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NAN-AE-10
Crude
By Josephine Obute /Idris Olukoya
Lagos, Sept. 28, 2016 (NAN) An agro-tourism expert, Mr Linus Dibia, says a well-managed agricultural sector can generate as much revenue as crude oil for Nigeria.
Dibia, who is the director of a Lagos-based private agricultural enterprise, stated this in interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said that the agric sector could be used to develop the nation’s economy as it was done in other climes.
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“The agriculture sector is enough to knock off oil business if well-guided and well-managed by the government, and the government will make their own revenue out of it.
“Both the banks and the organisations need to go into marketing to remove the stress from the farmers after they have put in their energy to produce.
“For instance, people are importing rice from Turkey, importing rice from India, importing rice from Saudi Arabia. Is it supposed to be so?
“Those countries were not even exporters before, but they have also gone into research to find out the problem and another way to strengthen their economy.
“They also had oil but they were not even depending on that oil; they set up agencies to go out to other countries and source market.
“We have countries such as Japan that cannot produce in their soil, but they have technology and they use their technology in exchange for the food they can use to sustain their country.
“And they depend on these African countries and Asian countries for this support.
“So Nigeria should be able to contribute its own quota.’’
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Dibia appealed to the commercial banks to invest in food production in order to boost agro-tourism in the country. (NAN)
JNEO/SIO/ERO/OSA/YEE
Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Shittu Obassa/Controlled by Emmanuel Yashim
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