He said that Nigeria is making progress in food sufficiency as imports have currently fallen to near zero.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria is only imagining food inflation but not experiencing it due to the organised programmes his administration initiated to boost domestic production.
President Buhari who made the claim in an interview with Bloomberg said that Anchor Borrower’s programme has reduced the country’s imports and boosted rice production from 5.4 million metric tonnes in 2015 when he assumed office to 9 million metric tonnes in 2021.
He said that Nigeria is making progress in food sufficiency as imports have currently fallen to near zero.
“We can only imagine what food inflation would be today had we not initiated organised programmes to boost domestic production. And still, we do not grow enough domestically.
“Initiatives such as the Nigeria Anchor Borrower’s programme, helping farmers compete against artificially lowered imports have boosted rice production to 9 million metric tonnes in 2021 from around 5.4 million metric tonnes in 2015.
“Even in the years of drought, rice production outstripped pre-2015 levels. Imports have fallen to near zero. We are making progress,” President Buhari said.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in April this year, announced that food inflation in the country rose to 18.37 percent. This was more occasioned by the steady increase in prices of staple food across the country.