Food Insecurity: FCTA records 30% Improvement
By Hudu Yakubu Abuja
The Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, has restated it determination to sustain the tempo of its support programmes to enhance food security in FCT.
The Mandate Secretary Agriculture & Rural Development Secretariat of the FCT, Mallam Abubakar Ibrahim made this assertion while reacting to the October 2022 cycle of Cadre Harmonise (CH) Food and Nutrition Security analysis report which indicated a significant reduction of over 30% in the population of food insecure households from about 349,876 in October 2021 to 233,233 as at November 2022.
The Secretary attributed the achievement to the programmes of the Agriculture and Rural Development supported by the Honorable Minister of State FCT Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu who has ensured that the Implementation of programmes are tailored in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agenda of revitalising the Agricultural sector.
Abubakar noted that ” We will not be carried away by the encouraging report, and I want to assure you that under the able guidance of the Honorable Minister FCT, Muhammad Musa Bello and Minister of State Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, the Secretariat will redouble its efforts to deliver on its mandate of repositioning Agricultural sector”
“As you are aware, alot is happening in the livestock sector as well as crop production. We have concluded plans to roll out massive support to boost dry season farming, while efforts that we are making to open up the Agricultural landscape and attract complimentary support of the private sector and donor agencies will be sustained. We will equally be giving greater attention to the issues of minimising post harvest losses due to poor storage technologies, environmental factors as well as pest infestation”
The Mandate Secretary further expressed confidence that the programmes of the Secretariat will be geared towards enhancing the performance of the food sector, make Agriculture a viable venture for poverty reduction and wealth creation, emphasing on efforts being made to change the mindset of farmers to take Agriculture more as a business.
Briefing the Mandate Secretary earlier on the report, the FCT Cadre Harmonise (CH) Coordinator, Deputy Director Rural Economy and Finance Dr. Omole Olateju who represented the Secretariat at the meeting disclosed that the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (FMARD) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), *World Food Programme (WFP) and other technical Partners, conducts a biannual food Security situation analysis in 26 states of the country and FCT adopting professional criteria to assess the progress made by states.
The report according to him revealed that as at November, 2022 the number of food insecure households stands at about 233,233 as against the October 2021 report of over 349,876, an improvement of over 33%.
Dr. Omole said that the process of analysis was a consensual, rigorous and transparent one.
He further assured that the report is not only objective but verifiable as it contains details of the population and locations of the households.
The overall objective of the exercise he noted was to help provide a guide for government in planning interventions for communities and households that require immediate humanitarian assistance.
