The federal government has announced its plan to set up a Commodity Board to regulate the soaring prices of food in the country.
Vice President, Kashim Shettima, disclosed this on Tuesday during a two-day high-level strategic meeting on climate change, food systems and resource mobilisation held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to Shettima, the board’s mandate includes assessing and regulating food prices, as well as overseeing a strategic food reserve to stabilise prices of critical grains and other essential food items.
“Our solution to the potential food crisis has become immediate, medium, and long-term strategies. The short-term strategy entails revitalising the food supply through specific interventions like the distribution of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to counteract the effects of subsidy removal; fostering collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources for efficient farmland irrigation, ensuring year-round food production, and addressing price volatility by establishing a National Commodity Board.
“This board will continually assess and regulate food prices, maintaining a strategic food reserve for stabilising prices of crucial grains and other food items,” Shettima said.
FG to restore 4 million hectares of degraded land
Furthermore, he emphasised that the Tinubu administration remains dedicated to restoring degraded land, with ongoing plans to rehabilitate four million hectares, equivalent to nearly 10 million acres, of degraded lands within the nation’s borders, as part of its commitment to the AFR100 Initiative.
On how the government is handling the security challenges that have prevented farmers from working on their farms, he said:
“I wish to assure you that we will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks.
“We won’t only make it safe for farmers to return to their farms, but we will also ensure the activation of land banks. There are currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase the availability of arable land for farming, which will immediately impact food output.”
What you should know
Food inflation has become an increasingly worrisome issue in the country as many Nigerians battle with the rising price of food items in the marketplace.
According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s food inflation stands at a staggering 33.39%.
Meanwhile, while the government has declared a state of emergency on food security in the country, the prices of food items continue on an upward trajectory.
In addition, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), projected that around 26.5 million Nigerians will be at risk of hunger in 2024.
The report also noted that Nigerians in the FCT, Sokoto, Borno and Zamfara states are most at risk of hunger this year.
Nairametrics also reported that the president directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to immediately release about 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet, and other commodities from the national strategic reserves.
According to the president, this effort is aimed at crashing the prices of food items in the country.
