Some agriculture associations have expressed high expectations from the new Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Abubakar, toward harnessing the potentials of the agriculture sector.

The associations spoke with Newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos after President Muhammadu Buhari sacked Alhaji Mohammed Nanono as the Minister of Agriculture.

President Buhari has redeployed the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abubakar, to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The National President of the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN), Mr. Sunday Onoja, implored the new minister to harness the natural resources in the country to boost its agriculture sector.

According to him, the agriculture sector is capable of boosting the country’s internally generated revenue if properly focused on.

Onoja said there should be more committed to the sector’s value chain in order to meet the much-needed quality agricultural products.

“We just got to know about the change of leadership of FMARD, we hope the newly-appointed minister continues with the policies of his predecessor and improves on it.

“We want the new minister to harness the natural resources we have to boost the agriculture sector, we have great water sources across each state and we need to utilize them to boost Nigerian aquaculture.

“We have under-utilized our water sources. In two years, the new minister can set up a good roadmap to harness the benefits from our freshwater sources to boost the aquaculture sector.

“If more focus is paid to the Nigerian agriculture sector, especially the aquaculture section, we will be able to double the income generated from the sector in no time,” Onoja said.

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On his part, Mr. Godwin Egbegbe, the Lagos State Chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), called on the new minister to collaborate with relevant stakeholders in the sector to make it responsive to any emerging challenges.

He also called on the new minister to work closely with the relevant authorities to ensure the security of farmers in their farms.

He said charged the new minister to ensure that all stakeholders, farmers, and producers in the sector adopt the value chain system in order to meet the country’s much-needed quality products, export opportunities, and food security.

Egbede advised the minister to sensitize farmers and other critical stakeholders on the need to key into the Nation’s Agricultural Policy to attract adequate investors and ensure food security.

“In policy decisions and to take the Nigerian agriculture sector to its apex, the new minister should interface with relevant stakeholders across all sections of the sector.

“The FMARD minister should ensure he carries along with major stakeholders across all agriculture value chains in programs for the sector, if he does this, it will move the sector forward,” he said.

Egbede, however, lamented that the recent increase in kidnapping and banditry had made a lot of farmers abandon farming which could threaten food security.

“The minister should also influence the current administration to ensure the security of all farmers from bandits and kidnap attacks,” he said.