President Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency on food security in order to address the rising food inflation crisis in the country and unveiled a series of immediate interventions to ensure food availability and affordability, following the removal of fuel subsidies.
The Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications, and Strategy, Dele Alake, made this known while speaking to journalists after consultations with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector value chain at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Stakeholders on board include the National Commodity Exchange, seed companies, the National Seed Council, research institutes, microfinance banks, food processing and agricultural processing associations, private sector holders and prime anchors, smallholder farmers, crop associations, fertilizer producers, blenders, and suppliers’ associations, among others.
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The Presidential aide disclosed that the administration intends to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the agricultural sector, focusing on revamping the agricultural sector through short-, medium-, and long-term interventions.
“As a country, Mr. President has made it clear that we are no longer comfortable with seasonal farming. We can no longer afford to have farming downtime. There will be an organic synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the use of water resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is available all year round”.
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He pointed out that FG will activate land banks nationwide, which currently stand at 500,000 hectares mapped, to increase the availability of arable land for farming, adding that there will be an immediate release of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households, which will immediately impact food output.
According to him, the FG would partner with states to create ranches in those whose governments are willing to avail lands and strengthen the security architecture to protect farms and farmers to enable them to return to their farmlands without fear of attacks.
