The minister of Agriculture and Food security Abubakar Kyari has emphasised the need to promote sustainable development of breeding programme and research that will boost productivity, create jobs to farmers and living standards of citizens.
The minister made the call at a 3-Day farming conference held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
This gathering of experts in the Agriculture sector is the second global Okra Round Table, aimed at promoting and enhancing sustainable development of Okra crop in Nigeria through breeding.
Okra is a significant crop in Nigeria with high nutritive value, as the country produces over 1 million metric tons annually with Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, and Edo being the top okra-producing states in in the country.
But in recent years, there have been low productivity of the crop due to various factors and now the Agric minister is calling for more focus on breeding more varieties of the crop and many others to effectively address the challenge of food shortage.
The event is a 3-Day farming conference with the theme breeding for resilience.
Stakeholders want Nigerians farmers to shift their attention from production of cash crops to production of food crops such as Okro to meet the focus of the current administration which is the diversification of the economy.
Stakeholders here believe that plant breeding in Nigeria through partnership has the potential to transform the agricultural sector, ensuring food security and economic growth for the country.
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