From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The federal government has set up a technical committee to fast-track wheat and other staple crop production, expand livestock development, and address critical challenges confronting farmers as part of renewed efforts to strengthen food security.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima constituted the committee on Tuesday at a high-level meeting on agricultural sector performance and strategic interventions at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, directing members to develop a blueprint for the implementation of priority interventions in the sector.
The move followed a meeting with President Bola Tinubu last week, attended by agricultural and other multi-sector stakeholders, where the need to identify and tackle persistent challenges in the sector was discussed.
According to a statement by his media aide, Stanley Nkwocha, the Vice-President charged the committee members to pool their expertise and develop practical strategies for accelerating agricultural production, with particular emphasis on wheat, other staple crops and livestock development.
The committee is expected to coordinate interventions across relevant ministries, departments and agencies to ensure more effective implementation of the Federal Government’s agricultural priorities.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said the meeting examined critical challenges facing farmers and explored ways to leverage available resources to scale up wheat production and dry-season farming across the country.
According to him, Tinubu had directed the Vice-President to identify existing obstacles in the agricultural sector and work towards resolving them.
“Mr President had always encouraged all-year-round farming, and we’re looking at coordination between all sectors and also including subnationals, states, and local governments, how we can impact and utilise the prices in famine,” Kyari said.
On the committee’s mandate, the minister explained that its members, drawn from various ministries, departments and agencies, would coordinate their activities and develop recommendations for implementation.
“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,” he said.
Kyari added that the committee’s report would be reviewed by another committee before being submitted to Shettima and subsequently to the President.
In her presentation, the Technical Adviser to the Vice-President on Agriculture and Head of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit, Ms Marion Moon, stressed the need for stronger collaboration among the federal, state and local governments to achieve agricultural development.
She identified gaps in coordination among the three tiers of government as a major concern, noting that the disconnect made it difficult to obtain a clear picture of agricultural activities and challenges at the subnational level.
Moon said the gaps must be bridged to ensure that federal interventions align with the realities and priorities of state governments.
“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.
The committee comprises representatives of the Federal Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security; Water Resources and Sanitation; Livestock Development; and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated.
It also includes the Special Adviser and Coordinator on Presidential Livestock Reform, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity Enforcement, and the Senior Special Assistants on Food Security and Livestock Development.
Other members are the chief executives of the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, National Agricultural Land Development Authority, National Agricultural Seeds Council, National Agricultural Development Fund, National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, National Sugar Council of Nigeria, Nigeria Commodities Exchange and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure.
The initiative comes as the Federal Government seeks to strengthen domestic food production through year-round farming, improved coordination of agricultural interventions and increased output of strategic crops and livestock.
However, the committee’s recommendations will undergo further review before reaching the President, after which the next steps towards implementation are expected to be determined.
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