Nigeria should have food banks in all six geopolitical zones to attain sustainable food security and effectively tackle the rising food prices across the country, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria has said.
AFAN said the federal and state governments should establish food banks in all regions as this would guarantee the availability of the necessary staple that effectively suits the food demands of citizens in each region.
The President, AFAN, Kabir Ibrahim, told our correspondent on Tuesday that the one-off releases from the National Food Reserve by the Federal Government was commendable, but stressed that releases were basically dried grains such as wheat, millet, maize, etc.
“The release of grains is no doubt commendable, but will these grains meet the food variety requirements of citizens in the different states? For instance, do you think that dried maize would meet the food variety needs of people in Imo State?
“So beyond the one-off releases from the strategic reserves, Nigeria actually needs veritable food banks in all six geopolitical zones for the attainment of sustainable food security,” Ibrahim stated.
On February 8, 2024, The PUNCH reported that President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate release of more than 102,000 metric tonnes of various grain types from the National Food Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria as a temporary response to the nation’s growing food crisis and the rising cost of commodities.
According to the report, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the last leg of a series of three meetings of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention at the Aso Rock Villa.
Idris said, “The first one is that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has been directed to release about 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet, garri, and other commodities in their strategic reserve so that these items will be made available to Nigerians; 42,000 metric tons immediately.
“The second one is that we have held meetings with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria. Those who are responsible for producing this rice and we have asked them to open up their stores.
“They’ve told us that they can guarantee about 60,000 metric tons of rice. This will be made available and we know that that is enough to take Nigerians the next one month to six weeks, perhaps up to two months.”
But speaking with our correspondent on Tuesday, the AFAN president explained that a veritable food system for Nigeria would evolve by committing to the proper and sustainable creation of a number of factors including food production, storage, processing, distribution and consumption.
He noted that for efficient food production, farmers need adequate security to be able to go to their farms seamlessly.
“There is also the need for us to maximise our ability to process agricultural produce and ensure efficient value addition that would bolster sufficiency, reduce importation and most probably enhance agro exports in the long run
“However, all these require the complete repositioning of the energy sector to effectively function,” Ibrahim stated.
The farmers’ president called for the provision of cold storage facilities for food, as well as efficiently managed dry storages, as these would “reduce post-harvest losses and extend the shelf lives of farm produce and should be pursued vigorously.”
He pointed out that the regional food banks would support effective and efficient distribution of farm produce and processed products from the place of production to the place of need, stressing that this was key to an efficient food system.
“On consumption, it is important to note that a very good and controlled consumption of food will reduce waste and the emission of methane from decayed foods, which are threat factors to the mitigation of climate change that is a global challenge to the attainment of food security.
“These parameters must be pursued by the federal and state governments as well as Federal Capital Territory and the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria to be sustainably impactful in our quest for food security,” Ibrahim stated.
Nigeria’s strategic food reserve, managed by the National Food Reserve Agency, is a decentralised storage system across the country that stores mostly dried grains. But AFAN is calling for food banks that would store both grains and other forms of non-dried foods.
The country also has community seed banks, which are organised by farmer associations or individual farmers.
These smaller-scale reserves aim to preserve local crop varieties and ensure planting materials for future seasons.
