The Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria (GPAAN) have called on the government to evolve sustainable food systems that would address the challenges posed by population growth, urbanization, climate change, infrastructural deficit, policy inconsistency, technology and insecurity. They made the call at the weekend during a Public Lecture with the theme “The Way Forward For Nigeria’s Food Security” in Lagos State.
Guest Lecturer at the event, Dr Toromade Francis, Director General of the Premier Agribusiness Academy, said food security was critical to Nigeria’s development with a population of more than 200 million since Nigeria rates 110 out of 127 on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2024. He noted that it was imperative to boost agricultural productivity by using mechanized farming and better seed varieties to increase crop yields for food staples like yams, rice and cassava.
According to him, the six geopolitical zones are blessed with distinct agricultural strengths that can contribute significantly to Nigeria’s food security if the above strategies are implemented effectively supported with infrastructure development, like roads, storage and processing facilities for the efficient distribution of cash crops like cocoa and oil palm. Dr. Toromade called for more investments in irrigation to promote climax-smart farming for drought-affected crops like millet and sorghum. On policy and investment, he called for increased agricultural budgets to attract private sector investments in value chain development for all geographical zones in the country.
