The increase in food prices in Nigeria is due to many factors, including the COVID-19 pandemicinsecurity and war between Russia and Ukraine, an official said.
However, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Mahmood Abubakar, who said this in Abuja, said the government was ‘working hard’ to tackle rising food prices.
Mr. Abubakar spoke Thursday at the State House at the weekly ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team.
Food prices such as rice, bread and beef have risen in recent years, some by more than 200 percent.
However, the minister said that the increase in food prices is not unique to Nigeria and is exacerbated by the emergence of COVID-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“When COVID hit it affected a lot of things including food production and the after effect is what we are still dealing with and that will take a while before it stabilizes,” he said.
He said he thinks “the price of rice has come down a little bit and we are still working on it.”
“Currently, the whole world is recovering from COVID and is now fighting the consequences of the war in Ukraine and Russia, but things will stabilize and the Ministry of Agriculture is doing its best to address the problem; we are not going to give in, so that the prices go down faster”.
Speaking about how insecurity in Nigeria has affected food prices, the minister said herder and terrorist attacks have denied some farmers the opportunity to go to their farms, especially in the north-west and north-central regions of the country. .
He said that despite the security situation, food production “has not fallen to any significant level.”
“That is one of the reasons why we have an arrangement of security agents known as agro-guards, who are providing some security measures so that farmers can access their farms.
“Truly, if they can’t fully access farms across the country, they’re going to expect a drop in production, but right now we’re doing everything we can to make sure production is sustained through that safety provision.” said.
Abubakar said Nigeria’s plan to end hunger in the country by 2025 is still on track.
“Of course we are on the right track. Who would not want to end hunger? he said.
fish import
Another official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Samson Umoh, also spoke about importing fish into Nigeria.
Mr. Umoh, director of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, said there are two main reasons why Nigeria still allows the importation of fish. One is that local production cannot meet demand, while the second is that some species of fish are not sourced locally.
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“Currently, the country’s total fish demand is about 3.6 million metric tons, based on the population of Nigeria, while the total production is about 1.2 million metric tons,” he said.
“And the gap needs to be filled, therefore we are engaging youth, women and all sectors to improve fish production.
“In addition to the intervention that the government is carrying out, there are some species that are not farmed or found in Nigerian waters; such as mackerel and cod among others. So we have to import because they are not available in Nigeria,” he explained.
Mr. Umoh said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to agriculture has made the agricultural sector a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), following the drop in world oil prices.