Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Sayyadi Ruma, said  recently that the Federal Government spends $1.5billion on the importation of vegetable oil and powered milk annually.

Ruma stated this at the inauguration of the five Study Groups, 11 Strategic Teams and Boards of some parastatals in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

The minister, who said infrastructure in the rural areas is poor, thus creating difficulty for farmers in the processing, storage and marketing of their farm produce, added that more than 70 per cent of vegetables and fruits produced by Nigerian farmers are lost during post-harvest period.

According to him, "Post-harvest losses sometimes exceed 70 per cent as in fruits and vegetables. Moreover, inadequate access to credit further constrains investment in agro-processing and agribusiness development along the value chain.

"It is such an irony that we import vegetable oil, spend as much as $1.5 billion on dairy products while the main source of foreign exchange earnings is facing such difficult times further questions our continued maintenance of a mono-cultural economy."

Ruma vowed to change this ugly development, stating that careful study had been undertaken in the areas of agricultural input services, marketing infrastructure, climate change and employment and wealth creation as integral parts of agricultural development in Nigeria.

"It is my hope that in the next few years, Nigerians will not spend more than 10 per cent of income on food. My vision is to see a Nigeria, where the number of those who go to bed without a meal is halved in the next five years.

"A Nigeria, where the rural dwellers quality of life measures up to that of the urban dwellers; a secure and prosperous nation meeting its needs through agricultural enterprise and the determination of all of us to make this transform from a land of potentials to that of opportunities and dreams realised," he said.