Our reserve not empty, agric minister insists

For many years, experts have been critical of the Nigeria Strategic Grain Reserve system, pointing out the risk of having an empty or lean reserve.

Since COVID-19, which had a negative impact on numerous economic and agricultural activities, closed international borders, and what many referred to as a “weak grain reserve system,” the amount of food available has decreased, driving up food prices.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, during a recent briefing at the Joint Senate Committee on the State of the Economy, told senators why importation was considered and the question about  the country’s grain reserve concerns raised by many stakeholders.

Importation call heard

“I know that a lot of senators have raised concerns about the issue of importation; and I think there are also concerns out there. We are also worried about that. We try to protect the local industry and farmers, but at the same time, we are in an emergency situation.

“I think that just like somebody who is sinking, if your hand him a sword he would grab it, just to come out. This is the situation we found ourselves now. But it is an interim situation and not something that will be protracted over a period of time,” he said.

The minister said prices would drop significantly if the country intensified production effort in dry and wet seasons, adding that the current problem is not about hoarding but speculations.

“I wouldn’t want to say there is hoarding, but there are speculators in the industry. I am sure they will start bringing out their grains to the market. And even when some of these imports start coming, there should be some kind of activity that would lessen the prices of food,” Sen Kyari said.

Our reserve not empty – Minister

“On the issue of food reserve, I think a question was asked: Are the grains available? I will say yes, the ones we are about to release are available,” Sen Kyari said.

Nigeria has 33 silos with a total capacity of 1.3 million metric tonnes for its Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) system. However, about 19 of these silos were concessioned to the private sector for a number of years.

The ministry has not given details of what is available in the national strategic grains reserve silos, describing it as a national security issue.

Last week, the president after so much pressure from Nigerians and legislators, announced the release of some grains to cushion the effect of rising food prices.

On Wednesday, the minister announced the release of 42,000 metric tonnes of grain from the national reserve as approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, adding that this was a significant step towards addressing the current hardship of food shortage and inflation in the country.

However, he did not give a breakdown of the details of these grains to be released, whether maize, millet, sorghum, wheat or rice, and from which silos.

Senator Kyari said, “The release of these grains will help to increase the supply of food in the market, which will lead to a decrease in prices. This will provide relief to Nigerian families who have been struggling to afford basic necessities.”

But some agric economists said it would not achieve any significant result in view of the demand and supply gaps across many commodities.

As at the time of filing this report, there had not been significant activities around the release and delivering the commodities, including the modalities of distribution to beneficiaries, fueling suspicion by some observers about the availability of the grains.

However, the minister said the grains would be released to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) because they had the poverty index of the country. “They know exactly where it is needed; and they have a policy on how they transport and store before it is distributed to the needy.

“We have started working on that. We have already instructed the NEMA to give us their work plan so that we can quickly go ahead and take possession of those stocks,” he said.

Sen Kyari also mentioned a number of things needed to solve the food security problem of the country.

‘Nigeria’s agric budget too low’

On the current state of Nigeria’s agricultural budget, the minister did not hide his concerns, which highlighted the importance of increasing the country’s agricultural budget to enhance food production.

“I would like to highlight one very important aspect, which I did when I was here defending the budget of 2024. We have the Malabo agreement in which Nigeria is co-signatory to the comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme of the African Union, that agricultural provision in the budget should be 10 per cent of the total budget. And I think that when we look at the 2024 budget, we are far away from that target. We have seen other countries that have reached that; Rwanda for instance. And that’s why they are actually progressing in the agricultural field,” he said.

Not late for dry activities

Speaking further on the current dry season activities, the minister believes the window is still open for production.

He said, “Like I mentioned earlier, within the next eight to 10 days, we should be able to roll out; and it is still a good window. We are not too late. And we should be able to make a significant impact as planned,” he stated.

AFAN to FG: Go beyond one-off releases

The national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, an architect, has advised the federal government to go beyond what he called “one-off releases from strategic reserves,” saying “Nigeria actually needs veritable food banks in all the six geopolitical zones for the attainment of sustainable food security.”

He stressed that a veritable food system was evolved by committing to the proper and sustainable creation of a number of important pillars, which include production, storage, processing, distribution and consumption.

Ibrahim said, “The efficient productivity of farmers needs an optimum push by ensuring security to enable them go to their farms seamlessly and assisted to deploy science, technology and innovation, which will ensure compliance to good agricultural practice, optimise mechanisation, exposure to relevant education and efficient agribusiness by creating incubation centres, as well as agriculture intelligence centres all over the length and breadth of Nigeria.

When it comes to storage, he said that cold storage and other well run dry storage facilities were essential to lowering post-harvest losses and increasing the shelf life of agricultural products, and that these goals ought to be actively pursued.