Hardship: Agric Minister links food scarcity to smuggling, naira redesign policy and flooding

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has said the present food scarcity in the nation and the increasing cost of food was as a result of flooding, smuggling of food across the Nigerian borders and the naira redesign policy.

The Minister stated this while appearing in the sectoral debate organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja.

He said the naira redesign policy resulted in smallholder farmers lacking the necessary funds to cultivate their farms during the 2022/2023 period. According to him, small-scale farmers had no access to pay for their harvest towards the end of 2022 as well as pay for cultivation during the commencement of the wet season.

As a result of the non-availability of cash, preparation for the 2023 farming season was not enough to produce the much-needed food to feed Nigerians, he said.

The minister also identified smuggling of food across the Nigerian borders as another impediment to food security in the country.

While acknowledging the impact of insecurity of the food crisis in the country, the minister said the COVID-19 incidents had an impact on food production across the globe, while the rise in flooding in 2021 and 2022 caused serious damage to farmland and therefore hurt food production.

He said the president has directed the Ministry and all those responsible to do everything possible to mitigate the suffering of Nigerians by ensuring enough grains are made available to the people.

He also said that currently, about 5000 tractors are working in Nigeria and the country should have 72,000 functional tractors to meet the growing needs of Nigerians.

He however, said that the Ministry has signed a MoU with a manufacturer to supply 2000 tractors annually for the next five years.