Nigeria may return to food importation to augment what the country currently produces, if the issue of insecurity persists, farmers have warned.
A farmer based in Borno State, Alhaji Abiso Kabir said farmers are being attacked in states where agriculture is a major source of livelihood.
While noting that farmers have lost confidence in going to their farms, he urged the government to re-strategise efforts in tackling insecurity.
“If we continue to stay at home, we will have no other options but go back to food importation; the government policy has discouraged food importation and that should be maintained.
“Farmers are supposed to be in their farms now because we have started wet season farming, but they can’t go to farm because of certain issues.
“We are being attacked in states where agriculture is a major livelihood, security personnel, state and federal governments should re-strategise more on how to tackle insecurity,” he said.
However, the National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arc Kabir Ibrahim said farmers should be given the chance to help Nigeria’s economy so that the focus on agriculture won’t be lost.
“There are many cross cutting allocations in so many ministries and parastatals that directly affect agriculture, but it takes the focus of the driver to be able to identify them. For instance, in transportation, good roads and rail lines will help in transporting our produce, in environment, when the work is done perfectly there and the soil is protected from erosion and others, it becomes stable and good enough for crop production. If the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigeria Export Promotion Council and related agencies collaborate well, we will be able to export some of our produce,” he said.
While calling on governments to provide an enabling environment for farmers to thrive, the National Vice President of AFAN, Chief Daniel Okafor also told The Nation that the country may experience a worse situation next year, adding that a lot of people may go into crimes due to hunger.
“Let the government give us security, it may be worst next year, hunger will be the order of the day and this may push a lot of people to commit heinous crimes.
“There is a need for government to look into the security of lives and that of farmers; no state is safe in Nigeria.
“Last week, we were going to farm at Kuje Area Council, they told us they were kidnapping some people, we went back. There will be famine next year except the government reverses this,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the Federal Government have signed two Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCPs) with the aim of strengthening sustainable and inclusive food and agriculture systems and food safety.
The signing ceremony held in Abuja yesterday, was presided over by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Ernest Umakhihe and FAO’s Representative in Nigeria and to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr. Fred Kafeero.
Speaking on farm inputs, Okafor said up till now, no input has been given to farmers and they have commenced wet season farming.
“Climate change is also a problem, we just had the rain today after some time, we have lost almost all we planted, if this continues, our food security is not guaranteed,” he added.
He however reiterated the need for investment in research to deal with climate change.
“We were advised that there will be shortage of rainfall this year; something should be done about this, they should invest in research to deal with climate change or we should engage more in irrigation so that we can farm anytime.
“Government should give us an enabling environment so that we can succeed, farmers should be carried along implementing agric policies,” he said.
Prices of rice is expected to fall in the coming days as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Rice farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) plan to distribute 27,000 metric tons of rice paddies directly to millers nationwide.
The rice, which will be distributed from tomorrow aligns with the apex bank’s move to address the rising cost of food prices in the Nigerian market.
The CBN said direct allocation from RIFAN warehouses across 16 states of the Federation is sequel to the earlier sale of paddy aggregated as loan repayment under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to millers from the rice pyramids unveiled in Niger, Kebbi, Gombe and Ekiti states.
According to the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, Kaduna, Kaduna State, has been selected as the key location for the paddy allocation exercise which will be done simultaneously in the states that recorded the highest quality of rice harvests during the last farming season.
He said the new strategy was in line with the bank’s mandate of ensuring price stability and its focus of being a people-centered central bank. He also expressed optimism that the allocation of the paddies would trigger a decline in the prices of rice in the Nigerian market, boost availability, and ultimately check the activities of middlemen seeking to create artificial scarcity along the supply chains.
The CBN recently unveiled pyramids of rice paddies in Niger, Kebbi, Gombe and Ekiti States, with the Federal Capital Territory, Ebonyi and Cross River slated for the same exercise in the coming weeks in what the Bank says is part of its contribution to ensuring self-sustenance in food production as well as food security in Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the CBN, working with relevant agencies, in January 2021, had triggered the release of about 300,000 metric tonnes of maize from strategic anchors under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which forced down the prices of maize from N180,000 per metric ton.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Mr. Kafeero said FAO had secured funds for implementation of three TCPs which are in line with the priorities of the Federal Government of Nigeria as outlined in the FAOs Country Programming Framework (CPF) for Nigeria 2018-2022.
Among the TCPs, is the one that will focus on the implementation of the Hand in Hand Initiative in Nigeria for sustainable and inclusive food and agriculture systems to build resilience and alleviate poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
“The Hand in Hand initiative in Nigeria aims to enhance the capacity of communities and rural institutions to take advantage of the unexploited opportunities effectively and sustainably but also address structural constraints and build resilience of populations in territories under crisis”, he said.
On the other hand, the other TCP aims to provide technical support to aflatoxin management and mitigation in Nigeria. It is expected to help the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to address food security and nutrition issues, support the national economic diversification drive, ensure food safety, and provide import substitution, among other benefits, Mr. Kafeero added.
Explaining further on the TCPs, Assistant FAO Nigeria Representative, Abubakar Suleiman, said it is a country owned initiative developed by FAO that works across stakeholders to develop and identify Investment gaps and develop territorial approaches that will target specific value chains, specific commodities and specific entry points.
He said Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and rural Development expressed interest to join the hand-in-hand initiative, and for that, if you have constituted a core team and a technical task team that is deployed to support Nigeria.
He also noted that this technical cooperation programme is a facility that will support in releasing constraint, and bottle necks to the implementation of hand-in-hand in Nigeria.
“Essentially, the hand in hand would work very closely with the participating Ministry. There are three main Ministries and other offices, the main Ministries include the Ministry of Agriculture and rural Development, Ministry of Trade and Investment and Ministry of humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
“The hand in hand has a two-track approach that would focus on investment and impact Program implementation in defined crops and other Commodities that would be later developed and identified and prioritized in the course of the implementation.
“The second track is the humanitarian track that will fast-track resilience building a livelihood recovery programme in particular in territories that are facing different forms of crisis.
This story first appeared in The Nation, https://thenationonlineng.net/insecurity-may-push-nigeria-back-to-food-importation-farmers-warn/