President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has opened up on how he intends to fight hunger in Nigeria.

NewsOrient Network reports that hunger has become a frightening social reality that has worsened since Tinubu’s dramatic announcement of government’s removal of petroleum subsidy.

As part of his response to the hunger in the land, Tinubu has announced that part of his plan is to release grains to the people and fertilizer to farmers.

Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, who revealed Mr President’s resolve while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said: “We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.⁣

“There will be an organic synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the use of water resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is available all years round…To achieve this, we have the following stakeholders on board to support the intervention effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu:

“The National Commodity Exchange (NCX), Seed Companies, National Seed Council and Research Institutes, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Food Processing/ Agric Processing associations, private sector holders & Prime Anchors, small holder farmers, crop associations and Fertilizer producers, blenders and suppliers associations to mention a few.

“We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks.

“The Central Bank will continue to play a major role of funding the agricultural value chain.

“Activation of land banks. There is currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase availability of arable land for farming which will immediately impact food output.

“Mechanization and land clearing- The government will also collaborate with mechanization companies to clear more forests & make them available for farming.

“River basins- there are currently 11 rivers basins that will ensure planting of crops during the dry season with irrigation schemes that will guarantee continuous farming production all year round, to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experience.

“We will deploy concessionary capital/funding to the sector, especially towards fertilizer, processing, mechanization, seeds, chemicals, equipment, feed, labour, etc” …
“The concessionary funds will ensure food is always available and affordable thereby having a direct impact on Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI).

This administration is focused on ensuring the HCI numbers, which currently ranks as the 3rd lowest in the world, are improved for increased productivity.

“Transportation and Storage: The cost of transporting Agricultural products has been a major challenge (due to permits, toll gates, and other associated costs). When the costs of moving farm produce is significantly impacted-

“…it will immediately be passed to the consumers, which will affect the price of food- the government will explore other means of transportation including rail and water transport, to reduce freight costs and in turn impact the food prices.

“As for storage, existing warehouses and tanks will be revamped to cut waste & ensure efficient preservation of food items.

“We will Increase revenue from food and agricultural exports. As we ensure there is sufficient, affordable food for the populace, we will concurrently work on stimulating the export capacity of the Agric sector.

“Trade Facilitation: Transportation, storage and export will be improved by working with the Nigerian Customs, who have assured us that the bottlenecks experienced in exporting and importing food items as well as intra-city transportation through tolling will be removed.

“These are some of the immediate interventions this government will put in place to tackle this crisis.

Principally, one of the major positive outcomes of these interventions will be a massive boost in employment and job creation.

“Indeed, agriculture already accounts for about 35.21 percent of employment in Nigeria (as at 2021), the target is to double this percentage to about 70% in the long term.”