Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Dr Chigozie Okonkwo, a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), has urged the three tiers of government in the country to create enabling environment that will address food scarcity that is responsible for high cost of food items in the markets.
Okonkwo said this in Nsukka on Monday in an interview with newsmen while speaking on what government would do to bring down high cost of food items in markets.
He said government should as matter of urgency address the issue of security challenges that had made many farmers lose their lives while many others abandoned their farms for fear of being attacked or killed by some herdsmen and armed bandits.
“One of the problems responsible for high cost of foodstuff is insecurity that has made some farmers lose their lives or attacked while farming in their farms by suspected herdsmen and armed bandits.
“In other instances, many farmers have seen crops worth millons of naira planted in their farms destroyed by herdsmen and their grazing cattle.
“Because of this ugly situation many farmers abandoned their farms for fear of being killed, attacked or their crops destroyed; this has resulted in low grains production that is responsible in skyrocketing prices of food items.
“To tackle high cost of food items the problem of insecurity must be addressed totally so that farmers can safely go back to thier farms,”he said.
Okonkwo, who holds a doctorate degree in Political Theory from the Department of Political Science UNN, harped on the need for government to always support farmers with climate change resistant seeds as well as grants and loans to local farmers without any collateral attached.
“If our local farmers are given climate change resistant seeds and free loans as supports from government, it will boost agricultural production and help reduce cost of food items in the markets,” he said.
The Don advocated for tax holidays in agriculture investments to encourage local and foreign investors to invest massively in the sector.
He also advised government to build big grains silos in every local government in the country that would help release grains from time to time to complement grains produced by farmers in the country.
“It’s unfortunate that for some years now high cost of food items has become a serious challenge facing the country.
“If government will apply the above suggestions holistically, it will surely go a long way to addressing the present escalating food prices and make food items affordable at cheap prices as well as help the country to achieve food security,” Okonkwo added.
