Buhari raises fresh warning, says looming food scarcity real
- There is serious uncertainty in Nigeria as the country moves towards 2017 under an economic recession
- President Muhammadu Buhari is now calling on other leaders across Africa to brace up for a new challenge
Nigeria and the rest of Africa must brace up to meet the challenges of food shortage which comes to the continent soon if nothing is done fast.
President Muhammudu Buhari said this while urging African countries to focus more on agriculture to avert the looming food shortage.
Buhari says looming food scarcity is real
Daily Trust reports that while speaking on Monday, December 12 at the annual Meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) of the Sahel &West African Club Week, holding in Abuja, Buhari said: “Your excellencies, the threat of food crisis in our sub-region is real.
"Accordingly, we must recognise the urgent need to develop mechanisms to curtail the impact of food crises on our people.
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"We are currently facing some shortages on staple food because of our inability to modernized agriculture over the years.”
A presidential aide had said some months ago that there would be food scarcity in 2017.
Represented by the by the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the president commended the international community for assisting Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram.
"The states of Adamawa Borno and Yobe are facing severe food shortage due to a number of factors: in addition to climate change and shrinking of Lake Chad, the Boko Haram insurgency, which for seven years has made it impossible for the farmers there to grow food and feed themselves.
"The later led to massive population displacement of about 2 million," he stated.
He revealed that the president had instituted an inter-ministerial task force to coordinate the humanitarian effort on the looming food scarcity.
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The president of the Sahel and West African Club, Francois—Xavier de Donnea who also spoke, promised that the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) will place strong emphasis on the region’s food and nutrition challenges.