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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / High Food Prices: FG Opens Grain Reserves In Two Weeks (360 Views)
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High Food Prices: FG Opens Grain Reserves In Two Weeks by hadex90(m): 7:43am On Feb 19, 2017 |
The federal government will open the national
grain reserves in the next two weeks if the
prices of food continue to escalate, Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu
Ogbeh, has declared.
He disclosed this at the weekend after
inauguration of managements of the three
Federal Universities of Agriculture at the
ministry in Abuja.
Describing roles of the institutions as vital to
attaining food sufficiency, the minister noted
prices of some staple foods such as maize,
sorghum and millet were beginning to drop in
the market.
He promised to fund the universities in the area
of research and ensure research outputs are put
to use to boost local food production.
Ogbeh said: “In another two weeks, if we find
out that the prices are not going down, we will
open the grain reserves.
“Already, the price of maize is falling, even cost
of sorghum and millet are beginning to drop.
“From N180, 000 per ton, maize dropped to
N145, 000. In Kaduna, farmers were willing to
sell at N135, 000. So it appears there is a
natural drop.
“We are already moving 8, 000 tons of soya
beans from Kaduna to Lagos because we are
exporting the commodity. The railway system
is helping. They don’t have enough wagons but
the Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi is
bringing in some.”
According to him, transporting agricultural
products through the railway is cheaper with
no taxes or break down of trucks on the
highway.
He urged Nigerians not to panic over food
shortage because aside from existing grains
stored in the silos, a new round of grains were
being harvested in about four states.
He stated that despite the quantities of food
West African countries exported from Nigeria,
there were still a lot in the store.
The minister noted that farmers have expressed
resentment over plans by the federal
government to cut food prices because it is the
first time they are making high profit from
farming.
Speaking on invading pests, Ogbeh raised
concerns on the attack of maize by armyworm
disease spreading across Africa, which
according to him already destroyed farms in
Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and Angola.
On fertiliser, he restated determination to
reduce cost of the farm input below N6, 000
from N12, 000. |
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