In a bid to strengthen food security in the country, the Federal Government has revealed that it is working with partners to boost food production through agro-industrialization and technological innovations.
This was revealed by the Vice President of the federation, Kashim Shettima, in his remarks at the World Food Prize hosted in the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
The Vice President said that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has set up policies and programs to boost production and improve the availability of food for Nigerians.
According to Shettima, “Nigeria, under the able leadership of my boss and friend, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has identified the Agrifood sector as the key to unlocking economic growth and development.
“Our main focus is on enhancing the capacity of our farmers to ramp up primary production while harnessing and deploying the economic power of agro-industrialization.”
The Vice President said that the government, in partnership with its international partners including foreign governments, institutions, and foundations, is working to reduce the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“We have, therefore, proceeded to undertake short, medium, and long-term measures to address the problem of spiking food prices – brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and accentuated by the Russia-Ukraine war and only recently: the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
“Accordingly, the National Agriculture Growth Scheme (NAGS); the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), and the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Program are all interventions that the government is working with its partners to leverage for immediate, medium, and long-term value,” he said.