Nigeria plans to start exporting red meat and soybeans to Saudi Arabia, despite struggling to feed its own population.
On Thursday, Agriculture Minister Mohammad Abubakar announced that Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in importing 200,000 tonnes of red meat and one million tonnes of soybeans annually from Nigeria.
The exports are expected to help Nigeria earn much-needed foreign currency, addressing the chronic dollar shortage that has caused the naira to plummet to historic lows and triggered the worst economic crisis in decades.
Nigeria has been aiming to diversify its exports beyond the oil and gas sectors, promoting non-oil exports to protect its economy from oil price shocks.
Although successive governments have focused diversification policies on agriculture as a potential source of foreign exchange, little has been achieved in revamping the sector over the years.
Nigeria itself depends on imports to meet some of its food needs.
Top Producer and Importer
Nigeria faces a crippling food shortage affecting various staples, which has driven food inflation to 40.65%, the highest since 1996. The cost of poultry products has soared due to the high cost of animal feeds, with soybeans being a key ingredient.
The country is the largest producer of soybeans in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by South Africa.
In 2022, Nigeria exported $10.7 million worth of soybeans, making it the 42nd largest exporter globally, with the main destinations being Canada, Turkey, and India, according to Observatory of Economic Complexity.
However, Nigeria also imported $38 million worth of soybeans, primarily from Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.
Minister Abubakar said that Saudi Arabia’s interest followed a visit from the Kingdom’s agriculture minister, who held meetings with Nigeria’s agribusiness entrepreneurs.
“Shortly thereafter, they sent an expression of interest. We have come out with a roadmap where we can supply and satisfy that demand,” Abubakar told reporters in Abuja, according to Reuters.
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