Oluchi Chibuzor
Barring any further delay in the actualization of the nation’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Muhammad Nanono has revealed that the machnaization policy would kick off by the first quarter 2022.
He disclosed this in a statement released by the Chief Information Officer, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, for Director of Information Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Speaking at the 6th edition of the Feed Nigeria Summit 2021, with the theme, “POST-COVID19: A Repaired Food System, Pathway to a Revived Economy,” where he charged the stakeholders including farmers, investors, financial institutions, governments and local communities to continue to collaborate effectively in ensuring the full implementation of the policy.
Nanono, however maintained that the current administration, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, is keen on creating an enabling environment for the private sector to lead the recovery of the agricultural sector.
He said at the Ministry, they remain gallant in their support of strategic private sector incursions that would provide the much-needed infrastructure, systems, control processes, and oversight to ensure a nuanced commercial development of Nigeria’s agricultural market.
He also said emphasis would be placed on tracking the implementation status of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) as well as the Green Imperative Programme of the Government.
According to him, “By their Terms of Reference (ToR), these two programs will address the existing concerns around critical infrastructural provision, technological innovation, mechanization and extension, as core components of the FMARD’s policy thrust.”
The Minister announced that the Mechanization policy would kick off by the first quarter of next year, 2022 and it would cover 632 Local Government Areas, with ‘’private sector driven services centers, with equipped tractors, farming implements, storage and IT facilities, ”he noted.
On the summit, Nanono pointed out that it offered the stakeholders an opportunity to review the new agricultural Policy of the Ministry; the National Agricultural Transformation and Innovation Plan (NATIP) and to discuss the implementation vehicles for the processes.
He stressed that, ‘’The federal government has continued to implement new strategies to aid the development of the agricultural sector and strengthen the value chain. The focus of the National Agricultural Transformation and Innovation Plan (NATIP) is to aid a new strategy that strengthens the agricultural financial system, reducing food imports and helping to refocus attention on agriculture as a key driver of the Nigerian economy.”
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Agriculture Rural Development, Hon.
Mustapha Baba Shehuri represented by Mrs. Karima Babangida, Director, Federal Department of Agriculture in the Ministry, stated that, “For a sustainable Food System, we must rise to overcome the challenge of poor quality food supplies, hunger, malnutrition and improper food habit of promoting food wastage. Indeed the food consumption pattern must change to reduce food waste.
“If we devote so much to produce, we should pay more attention to avoid waste because of its economic and environmental impact negatively. Again, the private sector is called upon to champion the campaign against food wastage and support initiative to reduce food loss.”
In his Goodwill message, the Chairman, House Committee on Agricultural Institutes and Colleges, Hon. Munir Babba Danagundi , stated that Nigeria was still recovering from the COVID 19 Pandemic adding that, Poor infrastructures, Gender, Climate change among other factors have brought about a decrease in food production.
Danagundi advised the Stakeholders to ensure the accessibility and availability of Food to the average Nigerian.
According to him, ‘’there should be deliberate effort to encourage the production of conventional and unconventional protein in animals and partnership between the private sector, research institutes and investors both home and abroad.”
