FG coming with major agric reforms to boost food production, cut inflation — ADENLE

The Federal Government (FG) has proposed sweeping reforms in the agricultural sector, including digitalisation, mechanisation and improved coordination among government agencies in the sector, to boost food production, reduce food inflation and strengthen food security.

Senior Special Adviser on Agricultural Innovation to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Professor Ademola Adenle, disclosed this in an interview where he outlined plans to resolve long-standing challenges in the sector.

Adenle said digitalisation will help government identify genuine farmers, monitor production, ensure transparent distribution of inputs and expand farmers’ access to markets.

He said the National Agricultural Growth initiative had introduced a system where agro-dealers distribute inputs to verified farmers while monitoring their output. According to him, the intervention has increased production by 30%, with wheat output rising from 420,000 tonnes to 480,000 tonnes annually.

He, however, admitted that higher production alone would not bring down food prices unless institutional weaknesses and structural inefficiencies were addressed.

“Previous programmes focused mainly on production and input distribution without addressing institutional capacity, food security and agro-industrialisation,” he said.

Adenle called for an overhaul of the ministry’s administrative and legal structures, noting that bureaucratic bottlenecks had limited the impact of interventions.

He identified poor coordination among federal, state and local governments as a major challenge, and advocated harmonised agricultural policies across the three tiers.

He also proposed performance-based financing, annual key performance indicators, stronger monitoring and evaluation, data-driven decision-making, and legislation to promote accountability and transparency.

On rising food prices, Adenle blamed illegal movement of produce across Nigeria’s borders and hoarding of food commodities for creating artificial scarcity.

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He said the Nigeria Customs Service and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission are working with security agencies to address the problem.