.Say Tinubu’s agric-sector reforms too elitist, slow.
. Suggest ways to boost agric production.
.Set up taskforce to tackle saboteurs in grains distribution, APC chieftain urges President
.As. SMEs struggle to thrive in Kaduna
Many Nigerians have blamed the immediate past administration of Alhaji Muhammad Buhari for the worsening food crisis in the country saying the administration paid only lip service to agriculture and food production without genuine effort to feed the nation’s teeming population.
Respondents to an opinion poll carried out in Abuja observed that activities during the eight years of the last administration saw rapid drop in farming which was reduced to an insignificant level compared to its previous levels as insecurity especially kidnapping, rape and killing of farmers peaked to an all-time high.
Farmers-herders clashes also became a constant phenomenon and many farmers in the 36 states of the federation especially in agricultural areas in the north central, north east, northwest, southeast, south- South and southwest zones deserted their farms for the safety of their lives.
In places like Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Katsina and Enugu states, farmers were being killed on a daily basis as a matter of routine. It was therefore not surprising that food prices soared due to scarcity of essential commodities especially when the administration suddenly implemented the indefinite closure of the nation’s borders.
Alhaji Ali Mainoma, who is the Chairman, Gwagwalada branch of the Rice Farmer’s Association said the high levels of kidnapping and killing has driven farmers out of their farms and into trading and he also blamed the administration of Mihammadu Buhari for causing the escalation of insecurities in Nigeria.
Mainoma called for regular meetings between the security personnel and traditional rulers to map he way out of insecurity to enable farmers feel a sense of safety and return to farms.
Also, the Chairman Fadama Dry Season Farmers Association, Alhaji Yunusa Ahmadu blamed traders who hoard food items, hijack and also hoard essential farming chemicals like fertilizer for the worsening food crisis situation and he also urged the government to criminalize the act of destroying farm crops pointing out that herdsmen deliberately graze at night and allow the cattle to eat up crops and kill farmers who protest.
A cross border business man and security expert, Mazi Ukachukwu Cyprian Kanu from Imo State urged the government to reopen the borders closed by past administration and allow unfettered importation of agricultural items to bring down the cost of food items on the country pointing out that it will be difficult for people to feed themselves properly in the next few months at the rate of current inflation..
Mazi Kalu said “the Holy God is very angry against Nigerian leaders for mismanaging the blessings he gave to the country to rule Africa.
“During the 2023 Presidential election, both criminality, injustice and corruption practices became the order of the day, as a result of which, more than one million Nigerian politicians with their political allies ganged-up and manipulated the election results and therefore, announced another party the winner. It is EVIL and it has brought BAD LUCK to Nigeria, especially and the African continent.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, brought the problems facing the nation’s agricultural growth into proper perspective and outlined programmes mapped out for short and long term periods that would lead to providing solutions to the problems and ensuring food security for the nation.
The document the minister presented to newsmen was titled: The way forward for Nigeria agriculture towards delivering on the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and it raises hope on the possibility of returning the nation to its enviable prime status as the food basket of Africa.
Senator Kyari listed the strategies that the Ministry of Agriculture will deploy in its operations over the next four years assuring that, as the captain at the driver’s seat, he is totally committed to providing the desired leadership direction to steer the agriculture and food security sector towards the attainment of the key priorities of the President’s 8-point Agenda which was unveiled on August 28, 2023 during the maiden Federal Executive Council meeting.
Kyari told the media that on assumption of office, he received briefings from agencies of the ministry to know what needs to be done to move the ministry forward after which four critical areas namely food security, economic growth and job Creation, poverty eradication, inclusiveness of (youths and women) and providing the enabling environment for individuals, groups, and the private sector to participate in governance and economic activities were adopted to focus upon for prompt results
“Already, he said, we have examined what needs to change and what we need to do to re-align existing initiatives and programs that are on course to be in line with the four priorities of the Renewed Hope Agenda that are core to the mandates of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. For the avoidance of doubt, the following Presidential Priorities are our core Agenda and they are well aligned with the mandates and operations of our Ministry.”
