Former President of the Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Sunday Bamgbose has said that Nigeria needs to declare a state of emergency in the food sector. According to Bamgbose, there are various challenges hampering the attainment of food security in Nigeria, such as insecurity, poor funding, lack of collaboration and coordination between stakeholders across the various value chains, and lack of government support. He expressed that for there to be a change, all these issues need to be addressed.
Similarly, International organizations such as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have also warned of the impending food crisis in the nation.
Bamgbose has therefore urged the government to make significant efforts to scale the sector as there are increasing indicators that the agricultural sector is slipping into an unfavorable state. He added that it is already late, that a state of emergency should have been declared, and the government needs to intervene quickly.
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FCT Administration Conducts Pest Control and Storage Techniques Training for Farmers
As a means of promoting dry season farming, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration has commenced the training of about 2000 farmers on pest control and storage techniques. The training is part of efforts to combat and minimize the impact of the Fall Army Worm Pest on farmers in other to boost food security nationwide. In addition, the Department also carried out training on the use of Purdue airtight bags for storage of produce.
In a statement by the Acting Secretary, FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Ibe Chukwuemeka, he noted that the FCT agricultural workforce was capable of contributing to a turnaround in the sector in the country. Chukwuemeka added that this boost will mitigate the adverse effects of the continued attacks on farmers by bandits.
The administration has also assisted farmers with irrigation equipment as well as the construction of earth dams (used to impound water or semi-fluid wastes for flood control, hydroelectric power production, domestic storage, and industrial uses).
