Why FG must invest in GM technology, genome editing —AFAN President

The President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arc Kabir Ibrahim has called on the Nigerian government to invest in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) which include Genetic Modification and genome editing to produce more food for the populace.

Ibrahim made this call at the opening of the Annual Agricultural Show organised by National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), held in Nasarawa State.

Ibrahim who is also the Chairman Board of Trustees of NAFN urged the government to provide incentives for smallholder farmers to upscale their productivity.

He said Nigeria is grappling with challenges in its food system which led to the president declaring a state of emergency on the attainment of food security in the midst of insecurity, abysmal mechanisation, over reliance on rain-fed agriculture and a host of other threat factors.

Listing some of the immediate actions needed to scale up food production, Ibrahim said “the incentivisation of the SHFs (Small Holder Farmers) to scale their productivity is absolutely necessary through the stemming of insecurity that impedes seamless access to farms.

“The provision of direct subsidy on seeds and all inputs by all tiers of government (Federal, States and LGAs), the continuous provision of mechanization through the provision of light agricultural farm machinery before making heavy duty tractors, combine harvesters etc. readily available enabling the impetus to do all-year-round production through irrigation.

“The expansion of the adoption of STI (Science, Technology and Innovation) including embracing Biotechnology leading to GM and Genome editing, ensuring industrial harmony among all stakeholders in Nigeria’s Agriculture space, unleashing

processing as well as providing ready produce markets or commodity exchanges as well as the provision of effective storage and transportation to mitigate post harvest loss.

“More specifically the need for direct subsidy on fertilisers will be firmed up by patronizing the nearly 70 blending

companies created through the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI)”.

He harped on the need to resuscitate the PFI and make fertiliser available and affordable to Small Holder Farmers.

The AFAN President further stated that the government must resuscitate NFRA (National Food Reserve Agency), appoint seasoned and educated farmers as board chairs of National Agricultural Seed Council, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria and National Agriculture Development Fund and also make good seeds easily accessible and affordable to Small Holder Farmers.

On irrigation, Ibrahim said there should be very strong synergy between Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation to ensure all round Agricultural production using our irrigable land efficiently by exploiting our dams and even ground water.

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