Gom Mirian
Akingbala Adetokunbo, a respected agriculturist, has called for immediate interventions from the newly appointed Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Abubakar Kyari, to save the agricultural sector.
In a tweet posted on his social media page on Friday, Adetokunbo advised Kyari to act quickly and decisively to address Nigeria’s food shortages, adding that effectiveness and accountability should be the Minister’s watchword.
He wrote: “Let’s quickly cut to the chase so you know what you’re dealing with by the numbers regarding our food inflation at 30%.
“Our food shortages in metric tonnes are as follows Rice – 2,200,000 tonnes; Wheat – 4,000,000 tonnes, Corn ~ 11,000,000 tonnes, Fish – 1,300,000 tonnes, Cassava – 24,000,000 tonnes, Palm Oil – 1,100,000 tonnes, Tomato – 1,100,000 tonnes, Poultry – 245,000,000 tonnes, Pulses – 1,000,000 tonnes.
“Here are some quick interventions that can be streamlined for effectiveness and accountability. Seeds standardisation, the seed quality determines the harvest. Fertiliser access tied to digital identification. Herbicides and pesticides regulations. Planting calendar.
“A major cause for part of our shortages is traceable to insecurity, especially across the North West and North Central; this has to be tackled with extreme prejudice because as food inflation soars, it also compounds the insecurity around the country.
“Food security is National security; you’d also have to resolve the farmer-herder issues. This is the 21st century; agriculture is a business and no longer a part of culture,” he added.
