The Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit said on Friday that it is putting together a draft framework to mop up current harvests and boost dry-season food production.
The framework will be sent to President Bola Tinubu through Vice-President Kashim Shettima for consideration.
Technical Assistant on Agriculture to the President in the Office of the Vice-President, Marion Moon, disclosed this in a statement exclusively obtained by our correspondent on Friday.
The statement is titled ‘PFSCU Convenes Federal Agencies to Strengthen Coordination ahead of the Dry Season.’
The unit, which sits in the Office of the Vice-President, said the framework draws on a technical working session it held with federal agriculture and food agencies at the State House, Abuja.
However, it gave no specific date for when the document would reach the President.
The session followed a directive by Shettima on Tuesday, October 20, to fast-track strategic interventions in the agricultural sector.
Shettima had created a technical committee to immediately accelerate livestock development and staple crop production nationwide, with a focus on wheat.
The Vice-President’s office said Tuesday’s meeting at the Villa was a sequel to a larger meeting of agricultural stakeholders with Tinubu the previous week.
The PFSCU stated that farmers face challenges cutting across institutions and tiers of government, including water, inputs, finance, markets, and security.
“Farmers face challenges that cut across institutions and tiers of government, including water, inputs, finance, markets, and security,” the statement read.
“Participants discussed how Ministries, Departments, and Agencies can build on their existing programmes and work more closely together.”
Discussions centred on four key areas: mopping up current harvests so farmers can sell at fair prices and food reaches markets; supporting dry-season production to sustain food supply; providing humanitarian support for vulnerable households; and strengthening collaboration with state governments, which are closest to farmers and central to delivery.
Moon said the task was to bring the agencies’ work together under one plan.
“Nigerians want to see a clear path,” Moon stated. “Every agency in this room is already doing important work.”
“Our task is to bring that work together as one sector, with clear roles and a shared plan, so that farmers and families feel the difference.”
“For farmers, progress is measured not by the number of meetings held, but by what changes on their farms.”
The unit said it will further its engagement with farmer associations, processors, and the private sector in the coming days.
Participants included the Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Livestock Development, and Water Resources and Sanitation.
Other participating bodies included the Bank of Agriculture, the Bank of Industry, the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the National Agricultural Development Fund, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, the National Agricultural Seeds Council, the National Sugar Development Council, and the Nigeria Commodity Exchange.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said after Tuesday’s meeting that the technical committee’s report would be subjected to another committee for review before reaching the Vice-President and subsequently the President.
“It is a technical committee with members from the various MDAs to sit and coordinate on behalf of all, and come up with its resolutions in execution,” Kyari stated.
“The report of the technical committee will have to be subjected to another committee before presenting to His Excellency, the Vice President, and then subsequently to Mr President.”
Kyari noted that at an earlier meeting, President Tinubu had tasked Shettima with identifying and addressing the sector’s existing challenges.
Moon had earlier told stakeholders that there was a disconnect between the federal, state, and local governments.
She said agricultural development was a shared responsibility across all three tiers, stressing the need to bridge gaps that obscure what is happening at the subnational level.
“So, as we think about what we’re doing, what we should prioritise, it is very important to ensure that we are in harmony and synergy with what is happening at the state level,” she said.
Tuesday’s meeting also discussed how to use available resources to scale up wheat production and dry-season farming.
“Mr President has always encouraged all-year-round farming, and we’re looking at coordination between all sectors and also including subnationals, states, and local governments,” Kyari added.
Shettima charged the committee to cross-pollinate ideas and formulate a blueprint for implementing strategic interventions in the agricultural sector.
At a pro-Tinubu youth forum at the Villa on Monday, the Vice-President affirmed that in the coming weeks, the President will introduce robust responses to agricultural challenges, assuring that food prices will come down.