As part of activities to mark this year’s World Food Day, Aliyu Sabi Abdullah, the minister of state for Agriculture and Food Security, has said that thousands of mechanised equipment have been paid for, in order to support farmers and boost food security in Nigeria.
The minister made the revelation during a visit to Bwari cluster farms and Government Girls Secondary School Dutse in Bwari Area Council in Abuja on Tuesday.
The minister also supported the farmers at the cluster farms with 20 sprayers, 30 bags of fertilisers, one carton of insecticides , pesticides, 10 organic fertilizers and five bags of chicken feeds.
The students’ farmers were also supported with various farm inputs, including fertilizers and sprayers, among other items.
“While I do not have the definite number of implements currently, I know it is in thousands. There are some that are 2,000 each year, almost like about three of them, and different kinds machineries. We’re having tractors of different width, we are having harvester, planters, all of them in different quantities and sizes,” the minister said at the event.
Speaking on the essence of the visit, the minister said October 16 is the World Food Day – day set aside by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/ UN) to showcase the significance of food to the livelihoods of people all over the world.
“And Nigeria, as an active member of this organization, has been celebrating World Food Day for many years. In particular, this year, we decided to come to the field to see for ourselves what exactly is happening in the field.
“We have been developing clusters and been dealing with farmers. We need to see the farmers right where they are operating. And that is why today we’ve decided, as part of the pre-16th October day, to visit some farmer groups. And we’ve come here to the cluster group that is here in Bwari Area Council.”
The minister recalled that the presentation of the annual performance report of the wet season by the National Project Extension Research and Services showed there were challenges facing farmers.
“It showed that, yes, we have challenges in terms of insecurity in some places, but significant success has been recorded in many places and sanity has returned. These are reassuring successes that are in tune with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President.”
The minister also said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has partnered with the Office of the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, where it looked at revamping and invigorating young farmers through the farmers’ clubs in various schools.
He also assured of the federal government’s support to all farmers for dry season farming.
“We are having plans for them and they should be able to watch out. In the next one month, we will be in the dry season farming and we are supporting back-to-back farming so that anywhere we are having an opportunity to have irrigation farming, we are going to support that.
“And we are partnering with all our stakeholders under the National Agricultural Group Scheme Agro-Pocket Project and working together so that when it comes to input distribution, what they have as their own program will be captured in terms of the support that will go today.”
Speaking on the persisting high cost of food prices, he said, “We say food insecurity is a function of so many things, and it comes in different forms. We acknowledge that and we know there is a challenge. And that’s why we are working hard. And that’s why we are also changing our strategy.”
“By coming to the field today, you can see the excitement in the fields of our farmers. It is when food is produced that it will be available. If you go to the market today, the prices of these commodities are not the same as they were three months back.
“So there’s an improvement. And if you also check, you realise that it’s about accessibility and at least the price will come down.
“But we are having milestones that we are achieving. And the last survey told us clearly that there is marginal increase in our production. And I think that is what is important to us. Even post-harvest losses have reduced. So that means there will be more food. And if you go to the market today, the price is dropping.”
He also reiterated the position of the federal government to bring insecurity to an end.
“Government is looking into all of this. That has led to the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development. So, I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that we can solve the problem because all over the world, there are cases like this and they’ve solved the problem. The key issue is, make food available for livestock owners in the manner that they don’t have to go back.”
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