President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged off the first-ever rain-fed commercial wheat cultivation in Nigeria.
The President called on Nigerian farmers to embrace wheat farming and stop the importation of the product which gulps over two billion dollars yearly.
The event took place at the Wheat Seed Multiplication Farm in Kwall, Bassa LGA of Plateau State, and had in attendance wheat farmers from different parts of the country.
Buhari, who was represented by the Governor of Plateau State, 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, “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.”
Also, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who was 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.
He said, “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.”