Undoubtedly, it must be noted that the execution of the programs and initiatives of the Ministry may have a tangential relationship to the remaining four priorities of the 8-point agenda of Mr. President and we are not unmindful of this. Indeed, we consider a multifaceted and multi-pronged approach to the attainment of our core objectives as a critical success factor. Accordingly, the Ministry shall engage with other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and State Governments towards addressing all issues impacting the attainment of our national food security objectives.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has also stated that it is collaborating with state governments and pushing to avert food crisis in the country.
The ministry said in furtherance to ensuring food security, governors of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, CON; Taraba, Dr. Agbu Kefas; Ondo, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; and Kogi, Ahmed Ododo have stormed the Ministry to seek ways to enhance crop production to tackle food inflation and food shortages in Nigeria.
Speaking during the event that took place in Abuja recently, the Minister, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, CON, stated that the visit was without doubt, a huge endorsement of the progressive drive towards the much needed collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and State Governments, to create an agricultural sector fit for a nation as endowed as Nigeria with massive arable fertile land, abundant water resources and agricultural labour force.
He revealed that “we are aware that in your respective states, agriculture has witnessed noticeable development over the years. The bigger picture we seek to create now is to vastly increase agricultural production all year round with the cardinal objective of driving down food inflation, creating employment, reducing poverty, engendering economic growth and development, as well as promoting inclusivity”.
Sen. Kyari added that, “ahead of the second phase of the Dry Season Food Production Programme under the national Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-Pocket (NASG- AP), Expression of Interests were sent out to governors of the 36 States and FCT to which responses have been encouraging”.
He pointed out that the Ministry has put behind it, the bitter challenges encountered during the first phase of the Dry Season Farming with wheat in the 15 participating states, noting that after detailed and careful evaluation of some of the glitches that characterized that phase and with collective stakeholders’ proposals, there will be additional implementation guidelines for the Second Phase commencing soon.
The Minister highlighted the guidelines to include that there shall be established, a NAGS-AP State Working Committee chaired by the Executive Governor or his representative and the Committee should consist of the following members; Hon. Commissioners of Agriculture, Hon. Commissioners for LGA, State Coordinators amongst other members.
He, therefore solicited that governors use the instrumentality of their offices to ensure the readiness of their respective states for optimal participation in the second phase for cultivation of Rice, Maize and Cassava, adding that land is prepared and available for immediate cultivation; that irrigation lands are allotted or owned by verifiable genuine farmers and that the state is participating to last mile of entire chain.
Speaking on behalf of the Governors, the Executive Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, stated that adequate attention would be given to food security, but stressed that Nigeria’s food remained the cheapest in West Africa, prompting Nigeria’s neighbours to trade on the food with huge profit.
In his words, “They are taking our Soya and other stuff to make foreign exchange for themselves. That is not a bad thing, what we need to do is to ramp up production and increase our yields per hectare, so that we can feed West Africa, feed ourselves 100 per cent and export food, that is the goal we must achieve, the Governor stated.”
In his remarks, the Hon Minister of State, FMAFS, Sen. Dr. Abdullahi Sabi Aliyu, CON, stated that collaboration and synergy would ensure that we work together to achieve food security in the country, noting that Federal Government must have a very strong collaboration with the State Government to tackle the issue of portfolio farmers and block all leakages for the benefit of the citizens.
In a related development, the Federal Government has inaugurated an Agricultural Technical Committee to support farmers with finance and increase local food production in line with Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda in Agriculture and Food Security.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Temitope Peter Fashedemi made this disclosure during the inauguration of the committee in Abuja.
He pointed out that the Committee was saddled with the responsibility amongst others to see to the reduction of food prices and end hunger in the country. The committee members were drawn from different departments and agencies under the Ministry with the Permanent Secretary as Chairman and Managing Director Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural lending, NIRSAL, as Vice Chairman.
The Permanent Secretary charged the Committee to see the task as clarion call to National duty and deploy their vast experiences.
Similarly, there were deliberations and contributions by members as to how to chart a course and achieve success at the end of the day.
The Agricultural Technical Working Committee (ATWC) was tasked with following terms of reference; Develop a framework/ strategy that will improve support and interventions to agriculture and climate change adaptation; Liaise with other relevant government Agencies and privately funded bodies to generate funds for support of farmers; Liaise with the Department of Cooperatives of the Ministry for the needs assessment of registered farmers for assistance; liaise with the Federal Department of Agriculture of the Ministry to ascertain relevant inputs needed by the farmers amongst others.
