Agriculture Is Our Path Way Out Of Recession.

Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo says agriculture is our pathway out of poverty. He remarked that agriculture is the way to get the country out of recession, hence the need for the present government to keep faith with its promise of diversifying the economy through agriculture. He made this submission at the 23th Annual Development Forum, with the theme theme ‘Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities,’ organized by the Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) in Abuja. The former President lamented on the increased level of hunger being experienced across the country, and stated that it was sad to note that about 65 per cent of the citizens were faced with food insecurity. Obasanjo also called on the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency to drastically reduce or ban the importation of staple food crops, as Nigeria had the potential to produce most of the agricultural products that were being imported into the country.He said that Nigeria’s currency (Naira) is suffering because the country spends more than it earns, depending more on importation, usually on goods than can be easily produced here in Nigeria. Obasanjo said that the agriculture sector is viable enough to get Nigeria out of recession and called on the government to focus on agriculture and to put more efforts to guarantee food security in the nation. more