The federal government plans to establish a National Commodity Board to solve the escalating food crisis in the country.
Vice President Kashim Shettima made this known on Tuesday at a two-day high-level strategic meeting on climate change, food systems and resource mobilisation in Abuja.
Mr Shettima explained that the board would be mandated to assess and regulate food prices and maintain a strategic food reserve for stabilising the prices of crucial grains and other food items.
Mr Shettima noted that food security was one of the eight areas of priority declared by President Bola Tinubu as part of his Renewed Hope Agenda.
This, according to him, led to the declaration of a state of emergency to curb the current food crisis facing the country.
He highlighted ongoing policy reforms by the administration to ensure food and water availability and affordability.
“Our solution to the potential food crisis has become immediate, medium, and long-term strategies.
“The short-term strategy entails revitalising the food supply through specific interventions like the distribution of fertilisers and grains to farmers and households to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.
“It also entails fostering collaboration between the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources for efficient farmland irrigation, ensuring year-round production, and addressing price volatility by establishing a National Commodity Board.
“This board will continually assess and regulate food prices, maintaining a strategic food reserve for stabilising the prices of crucial grains and other food items,” said the vice president.
He assured that the Tinubu administration was fully investing in restoring degraded land to solve the current food crisis.
Mr Shettima said, “There are ongoing plans to restore four million hectares, or nearly 10 million acres, of degraded lands within the nation’s borders as its contribution to the AFR100 Initiative.
He promised the current administration would engage security agencies to protect farms and farmers.
“We won’t only make it safe for farmers to return to their farms, but we will also ensure the activation of land banks.
“There are currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase the availability of arable land for farming, which will immediately impact food output,” he said.
Mr Shettima said the current administration was collaborating with mechanisation companies to clear more forests and make them available for farming.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria will continue to play a major role in funding the agricultural value chain.
Earlier, Gloria Akobundu, the national coordinator of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) Nigeria, commended Mr Tinubu for his efforts towards making Nigeria a great nation.
NAN
