Recently, the federal government took a bold step towards ensuring that hunger does not become the lot of citizens, anytime soon. In that regard, it declared a state of emergency on food security. The move was to check looming food shortage, occasioned by low agricultural production, majorly fuelled by violent insecurity in the land.
Mr Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, at a news conference said the decision came in response to inflation and the inability of citizens to afford basic food items.
President Tinubu, according to Mr Alake, has already ordered that all matters pertaining to food and water availability and affordability be included within the scope of the National Security Council. He equally ordered the immediate release of fertilisers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.
The president’s spokesperson also said authorities would boost the security architecture to protect farmers. He said the ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources would work together to guarantee irrigation for farmers, to produce food all-year round.
President Tinubu has taken a step in the right direction. He truly got it right, as far as taking a courageous step towards restoring the glory of the country’s agricultural sector is concerned. It is regrettable that a sector that was once the mainstay of Africa’s largest economy some few decades ago, is now gasping for breath.
One thing I am certain about is that President Tinubu has the capacity to provide a therapy for our fragile economy. Yet, I have something to tell Mr President. He should go beyond declaring only a national emergency on the country’s food security.
He should accord priority attention to maximising Nigeria’s rice production capacity, among West Africans, if not entirely among world nations. President Tinubu, Nigeria, the nation you are leading, is the largest producer of rice (paddy) in Africa, with an average production volume of eight million tonnes. As of 2019, Nigeria ranked as the 14th largest producer of rice in the world.
Ravaging insecurity, climate change, farmers’ low capital, and flood havoc, among others, are however threatening rice production in our dear country. But they cannot compete with the reckless activities of rice smugglers. The Rice Processors Association of Nigeria, RIPAN, in April this year, raised the alarm that illegal importation of rice into the country had persisted, despite federal government’s interventions.
If the lofty goals of Tinubu’s state of emergency declaration on food security must be achieved, the federal government must swiftly tackle rice smuggling, in particular.
It should also design and launch, if necessary, novel and effective policies and actionable programmes that will further strengthen and sustain Nigeria’s rice industry.
Aside from the huge investments we anticipate President Tinubu to make in the rice subsector, FG should begin to worry about pervasive insecurity and how it has affected farming generally in the country. The government should do all within its might to clip the wings of daredevil terrorists and bandits, who are frustrating millions of Nigerian farmers, especially those in the North.
Another way the government can assist and support Nigerian rice farmers in particular, is by making small-interest loans accessible to them. They need more capital to quit subsistence rice farming for massive cultivation – that will be enough for feeding teeming citizens and export.
Let me once again commend Mr President for ordering the disbursement of fertilisers and grains to farmers and households, to mitigate the effects of the subsidy reversal policy. But it should not just stop there. Our rice farmers need seeds resistant to flooding and other harsh weather conditions.
I wish to also plead with President Tinubu to encourage state governments to ease bottlenecks in the processes of acquiring land for large-scale farming of paddy rice.
Nigerians and indeed stakeholders in the country’s rice industry will be pleased if all other necessary steps are taken by the government to enhance the aggressive production of rice locally. President Tinubu’s state of emergency to tackle Nigeria’s food crisis is not the end point but the means to an end, which is attaining prosperity for Nigeria’s agricultural sector in the long run.
Safina Abbati and Karima Kabir Garba are 300-Level Mass Communication students of Nile University [email protected] ([email protected])
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