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The federal government has promised to provide support to Nigerian farmers with inputs that will help boost the food supply in the country.
This is part of immediate interventions by the government as the country declares an emergency on food security.
Special Adviser to the Nigerian President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Dele Alake, said this while briefing State House Correspondents on Thursday.
He further said that “the decision to declare emergency on food security was taken by President Bola Tinubu after meeting with stakeholders in the agricultural sector in Abuja on Thursday, July 13, 2023.”
Alake said savings from the removal of subsidy on petrol would be used to provide incentives to farmers as well as other vulnerable groups.
He said: “As a hands-on- leader who follows developments across the country every day, Mr President is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens. While availability is not a problem, affordability has been a major issue for many Nigerians in all parts of the country. This has led to a significant drop in demand thereby undermining the viability of the entire agriculture and food value chain.
“Accordingly, in line with this administration’s position on ensuring that the most vulnerable are supported, Mr President has declared, with immediate effect the following actions:
“That a state of emergency on food security is announced immediately, and that all matters about food & water availability and affordability, as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council.
“As a direct and immediate response to this crisis, several initiatives will be deployed in the coming weeks to reverse this inflationary trend and guarantee future uninterrupted supplies of affordable foods to ordinary Nigerians.
“As with most emergencies, there are immediate, medium- and long-term interventions and solutions. In the immediate term, we intend to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the Agricultural sector focusing on revamping the agricultural sector.
“In an earlier meeting with Agriculture Stakeholders (today), we drafted a memorandum of partnership between the government and the individual stakeholder representatives that encompasses the decisions taken and actions proposed from our engagements.”
Giving details of the immediate intervention strategies to be deployed by the government, Alake said:
“ We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.
” There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all year round.”
He said the President declared that Nigeria cannot be comfortable with seasonal farming therefore; a National commodity would be established, to check fluctuation in food prices.
“We shall create and support a National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve that will be used as a price stabilization mechanism for critical grains and other food items. Through this board, the government will moderate spikes and dips in food prices.
“To achieve this, we have the following stakeholders on board to support the intervention effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: The National Commodity Exchange (NCX), Seed Companies, National Seed Council and Research institutes, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Food Processing/ Agric Processing associations, private sector holders & Prime Anchors, small holder farmers, crop associations and Fertilizer producers, blenders and suppliers associations to mention a few,” he said.
Alake further disclosed that adequate measures would be taken to protect farmers from attacks, to boost food production.
He said; “We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks. The Central Bank will continue to play a major role in funding the agricultural value chain.
“Activation of land banks; there are currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase the availability of arable land for farming which will immediately impact food output.
“Mechanization and land clearing- The government will also collaborate with mechanization companies to clear more forests & make them available for farming.”
River Basins
Alake said Rivers Basins would also be revamped to ensure the planting of crops during the dry season with irrigation schemes that will guarantee continuous farming production all year round, to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experienced.
He explained that government would explore different means of transportation including rail and water transport, to reduce freight costs and in turn impact the food prices.
He also said; “the government would Increase revenue from food and agricultural exports by ensuring sufficient and affordable food for the populace as well as work on stimulating the export capacity of the Agric sector.”
The Presidential aide added one of the major positive outcomes that would emanate from the implementation of the interventions would be a massive boost in employment and job creation.