Gilbert Ekugbe
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has tasked the federal government to appoint a special adviser on food security in order to effectively address food shortages in the country.
The National President of AFAN, Mr. Kabir Ibrahim, said that a special adviser with the right capacity is the surest way to address rising cost of food prices in the nation.
Ibrahim also advised the federal government to be proactive and decisive in dealing with any official who in any way failed to discharge their responsibilities in furtherance of the country’s agricultural development.
He said that following the country’s skyrocketing food inflation caused by COVID-19, insecurity and other challenges, Nigerian farmers under the umbrella of AFAN are calling on the federal government to create food banks in the six geopolitical zones at close proximity of 100,000 metric tonne (MT) Silos to guarantee food security for Nigerian populace.
The farmers association’s move may not be unconnected with the report that Nigeria currently has very little in its strategic food reserve having used up a good deal of it at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the profound impacts now being seen in acute food shortage.
He explained that it is time for the present administration to parley agric stakeholders to outline agric agendas that might salvage the precarious situation in Nigeria post COVID-19, arising from skyrocketing food inflation.
According to him, the federal government should ensure that the 100,000MT silos strategic food reserve in the six geo-political zones are managed by the Strategic Grains Reserve (SGR) and directly supervised by the Food Security Council (FSC).
Ibrahim stated that availability of food is the greatest challenge confronting the country at the moment, and urged government to rise up to the occasion towards providing adequate food for its citizens.
The AFAN national president also stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration need to resuscitate the Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) and implement it via a special committee through the SGR (Strategic Grains Reserve) to be directly supervised by the Food Security Council (FSC).
He noted that this could be achieved by creating a special revolving fund for the GMP to revolve for 2021 and 2022.
Speaking further, the renowned farmer explained that there is also need for government to harmonizse all the initiatives in the agriculture space under the supervision of the FSC via an emergency arrangement.
The AFAN national president also advised President Buhari to bulldoze the forests where bandits and terrorists a lodging and defoliate the trees to allow visibility for reconnaissance activities by the Airforce.
He said: “While these suggestions are not by any means exhaustive we pray that they will be tried especially against the backdrop of the recent attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).”
Ibrahim said that the AFAN is strengthening its partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture that would encourage farmers to work assiduously to forestall insufficiency at this point, saying that the harm of lack of renewed policy to replace the Agricultire Promotion Policy (APP) by the ministry has already been done.
“The synergy between AFAN and the FMARD led by the current Minister of Agriculture is at its lowest ebb and is a real threat to food sufficiency,” he said.
