All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has called on Federal Government to restore the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP), to relieve Nigerians from the burden of high cost of food and ensure food sufficiency in the country.
National President of AFAN, Arch Kabir Ibrahim during his courtesy visit to the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar in Abuja, noted that NFRA should be resuscitated to buy directly and sold to the public at subsidized price and to also resuscitate GMP.
AFAN as the umbrella body of all farmers’ commodities associations in Nigeria was established to build a nation where sustainable agriculture is the bedrock and core foundation of collective and thriving economy and means of livelihood.
AFAN Expresses Concern Over Rising Food Prices
NFRA is an important instrument for tackling food insecurity and providing emergency relief for vulnerable groups of the population, established to ensure stabilization of prices, control of importation and exportation on behalf of Government.
Ibrahim urged the Federal Government to swing into action in crashing the price of rice that is already beyond the reach of a common man despite the trillions of Naira spent on the Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) on rice production in the country.
AFAN Cites Institutional Failure, Inequity as Causes in Food Blockade
He noted that Nigerians are lamenting the shortage of food, rising cost in food prices, and inflation despite huge investments made by the current administration in making agriculture front burner of the general discourse in Nigeria in terms of economic diversification and food security.
AFAN boss advised the Minister to host all stakeholders and farmer organizations in a roundtable, while calling on all actors in the agriculture sector such as the CBN, NALDA and farmers among others to work in synergy to really impact Nigeria’s food system
