Mr Bosun Abodunrin, an Agriculture Economist, says there is no justification for Nigeria to be a major importer of food items going by its agriculture potential.
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Abiodun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Omu-Aran on Sunday that the nation was richly endowed with adequate resources and expertise needed to transform agriculture.
He maintained that the time was ripe for Nigerians to sit back and create solutions for the challenges of poverty, hunger and unemployment.
The agriculture expert said that all stakeholders must exhibit unalloyed commitment in contributing their quota to achieve the desired transformation for the country.
Abodunrin said that there was the need for governments to make agriculture very attractive to the youths both as a vacation and a profession.
“To disperse agriculture and to expect to see a prosperous future does not make any sense, agriculture remains the best alternative factor.
“We need to come back to the real issue confronting us; we need to start creating solutions to our problems.
“We must think for ways of putting theoretical agriculture into raw agricultural practices with the endowed abundant resource available.
“There is no basis for importing chicken from any part of the world for a country so blessed like Nigeria.
“Whether you have B.Sc. in Engineering or B.Sc. Computer Science or International Relations you must eat to survive,” he said.
Abodunrin said it was high time both the government and the governed demonstrate high commitment to achieve a developed economy.
“We need to demonstrate to the world that we are capable of creating workable solutions to the challenges of hunger, poverty and unemployment.
“The country’s food imports have historically grown at a rate of 11 per cent per year, whereas the major food imports can be produced locally.
“Nigeria’s import dependency is not economically sustainable and therefore should be unacceptable,” he said.
He said that the country’s major dependence on food imports was hurting local production, reducing farmers’ welfare and contributing to increasing unemployment.