The Nigerian farmers under the auspices of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, yesterday, reacted to the palliative rolled out by President Bola Tinubu, saying distributing palliatives was not the solution to hunger in the land.
This was contained in a statement signed by
the National President, of AFAN, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, where Tinubu was advised on
establishing sustainable food banks that would holistically address current
challenges in food production across the country including high cost of farm
inputs, mechanization, high cost of fuel, invasion of farms by terrorists,
killing of farmers, and others.
According to Ibrahim, to bring about
self-sufficiency in food production it must be well thought out with
competencies identified in line with comparative advantage and ecology.
He said: “The quest for sustainable food
security in a nation of over 200 million people transcends the distribution of
palliatives but essentially calls for the scaling up of productivity and
reinvigorating the entire food system by taking decisive actions.
“A temporary relief may assuage a hungry
person for a few days or months depending on the magnitude of the relief
package but a more sustainable solution to the ailing food system is the most
desirable proposition in the face of the almost existential challenges we are
facing.
“Nigeria is subdivided into six geopolitical
zones comprising of North Central with six States; North East with six
States+FCT; North West with six States; South East with five States; South
South with six States; and South West with six States with each of these Zones
having its food or preferred meal.
“To bring about food sufficiency in Nigeria
its production must be well thought out with competencies identified in line
with comparative advantage and ecology generally.”
However, speaking on why the Tinubu-lead
administration should reposition Nigeria as the leading food producing country
in Africa, its policies in the agricultural sector should take a global outlook
and consideration and to leverage on international food producing and exporting
treaties and should take these advantages including the African Continental
Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA.
“It must also be noted that the position of
Nigeria in Africa necessitates the broadening of the food productivity index to
cater for several African countries in our neighbourhood as they directly
depend on Nigeria for food supply.
“In line with the dictates of the AfCFTA
protocol which is in place we must begin to look at our role in the continent.
“In light of these realities we must do the
following without any delay; Expand our cultivable and irrigable land; Commit
to educate our farmers to embrace Good Agricultural Practices, GAP, Climate
Smart agricultural production leading to all-year round cultivation, invest in
sustainable mechanization, Science, Technology, and Innovation, STI, and
biotechnology leading to Genetic Engineering as well as genome editing, and
others; Seek to appoint very competent, hardworking and honest hands in agriculture
space generally.
“Set out to fully address our energy sector,
transportation, deploy basic agribusiness principles to build or enhance our
processing and value-addition generally; Endeavour to make monitoring and
evaluation as an integral part of our governance metaphor; and Entrench the
giving of reward for high achievement promptly and meting out punishment for
corruption and malfeasance as the bromide that comes with appointments in areas
earmarked for the attainment of set KPIs in the quest for a sustainable food
system for Nigeria.”
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