Statistics Paint Grim Picture of Food Security in Nigeria, Says Media Trust Chair

•We’re tired of saying our nation has potential, minister declares

•Country needs to do a lot to achieve food security, AFAN President asserts

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Chairman of Media Trust board of directors, Malam Kabiru Yusuf, has said recent statistics in Nigeria, painted a grim picture of food security in the country.

Yusuf stated this at the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: “Food Security: Availability or Affordability,” held yesterday at NAF Conference centre, Abuja

He said, “Why are our citizens not having enough food to eat? This is why we are here. That is the question. Statistics in Nigeria paint a grime picture and the anecdotal evidence. look around you. We may change things we take for granted.

“We have to look at this issue. How do we cross this divide, if it exists? I don’t know what the expert will say between availability or affordability. We are not producing enough because people cannot afford.”

Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, said Nigerians should be tired of saying the country has potential, stressing that it was time to activate that potential.

Speaking at the 22nd Daily Trust annual Dialogue and Presentation of Daily Trust Unsung Heroes (2024), the minister said Agriculture policies should address the issue where people produce for only family consumption with little to sell.

He said there was need to change the way people do things in the agricultural sector, for them to get a different outcome, and therefore called for large-scale dry season farming, saying it was the only way to tackle food shortage and affordability.

National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Architect Kabir Ibrahim, said a lot of effort had been put in place to make food available to Nigerians.

The AFAN boss said in spite of that, food was not affordable, and that natural challenges were not helping matters

He, however, attributed the challenges to flooding in some parts of the country, and even the Russian /Ukraine war that has affected food prices globally.