The federal government has been told that there is one major step it has to
take for it to win the battle against food insecurity in the land. The step
would be for the government to make massive investment in innovations
that would boost the production of food in Nigeria. And in taking that step
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA has volunteered to
give the necessary support to the government. Giving the assurance was
Dr. Simeon Ehui, Director General, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) and Regional Director for CGIAR in Africa.
He told Senator Abubakar Kyari, minister of Agriculture and Food Security
that the government should collaborate with the IITA to adopt innovations
that would change the narrative in Nigeria’s food systems.
Ehui revealed that IITA’s technologies and those of other Consultative
Group International Agricultural Research, CGIAR centers are available to
contribute to Nigeria’s agricultural landscape. IITA is one of the fifteen world
research centres in the group. He, however, noted that Nigeria alone could
not address issues existing in the sector.
Expressing IITA’s willingness to provide support through its various projects
and innovations that could be scaled by the ministry, the director general
said that the institute valued the strong support of the Nigerian government
and would like to align with the national programmes. He said, “I would like
for the national programmes to be key partners with IITA, leveraging the
research innovations to address food insecurity in Nigeria.”
Kyari, in his welcome remarks, revealed that the visit came at a time when
the ministry is exploring proven ways to turn around food systems in the
country, adding that there is a need to look at sustainable strategies that
would help initiate strong institutionalised policies. He assured Ehui of
government’s appreciation of the contribution of IITA to food production in
Nigeria, in particular, and therefore, is ready to make use of the
opportunities that the institute offers. The minister said, “With IITA’s
grounded agricultural research, the ministry is ready to collaborate with the
institute to address food insecurity.”
He commended IITA’s research impact in Africa, saying that the need to
explore agriculture as a business to create investment opportunities for
more people.
He further said that the way forward would be for both parties to develop a
strategy paper covering long, medium, and short-term targets.
