Abuja — Nigeria, said to be the number one producer of cowpea globally, spends over N16 billion to import the commodity from Cameroon and Burkina Faso annually.In addition, there was still consumption deficit of 500,000 tonnes despite the current release of Bt. Cowpea to farmers, to bridge the production gap in the country.
The permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Bitrus Bako, made the disclosure yesterday at a capacity building workshop for science journalists in Abuja.Represented by James Sule, the permanent secretary also stated that federal government was under pressure to produce more food using biotechnology in agriculture.
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