Agricultural stakeholders have tasked the federal government to implement strategies to ensure security across the country and reduce cost of transportation in order to tackle the skyrocketing prices of food items.
The stakeholders made this call on Monday in Abuja at the 2024 Cadre Harmonise National Validation/Consolidation workshop organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with the Technical Partner from Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Food and Nutrition Security Analysis CiLSS, AGRHYMET, World Food Programme (WFP).
During the workshop, the Representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Anthony Amu, said the cause of the high prices of food is because many farmers cannot get to farms safely due to insecurity.
He added that the cost of getting farm produce to the market has increased owing to a hike in the cost of transportation caused by the removal of fuel subsidy.
He noted that until decisions are taken to address these, the prices of food may relatively be out of reach.
According to Amu, the purpose of the workshop is to identify the situation of the farmers especially as it concerns the food insecurity and report back to the government.
In his own remarks, the representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Amos Chinyama, said the meeting was important as it would assist in formulating policies that should bring succour.
At the Cadre Harmonise National Validation/Consolidation Workshop, Chinyama said: “This is an important exercise which is coordinated by the cabinet of Nigeria which focuses on food security.”
He said that FAO is willing to assist the country in bringing the needed assistance should the government ask for it from international non-governmental organisations and the United Nations.