World Bank to boost agriculture with $500m

Following the plan to transformagriculture which has been tagged the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, the World Bank is set to inject $500 million into the sector.This was made known to newsmen by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, during a press briefing after a meeting with World Bank officials in Abuja.Dr Adesina said that out of the $500 million, $300 million would be used to improve the value chain while the remaining $200 million would be for general budget support.He added that the ministry was working towards improving cassava productivity in the country, disclosing that 'from this month, we will export one million MT of cassava chips to china.' He said this would yield $136 million to farmers in Nigeria.He further said that the ministry was working hard to produce high quality cassava flour to replace wheat flour. According to him, this would save Nigeria N254 billion every year and create more jobs.The minister also declared that the World Bank would assist Nigeria on commercial agricultural programmes, which would also create more jobs, adding that the ministry was working with the Ministry of Water Resources for water management and micro irrigation.While also noting that the ministry was working with the Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Company to provide insurance to the farmers, Adesina disclosed that it was attracting the private sector to the Staple Crop Processing Zones to add value to the value chains.
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