News in brief:
-Â President Bola Tinubu has reiterated that food security is a top priority for his administration, and he emphasised collaboration between the public and private sectors for economic growth and job creation.
– The event also highlighted key strategies for revitalising the agricultural sector, including incentivising smallholder farmers, enhancing security, embracing technology, and advocating for reforms.
President Bola Tinubu has pledged to make food security a top priority for his administration, emphasising the crucial role of coordinated efforts in achieving this goal.
Addressing stakeholders at the 15th National Agricultural Show in Karu, Nasarawa State, the president, through the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, reiterated the government’s commitment to promoting synergies between the public and private sectors to enhance food security, economic growth, and job creation.
The event, organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), serves as a platform for business-to-business linkages, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, public-private collaboration, and policy discussions among participants.
President Tinubu highlighted the importance of aligning all programs and initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with the four presidential priorities, emphasizing his unwavering commitment and political will to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector and establish food security as the cornerstone of his agenda.
In his address, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, Chairman of the NAFN Board of Trustees, outlined key strategies to revitalise the country’s agricultural sector. These strategies include incentivising smallholder farmers, enhancing security, providing subsidies for seeds and mechanisation, embracing science and technology, and establishing efficient storage and transportation systems to minimise post-harvest losses.
Ibrahim also advocated for the resuscitation of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) and the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), as well as the appointment of experienced farmers to key positions in agricultural agencies to demonstrate the federal government’s commitment to revitalizing the sector.
Furthermore, he called for reforms such as establishing agricultural intelligence centers, ensuring energy access, addressing climate change impacts, promoting knowledge-based agriculture, tailoring agriculture to regional needs, fostering synergy among stakeholders, and proposing the recapitalization of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to provide equity to farmers.
