In July 2016, Kemi Adeosun Finance Minister announced that the economy of Nigeria was in recession. Nigeria's GDP fell by 0.36%, the first negative figure for years. As if this was not enough on August 10, 2016, Bloomberg and the IMF report confirmed that Nigeria had lost Africa's largest economy in South Africa. This is a situation that has been going on for two consecutive years.
Where are the Pyramids of Peanuts? Where is the Oriental Export of Palm Oil? Where are Cocoa Exports? After all, the pre-eminence of infrastructures has been developed as income from agricultural exports. It was the era when oil was not discovered yet. After oil was discovered in Oloibir, Bayelsa State in 1956, agriculture was largely neglected in Nigeria.
Oil prices dropped to $ 27.67, the lowest in 2003. And worse still, Niger Delta Avengers has reduced Nigerian oil production capacity to the worst in 20 years.
Oil cannot be the determinant of our single economy. We have to start looking for agriculture, as we did in the old days. There are 71.2 million hectares of available agricultural land in Nigeria and only about half can be utilized. The areas used are currently not used for their highest production capacity.
Here are 5 crops that surround the economy of Nigeria.
1. Cocoa: Nigeria In the period 1990-1991, it was the fourth largest exporter of cocoa, with a sales volume of 135,000 tonnes, representing about 7.1% of world trade. Black pod disease, labor shortages, aging trees, etc. As a result, our exports decreased significantly. If we take seriously the position of the world's leading exporter of cocoa beans.
2. Palm Oil: Nigeria was the world's leading exporter of palm oil until Malaysia in 1971. Nigerian palm oil exports represent around 43% of world production. . Now less than 7%.
3. Rubber: Nigeria was the largest rubber exporter in Africa. But this is no longer the case. We currently export about 60,000 tons. In 1990, we exported 147,000 tons. According to the International Rubber Research Group, global demand for natural rubber could reach 14.2 million tonnes by 2020, while global production will reach 13.6 million tonnes / year by 2020. As you can see, production could not meet demand. Rubber can reverse the economy of Nigeria.
4. Rice: More than 90% of Nigerian rice is imported. The economy focused on imports would not be strong. We need to consume more local consumption. Currently, there are Dangote, Kebbi, Anambra and Kano rice. On August 10, 2016, a bag of rice cooked in Thailand was N16,000 in local markets. Some of these in our local rice are as low as in the N8000 bag. The more local rice we consume, the less rice we import. The less rice is imported, the lower the demand for dollar and foreign currency used in imports. This would increase our currency and stop the disastrous fall of Naira compared to the dollar.
5. Cowpea: Nigeria is the largest cowpea producer in Africa. We could further increase our production and increase our economy. This crop plays a vital role in the animal feed composition.
Further information: http://www.hemmsgreen.com
Source by Abiodun Lawal