The Presidency announced on Friday that the 42,000 metric tonnes of grains promised for distribution nationwide two weeks ago are currently being bagged.
It was also mentioned that the remaining 60,000 metric tonnes of grains will be bought from the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria.
Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, shared this update in a statement released on Friday night titled, ‘Update on Tinubu administration’s efforts to increase food supply in the country’.
In response to the country’s growing food crisis and the increasing prices of goods, President Bola Tinubu ordered on February 8 the immediate release of 102,000 metric tons of various grain types from the Strategic Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria as a temporary measure.
Updating the public on the strategy, the Presidency said, “The Tinubu administration, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, is in the final stages of releasing 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted food commodities to support the vulnerable population across the country.”
“The grains in seven locations of strategic reserve are now being bagged for onward delivery to the National Emergency Management Agency.”
Explaining the delay in distribution, Onanuga stated, “The need to bag the grains, caused the delay as the bags were freshly ordered by government,” adding that, “Nigerians will not need to pay for the grain bags, as they are free.”
The Presidency explained that the Federal Government will purchase 60,000 metric tonnes of milled rice from Mega Rice Millers, in addition to other food commodities from the Strategic Reserve.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, mentioned that the announcement of releasing food commodities has led to a decrease in prices across major grains markets in the country.
During an emergency meeting on February 8, the FG disclosed plans to invest in dry-season farming to guarantee a consistent food supply throughout the year.
Idris explained, “There is a directive to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to invest massively in conjunction with Nigerian farmers and other producers so that we can have a better season coming up shortly.”
Providing an update, Onanuga announced that the first phase of the Dry Season Farming project under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro-Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project began in November 2023.
“It focuses on the cultivation of wheat across 15 wheat-producing states, covering 118,657 hectares and involving 107,429 farmers. The fields are green now and harvest will commence in a matter of weeks”, Kyari said.
“There are fantastic reports of the growth of wheat from Jigawa State, which is now targeting harvest from about 50,000 hectares, 10,000 hectares more than initially allotted under the programme,” noted Onanuga.
The Presidency announced that Phase 2 of the Dry Season Farming will soon begin in all 36 states and the FCT.
“It will cover rice, maize, and cassava. For rice, the target is 250,000 hectares involving 500,000 farmers with the expected output of 1 million metric tons of paddy rice.
“For maize, we are cultivating 55,000 hectares with 110,000 farmers thereby adding 165,000 metric tons to national maize production while for cassava, we are doing 35,000 hectares with 70,000 farmers to produce 525,000 metric tons of cassava.
