The government of Nigeria through President Muhammadu Buhari has signed in the Nigeria Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (Amendment) Bill 2021 in consonance with the commitment of his administration to diversify the economy.
With the amendment, the council is expected to play a crucial part in coordinating research efforts in the agricultural sector towards achieving food sufficiency and security in the nation.
The President, who assented to the bills before his visit to Ethiopia, also approved the establishment of the Federal College of Agriculture, Kirikasamma and the Federal College of Education (Special) Birnin Kudu. This is coming less than ten days after Buhari granted approval to 159 companies, communities and institutions of higher learning to operate radio and television stations.
Agriculture sector in Nigeria
Agriculture is broadly divided into four sectors in Nigeria–crop production, fishing, livestock and forestry. Crop production remains the largest segment and it accounts for about 87.6% of the sector’s total output. This is followed by livestock, fishing and forestry at 8.1%, 3.2% and 1.1% respectively.
Agriculture remains the largest sector in Nigeria contributing an average of 24% to the nation’s GDP over the past seven years (2013 – 2019). In addition, the sector employs more than 36% of the country’s labour force, a feat which ranks the sector as the largest employer of labour in the country. Nigeria’s major agricultural imports include wheat, sugar, fish and milk, while the main agricultural exports include sesame seeds, cashew nuts, cocoa beans, ginger, frozen shrimp and cotton.
Although the Nigerian government has provided several facilities through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) such as the Anchor Borrower’s Programme to help provide small-scale farmers with adequate financing, the farming industry still lacks adequate access to finance.
 Bill 2021){kind=link}