The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Abubakar, has said that Nigeria has enough food to feed all its citizens.
He said this while presenting the ministry’s scorecard for 2015 to 2023 in Abuja, the nation’s capital, adding that the rise in the cost of basic foodstuff is an aftermath of Covid-19 and inflation.
‘We have enough food to take care of Nigerians. We are producing food across the country and we will continue to do so to feed Nigerians in line with our mandate and expedite the transformation of the rural communities of Nigeria’, he said.
Agriculture in Nigeria
Nigeria has 70.8 million hectares of agriculture land area with maize, cassava, guinea corn, yam, beans, millet and rice being the major crops.
The country’s rice production rose from 3.7 million metric tonnes in 2017 to 4.0 million metric tonnes in 2018; and between January and March 2021, agriculture contributed to 22.35 percent of Nigeria’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Despite the contribution to the economy, the country’s agricultural sector faces many challenges which impact on its productivity.
The challenges include poor land tenure system, low level of irrigation farming, climate change and land degradation.
Others are low technology, high production cost and poor distribution of inputs, limited financing, high post-harvest losses and poor access to markets.
Not enough to eat
Data from World Food Programme (WFP) shows that seven out of ten Nigerians did not have enough to eat in 2021, and more than half of the most vulnerable people resorted to negative coping strategies.
Also, due to the recent flooding catastrophe that swept through many states in the country, thousands of hectares of farmlands were affected, reducing food production.
The WFP and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned in August 2022 that Nigeria was among six countries facing a high risk of catastrophic levels of hunger, even before the floods.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that Nigerians should brace up for higher food prices and risks in 2023 due to recent floods and high fertiliser prices.
IMF, in October 2022, also advised Nigeria and other countries to make clear policy decisions for price stability amid rising inflationary pressures.
But the minister in November 2022 assured lawmakers that there will be no food scarcity in 2023.
‘We will not allow that to happen. I can guarantee you by the grace of God because we have measures in place’, he said while responding to questions from lawmakers at a 2023 budget defence session.
What are the measures
With all the available statistics and growing concerns, it is not enough for the minister to give an assurance of having ‘measures in place’ to prevent food scarcity in 2023.
The minister needs to tell Nigerians the practical steps his ministry is taking to ensure that Nigeria does not enter a full-blown food crisis in 2023.
The present administration needs to do more than it is doing to manage the inflation which is on a steady rise to reduce the sufferings of the masses.
Photo source: Andrew Moore
