The Federal Government of Nigeria Rules Out Food Shortage Next Year

The federal government of Nigeria gave assurance that the country will not experience food shortage in 2023, despite the devastating effects of flooding on farmlands. 

The Minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, at a briefing in Abuja reaffirmed that Nigerians don’t have to panic over food shortage as the government has begun restocking of the strategic food reserve with 200,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities.

The minister added that based on the available remote sensing report on 2022 flooding, the government is embarking on an immediate needs assessment of affected communities and farmlands in all the affected states to ascertain the level of damages for appropriate interventions.

He also noted that the federal government has commenced distribution of assorted food commodities from the federal government strategic food reserve to the vulnerable and flood victims through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. The government is also distributing early maturing seeds (wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, cassava cuttings), fertiliser, agro-chemicals and agro-equipment to affected crop farmers across the country.

Among other interventions to cushion the effects of flooding on food production, the minister instructed to include ongoing distribution of subsidized agricultural inputs including fertiliser, certified seeds and agro-chemicals to affected wheat, rice and maize farmers for dry season farming under Agricultural Transformation Agenda Phase 1 and Public Based Operations (PBO).

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