The Federal government is worried over food shortage, adding to the layers of factors contributing to rising inflation in the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, made the disclosure in his address to declare open the ‘Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria Reform Workshop for Chief Executive Officers of National Agricultural Research Institutes, Federal Colleges of Agriculture, and Directors’ held in Abuja.
He said: “This meeting couldn’t have come at a better time than at the beginning of a new year, especially now that the country is facing increasing food insecurity.
“There is a clear concern on growing shortages of staple crops such as rice, wheat, cassava, soybean, millet, sorghum among others, which are key to the achievement of food security of our dear nation.
“This must be the main reason why, Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, declared food security as the number one of his eight-point agenda to drive economic development of the country.
“Agriculture is the singular most important sector that can transform the economy of our great country to meet the growing demands for food, nutrition, industry and jobs. Accordingly, increase in agricultural productivity is the key determinant for socio-economic transformation and thus livelihood improvements in Nigeria. Improvement in agricultural productivity has been proven to take millions of people out of food insecurity and low-income status to food secured and improved living standards.
“To drive agricultural transformation, research and training plays a pivotal role. It is the engine room for agricultural development and our priority as a Ministry is therefore to reposition the National Agricultural Research System for greater productivity.
“This is the main reason why the Federal Government of Nigeria is insisting on the implementation of ARCN Act.
“This amendment made provisions for efficient management of research and training including the establishment of spinoff companies to commercialize research products and innovations generated by our institutions.
However, the Minister charged the Council on “increasing the internally generated revenue of your institutions in order to augment the available fund for research training and extension activities.
He further stated that, “I am using this occasion to direct the Colleges to put emphasis on vocational and skill acquisition in your training programmes.
“Consequently, I expect your training programmes to be more of practical and less theory. This will enable the beneficiaries of this training programmes to have practical and working knowledge of agricultural businesses.
He also added that, “The ARCN should therefore work with relevant stakeholders in the agricultural education sub-sector to actualize this directive.
READ ALSO:Finance ministry gets new permanent secretary
“You will recall my earlier directive that available lands within the various agricultural research and training institution should be channeled toward agricultural production.
“I therefore wish to reiterate that all of you should key into this initiative of the Ministry aimed at promoting food production in the country.
“It is the vision of this administration to deploy positive initiatives within the confine of law to ensure stability and favourable environment for all institutions under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to deliver their mandates of moving the Nigeria’s agricultural sector forward.
“I will conclude by saying, we are all given a position of trust and this trust we must uphold. I hereby declare this workshop open.”
