Food inflation in Nigeria has reached a staggering 40 per cent, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
PLATFORM TIMES reports that the surge has pushed the prices of essential commodities beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians, sparking widespread concern over food security in the country.
Despite these alarming figures, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has assured Nigerians that the nation is on the brink of a significant agricultural turnaround.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Kyari revealed that the country is expecting a bumper harvest by the end of the year, which he believes will help mitigate the current crisis.
“It [bumper harvest] is about October-November this year. That’s when we are going to have the harvest. We are expecting a bumper harvest barring any natural issues,” Kyari stated.
“Well, I am just giving you the assurance that we will have a bumper harvest.”
Kyari explained that one of the main reasons for the current food shortage is seasonal.
“The season we have here is a critical issue we have in agriculture. This is what we call the lean season and this is between June-July and the next harvest,” he noted.
He also attributed the food scarcity to other challenges such as reduced landmass, flooding, and insecurity.
“The shrinkage of land mass for agric, flooding, habitation problems, and insecurity… An ageing farming population; younger people are not going into agriculture now,” Kyari elaborated.
To combat these issues, Kyari emphasised the Federal Government’s initiatives to ramp up farming activities and increase food production.
One such measure includes transitioning to mechanised farming.
“We have ordered. It’s not like chewing gum; you can’t buy it off the shelf. I went to Belarus and ordered 200 tractors and 9,000 other implements,” he disclosed.
Kyari criticized the traditional farming methods still prevalent in Nigeria, describing them as outdated.
“The basic implement for farming in Nigeria is a hoe, which is archaic and antique. That’s why we are talking mechanisation,” he stressed.
In addition to mechanisation, the government is also distributing fertilizers to farmers as part of its efforts to boost agricultural productivity.
These moves, Kyari believes, will significantly improve food production and help stabilize prices in the long term.
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