On Monday, the president declared a state of emergency on food security at the onset of the 6th African Regional Conference on Irrigation and Drainage in Abuja. The President was represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, who declared with great authority that urgent and drastic steps were to be taken to monitor price increases and ensure accessible food security for all Nigerians.
According to him, presently, food availability is not a major problem; the greatest problem for most Nigerians is affordability. This made demand to decline, thereby destroying the agricultural and food value chain’s sustainability. As a result, the President has announced several urgent measures to mitigate the effects of subsidy removal, including releasing fertilizers and grains for farmers and households.
Furthermore, Tinubu specifically directed that all aspects of food and water sufficiency and affordability be accounted under the mandate of the National Security Council for assured coordination and effectiveness in tackling the food security challenges of the nation.
He added that the 500,000 hectares of mapped land would be made active to increase the arable land available to farmers, which should have an immediate impact on food output. The government has also made plans to collaborate with mechanization companies to further clear up forests for mating fields available for farming.
According to him, it should modernize our agricultural practices by way of this ranch establishment with the state governments instead of the old-fashioned nomadic animal husbandry. He has also urged the need for synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to harness possible irrigation of farmlands, guaranteeing the availability of food year-round in the country.
The President appealed to Nigeria to connect all citizens with the government to successfully implement these strategic interventions and reiterated his administration never to deprive Nigerians of basic needs.
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