The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari has assured Nigerians that the President Bola Tinubu’s agenda on food security is on course and that the prices of food items would drop to affordable levels this year. Kyari gave the assurance when the Governor of Jigawa State, Mallam Umar Namadi paid him a courtesy visit at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
He said that President Bola Tinubu’s programmes on food production will be sustained to impact positively on Nigerians.
According to him, the ministry is focused on ramping up massive production of staple crops using technology and mechanisation to achieve this goal. “We are poised to implement our programmes in line with his vision for the agriculture sector. We are determined to drive agricultural transformation, enhancing productivity, and ensuring that our farmers have the necessary support to thrive. Our goal also includes ensuring food security and driving down food inflation”, he said.
Kyari also stated that the ministry intends to massively produce to bring down food inflation because the number one driver of inflation is food price inflation. “We want to work hard. Mr. President has given us all the support that we need and also starting with rice for instance, Nigerians will have a respite”. He also said the ministry would embark on its planned programmes and projects, and ensure their sustainability towards massive production. Speaking further he said that the ministry had given full support for wheat production in Jigawa and other states.
The Governor of Jigawa State, Mallam Umar Namadi in his response said that the state had cultivated 36,700 hectares of wheat and that the state government was updating the farmers’ register to ensure an accurate farmer database in the state. He noted that additional 104 extension agents had been employed by the state, to ensure that farmers are properly guided to enhance food productivity. He assured that the state would provide farmers in the state with free farm input and services of extension agents to enable them to excel.
