The Chairman of the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), Arc. Kabir Ibrahim, has called on the Federal and State governments to prioritize regional staple foods as a step towards achieving food security in Nigeria.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 16th National Agricultural Show, Ibrahim, who is also the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), stressed the need to identify, produce, process, and distribute these regional staples across the country.
“Nigeria is currently facing a serious food crisis, and we risk famine if urgent measures are not taken,” he warned.
“It is exceedingly difficult to attain food security today without first identifying regional staple foods and scaling their production, processing, distribution and adequately storing surpluses properly and consuming them moderately and appropriately.”
Ibrahim stressed the need to minimize post-harvest losses through the use of adequate storage facilities and proper waste management practices.
He also called for the adoption of advanced technologies to improve agricultural productivity and efficiency.
To support smallholder farmers, ‘the backbone of Nigeria’s agricultural sector’, Ibrahim recommended government support in addressing challenges such as insecurity, climate change, and the implementation of agricultural policies.
“The efforts of Small Holder Farmers (SHFs) to scale their productive capacities must be sustainably supported by governments at all levels so that they become Small Scale Producers (SSPs), who will be able to support sustainable industrial growth which will in turn provide the impetus to attain the desired national food security,” he said.