56% Of Nigeria’s Agricultural land Not In Use- F.G

The Federal Government said on Thursday that despite the numerous opportunities in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, about 56% of the available lands for farming are not in use.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, stated this in Jos on Thursday while addressing participants at the ongoing 45th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development.

According to the Minister, “Nigeria is endowed with a total of 79million hectares of agricultural land with only 44% being cultivated. The nation also has 267 billion cubic meters of fresh surface water and 58 billion cubic meters of underground water, with 37 billion cubic meters only stored in dams.

“Annual rainfall in the country is within 300mm to 4,000mm. Conversely, potential irrigable area is about 3.14 million hectares with less than 7% utilised presently.”

The Minister, however, said that the government was doing all it could to encourage agriculture, having trained 153,124 women and youths on crop, fishery and livestock value chains and empowered 142,703.

He added that the government had also trained 214,787 farmers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and 220,018 farmers on Farmer Business School.