Food Security: Agricultural Society of Nigeria calls for stronger collaboration to tackle global challenges.

By Takuruku Emmanuel, Lafia

Agricultural Society of Nigeria say if the imput of experts and that of some critical stakeholders in agriculture was not being sought as a collaborative tool by the federal government in driving it’s campaign on food security, the effort would be a mirage.

The society said that it was.happy and ready more than ever to support president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s awaited declaration on the state of emergency on agriculture as a sure way of improving the nation’s economy through improved food production and availability.

These and other isues bordering on food security and how to boost Nigeria’s quest for sustainable food security were during the four-day conference by agricultural scientists which ended yesterday at the Federal university of Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital,

Speaking during the event, president of Agricultural Society of Nigeria (ASN), Prof. Jude Mbanasor, said for the federal government to succeed in it’s campaign on food security, it must come out with robust policies and programmes .and as well, collaborate with key stakeholders and experts in agriculture to drive the process, otherwise the effort would be a mirage.

He said that the society was happy with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he pronounced that he will declare a state of emergency on agriculture, saying members of the society are ready and ever willing to support the initiative.

The ASN president said that the conference was organised to bring members of the society together to brainstorm and harvest ideas and transmit same to policy makers in a bid to assisting government make progress in food production towards achieving food security.

Prof. Mbanasor said that the theme for this year’s conference ” Strengthening Agriculture for Food and Nutritional Security, Market Development and Export in a Climate Change Environment ” was more than apt in combating challenges posed by a weak economy, dwindling foreign exchange, climate change and inconsistent government’s policies on agriculture.

He lamented that Nigeria has one of the most arable lands in the world, but shockingly research carried out be it’s members discovered that farming activities are taking place only oin 90 percent of the arable land by subsistence farmers.

He said that the the federal government drive for food and nutrition security may remain elusive except something drastic was done.

The president said that the society was happy when president Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that the federal government was declaring a state of emergency on food security, adding that the body was ready to collaborate with the government for the realisation of that bold policy initiative.

Prof. Mbanosor said “Most ,if not all ,of our members are employees of government, either as teachers or researchers. Over the years, we have worked very hard in policy formulation aimed at strengthening agriculture in Nigeria. But it is most unfortunate that some of us are really frustrated because of the scant attention paid to our works. I will not exactly say that the results of our research works are gathering dust in government’s offices, but I believe that if policy implementors hasten to apply our suggestions, solutions would be found quickly to the lingering challenges before us in the Agricultural sector”

“Be that as it may, it is not yet late for the government to work closely with our members in the development of policy initiatives that would be productively applied for the overall acceleration of food security in Nigeria”

He appealed to the federal government to provide funding for researchers, lamenting that most times, due mainly to paucity of funds and bureaucratic bottlenecks, research grants are not readily made available to our members.

Also speaking at the event, the National President of NMGS, Prof.A.S Solatunji, represented by the General Manager, Nasarawa State Water Board, Ahmad Abubakar Kana, identified Agriculture and Extractive Sectors as fundamental baseline for the growth and development of the nation’s economy.

He therefore called for synergy among the relevant government agencies and other related bodies in the Agricultural sector for the actualisation of food security of the federal government.