New Telegraph

No food shortage in Nigeria, says FG

The Federal Government has dismissed the predictions of food shortages in Nigeria following the recent flood that swept away large expanses of farmlands and crops in many parts of the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr Muhammad Abubakar, who stated the position of the government yesterday at the 5th PMB Administration Scorecard Series in Abuja, said there was no cause for alarm, saying Nigerians have enough food to eat.

Although Abubakar acknowledged the rising prices of food items, he said it was not because of food shortages, blaming the development on the inflation in the global economy.

According to him, the economies of most countries, including Nigeria, are yet to fully recover from the impact of COVID-19 when the Russian/Ukrainian war  started and further worsened the economic situation. He said: “Absolutely, we have enough to eat. There is no shortage of food. Price increase? Yes. It is a hundred times better to have inflation than to have no food. “I can say anywhere that we are self-sufficient in rice.

We are the number one producer of rice in Africa and the number four in the world. We are the number one producer of cassava, the number one producer of yam, the number two producer of sorghum after the United States and we are the number three producer of millet. We have enough to eat abs and will continue to have enough to eat by the grace of God.

“The recent flood has raised some issues with production because it damaged some farmlands and that is why we are undertaking aggressive dry season farming. I have just approved the first tranche to do what we call residual moisture farming. This is to use fast-growing seeds in areas where the flood water has receded.

The moisture there is enough to  help the crops grow and then if the dry season comes, we have harnessed some of the flood waters for irrigation during the dry season farming.”

The minister also blamed those smuggling food items to sell in neighbouring countries for the development. He said while food importation and exportation are part of the global economic activities, his ministry is collaborating with the Nigeria Customs Service and Ministry of Finance to check the activities of food smugglers.

In a bid to ensure that Nigeria achieves food security, Abubakar said the ministry procured 79,277.30 metric tonnes of food commodities between 2020 and 2021 to replenish the national strategic reserve that was depleted by COVID-19.

On the attacks by herders on farming communities, the minister said he was not sure if pastoralists intentionally unleash their cattle on farms to eat up crops, stressing that more often than not it is a case of cattle straying into farms and wreaking havoc.

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