…Laments £9bn post-harvest loss
From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday, assured Nigerians that there was no cause for alarm despite scary indications of imminent famine early next year.
It, however, expressed concern about the large quantities of grains being exported from the country and noted that it would be dangerous if nothing was done to arrest the situation.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who stated this during a visit to Diezengoff/Phinada Farms at Tafa, Niger State and Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), noted that efforts were being made to buy enough grains and store for the rainy day.
He also lamented the monumental loss recorded by farmers across the country, citing a 2013 report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which put the nation’s post-harvest loss at £9 billion.
Lokpobiri explained that the alarm of possible famine raised recently by the Presidency was to prompt Nigerians into action. According to him, Nigeria will not stop its neighbours from buying agricultural produce from the country but would rather embark on bulk purchase to stabilise price and ensure food availability to its citizens.
“There are no statistics that there is going to be famine in January. What I heard in the news was that he (presidential aide, Shehu Garba) said that people are coming from other countries to buy our grains in bulk. As a government, we are also buying. Government doesn’t just come into the market to buy; government only buys to ensure guaranteed price so that our farmers are not discouraged by low patronage. Government has to buy because for now all our silos are virtually empty. We are part of a global community; it’s a free trade, we need dollars. We can’t, as a country, stop people from coming to Nigeria to buy grains,” Lokpobiri stated.
He disclosed that the government, aside up scaling agricultural production, has also commenced restructuring of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) to facilitate access to credit to farmers.
The minister said that talk had reached advanced stage for a Netherlands bank to handle the restructuring, adding that the BoA will also be recapitalised in the process.
He expressed optimism that there will be at least N1 trillion credit available for people interested in agriculture before the end of next year.
Lokpobiri, after inspecting vegetables from the farm including pepper, tomato and cucumber, endorsed Green House farming, declaring it as “the standard way of farming world over.”
He further explained that government might, after an inter-ministerial submission to the president, make green house machinery duty free.