THE Managing Director of the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA), Dr. Adeniyi Saheed Aremu, has said that the problem of Nigeria is not food production but high cost of the transportation of food items from hinterland to urban areas.
He lamented that lack of access roads was one of the major challenges faced by farmers, saying that was one of the factors responsible for food shortage in the country because of high cost of transportation of the food items across the country.
In an interview with journalists in Ilorin, Aremu, however, revealed that the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) was contributing towards solving transportation challenges faced by farmers.
“Transportation of food has been one of the factors responsible for food shortage in the country,” ne said, adding that the authority had constructed a number of access roads in both urban and rural settlements as part of concerted efforts to alleviate problem of food shortage in the country.
He said: “Some of those roads in the rural areas link the farm sites to the towns to help farmers convey their produce to the nearest markets to prevent post-harvest losses, thereby improving the livelihood of the farmers and ensuring food sufficiency.”
Aremu also said that LNRBA had in 2017, established a greenhouse for production of assorted vegetables under a controlled environment, while herd of cattle is being raised for fattening and dairies.
Meanwhile, in a bid to give farmers good platform for productivity, the agency had carried out about 60 projects ranging from dams construction, boreholes drilling, flood and erosion control works in different localities under its coverage.
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Adesina had told him that the Russia-Ukraine war would create global problems, and particularly for Africa, which imports a huge percentage of its food from the two countries.
“Already, the price of wheat has gone up about 60 per cent. Maize and other grains will also be affected. There may be fertiliser crisis, as there would be about 2 million metric tons deficit. And that will affect food production by about 20%. Africa will lose $11 billion worth of food, and coming shortly after COVID-19, that would be rather serious,” the AfDB President disclosed.
To prepare against the evil day, Dr Adesina said the AfDB has developed a $1.5 billion Africa Emergency Food Plan, which is now before the bank’s Board for approval.
He added: “We were not ready for COVID-19, but we are now planning to avert food crisis on the continent. There is plan to help farmers cultivate wheat, maize, rice, sorghum, and soybeans. It will mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.”
Talking specifically of Nigeria, the Nigerian-born Adesina, and a former Minister of Agriculture, said in the wet season of 2022, at least 5 million smallholder farmers would be helped to cultivate 1 million hectares of maize, 1 million hectares of rice, and 250,000 hectares of sorghum and soybeans, respectively.
“In total, our support will help Nigeria to produce 9.5 million metric tons of food.”
States that will benefit from the assistance include Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna, Imo, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory.
Dr Adesina submitted: “Mr President, you have a passion for agriculture. We are behind you strongly, and we want to ensure Nigeria won’t feel the impact of the food crisis.”
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