The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, on Thursday warned against dependency on food importation.
Edun, at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday to mark the country’s 64th Independence Day, declared war against food importation, saying the ripple effect will be felt by domestic processors, and farmers, among others.
Earlier in July, the federal government announced a 180-day duty-free import window for maize, cowpeas, wheat, and husked brown rice to address the increase in prices of staple foods.
Also, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the value of total imports stood at N25.12bn in the first six months of 2024.
The statistics hub noted that agricultural goods imported into the country in the period under review stood at N1.81tn.
Edun warned that import dependency puts pressure on the naira in the foreign exchange market.
On Thursday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervened in the foreign exchange market through fresh $20,000 sales to eligible Bureau de Change dealers in the country.
Speaking against the country’s dependence on imported food, Edun said “We mustn’t disrupt domestic production of food. We mustn’t disrupt farming in Nigeria by flooding the market with imports, we should not be importing food.”
Edun assured that the federal government was committed to supporting small-scale farmers by providing critical inputs like seeds and fertilizer.
He noted that the support will focus on enhancing both the wet and dry season harvests, reducing the need for imports in the short term while boosting productivity in the long term.