“I can still categorically tell you today (that) there is no food shortage in Nigeria. We are still producing.”
These were the words of the Nigeria’s
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar when he addressed newsmen at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, at the Presidential villa, Abuja, today, April 12.
He said that the federal government is trying to make up in several other ways in the pockets of areas that production has become limited because of the insecurity.
“But in totality, let me say that a lot of progress has been made in terms of food security, not just from the agro rangers, but all other security agencies. “The federal government has been doing so much and I’m sure you can see it and you can hear that yes, a lot of security successes have been achieved.”
He said that he presented a memo to the FEC meeting today on agricultural extension service in the country.
“And the purpose is really to have a good working extension service policy. Of course, you know we do conduct researches and today, the age of technology innovations, how do we get this research information to the farmers? “It is done through extension service. We have Extension Service agents, which the ministry recruits from time to time. Last year, we recruited way over 100,000 Extension Service agents.
”These are the people that take down the information, if we have improved seeds, new fertilizer, new variety of ways that will improve agricultural production in the country, these are the people that take document it.
”And we have to work with the state government, of course, the federal government work with the state government, with local government, NGOs, we work with international organizations, it’s all about collaboration, getting the information down to the people.
“These are all technology-driven, as well, because we’re talking about Smart Agriculture.
“So extension service really is the bane of improving our productivity to achieve Food Security and Nutrition, security in the country.
“The policy has been approved. And we’ll be implementing that again along with the state government, with the local government, with NGOs.
“The ministry is always there and ready to assist the smallholder farmers especially those we always focus on because they provide about 70% of the food production in this country.
“So when we go to distribute, even implement and distribute inputs, we focus on the small holder farmers and those are our collaborative partners in the extension service system. This is basically what the policy is all about.”
