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Farmers decry high cost of food, hunger in Nigeria

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food items in the market nigeria

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) on Sunday decried the rising prices of food and hunger in the county and challenged the Federal Government to promptly act on the matter now.

The National President of the Association, Kabir Ibrahim, made the call in a statement titled: “To avert disaster in Nigeria’s food system challenged by COVID-19, insecurity, flooding, and soaring prices of food items.”

The statement read: “The soaring prices of food items currently being experienced is a risk factor in the attainment of the desired food security in Nigeria as for there to be real food security anywhere in the world a number of factors have to be right namely: Availability of food generally; and Affordability of nutritionally balanced diet.

“The farmers are definitely putting in their best to make food available but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Insecurity, Flooding, drought in some areas, inadequate Technology, Power, Good seeds, and veritable inputs are debilitating impediments to the up-scaling of productivity.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt to test five million farmers for COVID-19

“A commonsensical appraisal of this situation and good economics will show that once the demand exceeds supply there is bound to be inflation which directly affects affordability.

“To say that there is no hunger in Nigeria today is not only arrogant and obtuse but delusionary especially coming from some of the chief drivers of agriculture.

“The government should as a matter of urgency take proactive and decisive action in reappraising the management of the entire food system to bring about food sufficiency and the desired food security sustainably.

“The adhoc interventions and the several windows of support from the CBN and various agencies including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must be accessed by and made available to all farmers and all regions and not just a select few sustainably by institutionalizing them.

“National food security is not a “one-off” episode or for particular regions but must be for the whole country to be sustainably impactful.”

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