NIGERIANS WILL STARVE TO DEATH BY 2050,IF-PRESIDENCY

Nigerians’ll starve to death by 2050, if… —
Presidency

— THE Presidency, yesterday, raised
alarm that Nigerians would starve to death by
2050 if nothing was done to ensure an all year
round farming.
It also said with the rate the country was going,
the population would by 2050 rise to 509 million.
According to the Federal Government, the present
mode of farming will not sustain the increasing
population in the country.
It noted that there was the urgent need for all
major stakeholders to work towards improving
mechanized farming and irrigation, to ensure an
all year farming to avert the problem.
Speaking, yesterday, during the budget defence of
2016, Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh,
said the country had the capacity to grow the
grass required by the cattle to consume.
He said: “We have written to state governments
to encourage them to develop dams and canals
so that agriculture becomes an all year round
activity and it is not confined to the rainy season
alone.
"Besides, by 2050, Nigeria population will be
very close to 500 million at the current rate of
growth. This is just 34 years from now. If we
carry on at the current rate of one crop per year,
with very low mechanization, Nigerians run the
risk of starving to death.
He said: "We intend to intensity and consolidate
on the local staples, the yams, the cassava, the
beans, especially rice and wheat. Both of which
consume $11 million per day in import. The
figure is going down a bit. We can’t afford that in
the long run because we don’t even have the
resources.
“The ministry has put necessary machinery in
motion to stop the constant bloody clashes
between herdsmen and farmers. We have decided
we are going to develop massive paddocks
across the country.
"What the cows are looking for is grass and
water. We have the capacity to grow the grass we
want not just any kind of grass but highly
nutritive grass for the cows to eat. If it can be
done in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, there is no reason
why we can’t do it here.
‘’There is sizable provision for grassing at
hinterland, by developing water, drilling of
boreholes and small dams to irrigate those areas
already mapped out. In the process we hope that
the cattle herdsmen would have a more stable
life."