Findings have revealed that the total international trade in agricultural goods in the country stood at N3.24tn in 2021, with the import value exceeding export value by N2.23tn.

This is coming despite the interventions by the Federal Government to diversify the economy and increase food production in the country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigerian farmers exported goods worth N127.2bn in the first quarter of 2021, the country imported N630.2bn goods.

In the second quarter, agricultural goods worth N165.27bn were exported while import value was N652.08bn.

The NBS figures on foreign trade statistics revealed that Nigeria’s exported agricultural foods goods were worth N79.4bn and N132.71bn in the third and fourth quarters, while the import values were N789.1bn and N667.16bn respectively.

According to the NBS, most of the agricultural products were exported to Europe and Asia.

The exports of agricultural products were mainly fermented cocoa beans, sesamum seeds, and superior quality raw cocoa beans.

The NBS disclosed that major agricultural goods imported included durum wheat (not in seeds) from the United Arab Emirates and Lithuania.

This was followed by crude palm oil from China and Malaysia, and palm olein, also from Malaysia.

During a recent Monetary Policy Committee, the panel expressed concern over the effect of insecurity on food production in the country.

It stated that “The committee noted the persisting security crisis, especially in major food-producing regions of the country and the severe toll on food supply and prices.

“It noted that inflation had moderated marginally due to the unrelenting effort of the bank in supporting agriculture to boost food supply and prices.

“The committee, thus, reiterated its call to the government to intensify efforts towards addressing the security situation in the country to ease supply bottlenecks and bring down food prices.”