AFAN boss raises alarm on food supply situation

The National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arc Kabir Ibrahim, has raised the alarm on the food supply situation in the country calling on the federal government to take proactive actions to mitigate the impending disaster. This was contained in a press release made available to FoodFarmNews by the farmers’ boss in Abuja.

Ibrahim who said the soaring prices of food items currently being experienced was a risk factor in the attainment of the desired food security in Nigeria as availability is endangered while the price is already on the upward climb.

He explained that even though the farmers were “definitely putting in their best to make food available but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Insecurity, Flooding, drought in some areas, inadequate technology, power, good seeds and veritable inputs are debilitating impediments to the up scaling of productivity. A Commonsensical appraisal of this situation and good economics will show that once the demand exceeds supply there is bound to be inflation which directly affects affordability.”

While countering the view expressed by the minister that there was food sufficiency, he said “to say that there is no hunger in Nigeria today is not only arrogant and obtuse but delusionary especially coming from some of the Chief drivers of Agriculture.”

He advised farmers and government that in order “to mitigate the disaster waiting to happen the farmers are enjoined to adopt all round production using ground water as well as the Fadama areas and the use of the dams available all over the place. The Government should as a matter of urgency take proactive and decisive action in reappraising the management of the entire food system to bring about food sufficiency and the desired food security sustainably.

Ibrahim who counselled that the ad hoc interventions and the several windows of support from the CBN and various agencies including the FMARD must be accessed by and made available to all farmers and all regions and not just a select few sustainably by institutionalizing them, noted that National Food Security was not a “one-off” episode or for particular regions but must be for the whole country to be sustainably impactful.

While commenting on the first meeting by carefully selected stakeholders in the food system that preceded the Food Security Council meeting held recently, he said it had a far reaching effect on the decisions made at the Food Security Council the next day which  led to the inspection of the flood incidents of Kebbi and Jigawa etc to enable government to be  able to directly assess the situation as done already by the minister later.

He said further, “this is absolutely necessary and evidently desirable even though a bit late. The farmers affected all over the country must be assisted to go back to their farms promptly as promised by the President. We advise that the effort to assist the farmers will be more impactful if it is transparently and judiciously implemented by a combination of farmer associations and honest public servants as well as traditional rulers in all the affected areas. To firmly and sustainably mitigate these losses the farmers are on their part already talking with NAIC to insure all their Agricultural investments going forward.”