The on-going war between Russia and Ukraine has reportedly affected the global economy with sharp increase in the price of cereals and agricultural input such as fertilizer. It is against this backdrop that the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, recently raised the alarm that the war will likely trigger food riots and political crises in many African countries, especially those that depend so much on food imports from the troubled war zone.
The war, Adesina observed, has increased the price of wheat by 62 per cent; maize, 36 per cent; soya beans, 29 per cent; while the price of fertilizer has risen by over 300 per cent. Russia is ranked as the top wheat exporter in the world with a 16 per cent share of the world market.
Also, Ukraine, which controls 10 per cent of the global market of wheat, is adjudged the third largest exporter. Nigeria’s food import remains one of the highest in the African region. Therefore, the alarm raised by Adesina must not be ignored by Nigeria and other African countries that depend so much on food imports from Europe, Asia and other foreign countries.
Already, Nigeria is grappling with lots of problems, such as poverty, unemployment and insecurity. The looming food scarcity will worsen the situation and may lead to demonstrations over shortage of essential food items.
Available statistics showed that Nigeria reportedly spent $1.04 billion on food importation in the first six months of last year. Nigeria also spends about $10 billion on imports to meet its food and agricultural shortfalls, mostly wheat, rice, poultry, fish and others. Most of these imports come from Europe, Asia, United States and South America.
In Nigeria, the citizens are already feeling the impact of the Russia/Ukraine war that has occasioned the rise in prices of wheat, rice and other food items, diesel, petrol, aviation fuel and kerosene and cooking gas. Nigeria’s food security has being threatened by the nation’s rising insecurity, especially in the North East, North West and the North Central zone, the nation’s food basket. Insecurity and herdsmen menace had affected farming in the South East, South West and the South South regions of the country as well.
To prevent the food riots and political crisis as predicted by Adesina, the federal and state governments must begin to think of revolutionising agriculture through adequate deployment of technology and high yielding food crops and cereals. The era of seasonal farming is no longer fashionable. The time has come for Nigerians to fully embrace all seasons farming. They can also expand their animal and fish farming as well.
It is based on the foregoing that we align with the position of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) on the need to use technology to enhance food production. The government should diversify the economy by investing heavily on agriculture in all its ramifications.
Fortunately, we have abundant human and material resources to revamp our agriculture and make the sector the major revenue earner for the country. Before the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity, Nigeria depended so much on its agricultural products. That was the era of massive production of groundnut, cocoa, palm oil, rubber and many other agricultural products.
It is instructive that Oxfam International has advised the government to evolve some plans to check the looming hunger that will arise from the Russia/Ukraine conflict by increasing access to food through adequate public funding of agriculture.
In 2008, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources inaugurated the National Food security programme to check the global food crisis of that period. The initiative was envisioned to make quality food available, sustainable, accessible and affordable to all Nigerians.
Following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, not much was heard of the programme. Before then, we have had Operation Feed the Nation, the Green Revolution, all targeted at massive food production to boost the nation’s food security. Under the present dispensation, the government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has come up with so many agricultural interventions under the Anchor Borrowers Programme to boost rice production, among others.
Beyond coming up with good programmes to boost food sufficiency in the country, there is need to make such initiatives sustainable over a long period. There is no way we can ensure food security in the country with the ad hoc agricultural programmes. For Nigeria to attain food sufficiency and food security, our agriculture must be mechanised and made attractive to young Nigerians.
Your email address will not be published.
document.getElementById( “ak_js_1” ).setAttribute( “value”, ( new Date() ).getTime() );
By Christy Anyanwu, Lagos The Ooni of Ife, Arole Ooduduwa, Olofin Adimula Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi and the…
Follow us on social media:
© 2019 The Sun Nigeria – Managed by Netsera.
© 2019 The Sun Nigeria – Managed by Netsera.
