‘Food Prices Have Crashed’, Agric Minister Speaks On Tinubu’s Emergency Interventions

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, has stated that President Bola Tinubu’s exigency measures connected nutrient information person started yielding results, insisting that nutrient prices successful the state “have crashed.”

Kyari made the remarks connected Friday greeting portion speaking connected Arise News ‘Day Break’ programme, wherever helium defended the administration’s strategy of combining accumulation enactment with impermanent importation to code what helium described arsenic deep-rooted “structural imbalances” successful Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

“There are tools if you privation to instrumentality attraction of the structural imbalances successful the cultivation sector,” Kyari said.

“I person said it before—even the erstwhile President of the African Development Bank during his tenure, helium besides imported. There are tools to negociate what you already have.”

He noted that Tinubu inherited a hard concern successful 2023 erstwhile the president declared a authorities of exigency connected nutrient security, describing it arsenic a “clarion call” to rescue the sector.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came astatine a clip erstwhile determination was immense structural default successful presumption of nutrient information and that is wherefore helium had to state the clarion telephone and exigency connected nutrient information successful July 2023,” the curate explained.

“Food availability, nutrient information is simply a substance of entrepreneurial availability, proviso and demand. In Nigeria truthful overmuch availability and request were not there, and portion of the crushed for the involution was to ramp up accumulation and astatine the aforesaid clip import to marque up the difference, due to the fact that we bash not person implicit accumulation for each nutrient crops that we have. Rice, for example—we person astir 15% spread successful what we tin proviso and what we person successful the country.”

Kyari clarified that the impermanent importation model introduced by the authorities was meant to stabilise prices without discouraging section farmers.

“The importation model was lone for six months, and it has travel and gone. And that was the magnitude that was demanded. When you look astatine the planetary request field, it is not capable to marque farmers discouraged with cultivation production,” helium said.

The curate highlighted immoderate of the interventions rolled retired alongside imports, including large-scale fertiliser distribution.

“For example, portion that was going on, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered the Central Bank to merchandise 2 cardinal bags of fertiliser to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for onward transportation escaped of complaint astatine zero cost, and that was done,” Kyari disclosed.

“So astatine the extremity of the day, erstwhile you look astatine it, determination were truthful galore interventions. We had truthful galore programmes that supported farmers with fertiliser astatine 50%. So, determination was a batch of accumulation successful 2024.”

The curate concluded by stressing that the interventions had already begun to interaction the marketplace positively.

“I could accidental boldly that prices person crashed,” Kyari declared.

Kyari’s comments came arsenic a nonstop effect to President Tinubu’s caller bid to a Federal Executive Council (FEC) committee to “crash nutrient prices” done swift and coordinated measures.