The Federal Government has again debunked claims that the nation would experience food shortage in 2023.
Minister of Agriculture, Mohammad Abubakar, disclosed this on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House.
He, however, admitted that inflation was taking a toll on the country and it was not peculiar with Nigeria alone.
He stated that the government is working to decrease inflation rate and ensure food security primarily through subsidising fertilizer, improving production and prevent smuggling among other strategies.
He said, “So I’m assuring you again, there will be no food shortage, we are working on bringing down inflation. Another memo that was approved about three weeks ago on Farm Gate pricing.
“Farm Gate pricing is a situation where middlemen and even foreigners will go to the point of harvest and buy, we have prevented that because it increases the amount of produce in the market and also reduces the intake of the farmer himself. So we have stopped that and many other things.”
He stated further:“Yes, I have said time and time again. Currently, we do not have food shortage, there is no food shortage. High prices in some commodities, inflation, yes, is currently the same, just about everywhere around the world, for different reasons.
“Still the after effect of COVID, where supply chains have not totally opened. Climate change is an issue. And the current Ukraine, Russian war, there are a number of things. Different countries are tackling it based on their own peculiarity but currently it is a world phenomena”.
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“I have also mentioned, one of the things is to make sure, first of all, that there is food in the country, supply and demand. That’s why we are making sure that we’ll do the dry season farming. We know that a lot of farmlands have been flooded and will lose some crops from the rainy season,” he noted.
According to him, the President, Muhammadu Buhari is 100% behind the augmentation of food production and that will be done.
In the last two months, houses and farmlands have been submerged in Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Imo, Abia States, and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), over 600 people have died and millions displaced by devastating floods that hit more than 20 states in the last few months.
The 2022 floods have attracted international “solidarity”. In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, King Charles III sympathised with Nigeria over the “devastating” incidents.