Nigeria has resolved to institutionalise Agricultural Regional Forum to fast-track the attainment of food security and self-sufficiency.
Mr. Mohammed Umar, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said on Tuesday in Umuahia during the opening of the 43rd National Council on Agriculture.
He said that it was necessary to start implementing programmes that could facilitate the establishment of the forum in different geo-political zones.
He said that the technical reports from the forum would form the memoranda of the National Council of Agriculture.
Umar said that the initiative would fully align, synchronise and integrate with programmes and policies aimed at enhancing the nation’s agricultural sector.
He said that the Federal Government remained committed to agricultural development in order to provide adequate food for the nation’s increasing population.
Umar charged the delegates to exchange ideas on Nigeria’s agricultural development process by assessing the effects of extant policies, fine tuning existing strategies and overhauling the initiatives for achieving food security.
“We must develop our agriculture through ensuring that we create programmes that will be supported both at the state and federal levels.
“We must identify crops and commodities in our respective states that will bring about food security and have export potential.
“We must evolve programmes targeted at livelihood improvement of our citizenry,” Umar said.
He said that the federal government, in collaboration with state governments, would create agro-ecologies based on commodities of comparative advantage in each state to enhance nationwide agricultural productivity.
MM/GIK/APA