The Federal Government has obtained a $134 million loan from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to boost wheat production.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Muhammad Mahmoud, in Abuja, while briefing State House journalists on Thursday.
He said the aim was to save the country from acute scarcity of wheat, whose demand and price had gone high because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Dr Mahmoud said with 250,000 farmers cultivating 250,000 hectares in the 2022 dry season, the initiative would raise wheat production to 750,000 metric tonnes.
He said the wheat would be cultivated in Jigawa, Kebbi, Kano, Bauchi, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Gombe, Plateau, Borno, and Yobe, Adamawa, and Taraba states.
The minister said the Federal Government had deployed 5,000 agro rangers drawn from the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps to protect farmers facing security challenges.
He said about 3.6 million indirect jobs had been created from the 2.4 billion dollars’ worth of externally-funded projects being implemented by the Buhari administration.
He said 538 million dollars was approved for special agricultural processing zones to support inclusive and sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria.
The minister said another project worth $575 million is being implemented to improve rural access and agricultural marketing in participating states.
The participating states are Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto.
