Some state governors have made a move to push for increased crop production to ensure food security in Nigeria.
The governors are Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Taraba, Agbu Kefas; Ondo, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; and Kogi, Ahmed Ododo.
The governors, on Monday, stormed the Abuja headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to seek for way out to end food shortage in thd country.
Abdulrazaq, who doubles as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, told the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, that adequate concentration should be given to food security, but stressed that Nigeria’s food remained the cheapest in West Africa, according to The Punch.
He explained that the Anchor Borrowers Programme that was previously implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria under its former boss, Godwin Emefiele, did not achieve much.
“We could not achieve much with the CBN Anchor Borrowers programme, it was very challenging. The issue of food security is a one-stop-shop and we need to concentrate on what we are doing. We need to concentrate on what we are doing for the dry season farming.
“The minister has come up with a programme on cassava, rice and maize and we want to engage in that programme and urgently make sure we improve on our yield and deliver to the Nigerian population.
“We want to get to a stage where we export our food. What we have now is that, because of the devaluation of our naira, Nigeria’s food being exported to West Africa and is the cheapest in the region today,” the Kwara State governor said.
He also called on agric minister to work hard to meet the food targets of government, as this was vital for the Nigerian masses, adding that state governors would work with the ministry.
