President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, flagged off the first-ever rain-fed commercial wheat cultivation in Nigeria, calling on Nigerian farmers to embrace wheat farming and stop the importation of the product which gulps over two billion dollars annually.
The event, which took place at the Wheat Seed Multiplication Farm in Kwall, Bassa LGA of Plateau State, had in attendance wheat farmers from different parts of the country.
President Buhari, who was represented by Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong at the launch, noted that the agricultural sector was one of the critical non-oil sectors which had made significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said the sector accounted for 22.35 and 23.78 per cent contribution to the overall GDP in the first and second quarters of 2021, respectively. “Nigeria is on the path to actualizing sustainability in the production of rice, maize, cassava, soybean, groundnut, oil palm, cocoa, and very soon the breakthrough in wheat cultivation in Nigeria will be accomplished,” Buhari said.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, represented by Deputy Governor Edward Lamtek Adamu, said the event heralds the commencement of the Brown Revolution Journey, “which is the first major wet season wheat production in Nigeria with about 700 hectares put under cultivation in Kwall, Kassa, Jol, Kafi Abu and Sop in Jos, Plateau State.”
“While the short-term implication of this is the addition of about 2,000 metric tons of seeds to our national seed stock, the country can now potentially add 750,000 metric tons of wheat to the nation’s output annually through rain-fed wheat cultivation in Plateau, Mambilla Plateau, and Obudu Plateau.”
Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Yakubu Sanda, said the people of the state welcome the initiative and will do everything possible to sustain it for the benefit of the youths, women, and men who are in need of jobs and resources to meet the daily needs of life.