By Gabriel Ewepu, ABUJA
The Nigerian farmers under the auspices of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, yesterday, reacted to the palliative rolled out by President Bola Tinubu, saying distributing palliatives was not the solution to hunger in the land.
This was contained in a statement signed by the National President, of AFAN, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, where Tinubu was advised on establishing sustainable food banks that would holistically address current challenges in food production across the country including high cost of farm inputs, mechanization, high cost of fuel, invasion of farms by terrorists, killing of farmers, and others.
According to Ibrahim, to bring about self-sufficiency in food production it must be well thought out with competencies identified in line with comparative advantage and ecology.
He said: “The quest for sustainable food security in a nation of over 200 million people transcends the distribution of palliatives but essentially calls for the scaling up of productivity and reinvigorating the entire food system by taking decisive actions.
“A temporary relief may assuage a hungry person for a few days or months depending on the magnitude of the relief package but a more sustainable solution to the ailing food system is the most desirable proposition in the face of the almost existential challenges we are facing.
“Nigeria is subdivided into six geopolitical zones comprising of North Central with six States; North East with six States+FCT; North West with six States; South East with five States; South South with six States; and South West with six States with each of these Zones having its food or preferred meal.
“To bring about food sufficiency in Nigeria its production must be well thought out with competencies identified in line with comparative advantage and ecology generally.”
However, speaking on why the Tinubu-lead administration should reposition Nigeria as the leading food producing country in Africa, its policies in the agricultural sector should take a global outlook and consideration and to leverage on international food producing and exporting treaties and should take these advantages including the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA.
“It must also be noted that the position of Nigeria in Africa necessitates the broadening of the food productivity index to cater for several African countries in our neighbourhood as they directly depend on Nigeria for food supply.
“In line with the dictates of the AfCFTA protocol which is in place we must begin to look at our role in the continent.
“In light of these realities we must do the following without any delay; Expand our cultivable and irrigable land; Commit to educate our farmers to embrace Good Agricultural Practices, GAP, Climate Smart agricultural production leading to all-year round cultivation, invest in sustainable mechanization, Science, Technology, and Innovation, STI, and biotechnology leading to Genetic Engineering as well as genome editing, and others; Seek to appoint very competent, hardworking and honest hands in agriculture space generally.
“Set out to fully address our energy sector, transportation, deploy basic agribusiness principles to build or enhance our processing and value-addition generally; Endeavour to make monitoring and evaluation as an integral part of our governance metaphor; and Entrench the giving of reward for high achievement promptly and meting out punishment for corruption and malfeasance as the bromide that comes with appointments in areas earmarked for the attainment of set KPIs in the quest for a sustainable food system for Nigeria.”
Source: Vanguard
