Delta IGR Drops Over Non-Payment Of Salaries

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono, announced this on Tuesday at a workshop on the validation of the annual progress report on the cooperative framework of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition held in Abuja.

Echono explained that the new alliance was formed in 2013 when the government, private sector and development partners made written commitments on key actions to be embarked upon to improve agricultural investment, food and nutrition security in line with the principles of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP).

He also revealed that both international and local business establishments within the same period made financial commitments of about $4 billion to entrepreneurial initiatives in the agricultural sector.

Under the new alliance agreement, the Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director, Special Duties, Ademola Abiri, said the Federal Government was committed to the implementation of 13 policy actions in the areas of seed, fertilizer, agricultural finance and insurance, nutrition, land tilling and agricultural processing.

Other areas, he listed, include commodity exchange, enterprise promotion, enterprise registration and power availability.

He noted that while the Federal Government has made policy reform commitments, the private sector has also made commitments on the level of agricultural investments in the medium term, adding that civil society organisations would monitor these commitments to ensure that they were targeted at the intended beneficiaries.

Consequently, Echono expressed optimism that through the partnerships, more private sector investments would be seen in the sector in Nigeria, as the government implements the 13 policy actions, which would improve the environment for investment.

Speaking at an international workshop on development and application of post-harvest handling model for horticultural crops organised under the auspices of the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative, also in Abuja on Tuesday, Echono, lamented that Nigeria imports tomatoes worth N16 billion annually.

He explained that tomatoes have domestic demand of 2.3 million tons of fresh product annually, adding that the national production stands at 1.8 million tons and wastage of fresh produce occasioned by lack of processing and storage facilities is 750,000 tons.

According to him, “Horticultural crops because of their delicate nature, face tremendous post-harvest challenges.

“In Nigeria, specifically, tomatoes have the highest priorities with domestic demand of 2.3 million tons of fresh product annually, national production of 1.8 million tons, wastage of over 750,000 tons and import bill of N16 billion to make up for shortfall in local production.

“Post-harvest losses have been estimated to range between 5 per cent and 20 per cent for grains, 20 per cent for fish and as high as 50 per cent to 60 per cent for tubers, fruits and vegetables.”

Also speaking on citrus production, Echono said Nigeria produces 3.48 million tons, contributing about 29.71 per cent of the world’s production and 81.93 per cent of Africa’s total output.

He pointed out that 1.53 million tons of citrus produced is lost annually as waste while an annual import of 7,851 tons valued at over N717 million is recorded, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Therefore, the Permanent Secretary explained that Nigerian government in partnership with the private sector has taken some concrete measures aimed at curbing the challenges of post-harvest losses in the country.

Some of the measures, according to him, include the establishment of the Staple Crop Processing Zones where horticultural crops processing plants are built and associated clusters of producers identified and assisted with necessary infrastructure and inputs.

He also noted the setting up of two export crops handling, preservation and conditioning centres as well as the study visits to Morocco and Kenya on fresh products production, market structure and marketing model, onion storage for possible adoption in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the Ambassador of Korea to Nigeria, Noh Kyu-duk, pledged his country’s technical assistance in order to help Nigeria to overcome the high post-harvest losses suffered by Nigerian farmers.