Nigeria’s agricultural export fell massively by 40.6 per cent to N84.21 billion in the review quarter from N141.76 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2022.
Unfortunately, the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also showed that Nigeria still relies a lot on importation to meet its food demands.
According to the report, agricultural goods worth N512.91 billion were however imported in the period under review, making a 10 per cent increase compared to N464.4 billion recorded in the previous quarter and a 6.4 per cent increase compared to N482.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2021.
This is despite the huge investments channeled to the sector by the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the CBN, a sum of N1.07 trillion has been disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to over 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities as of September this year.
Also, the CBN had disbursed a sum of N745.31 billion to finance 680 large-scale projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS). Despite these interventions, the sector is yet to print the desired level of growth.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria’s agricultural sector grew by 1.34 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of the year, a marginal improvement compared to 1.2 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
2022: Nigeria’s agric export falls by 40.6% in Q3
