The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has warned about the declining rate of food cultivation of food by crop farmers due to insecurity.
This was disclosed by Chief Operating Officer of NESG, Dr Tayo Aduloju, at the Agriculture and Food Security Nexus Validation and Consolidation Meeting in Abuja, according to NAN.
The NESG boss added that Nigeria suffers a huge supply-demand gap across all food crops, adding that Nigeria is not producing enough to meet local demand.
What the NESG is saying
Aduloju, who warned that there was a need for urgent action to be taken for Nigeria to become food sufficient, also called for a collective response to halt the demand and supply deficit and to possibly expand agriculture.
- “Some of the jobs we are creating in agriculture remain unsustainable. We are importing more agriculture products than we are exporting.
- “The cultivation rate is going down. There is a need for urgency to act, there are things we can do internally and externally to make things better.
- “This is impacting heavily on our ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goals 2030,” he said.
Mr Omoboyede Olusanya, NESG’s Co-chair, Private Sector of the Agriculture and Food Security Policy Commission, noted that reduced incomes, disrupted supply chains, chronic and acute hunger were on the rise in the country.
”This increase is due to farmer-herder conflict, socio-economic conditions, natural hazards, climate change and pests, before COVID-19 pandemic which has slowed down, halted or reversed the last few years’ hard gains,” he said.
He also warned that Nigeria is not on track to meet the SDGs without a sustained deliberate, decisive and collaborative approach.
What you should know
- Nigeria’s Agriculture sector grew by 1.20% (year-on-year) in real terms for the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of 1.96% points from the preceding quarter which recorded a growth rate of 3.16% and also a decrease of 0.10% points from the corresponding period of 2021.
