“No Food Shortages in coming Months” –  Nigeria’s Agric Minister

Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar, has assured Nigerians that there would be no food shortages in the coming months.

Dr. Abubakar gave the assurance while speaking with lawmakers during the Budget Defense session of the ministry before the National Assembly.

The Budget defense session was organized by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Agriculture, which includes the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Some of the lawmakers, in their separate submissions, lamented the effects of flooding in the country, especially on agricultural production.

According to them, there are projections that Africa might experience food shortages as a result of the stoppage of grain imports caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Responding, Abubakar allayed fears over notions of likely food shortages:

“…The main concern about food scarcity, in the coming months… we will not allow that to happen.

“I can guarantee you by the grace of God that we have measures in place.

“One of the measures is dry season farming which we have in place, and in terms of money, we are working with the Ministry of Finance.

“We have gotten money from financing agencies; one of them is the African Development Bank, and we will intensify dry season farming.”

“We have an insurance scheme for farmers who are flood victims: for those under insurance coverage, we process and pay them. And for those who don’t have, we do intervention from the government from time to time.”

According to him, the ministry has lined up programmes to address the issue of flooding of farm produce, with the intervention of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management through the distribution of grains provided by the ministry.

He disclosed that the ministry was already assessing the flood situation based on the extent of damage done to farmlands and crops like rice, maize and the number of farmers affected.

Speaking further, Abubakar noted that flooding is a natural phenomenon that could not be stopped, adding that it could be used in some situations to benefit agricultural production.

Therefore, in line with the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari for the provision of a master plan to mitigate flooding, the ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Water Resources and Environment.

To assist farmers with increased crop production, Abubakar said that the ministry has been distributing inputs every year in every geo-political zone, noting that records of the distribution, including farm implements to farmers, were available.

Meanwhile, the ministry has gone far in executing its 2022 budget with the inclusion of several agric projects and programmes to be implemented.

“We are improving the production of agricultural products in areas where security is okay to make up for areas that are challenging security-wise, and security agencies are helping to provide some measures of security.

“We have big projects for mechanization and it is ongoing.

“We have countries where companies have already pledged to invest in agro-processing zones.

“For example, Kuwait firms have already committed 100 million U.S. dollars,” said the Agric Minister.

On his part, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Yahaya, said the ministry must ensure that the budget preparation entailed a collaboration with representatives of the people to benefit them.

Noting the importance of agriculture, Yahaya said there is a need to ensure that the agricultural budget must be specific and focused on programmes to be executed, as a country of over 200 million people should not have a low budget for agriculture.

Abdullahi, however, commended the Federal Government in the last four years for doing creditably well in releasing budget funds for the execution of projects in the agric sector and other Ministries,  Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

He said that the MDAs had gotten nothing less than 70 to 80 per cent of their capital releases, which was made possible through the consistent efforts of the National Assembly on the budget processing and approvals.

 

 

Source: Agro Nigeria