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Soaring prices of food
By Sun News Publishing
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The recent worldwide increase in the prices of foodstuff,
especially grains, has elicited stern warnings of a growing
global food crisis from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), that should be taken seriously by all
responsible governments. The World Bank, which confirmed the
international dimension of the dreary news in a report entitled
“Rising Food Prices: Policy Options and World Bank Response”
gave examples of the price of wheat which had increased by
a whopping 181 per cent in 36 months, and the overall Global
Food Price increase of about 83 per cent. The bank has called
on the international community to fill the hunger gap with
a $500 million intervention.
The World Bank report came on the heels of news that the Federal
Government had to release grains from the nation’s strategic
reserves to bring prices down, last month. The inflationary
trend has been especially noticeable in the country in the
price of the local staple, rice, which rose from between N5.500.00
and N7000.00 in December 2007 to about N10,000.00, or more
today.
The price of the grain is expected to go even higher as major
producers and exporters of the product, notably China and
Thailand, have warned that they are running out of stock,
as explained by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman,
in Washington DC, recently. Members of the Master Bakers and
Caterers Association of Nigeria, citing increases in the price
of wheat flour, have also disclosed a plan for a 25% increase
in the price of bread, after a brief closure of their factories
from April 23, 2008. They are calling for subsidies on wheat
flour to make bread cheaper for Nigerians.
The problem of soaring food prices has drawn the attention
of the House of Representatives, which recently invited the
Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sayyadi Abba Ruma, to appear
before it to explain the short and long–term plans that
the government could adopt to check the situation.
The minister, who laid the blame for the problem in the country
on post-harvest losses and over–dependence on food imports,
called for a N200 billion special intervention fund to redress
the problem and improve the nutrition intake of about 65 per
cent of Nigerians who have been determined to be food insecure.
He lamented a situation where the nation loses 50 per cent
of fruits and vegetables, 30 per cent of tubers and 20 per
cent of grains to lack of storage facilities with $2.797 billion
spent on food importation in 2006.
The increase in the price of food items is a regrettable development
given the already high poverty level and desperate feeding
conditions of a large population of our people. It is a direct
fallout of our neglect of agriculture, which led to the collapse
of the framework for an agricultural revolution, and our status
as a net importer of food, which cannot feed its population.
This situation, which arose out of our over-dependence on
oil as a revenue earner, has to be quickly addressed.
Even without the warning of an impending global food crisis,
Nigeria has to work hard to improve food production and reduce
prices. It is obvious that the nation today cannot absorb
any shocks from disruptions in both the local and international
food supply chains.
Our best bet, therefore, is to develop a framework to revolutionize
agricultural production. A country with our massive landmass,
good climate and a teeming population of unemployed persons,
should not be so dependent on food imports.
We need to pay attention to food cultivation and develop policies
that will multiply output from that sector. We should invest
seriously in production, processing, storage and distribution.
The 2008 budget, which gave seven per cent to agriculture,
should be improved upon, henceforth, to meet the 10 per cent
of annual budget recommendation by the Maputo Declaration.
The warning from both the World Bank and the FAO should serve
as a wake up call for action that will lead to massive agricultural
growth and increased food supply. We should strengthen the
agricultural sector, which once drove our economy and can
still do so, if we have the will to commit necessary resources
into the effort.
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