No food insufficiency threat in Nigeria – Ogbeh

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, says there is no threat of food insufficiency in the country.

He told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday at the Capacity Building Training for ECOWAS member states to control and manage armyworm outbreak in West Africa.

Our correspondent reports that the training was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which brought together stakeholders from 15 West Africa countries to proffer solution to the pest.

According to him, with the outbreak of armyworm that has affected most of the states; the country does not have the threat of food insufficiency, but high cost of food items in the market.

“Eventually, every state is affected by armyworm outbreak in the country; Armyworm outbreak began from Oyo state and spread very quickly to Ondo, Edo and other states two years ago.

“Right now, there is hardly any state that is not affected by this pest.

“The problem with armyworm is that, it hides right deep in the stem that even if you spray ordinary spray crop, it won’t stop it.

“They come out at night, so, farmers have to be on alert at night or very early in the morning to spray the chemical, which is difficult and the spray is done vertically and not horizontally.

“Some of the chemical we used are not very safe. We have to find organic chemical, lime which is good. Some professors have started developing how to manage this; then, we can deal with it in no time.

“That is why this seminar is very vital. We have to train the trainees, who will be going to states to teach farmers on how to spray their farms.

“We do not have the issue of food insufficient threat now with this challenge, but the problem we have is the high price of food items. We are not happy that many Nigerians cannot buy food.

“We have no shortage of food anywhere in the country. The prices are a bit high. Farmers won’t lose, but those who do not farm have to eat food as well, “he said.

He explained that some factors that led to the high price of food items in the country includes; bad roads network to transport food items from one point to another.

“Roads are bad and transporter will tell you that it costs high to move food from one place to the other.

“I was in Ekiti recently. A tuber of yam I saw that was sold for N300 was sold for N1500 in Lagos.

“There is no reason for that kind of hike. We should all be reasonable and know that not all have to be farmers. Those that are not farmers played higher role in the country’s development too,” he said.

Ogbeh, however, advised Nigerians not to panic, but keep working to improve production, adding that the country was already getting support from experienced Organisations to mitigate the problem.

“This issue happened in Europe and they were able to curtail it. Our own climate encourages the development of all kind of pests because it is so warm here, but we shouldn’t be scared,” he said.