Nigeria has enough food, says Minister

      ·        Denies that government borrowed food

·        Gov, farmers disagree with minister

The Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono has said there was enough food in the country but the Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Bako Lalong and the National Coordinator, Zero Hunger farmers, Dr. Arosanyin disagreed saying insecurity in the North and supply gap being created by market demand are adversely affecting the supply. These positions were taken during the live NTA telecast, Good morning Nigeria based on food security, anchored by Kingley Osadolor and Clare Adelabu recently.

Nanono who argued that covid 19 pandemic’s appearance in the country distorted the food security structure of the nation because movement was restricted and cost of transportation rose, coupled with the panic buying that greeted the entire nation resulted in shooting up of the price of food, assured that the new harvest despite recent flood would soon bring down the prices of food items.

The minister stressed that the prices of food were stable until the arrival of the pandemic saying that “let me tell you, before Covid 19 there were no much of the problem. Covid 19 pandemic brought a lot of challenges as it even increased the logistics of movement of food from one area to another thereby creating a great challenge. It created panic buying which automatically shot up prices of food items.”

He argued further that the new grains harvest from the farms would in less than two months bring down the prices of food items, pointing out that “new harvest from rice and maize are now coming into the markets. Sorghum is N17, 000 from N20,000, millet is ranging from N24,000 to N20,000. Also the policy on rice production about 3-4 years ago has made Nigeria number 13 in the world production. You can check the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) record. We are now number13 in Africa. The good news is that in the next 4-5years, we might be number 4 because we have got all the needed facilities to produce rice in the country.’’

Nanono who admitted that the wholesale prices he gave was based on his constant checks with current prices of food items with the food dealers, said that “I checked the major dealers in the commodities to know what the food items situation are; milled rice is sold at about N25, 000.”

He also responded that the Federal Government has never borrowed any grains from the ECOWAS, saying the portion given to Nigeria was as result of the body following the due process and protocol of the food distributions.

In his response to food security situation, the Governor of Plateau State, and member of National Food Security Council, Mr. Simon Lalong did not agree with the minister’s position on availability of enough food in the country, as he pointed out the devastating effects of insecurity like kidnapping and banditry against farming activities in the entire North.

Mr. Lalong pondered on how Nigeria, in the face of insecurity would be able to be food-sufficient especially in the north saying that, “In the north where we are mostly agrarian and concentrating on agriculture. Now I look at from the last one or two years, a large portion of the north is largely confronted by insecurity. Go to the North East, North West and even within the North Central. There is kidnapping and all. So you cannot expect to see bumper harvest.”

Speaking against the minister’s pronouncement of food availability, the National Coordinator, Farmers’ Zero Hunger, also Dr. Tunde Arosanyin pointed out that the argument of the minister on enough food in the country did not conform to the economic principle of demand and supply cum FAO standard for food security which expatiates on availability, accessibility and affordability.

Arosanyin who chided the CBN interference into other agencies’ mandates  commended the President Muhammadu Buhari for putting on hold the import waiver given to four companies to import maize, adding that such action would discourage local  production as he contended with minister’s position on food surplus in the country which is evident with supplies gap to demand.

‘’I don’t want to agree that we have enough food presently. It is on record that Federal government borrow 5,000 metric tons of grain from Economic Community of West African States, and that should be if we had had enough food there wouldn’t have been need for such. Also, if we had had enough food, then our supply must have matched demand to give stability’’ said the Zero Hunger Coordinator.

The Ebonyi state commissioner of Agriculture, Mr. Moses Ogodoali Nomeh who supported the view of the Minister on food availability in the country said that his state is enjoying food sufficiency in rice and other agricultural produce with surplus being sent to neighbouring states, added that the policy of agriculture had positively impacted to mitigate food importation.