Abuja: The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has assured Nigerian farmers of improved access to credit facilities aimed at boosting productivity and food security.
He gave the assurance at a one-day Public Hearing held in Abuja by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Production, Services, and Rural Development.
The hearing was on three bills: “Cassava Flour (Mandatory Inclusion into Flour Production) (Establishment) Bill, 2023.
“The National Food Reserve Agency and for Related Matters and Rice Development Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2024”.
Kyari, who expressed joy over the decline in food prices, said the ministry would seek mechanisms to address the high costs of farm inputs.
“I’m happy with the crash of prices, but it’s the inputs that we are working on, like fertiliser, irrigation and all that.
“We are trying to find mechanisms where farmers will have access to credit and, at the same time, cheaper products.
“Prices have crashed, and consumers are happy, but I know farmers are not satisfied with it. Now, we are trying to balance the welfare of the population and that of the farmers.
On post-harvest losses recorded, Kyari said they have already made a legacy project on the post-harvest losses, which includes storage at the community level.
“Not the silos that we have that are situated in urban areas, but at the community level. This is what we are driving at.
“We want to make a new harvest silo programme that 85 per cent of the storage will be at those farming community levels to replace those local mud silos,” he said.
He disclosed that Nigeria’s annual demand for maise is about 25 million tons.
Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Saliu Mustapha, said the bills have successfully scaled the second reading in the Senate.
“They now stand before us for your invaluable scrutiny and contribution”.
Mustapha, who also sponsored the bill on Cassava Flour (Mandatory Inclusion into Flour Production), said the bill sought to blend our abundant cassava into wheat production.
According to him, the measure will reduce annual wheat imports by N5 billion, creating jobs for our teeming unemployed youth and improving the living standards of smallholder farmers.
On his part, the Secretary of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, Mr Adeyemi Conion, who supported the bill, said that “it is long overdue”.
He said that the bill, when passed, would create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths.
President of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, said the bill should explicitly require state-level consultation before individual council decisions are made.
His Special Adviser, Muhammad Alibaba, represented Goronyo.
He said: “We are recommending the introduction of a cross-border mechanisation and system of improving programmes supported by the council in partnership with the local fabricators and private investors”.