Our revenue from cocoa, sesame grew by $232.4m last year ― Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria’s revenue from Cocoa and Sesame seed increased by $79.4 million and $153 million in the past year.

President Buhari disclosed this during a nationwide broadcast to commemorate the June 12th Democracy Day.

He said nation’s GDP grew from 1.91% in 2018 to 2.27% in 2019 but declined to 1.87% in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of the decline in global economic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The President, therefore, said agriculture remains the key to the country’s economic diversification strategy. He said the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative programme has continued to deliver significant quantities of affordable and high-quality fertilizers to our farmers.

“This initiative has also revived 31 blending plants and created a significant number of direct and indirect jobs across the value chain”, he noted.

“Agriculture remains the key to our economic diversification strategy. The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative programme continues to deliver significant quantities of affordable and high-quality fertilizers to our farmers. This initiative has also revived 31 blending plants and created a significant number of direct and indirect jobs across the value chain.

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“Our efforts on growing non-oil exports have started to yield some results. For instance, in the past year, our revenue from Cocoa and Sesame Seed increased by $79.4 million and $153 million”, the President said.

He further said the government was also revamping the cotton, textile and garment sector via a CBN Textile Revival Intervention Fund that would considerably reduce foreign exchange spent on cotton and other textile imports.

President Buhari expressed delight on how Nigerians are taking advantage of the various policies and programmes for agriculture to grow more food.

“Through the food security initiative, we are promoting “Grow What We Eat” and “Eat What We Grow”. I am also delighted that more and more Nigerians are taking advantage of the opportunities in the agriculture and agri-business sector. I assure you that government will continue to support the Agriculture sector through the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme and similar schemes”, he said.

On protection of farmers in their farms, President Buhari said his government had deployed 5,000 Agro-Rangers and employed 30,289 in our para-military agencies to guard farmers.

Furthermore, the President said “we are also integrating rural communities to the formal economy by extending access to credit and inputs to rural farmers and building feeder roads.

“Africa presents a huge opportunity for our export base diversification and we are developing our strategy to grow intra-Africa trade through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE