Post-harvest losses: Storage facilities essential, ‘ll address wastage — Agric Minister

…as post-harvest losses basal astatine $10bn annually

By Gabriel Ewepu

THE Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, yesterday, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s resoluteness to revitalise the nation’s silos concession programme successful a bid to code post-harvest losses and trim wastage.

Speaking during a high-level gathering with the delegation from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, led by the Director General, Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, astatine the Ministry’s Conference country successful Abuja, Kyari said determination is an urgent request to revitalise silo retention facilities successful the state arsenic a captious strategy to trim Nigeria’s monolithic post-harvest losses, presently estimated astatine $10 cardinal annually.

According to him, this renewed propulsion aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cultivation translation docket aimed astatine achieving nutrient and nutrition security.

He said: “Storage facilities are indispensable to our nutrient information drive, arsenic they straight code wastage and guarantee year-round availability of staple crops.

“Out of the 17 silo complexes concessional to 5 backstage companies, lone Flour Mills of Nigeria, which operates 3 silo complexes nether 3 abstracted Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs, has met each conditions and is performing optimally.

“Ministry’s reappraisal process indicated that respective concessionaires failed to enactment silo facilities into optimal operating information contempt earlier agreements, Monitoring visits showed small oregon nary advancement successful immoderate facilities, with reported cases of vandalization and perimeter obstruction illness successful locations specified arsenic Ikorodu and Ogoja.”

Meanwhile, according to the Minister, those of the concessionaires defaulted connected their outgo obligations, with lone Flour Mills consistently gathering show and fiscal conditions.

He besides assured that his ministry would enactment intimately with the ICRC to intensify oversight relation successful bid to enforce compliance and guarantee that lone competent backstage operators negociate the nation’s silo facilities.

In his remarks, the Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, said that lone backstage companies with existent operational needs for silos should beryllium retained.

 However, Ewalefoh counseled that abandoned silos should beryllium retrieved by the national government, arsenic helium pointed retired that immoderate concessionaires person failed to remit required returns to authorities coffers.

Meanwhile, item of the gathering was the mounting up of a committee to reappraisal contractual clauses, measure performance, and acceptable wide modus operandi, monitoring, and evaluation, and among others

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