Nigeria gains N309b from wheat harvest, says Minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, on Monday said N309 billion had been injected into the economy following the launch of dry season farming with cultivation of 118,657 hectares of wheat in 15 states in acceleration of all year round farming.

Giving the update on food and nutrition security, he said the Ministry supported 107,429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in output of 474,628 metric tonnes.

He also said in response to a presidential directive, it released to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for distribution 42,000mt of assorted food commodities from the FGN Strategic Food Reserve.

He said the ministry procured and distributed to all states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice, to dampen escalating prices.

He also said crops were fortified with Vitamin A micro-nutrient to enrich nutrition content and health value of food commodities.

Tags: prices, wheat, output, food security, cultivation, milled rice