Expert calls for more investment in agric value chain to tackle inflation

An economist, Mr Emmanuel Eze, has called on all tiers of government to urgently encourage more Nigerians into agriculture value chain businesses to contain any upsurge in inflation in future.

Eze, Chief Executive Officer, Perfecta Investment Company, Lagos, gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

He said the advice was necessary because one of the causes of the rise of the country’s inflation was too much demand for forex for the importation of finished products.

He said since most of the finished products were in the agriculture value chain businesses, it was better the government encouraged more Nigerians into the ventures.

He said it was wrong for the country to rely always on high price of oil at the international market to contain the rise in inflation.

He noted that so long the oil price in the international market continued to rise, the inflation rate would drop domestically.

“This is because our country is an import-driven economy, so it is easier to stabilise inflation through proceeds from high oil prices.

“This is the time to produce surplus commodities locally that will crash the prices of goods.

“We have the capacity to change the narrative presently, considering our resilience and entrepreneurial drive among the youth.

“The agricultural value chain should be harnessed to address our quest for processed food,” he said.

He lauded the decision of the international oil cartel that exempted Nigeria from oil supply cut due to the country’s economic challenges.

He said that the decision of the cartel should be sustained to enable the country to regain its liquidity status to manage its dollar demand.

He reiterated that continuous investment in utilities would reduce the funds being expended on finished products, which had piled pressure on foreign exchange demand.

Eze commended the government for building and revamping ailing infrastructure, adding that the inflation rate would continue to slide downward if the tempo was sustained.

NAN reports that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday announced that Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index dropped to 17.24 per cent in April from17.26 per cent in March.

The NBS report said the drop, although minor, indicated that the price of food and non-food items had eased in 2017.


The drop marks the third consecutive month the inflation rate will fall.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomato disease outbreak: Institute appeals for research funding

The National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, has appealed for funding to carry out research and create awareness on the tuta absoluta pest on tomatoes. The Institute’s Head of Vegetable Programme, Dr Olagorite Adetula, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Friday that there was an urgent need to tackle the problem to save the economy. Adetula said the institute needed money to do surveillance survey of the pest/damage, ascertain the impact of the damage and proffer solution for eradicating the pest. She appealed to the Federal Government to help the institute get pheromones to lure and trap the pests and distribute to farmers. ``Spraying insecticides is not the best, the pest has high production rate, some of them can escape while spraying it and they will be resistant to the insecticide thereby causing us more cost. ``The pheromones can be used for six to eight weeks before changing it, it is very effective, the pest has short life cycle, wit...
Read more

10,000 women farmers to be engaged in ECOWAS rice project – official

Image
 Mr Richard Olafare, the President, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) says 10,000 women will be engaged in the recently inaugurated Rice Seed Up-Scaling Project. This is contained in a presentation on the project made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. Olafare said 8,000 youths would also be engaged in the scaling project. According to him, the number of women and youths represented 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the 20,000 farmers that will participate in the project. NAN reports that the project is an initiative of the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP) in support of the ECOWAS Rice Offensive Programme that was inaugurated in 2014. Among other objectives, it is targeting the production of 60,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice for Nigeria by December 2017, using 1,200 certified seeds. The project is being implemented by SEEDAN in collaboration with the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultura...
Read more

Monsanto Nigeria Launches 3 Conventional Maize Hybrids

Maize farmers across Nigeria now have 3 high yielding conventional maize hybrids to choose from the DEKALB ® brand as Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited launches 3 conventional maize hybrids. The launch held in Abuja on Tuesday May 17 2016 had in attendance farmers, development partners, government regulatory bodies and other stakeholders from both the private and public sectors of the economy. The launch of these hybrid seeds follows their registration by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock Breeds and Fisheries in February 2016. The white maize hybrid, DK234 alongside the 2 yellow maize hybrids, DK920 and DK818 obtained registration approval for use in Nigeria after testing across various agro ecological zones on multi-location farms. The white maize hybrid DK234 with yield potential of 13 tonnes per hectare is well adapted for the Southern and Northern Guinea Savanna ecologies and shows tolerance to Maize Streak Virus, ...
Read more