Due to the rising cost of food prices in the country, the National food security council is set to meet to address the issue. The council which was set up in 2018 by the President Buhari-led administration with the objective of responding to climate change, farmers/Fulani herdsmen clash, and desertification and its impacts on farmlands.
The council is also charged with the responsibility to address issues of grazing areas, rivers and other water bodies, oil spillage and its impact on the aquatic life in the Niger Delta region, piracy and banditry, agricultural research institutions and extension services and the problem of smuggling.
The high price of food has therefore prompted the federal executive council to hold a meeting, urging the Nigerian food council to meet immediately and address the issue affecting the high price of foodstuffs in the country. They also urged the council to provide a plan and some methods in which the nation can implement, to reduce the cost of food to support improved food prices for the citizens.
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This inflation has also forced the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN), to adjust the MPR to 13 percent in the last MPC which is an attempt to manage the cost of inflation. According to analysts, they disclosed that Nigeria’s inflation is not caused by having too much money in the system, but by a short supply of food and other items.
They further disclosed that increasing the interest rates may not solve the high price of food in the country. Last year, President Buhari disclosed that the spike in the price of food was caused by middlemen who were buying and holding essential commodities.
How ironic it is that a large percentage of Nigerians are contending with high prices of food items, meanwhile the government has been celebrating its acclaimed interventions and investment in the agricultural sector.
One question that is likely on everyone’s lip is this. Since the government claims to constantly fund the agricultural sector, why is the country not feeling the impact of these interventions? It’s either the government is not being honest, or the middlemen in charge of the disbursement of loans, farm tools, fertilizers, etc, are siphoning these funds and selling off these equipment without giving it to the farmers.
There is no disputing the fact that the agricultural sector has been ravaged with widespread corruption, from these so called middlemen. It is disheartening to know that most of these farmers never get to receive what is being supplied to them by private institutions and the government.
This was the reason why the president of African Development Bank (AFDB), Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina suggested the introduction of the wallet system because it will cut off these middlemen ensuring that farmers are the ones directly receiving the funds and the links.
If one is observant enough, he or she will notice that a large percentage of Nigerians are becoming increasingly aggrieved due to the unabating rise in the prices of foodstuff. It’s high time the government declared war on hunger and put in measures to mitigate hunger in the country.
They should properly fund the sector, since they claim to properly fund the sector, they should go ahead to investigate why the sector continues to underperform and prosecute whoever is behind such menace. There is a strong need to also produce foods in the country to stop the importation of food commodities. Inflation in food prices can only be curbed when the country produces a large percentage of its food products.