To address Nigeria’s food shortages and looming food crisis, the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has stated that his administration, if elected president in 2023, would pursue an aggressive and innovative food production policy.
Reports revealed that Nigeria has been spending over $22 billion on annual basis to import food into the country, a staggering figure expected to increase even further following the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and Russia.
But Abubakar has said that his administration would prioritise small holder farmers and provide farm inputs such as fertilizer, seedlings and access to finance to them to drive the nation’s agricultural sector and bridge the nation’s food demands.
Abubakar said at a presidential dialogue with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Lagos that Nigeria has the capacity to feed itself rather than depending on other economies to feed her citizens.
He said: “There is an urgent need to develop every sector of the economy to achieve inclusive economic growth. Today millions of Nigerians go to bed hungry every day.
“Nigeria must feed Nigeria. I will pursue an aggressive and innovative food production policy that will strongly boost farmers’ access to farming. My government will ensure transparency and ensure that farmers get access to fertilizers, farm machinery as well as processing equipment to boost food production and bring down food inflation.
“We will strongly promote private sector investment in agriculture from seed to fertilizers, farm chemicals and farm machinery to expand our competitiveness in national, regional and global markets for commodities in which Nigeria has a comparative advantage. We will support our industrial development for major food crops, livestock fisheries, and invest heavily in irrigation and climate resilient agricultural systems.”
He also stated the need for investment in value addition of the nation’s agro commodities in its bid to conserve foreign exchange.