Farmers urge Buhari to declare emergency in agriculture

The National President of the Nigerian Youth Farmers Front, Mr. Abdulkareem Okene, has called on President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to declare a state of emergency in the agricultural sector when he
assumes power.

Speaking in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on Wednesday during the group’s summit, he stated that the measure was necessary to save the nation from famine and hunger.

He appealed to Buhari to give priority to agriculture to boost national sufficiency in food production.

Okene alleged that since the era of the Sardauna of Sokoto, the late Ahmadu Bello, successive governments had not financed and sustained the agricultural sector.

He also said it was unproductive that the successive administrations had allegedly not sustained the agricultural policies of their predecessors, saying such posed threat to the development of the sector.

Okene said, “If countries like China can be self-sufficient in food production and even export despite its large population and non-arable land , Nigeria with all the needed ingredients for mechanised farming should not

allow the citizens to die of hunger.

“Nigeria has enough arable land, adequate climatic condition suitable for food production, but government’s continuous refusal to give attention to the sector causes the importation of most of the foods we consume.”

According to him, overdependence on crude oil at the expense of the other sectors especially agriculture has negative implications.

He noted that Nigeria was capable of earning   revenue from exports if the government had showed more commitment to the agriculture sector.

Okene said, “We urged Buhari to call for stakeholders’ meeting to chat a new programme that will be youth and entrepreneurship-friendly and that will allow our teeming youths to see agriculture as a source of livelihood.

“The programmes should involve mentoring, extension services, insurance and expanding supply of basic input such as fertilizer using cooperatives.”