Importation of food items can’t ensure lasting food security – Dr Nto

As Nigerians continue to bare their minds on the mid-term performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other Governors elected with him in the 2023 general elections, their agricultural policies have come under serious scrutiny and criticism.

In his assessment while rubbing minds with Newsmen, a Teacher at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, MOUAU, Abia State, Dr Philips Nto reminded both levels of government of the need to pay more attention to agriculture for accelerated economic development.

Dr Nto who pointed out that all tiers of government must take agriculture more seriously to end the current hunger in the land, said the importation of some food items to force down their prices was only a temporary solution to the problem.

He therefore called for the importation of agricultural machinery to aid local farmers in food production and the pursuit of value chain addition as an all-around solution to both food insecurity and the wobbling economy.

Dr Nto who is the Director of Agribusiness Incubation Centre (ABIC) in MOUAU made it clear that a study of the midterm report of the president and the governors showed that they were not actually prioritising agriculture in their developmental initiatives.

According to him, ” the most important need of the average Nigerian now is food. Unfortunately, the prices are currently high. Well paved roads and bridges can not take the place of food. This is one area that should take the chunk of our national and state budgets”.

The ABIC boss who admitted that the governments had performed averagely in infrastructure, especially roads, harped on the need to focus more on agriculture to make those infrastructure meaningful.

“The simplest economic theory is scale of preference which gives rise to opportunity cost, therefore we need to find a way to support farmers for massive production of food to curb food insecurity”, he argued.

Dr Nto, who is a former Commissioner for Finance in Abia state, said that it was understandable that most state governments were embarking on projects that yield revenue for them while neglecting agriculture.

” But I can tell you that it is a misplacement of priority. When you fund agriculture and its value chain, you will also get revenue two folds while at the same time taming inflation and food insecurity: he submitted.

Dr Nto, however, urged the citizens to assist the governments in boosting food production by engaging in farming activities.

He disclosed that ABIC as a body is aggressively embarking upon enlightenment on modern farming techniques and in assisting local farmers to plant high yielding seedlings as its contribution towards the attainment of food security in Nigeria.