The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has said the government is working to ensure food insecurity
Henzodaily reported that the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) said about 33 million Nigerians may face food insecurity in 2025.
In an interview with Arise News on Friday night, Kyari said while the figure was a cause to worry, the federal government is working to address food security challenges.
“You said may face food insecure. And I like that word may. And that is what is giving us that window. So whoever came up with that figure knows that something can be done to tackle that. And I believe it has also made us sit up.
“Those figures are alarming. It’s a figure that by the time you do the calculations, I’ll give you an example, 33 million, even if it’s one year, 52 weeks, you’re talking about every week, how many million or almost about 800,000 people dying or insecure. Just think about aircraft 747, for instance, crashing every week, killing all 500 passengers aboard, every week of the month, of the year. Is that not alarming?” Kyari said.
The Minister disclosed that the government had started revitalizing the Bank of Agriculture. This, he said, would help to make credit available to farmers.
“So what we are saying is we have taken steps to see that, God forbid, that doesn’t happen. And there are so many, so many of the steps that we’re taking.
“One area that we’re looking at is access to credit to farmers. Just today (Friday), we had a meeting under the direction of the national council on the recapitalization and restructuring of Bank of Agriculture. Okay. And very soon, Bank of Agriculture will come back on its feet and will start impacting on the farmer. And there are so many strategies that we intend to do. It’s no longer business as usual. It’s no longer business at all,” he added.