During his Monday appearance on Channel Television’s Sunrise Daily, Aliyu Abdullahi, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, provided this information.
Abdullahi emphasized that food security is a top priority in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and outlined the government’s coordinated efforts to address the issues affecting the agriculture sector.
“It is a lot of work. You know whenever you meet a system that’s down, you need to take it up and do the work so that it will respond to the demand of the system.
“For us at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, it’s no longer new. We all know that last year, the President declared a state of emergency on food security because we were not doing very well. We had very bad numbers,” Abdullahi said.
The minister stressed that food security is vital not only for providing adequate nutrition to Nigerians but also for fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and promoting gender equality.
“As part of the Renewed Hope Agenda, because food security is on the front burner in the agriculture sector, it is the mainstream of Nigeria’s economy. It is expected to also play a critical role in the economy as a means of poverty alleviation and gender inclusivity,” Abdullahi added.
Addressing the nation’s agricultural challenges, Abdullahi pointed to the outdated tools currently used by Nigerian farmers and stressed the importance of modernisation.
To this end, the government is rolling out several mechanisation projects that aim to revolutionize farming practices across the country.
“We looked at the rudimentary nature of work tools of our farmers. One of the first things is to look at the mechanization. We have a very robust mechanization programme starting from the Greener Up Initiative Mechanization Programme, Belarus, and now we have the Greener Imperative Project coming from Brazil,” he explained.
The Greener Imperative Project, slated to launch in January 2025, was initiated following a directive from President Tinubu.
According to Abdullahi, “the President has issued a matching order for the Greener Imperative Project to come on stream January 2025.”
It is anticipated that this initiative, which aims to modernize Nigeria’s agricultural equipment, will increase food output, lessen reliance on conventional farming practices, and boost sector-wide efficiency.
