Abuja, Feb.13, 2024 – The Federal Government is to set up a commodity board to regulate prices of food products in the country.
Vice President Kashim Shettima said this on Tuesday in Abuja during a two-day strategic meeting on climate change, food systems and resource mobilisation.
He said the board would regulating food prices and oversee the strategic food reserve to stabilise prices of critical grains and other essential food items.
“Our solution to the potential food crisis has become immediate, medium, and long-term strategies.
‘The short-term strategy entails revitalizing the food supply through specific interventions like the distribution of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to counteract the effects of subsidy removal; fostering collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources for efficient farmland irrigation, ensuring year-round food production, and addressing price volatility by establishing a National Commodity Board.
“This board will continually assess and regulate food prices, maintaining a strategic food reserve for stabilizing prices of crucial grains and other food items,” Shettima said.
Shettima said Tinubu’s administration was also committed to restoring degraded land, with ongoing plans to rehabilitate four million hectares, equivalent to nearly 10 million acres of degraded lands within the nation’s borders.
“I wish to assure you that we will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks.
“We won’t only make it safe for farmers to return to their farms, but we will also ensure the activation of land banks.
“There are currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase the availability of arable land for farming, which will immediately impact food output.” (GBN)
