agenda.

Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, gave the commitment while speaking at a symposium to mark the 2018 World Food Day Celebration in Abuja, the Federal Capital, with the theme: “Our Actions are Our Future: A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is Possible,”

He said the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would continue to up the present tempo of strong agricultural activities in the country to attain this national objective.

Lokpobiri, who noted that the goal of  zero hunger by 2030 was  achievable, opined that “in the next 12 years, Nigeria would  join the league of nations who would be able to feed the world”.

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He, however, said that this projection could only be attained if all Nigerians saw and treated agriculture as a serious business rather than a mere occupation.

The minister urged Nigerians  to take the  advantage of its rapidly growing population to seriously invest in agriculture with the private sector taking the lead in this national project, while the government provides the enabling environment since it is proven that Government is not proficient in business management.

Meanwhile, Lokpobiri  has also challenged all state governments in the country to commit at least five per cent of their annual budgets to agriculture to demonstrate their collective determination to grow agriculture and upscale our national productivity.

The Minister,  who was full of praises for Kebbi, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Ogun, Benue states among others, for their huge investments in agriculture,  urged other states of the federation to emulate the

examples of those states.

He said the goal of achieving the objective of attaining zero hunger for the country could only be achieved through collaboration and collective efforts of the three arms of government and the private sector.

The ministerconcluded by saying, “if Nigeria is able to feed itself, it would have been able to solve the issue of hunger and malnutrition in  Africa”.