The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Mahmood Abubakar, has said that the Federal Government is working with the customs to make sure the smuggling of food is stopped in order to avoid shortage of food in the country.
He said this during a working visit to the headquarters of the National Horticultural Research Institute in Ibadan recently.
The Minister added that as part of plans to make sure the country does not experience food shortage; the ministry will embark on dry season farming which will commence next month.
He also noted that “Agriculture is the number one sector making a significant contribution to the GDP of the country.”
His words, “We will make sure that all the agencies we are working with, Customs, for example, make sure food is not smuggled out of the country. Because what we don’t want is to have no shortage of food.
“We have no shortage of food right now. We have food in the country, I am telling you categorically, and we will make sure there is no shortage of food. We are doing so much; we are going to start dry season farming next month and we plan to intensify that.
“Mr President is very supportive of this ministry. We all know when he came in, Agric shot up and is the number one sector making significant GDP contribution to the country,” he added.
He assured Nigerians that the Federal Government would continue to increase the capacity of research institutes while expressing his joy at the new products the institute produced.
Earlier, the Minister distributed Okro seeds and pesticides patented and produced by NIHORT to Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs) and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) representatives from Oyo, Osun, and Ogun states.
The Chairman of the Agricultural Development Farmers’ Association, Oyo State, Alhaji Salihu Imam, applauded the support of the institute, saying that “NIHORT is the only institute that provides farmers with free fields ranging from 30 to 40 hectares to plant their mandate crops.”
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, the programme officer, JDPC Ibadan, Mrs Adebola Ojewale, who was one of the beneficiaries, expressed her happiness at the kind gesture of the institute.
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According to her, “I feel elated because recently, farmers have been buying seeds from the open market and most of them are not good. This is coming from the research institute so; it is definitely a good seed. When they multiply it, it means there will be a surplus of good seed for them to plant and when good seed is planted, there will be a bountiful harvest. That means there will be an increase in their income after harvest.”
While appreciating the Minister for his constant support of the institute, the Executive Director, NIHORT, Dr Muhammed Attanda, added that the programme was an annual ritual which they have undertaken to hear from farmers about the seeds produced by the institute.
“It is an annual ritual undertaken by the institute. It is called pair review; we undertake this in the agricultural research system so that can hear from them. If these seeds are good, they will come back here next year and tell us in black and white,” he said.
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