Nigeria’s Minister of State for Agriculture, Aliyu Sabi, has emphasized that the country cannot rely solely on rain-fed agriculture to ensure sustainable food production and achieve food security. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Monday, the minister outlined the government’s plans to boost year-round food production in the country.
“We realised that in the past years, we have not been taking our dry season farming seriously, and we cannot just depend on rain-fed agriculture and be food secure,” Mr Sabi stated.
The minister’s comments come against the backdrop of Nigeria’s ongoing food security challenges, exacerbated by rising inflation and the impacts of climate change. The situation has been further complicated by the removal of fuel subsidies by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in May 2023, which has led to a significant increase in the prices of staple food items.
To address these concerns, Mr Sabi revealed that the government is implementing several mechanization programmes to enhance agricultural productivity.
“We are currently having in the works a lot of the mechanization programmes, such as the greener hope mechanization programme, the greener imperative mechanization programme,” he said.
The minister added that these initiatives aim to introduce over 2,000 tractors initially, with plans to increase this number to 10,000 in the future.
“Now, all of these are designed over a period of time to raise the productivity of our farmers by removing the barriers associated with farming,” Mr Sabi said.
The urgency of the situation is underscored by the latest inflation figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the NBS, Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 34.19% in June from 33.94% in May, with food inflation specifically increasing to 40.87% from 40.66% over the same period.
In response to the escalating food prices, the government recently announced plans for duty-free importation of major food commodities to supplement domestic shortages and potentially lower market prices.
Mr Sabi also highlighted the importance of post-harvest interventions in the government’s agricultural strategy. “Agriculture has a time frame. Now, a lot of production is going on, we are in the rainy season, and if you look at the fields, there is a lot of cropping going on. Those crops are not food, they can only translate into food after three months, and depending on the time of it to be harvested,” he explained.
The minister emphasized that not all food crops are easily storable, with cereals being the exception.
Mr Sabi stated, “It is not all the food we reserve, it is only the cereals that are easy to reserve. And that is why as a government the issue of post-harvest is the major issue and we are looking at programs that can help us intervene in the post-harvest sector.”
