6 July 2009
editorial
Lagos — Against the backdrop of the global food crisis, the recent revelation by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that the country may not meet its food needs in the event of an emergency is worrisome and needs to be addressed with the urgency it deserves.
What the development translates to is that Nigerians would form part of the bulk of the one billion hungry people in the world, as reported by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), if anything untoward happens.
FEC painted a vivid picture of the looming food crisis at the end of one of its recent meetings in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying that the storage capacity in the country could only feed 15 million people for one month, and 140 million in three days, if there is an emergency. This news is not cheery by any standard. Considering the present global economic meltdown and the huge population of the country, the impact of the failure of the food supply chain can better be imagined than experienced. It is instructive, though deeply painful to say that this is happening in a country where agriculture was the driving force of the economy in the 60s.
As a precautionary measure, the Federal Government has directed the construction of two silos in the Northern and Southern parts of the country to boost the food reserve base. The silos are planned to be sited in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital and the FCT, Abuja, at the cost of N1.7 billion and N4.1 billion respectively. In addition, the Federal Government has directed the construction of dams for irrigation purposes, to boost agriculture, according to Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili.
Although no concrete steps have been taken in the last two years to support agriculture, we believe it is the desire to build a vibrant agriculture-based economy that motivated the government of President Umaru Yar'Adua to include food security and agriculture in its seven-point agenda. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources launched its National Food Security Programme in September 2008, to combat the global food crisis and to ensure sustainable access to, availability and affordability of, quality food for all Nigerians.
To ensure the successful implementation of the programme, the Federal Government set aside N200 billion for its take-off, with the short-term objective of significantly improving the country's agricultural productivity by moving from subsistence to commercial farming. The medium-term and long-term objectives are to expand and improve large scale production, improve storage as well as processing capacity, establish a regional infrastructure, and derive over 50 per cent of the nation's foreign exchange through agricultural exports. This programme on paper seems laudable.
We support the construction of the two silos and recommend the construction of more of such in all parts of the country if possible, as a means of countering the looming world food crisis. The silos should be well-built and managed by people with proven records of achievements and should not, in any way, be politicized.
Government should take food security and agriculture as enunciated in its seven-point agenda seriously as the country is blessed with vast arable land. As a matter of fact, a lot of potentials abound in the country in the agricultural sector, and if properly harnessed, Nigeria could serve as the food basket of the world. It is, therefore, incumbent on the authorities concerned to work assiduously to ensure that agricultural produce are available for preservation in the silos when they are completed.
We also support the N200 billion set aside for the development of agriculture and hope that the programme would be effectively and transparently run so that the money would not end up in private pockets for uses other than the development of agriculture. Part of our optimism is that the money would be disbursed through commercial banks which would be more business-like in their approach to the disbursement of the funds to the end users.We urge the government to accelerate the process to avoid the same fate that has befallen the N70 billion textile bail-out funds, that are yet to be disbursed. The money should be utilized prudently during this farming season so that in the time of harvest there would be food on the tables of thousands of hungry Nigerians and more for export.
A healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth.
Now that the Federal Government is taking steps to bring back agriculture to the front burner, we call on other tiers of government to take a cue from this resolve by investing in agriculture and farmers and by constructing silos around the states for storage of agricultural produce.
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