TIMES are hard. Prices of foods have sky rocketed due to scarcity. For decades, attention has been called to the non-chalantant attitude of the youth towards agriculture.
NATURE has been so generous that our forests are fertile to produce virtually all that we need and sustain local consumption and beyond. A myopic monocultural mismanaged petrol market has rendered Nigeria lameduck and hunger stricken. From the 1970s, Nigeria has gradually slipped into the trap of food importation. With rice, a commodity which enjoys a comparative advantage in production were being imported on a large scale. Reduction in food production has assumed both international and domestic dimensions. Yam and condiments including pepper, tomato that can be grown locally, are now being brought from the Middle Belt and the northern states.
INCREASING unemployment, job losses and the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by drought have made life miserable for the citizens such that only the rich are assured of their three square daily meals.
IT is not a surprise that prices of food items especially rice are galloping. It will therefore be in the interest of policy makers to sit up in view of lower food reserves, growing consumer demands, freak weather, dramatic change as a result of ban on food importation, including higher oil prices which increase the cost of everything including fertiliser, transport, food processing, among others.
BUT, we are still puzzled why Nigeria, particularly, the South West should have food shortage on her list of problems in spite of her endowments in rich farmlands and human resources.
WITH the present tune of technology cutting across all sectors of human endeavour and the ever growing population of the people coupled with the high demand for food, the current subsistence and traditional agriculture still being practised is no longer tenable and cannot bail the nation out of the quagmire of food insecurity.
GOVERNMENT need to revolutionise the agriculture sector by investing hugely in mechanised farming.
INFORMATION communication Technology has revolutionized the practice of agric worldwide; Nigeria should not be left out.
REVIVING abandoned facilities like dam and farm settlements would accelerate provision of modern facilities and methods like irrigation to lessen adverse effects of climate change.
WE believe that much more is bound to accrue as benefits when government and the organized private sector begin to pay greater attention to food security. The quality of life of herdsmen itself would take a better dimension when they embrace science and technology into their occupation and discover that life is good!