With an effort to profer solutions to food insecurity in Nigeria, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari has commissioned two committees.
The committees included the logistics and blending committees who are saddled with the responsibility to adequately distribute the finished fertiliser products to smallholder farmers, thereby bolstering food and nutrition security in Nigeria.
The two sub-committees, comprising members were drawn from both the public and private sectors, and have been established to oversee the upstream and downstream processes essential for achieving the government’s overarching objectives.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, held at the minister’s office in Abuja, the minister said, “we will not rest until we clear the cloud of high food prices hanging over Nigeria’s skies.”
He reiterated President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s efforts to promote the economy, saying the president has entrusted him and his colleagues with the mission of tackling this issue and they are fully determined to deliver results.
The minister noted that Nigeria’s agricultural sector was ushering in a new era, adding that under his leadership, the ministry is poised to harness all available resources to usher in a period of renewed hope for all Nigerians.
Kyari maintained that farmers require NPK fertiliser, which is produced through a blending process involving urea, limestone granules (LSG), diammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP). While two of the raw materials, urea and limestone are available locally, others are imported, with DAP originating from Morocco and potash from Europe.
He expressed profound gratitude for the generous support received from international partners, while acknowledging Vice President Kashim Shettima’s pivotal role in coordinating this assistance on behalf of Tinubu.
Kyari therefore, urged the committee members to ensure the proper receipt and effective utilisation of the donated materials to improve the living conditions of the Nigerian populace.
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Aliyu Abdullahi commended the committee members and underscored that the meeting was a follow-up to discussions held at the vice-president’s office.
He highlighted the importance of the president’s eight-point agenda, one of which aims to eradicate poverty through the agricultural sector’s transformative potential. Abdullahi thus charged critical stakeholders to redefine and reposition the agricultural sector for tangible results.
On her part, the technical adviser on sustainability from the Office of the Vice President, Ms. Marion Moon expressed readiness to support the ministers in achieving their objectives and addressing Nigeria’s food security challenges.
