The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, on Monday, assured Nigerian farmers of credit facilities to boost agricultural production in the country.
Kyari gave the assurance at a one-day Public Hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Agriculture Production Services and Rural Development, at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
The public hearing was on three bills, namely: Cassava Flour (Mandatory Inclusion into Flour Production) (Establishment) Bill, 2023;
The National Food Reserve Agency and for Related Matters and Rice Development Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2024.
Kyari, who expressed joy over the crash in the prices of food items, promised that the Ministry would look for mechanisms to tackle the high costs of farm inputs.
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He said: “I’m happy with the crash of prices, but it’s the inputs that we are working on, like fertilizer, irrigation and all that. So that is what we are trying to find, mechanisms where farmers will have access to credit and, at the same time, cheaper products.
“Yes, prices have crashed. Consumers are happy, but I know farmers are not happy with it. So now what we are trying to do is to try to balance the welfare of the population and the welfare of the farmers. If the cost of production is more than the market price, then how can we incentivise them to produce?
Commenting on post-harvest losses recorded, Kyari said: “We have already made a legacy project on the post-harvest losses, which includes storage at the community level. Not the silos that we have that are situated in urban areas, but at the community level. This is what we are driving at.
“We want to make a new harvest silo programme that 85 per cent of the storage will be at those farming community levels to replace those local mud silos”.
Speaking further, the Minister disclosed that Nigeria’s annual demand for maize was about 25 million tons.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Saliu Mustapha, said the bills had successfully scaled the second reading in the senate, noting that, “they now stand before us for your invaluable scrutiny and contribution”.
Mustapha, who also sponsored the bill on Cassava Flour (Mandatory Inclusion into Flour Production) said the bill sought to blend our abundant cassava into wheat production.
“Thereby reducing our crippling N5 billion annual wheat importation, creating jobs for our teaming unemployed youth and improving the living standard of smallholder farmers”.
On his part, the Secretary, Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, Mr Adeyemi Conion, who supported the bill, said that it was long overdue, noting that the bill when passed, would create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths.
President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Alhaji Aminu Goronyo, said that the bill should explicitly support state-level consultation before individual council decisions are made.
Goronyo, who was represented by his Special Adviser, Muhammad Alibaba, said: “We are recommending the introduction of a cross-border mechanisation and system of improving programmes supported by the council in partnership with the local fabricators and private investors”.
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