FG Working To Address High Food Prices, Minister Assures Nigerians
Food inflation has reached over 40 per cent in recent months according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), pushing the prices of essential commodities beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians.
The Federal Government has admitted there is food insecurity in the country but assured Nigerians that the situation is being addressed and the prices of commodities will soon come down.
Food inflation has reached over 40 per cent in recent months according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), pushing the prices of essential commodities beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians.
But the Minister of State for Agriculture Aliyu Abdullahi said with several programmes by the Federal Government, the prices of commodities will reduce.
“You will see a lot of programmes trying to dampen [reduce prices] the situation,” he said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“Agriculture has a time frame. Now, a lot of production is ongoing. We are in the rainy season and if you look at the fields, there is a lot of cropping going on. Those croppings are not food,” Abdullahi said.
“They will only translate to food after three months. So, until then, this story you are talking about will continue.”
The minister said the country had in the past relied more on rainy season farming.
“We realised over the past few years that we have not been taking our dry season agriculture seriously,” he said but noted that the ministry is addressing it.
