A press briefing was held to commemorate the 2020 World Food Day celebration on Tuesday in Abuja. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Sabo Nanono said he “sees no reason why we should import milk”. He announced that Nigeria has become a country with the highest production of rice in Africa. Furthermore, he said this was achievable due to the ban of the Government on rice importation.
Moreover, he said the Government will continue to support this sector to sustain the rice and cassava value chain. In addition, livestock has about 33 trillion NGN as an asset which must be effectively utilized. Therefore, the Ministry plans to introduce indigenous processed milk for consumption.
“We are planning in this ministry and watch my words, in the next two years we will ban the importation of milk into this country. And ask me why: we have 25 million cows in this country to produce five million litres per day.
“The issue is now logistics, which we have started by setting up milk processing plants across the country. I see no reason why we should import milk in the next two years. We should stop the importation of milk”.
“The support was to complement the federal government policy on agriculture, which includes promoting food security, improving farmers’ production and also increasing exportation.”
