31/08/2012 (Shanghai Daily) - Nigeria is targeting 8 billion U.S dollars revenue from palm oil export under the Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA), a top government official said on Thursday.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Akinwumi Adesina disclosed the information here a, saying that the country would have achieved the target if it had made use of its oil palm industry in 1961.

The minister said the situation changed following the anomaly caused by the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 1970s.

According to him, Nigeria produced only 1.3 million tons of vegetable oil and imported more than 350,000 tons of vegetable oil annually.

He told his audience that the business cost the country 500 million dollars in foreign exchange and described the situation as unacceptable.

Adesina said President Goodluck Jonathan under ATA had taken advantage of the palm oil industry, which contributed 72 percent of the nation's vegetable oil.

He said the ministry planned to support the production of 240, 000 hectares of oil palm in the next three years through smallholder farmers and oil palm estates.

Adesina said the ministry had set a target of raising nine million improved sprouted nuts into mature seedlings for the establishment of 60,000 hectares by 2013.