Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources

Address:
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources;
FCDA Secretariat, PMB 135, Area 11,
Garki, Abuja.

Tel: 09 3141931, 09 3142405
Fax: 3142532
E-mail: aruma@nigeria.gov.ng, awaziri@nigeria.gov.ng, aseriki@nigeria.gov.ng


The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources is responsible for policy formulation and the development of the sector.


VISION

An agricultural sector with reduced drudgery, small effective workforce ensuring national food security and meeting the industrial raw material and export needs of the nation.


MISSION

To promote the development of agriculture and management of related natural resources to achieve sustainable food security and production of agricultural raw materials to meet the needs of Nigeria's expanding industrial sector and export market with the effect of enhancing farm income and reducing poverty.


OBJECTIVES

The broad policy objectives include:

Attainment of self-sufficiency in basic food commodities with particular reference to those which consume considerable shares of Nigeria's foreign exchange and for which the country has comparative advantage in local production;

Increase in production of agricultural raw materials to meet the growth of an expanding industrial sector.

Increase in production and processing of exportable commodities with a view to increasing their foreign earning capacity and further diversifying the country's export base and sources of foreign exchange earnings;

Modernization of agriculture production, processing, storage and distribution through the infusion of improved technologies and management so that agriculture can be more responsive to the demands of other sectors of the Nigerian economy;

Creation of more agricultural and rural employment opportunities to increase the income of farmers and rural dwellers and productively absorb an increasing labour force in the nation;

Protection and improvement of agricultural land resources and preservation of the environment for sustainable agricultural production;

Developing the rural areas in order to raise the quality of life of the rural people, alleviate rural poverty and use rural development to contribute to the laying of a solid foundation for national development.

Assisting Nigerians in building very strong, autonomous, operationally independent and economically viable cooperative sector that could compete effectively in the private sector of the nation's economy.

SCHEDULE OF DUTIES

The goal of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is to promote the development of agriculture, rural development and management of related natural resources in an environmentally-friendly manner to achieve sustainable food security and production of agricultural raw materials to meet the needs of our expanding industrial sector and export market with the effect of enhancing farm income and reducing poverty. Specifically, the Ministry's main aim is to:

Create a favourable environment to stimulate greater private sector investment in agriculture so that the private sector can assume its appropriate role as main engine of growth for agricultural development.
Increase agricultural production through promotion of the necessary supportive and service oriented sub-sectoral activities to enhance production, productivity and marketing opportunities.
Ensure efficient use of budgetary allocation and other available financial resources for agricultural and rural development.
Develop Seed industry and Technology as the foundation of sustainable agricultural practice.
Research and develop appropriate technology for agriculture, including biotechnology to transform agricultural productivity and production.
Promote agro-processing, preservation and storage facilities to reduce by 50% pre and post-harvest losses by 2007.
Promote timely availability of adequate and good quality agro- inputs to enhance production.
Develop an efficient competitive and self-sustaining production, healthy and management of improved livestock species in the country to meet the protein needs of the country as well as the raw material requirements.
Intensify settlement programmes for the pastoralists by providing necessary facilities at the grazing reserves.
Develop integrated Pest Control and Management System for sustainable crop and livestock production in the country.

AGENCIES/ PARASTATALS UNDER THE MINISTRY

The Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB)
Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC)
Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute (ARMTI), Ilorin in Kwara State
National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), Ilorin
Fifteen Agricultural Research Institutes
Thirteen Federal Colleges of Agriculture
PROJECT INNOVATIONS, 1999-2005

Presidential Initiative on rice production, processing and export
Presidential initiative on cassava production and export
Vegetable Oil Development Programme
Root and Tuber Expansion Programme
Cocoa Development Programme
Presidential Initiative on Livestock Development
Rural Access and Mobility Project
Buyer of Last Resort Programme
Fertilizer Stabilization Programme
National Special Programme for Food Security
South-South Cooperation Programme
Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Programme
National Fadama Development Programme
Presidential Initiative on Fisheries and Aquaculture Development
Cotton Development Programme
National Soil Laboratory Project
National Sheet Erosion Control Project