In a similar vein, Managing Director, African Development Bank, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka and his team, who came on a courtesy visit stated that the purpose of their visit was to fast track the Implementation of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, SAPZ, which started in April 2019 in Nigeria.
He added that the program’s goal was to increase household incomes, foster job creation in rural agricultural communities, especially for youth and women, and enhance food nutrition security.
He pointed out that the development objective was to support inclusive and sustainable agro-industrial development, noting that the program will be implemented in seven States (Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun and Oyo) including FCT.
The Permanent Secretary, therefore, tasked the delegation from AFDB to come up with their feasibility studies.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is the executing agency for the SAPZ program, which became effective in September 2023.
Meanwhile, A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress,APC,in Osun, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has enjoined President Bola Tinubu, to set up a special taskforce for the distribution of the approved 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from strategic reserved to Nigerians.
The former Lawmaker added the taskforce formation was required to guarantee that the grains reached the intended Nigerians rather than being diverted, adding that it’ll also ensure even and effective distribution.
Speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo, Oyintiloye
stressed that for the masses to benefit from the free grains, the President must put up a taskforce to cripple the activities of saboteurs, who were desperate to make gains from the pains of Nigerians.
Oyintiloye said, “There is no doubt that there is hunger in the land, but the efforts of the government in minimising the problems should not be allowed to be truncated by the enemies of the country.
“And that is why I appeal to the president to set up this special taskforce so as to outsmart those that are waiting to divert the grains.
“People are hungry and this free grain to be distributed by the government must get to the masses and its must not be diverted.
“With the presidential taskforce in place and with effective monitoring, it will be difficult for anyone, no matter how placed to have access in diverting the grains.
Recall that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, had revealed that the President had approved the release of 42,000MT of maize, millet and other commodities from the national strategic reserves to address the rising cost of food in Nigeria.
Oyintiloye, who hailed the president for releasing the grains, stated that the distribution process should not be interrupted by people expert in undermining government efforts to lessen the suffering of Nigerians.
Oyintiloye also commended the president’s directive that security agencies to go after food hoarders is a welcome development and it has started yielding positive results.
He disclosed that the President’s directive will bring those hoarding foods to make unjustifiable gains to justice.
His words, “We all know that the economy is in a bad shape, but the way market men and women are using present situation to hike prices of foods to exploit Nigerians is alarming.
“Many of them are hoarding goods to create artificial scarcity in order to force the prices up and this is not good for the development of our country.
“I commend the president for this directive and I strongly believe that it will force prices of food down and make it available in abundance.
“The president should continue to braze up against enemies of this nation, who are making life unbearable for the common man”, he said.
He however, urged Nigerians to continue to support the president with prayers, noting that the president was doing everything possible to salvage the situation.
..as SMEs struggle to thrive t in Kaduna
However, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now struggling to make sales and profit due to the spike in the prices of commodities in various markets across Kaduna State.
Some small business owners who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday said that they fear being thrown out of business due to the situation.
Ruqayyah Yusuf, a local candy producer said the hike in the prices of raw materials had slowed down production for her, causing a halt in sales.
” We are trying to adjust our pricing in order to maximize our profit but the cost of raw materials are not stable and are incredibly high for our customers to be able to afford our products.
“This has resulted in low turnover on sales and low profit as well,”she said.
Yusuf called on the government to intervene and save businesses from shutting down, adding that price control and a subsidy on food items would go a long way in easing the suffering.
Similarly, Aisha Tahir, a home-made Yoghurt producer said the high price of production had forced her to increase the price of her products, which led to low sales.
She explained that some of the packaging materials for her business were now scarce due to low production, saying she had to order from another state.
On his part, Nasir Ado, a fashion designer, who sells women’s wear said that the cost of fabric had increased due to the rise in dollar causing high prices of production.
” Everything has gone up in the market, from fabric to sewing accessories everything is on the rise; the dress I used to make for N8,000 is now N15,000.
” We pray that the government will intervene and resolve this issue so that small businesses can thrive in this harsh economy,”he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
