President Bola Tinubu has called on a Federal Executive Council committee to move swiftly and implement measures to further reduce food prices across the country in order to bring succour to all citizens.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, disclosed this in Abuja while presenting a paper at a one-day capacity-building workshop, organised by the Senate Press Corps.
According to him, the directive focuses on ensuring the safe passage of agricultural produce and commodities across transport routes to cut logistics costs that often drive up prices, saying the plan is tied to Tinubu’s broader vision of food sovereignty, beyond availability to ensure affordability, accessibility, and nutrition on a sustainable basis.
Abdullahi said “In addressing the high cost of transportation of farm produce in the country, the President had given matching order to a Federal Executive Council committee handling it, on how we are going to promote safe passage of agricultural goods and commodities across our various routes”.
He stated that exorbitant transport costs along commodity routes often translate into higher consumer prices, but assured that the government was working hard to tackle the problem.
The minister also highlighted the President’s broader vision of achieving food sovereignty through food security, sufficiency, accessibility, affordability, and nutritional balance on a sustainable basis.
According to him, programmes such as the Farmer Soil Health Scheme, which is ready for launch, and a cooperative reform and revamp programme, are part of measures to boost productivity and livelihoods.
“Mr. President has shown tremendous interest in the cooperative sector, as a veritable tool for resource mobilisation, economic activity generation, and livelihood improvement. We are reforming this to make it more productive”, Abdullahi stated further.
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