The total value of agricultural import exceeded export by N503bn in the first three months of the year. Statistics obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the total trade in agriculture was N757.4bn in the first quarter of the year.
The report put the export component at N127.2bn and the imports at N630.2bn in the period under review. The report said, “The total value of trade in agricultural goods in Q1, 2021 stood at N757.4bn. “The export component of this trade totalled N127.2bn while the import was valued at N630.2bn.”
This means that the value of imports exceeded the value of exports by 395.44 per cert. The value of total trade in agricultural goods in Q4, 2020 stood at N588.2bn; while the export component was valued at N55.8bn and the import component at N532.4bn, the NBS report disclosed.
According to the report, top exported agricultural products were Sesamum seeds exported mainly to China (valued at N23.1bn), Japan (N8.3bn) and Turkey (N3bn). This was followed by good fermented cocoa beans exported to the Netherlands (N9.2bn), Malaysia (N5.5bn) and the United States (N3.2bn).
Buhari Rallies West African States to Battle Insecurity
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday called for unity among West African States and those in the Sahel to deal with security challenges in their respective nations.
Also, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, has said service chiefs now work in synergy, debunking insinuation that they failed in curbing the worsening insecurity in the country due to inter-agency rivalry.
Buhari, while receiving the new Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Annadif, at the State House, Abuja, said the security challenges were enormous and, there, required concerted efforts to tackle them.
The president, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said: “You are our neighbour.
You have vast experience on matters affecting the Sahel, having served for five years in Mali. I hope you will get the countries to work together to confront the issues affecting them.
“I hope under the auspices of UNOWAS, you will help get the problems sorted out. Most of them have to do with the instability in Libya, and it affects all of us.”
