Stakeholders have urged the federal government to declare a state of emergency for the country’s agriculture sector to prevent greater hunger in the country’s economy.
They argued that the government should be concerned about the escalating food crisis and the frightening pricing of food goods in markets around the country.
They also warned that unless disruptive, innovative, and strict supervision of important milestones with defined timelines between now and 2023 is implemented sustainably, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) announcement that 19 million Nigerians are currently in poverty could be doubled and multiplied.
The stakeholders that spoke to THISDAY on the telephone were the former National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr Kabir Ibrahim; Chairman, Lagos Chapter of the AFAN and South West Regional Coordinator, Dr Femi Oke; former Director-General of LCCI and Chief Executive Officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf and the Director-General of the African Centre for Supply Chain (ACSC), Dr Obiora Madu.
Ibrahim said that Nigeria’s agriculture is at crossroads and begging for urgent solutions.
He explained that Nigeria’s population explosion, the COVID-19 pandemic, general insecurity, incipient laziness in policy implementation and lack of cohesion are ‘threat factors’ to food production, processing, distribution and consumption in the country currently.
