Agric Minister, Abubakar, insists Nigeria has enough food to feed citizens

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, has insisted that despite the current food scarcity and rising cost of food stuffs being experienced in the country, Nigeria has enough food to feed all Nigerians.

Abubakar who made the assertion on Monday in Abuja while presenting the ministry’s scorecard for 2015-2023, however, blamed the rising cost of basic food items in the country on inflation and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many countries to shut down key economic activities for many months.

Abubakar also blamed the rise in prices of fertilizer on inflation and the inability of the producers of source raw materials due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.

“We have enough food to take care of Nigerians. We are producing food across the country and we will continue to do so to feed Nigerians in line with our mandate and expedite the transformation of the rural communities of Nigeria.

Read also:Nigeria to begin export of rice to Egypt amid claims of food shortages

“The fact that some categories of food are imported by Nigeria is not an indication that we have food shortages.

“The high cost of food that we experience in the country is as a result of rising inflation, which is not peculiar to Nigeria, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many sectors of economic production to be shut down for many months.

“As it is today, many parts of the world, including our own country, are yet to fully recover from the negative effects of the pandemic, which has triggered inflation and high food costs across the world,” he said.

The Minister also boasted that the ministry had improved the quantity of food, fish and animal production and increased the capacity of food storage facilities to hold more food for Nigerians in case of emergency.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now