News in brief: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced plans to establish agricultural hubs in Nigeria during his inaugural address. His aim is to improve processing and value addition to raw produce, enhance food security, and more.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised that he will build set up agricultural hubs across Nigeria. He made the announcement during his inaugural address on Monday, 29 May 2023.
Of course, the comment on fuel subsidy overshadowed every other thing he said but his agricultural comments are very important because the sector had been a key part of his campaign promises.
Tinubu’s plan is for these agricultural hubs to add value to raw produce through processing. As an overview of the country’s agro sector shows, every subsector suffers from below-par processing. Hence, it results in loss of revenue.
In fact, the poor processing systems in the country is not only leading to poorer revenue for exporters but endangers food security while increasing food import bill.
Nigeria’s new president has a dual benefit agenda in mind for creating agricultural hubs. He mentions income for farmers and cheaper food by setting up commodity exchange boards that maintain prices for products. In addition, he says that there is a provision for storage and other facilities that will curb waste and spoilage.
To address the insecurity caused by herders and farmers conflicts, Tinubu stated that his administration will introduce ‘best modern practices’. Likely, this will reduce nomadic activities that take cattle herds into rural farms in search of food and water.
It is barely 24 hours into Tinubu’s presidency and we will likely be seeing more detailed plans to achieve these agric-focused promises.
